Ross Mitchell is up there with Jeff Brantley
Ross Mitchell should win “C-Spire” Ferriss Trophy – the award given to the best collegiate baseball player in the state of Mississippi. He would join the likes of Thomas Berkery (2006), Edward Easley (2007), Chris Stratton (2012) and Hunter Renfroe (2013). Bulldog greats – most of them first round draft picks. He’s already won the fan voting (which counts for 10%). When the winner is announced on Monday it ought to be Ross Mitchell, because he’s one of the greatest pitchers in Mississippi State history.
Ross Mitchell has placed himself in the same breath as Jeff Brantley for the all-time greatest pitcher in MSU history.
That statement I don’t take lightly. I’m not a prisoner of the moment. He is – no matter how fast he can throw a baseball, what a major league scout says, or how much of a debate could be given against him – one of the greatest pitchers to ever wear the maroon and white.
Ross Mitchell defies saber-metrics and advanced stats. Every baseball geek in the entire country could look at our roster and tell me how terrible of a statement I just made is because Jacob Lindgren is clearly the better pitcher. His FIP is better, is WHIP is better, etc. etc. Mitchell gets it done with a BABIP that says he’s lucky and a FIP that says he isn’t really that good.
Every time he takes the hill he gets it done. Period.
24-4 for his career. A guy who throws an 82 mph fastball is 24-4 in the SEC. Wow.
“Wins don’t mean anything” – yada yada yada. I don’t care. I want a winner out there and Ross is a winner. He’s only a junior – so that means he has all of this postseason plus all of next year to accumulate more numbers, and he should end up in 2nd place all time behind only Jeff Brantley (currently tied for 8th).
He goes out there and consistently gives MSU a chance to win ballgames. His career E.R.A. is 1.62.
“E.R.A. is a dead stat”. Not over the course of 234 innings. That’s the equivalent to a meaty major league regular season. And it’s good. Real good. If his career ended today he would be the all-time MSU career leader in E.R.A.
He eats a ton of innings. In just his first year of starting he has 102 innings. He had 94 out of the bullpen last year.
It doesn’t matter how you use Ross Mitchell, he just gets the job done. We leaned on him for a postseason run in 2013. When we were desperate for someone to save the starting rotation in 2014 he has delivered eight quality starts out of 10 – this after only one career start prior.
It’s not just the last two years either. He was stellar as a freshman when given the chance – 1.18 E.R.A in 38 IP including nine scoreless in the SEC Tournament with six of them in the championship game.
The best thing about Ross is that he could read this article and it would roll off his back. He’s all about the team, and he’s playing for a higher calling – for the glory of God.
He has organized worship events on campus, been a key cog in the Bench Mobb, drank a few cases of Mountain Dew in the dugout and been the heart and soul of this baseball program. Crafty lefty doesn’t even begin to describe it. He’s one of my all-time favorite players at Mississippi State for who is off the field as much as on it.
I’m proud to have a
guy
man like Ross Mitchell representing our baseball program. He deserves the Ferriss Trophy, and to be recognized for what he is – one of the best in MSU history.