Mississippi State Baseball is Flooded with Good Outfielders
The Mississippi State Baseball team has an abundance of good outfielders which makes finding playing time for all of them a difficult task for John Cohen.
When the Mississippi State baseball season began, the outfield was considered a pretty easy position to figure out. Most thought Jack Kruger would transition to Catcher once he healed completely, and Brent Rooker, Jacob Robson, Cody Brown, and Reid Humphreys would all play some combination of the outfield and DH.
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Well things have been a little bit tougher to figure out. Elih Marrero has been just as good offensively as he has defensively, so Cohen needs to leave him at Catcher which means Jack Kruger has had to stay at DH. Early in the season this meant Cody Brown was the odd man out for the Bulldogs.
Things got even more complicated during the first SEC series of the season for the Mississippi State baseball team. Jake Mangum was inserted as a defensive replacement for Brent Rooker in the 7th inning in Game 1 against Vanderbilt. Mangum went 1 for 2 in the extra inning game and made some key plays, so he was given the start in Right Field to reward him in Game 2.
It was in Game 2 against Vanderbilt where Jake Mangum made his mark. He went 2 for 3 and drove in the tying and go ahead runs with a single in the 8th inning. He’s been a regular starter ever since.
There are five outfielders who can contribute at a high level on the Mississippi State baseball roster. The production coming from this group is quite amazing.
The five regular outfielders for the Mississippi State baseball team are hitting .351 with 8 home runs and 87 RBIs. Their OPS, slugging plus on-base percentage is .965. They have even stolen 16 bases as well.
The one area of concern is Jacob Robson. A big reason why this team has been so successful is his ability to get on base so consistently in front of the power guys in the lineup. Robson was forced to leave the game early against Ole Miss on Sunday due to an apparent hand injury. We’ll have to see if this costs him a significant amount of time.
If he isn’t able to go, having the number of quality players available will be a huge benefit to Mississippi State baseball coach Jon Cohen. My guess is he shifts Jake Mangum over to center field and puts Brent Rooker back in the lineup in right. The question would be if Mangum slides up to the lead-off spot, and who would bat second?
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The outfield is where most teams look to get their power and drive in runs. So far, the Mississippi State baseball team is getting the production it needs from its outfielders. We’ll see how they perform against the number one team in the nation this weekend in Gainesville.