MSU Baseball Injury Updates and What it Means in the Big Picture

Only three weeks into the baseball season, MSU has had more than their share of injuries.  The good news is that none of the injuries appear to be season ending at this point.  But the bad news is MSU will be missing some key players for a very good mid-major in Mercer and then a road trip to Southeastern Louisiana and then the SEC opener vs. LSU.  How will MSU coach John Cohen handle the injuries?  Here’s my educated guesses.

Pitcher Ben Bracewell had some elbow pain in his right arm.  An MRI was taken of his elbow and fortunately revealed no damage, which is a good thing, and Bracewell has reported that the elbow “feels better”.  Regardless, MSU will be very cautious and Bracewell will not pitch this weekend against Mercer, but will be able to pitch against LSU.  This likely means the end of Bracewell as a starting pitcher, and means that he will either go to the bullpen- which is probably where he is best suited- or possibly be a midweek starter.  Ben has been unable to get past five innings in any start this year, but he has been dominant for the first two innings in every start.  That screams closer to me- and would make the MSU bullpen that much more deep with Caleb Reed, Luis Pollorena, Jonathan Holder, and others.  I look for Chris Stratton to start Friday, although Cohen has not confirmed that as of yet.  Speaking of the starting pitchers- Stratton, Routt, and Evan Mitchell have performed well enough that moving Bracewell to the bullpen becomes an even easier decision.

In one of the most unusual injuries that I have ever seen, Daryl Norris injured his knee while swinging the bat during Penn State and suffered a subluxation of his knee, per Mississippi State University.  The good news is surgery is not required.  The bad news is Norris will be out 4-6 weeks.   That would put Norris’s estimated time of return sometime between the April 3, 2012 game against Mississippi Valley State at the very earliest and the Super Bulldog Weekend series against Tennessee at the latest.  A subluxation of the knee usually refers to a dislocation of the patella, which is what appears to be the case in Daryl’s situation.  The man that is likely replacing Norris is going to be Brayden Jones, from my hometown of Madison, Ms.  Brayden is a blue collar type of player that I think the fans at MSU are going to love because he goes all out every time.  Last night, he scored the go ahead run on a heads up play on a foul ball to the first base side when no one covered home.  He does not have Daryl’s experience, but he is going to give 100% every time and he is going to hit the ball hard whether it goes in for a hit or not.  We may see Demarcus Henderson play some at third base as well, and there is a chance we may even see Nick Flair, who was drafted by the Pirates, but has had some injuries himself that he has been dealing with.

And then there’s the outfield injuries.  CT Bradford injured his shoulder while sliding into second base and suffered a shoulder subluxation per MSU.  Basically, this is a partial dislocation of the shoulder, and CT will be out of 1-2 weeks which means that he could be back for the Southeast Louisiana series at the earliest, and the Alabama A&M game at the latest.  And then Brent Brownlee has chrondomalacia, which he will be having sugery on, and like Norris he will be out 4-6 weeks.  Chrondomalcia is a big word that means irritation of the cartilage on the under-surface of the kneecap.  Those two injuries definitely hurt the depth of the MSU outfield.  What it could mean is that we will see more Brandon Woodruff in right field, Hunter Renfroe in center field, and Taylor Stark in left field.  Demarcus Henderson has been playing in the outfield a good bit recently, but with Norris’s injury and uncertainty at the shortstop position defensively, along with Henderson’s defensive struggles in the outfield, I think we will see Demarcus in the infield more.

As I said, the good news is these players should be back during the season, and we do have one weekend to see how the temporary lineup will work before the start of SEC play.  If MSU can work through these injuries, this team could be very good once they are at 100%.