Dakota Hudson has had a year of performances in which he looked unhittable, but he also looked very mediocre at times.
The talent has always been there for Dakota Hudson. The question has always been if he would be able to put it all together and be the dominant pitcher he was supposed to be.
Forecast: Starkville Super Regional Forecast
For the most part in 2016, Hudson has lived up to what many thought he could be. Dakota Hudson has a 9-4 record with 109 strikeouts in 106.2 innings with just 34 walks.
As the 2016 season began, we were told Dakota Hudson would be a lock for a first round pick in the MLB Amateur Draft that took place on Thursday night. He was picked in the first round, but just barely. With the last pick in the first round, the St. Louis Cardinals selected Dakota Hudson with their final selection in the round.
Many people predicted Dakota Hudson to go around 10th and no later than 20th. But as the night went on, Hudson continued to fall. Many believed the Jekyll and Hyde nature to some of his performances had a lot to do with Hudson plummeting the way he did.
There was a four stretch start for Dakota Hudson where he gave up 19 runs in 23 innings against Florida, Texas A&M, LSU, and Alabama. He reminded us all of the ace he is in the last three games of the SEC Regular Season, but his last two performances in the SEC Tournament and Regional looked more like those head scratching starts. In both games, Hudson allowed six earned runs in 8.1 innings pitched, walked five batters, and gave up 13 hits.
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The Bulldogs are capable of winning games when Dakota Hudson is not at his best. They have proven that on a number of occasions throughout this season. They are also capable of winning a series if they lose a game Hudson starts. They did it against the number 1 seed in the tournament.
But life is a lot easier on the Bulldogs when they don’t have to worry about those things. I could be totally wrong, but I don’t think Arizona will pitch their ace Nathan Bannister until Saturday at the earliest. Bannister threw 198 pitches in the span of three days last weekend just to get to this point.
While it is an assumption, it is a relatively safe assumption that Dakota Hudson will pitch today for the Bulldogs. If Hudson shuts down the Wildcats, and the Bulldogs pull off the win, then Arizona will almost have to pitch Bannister on Saturday. He’d likely still be feeling the affects of such a heavy workload.
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The Bulldogs need Dakota Hudson to bring his A game for the rest of his Mississippi State career. He’ll start once this weekend, and if the Bulldogs can make it to Omaha, he could have two additional starts depending on how deep of a run in the CWS the Bulldogs were to advance. If he does bring his best, the chances of Mississippi State changing some numbers to their historical markers on the outfield wall would be pretty high.