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Mississippi State Baseball: Brent Rooker’s Quest For The SEC Triple Crown Update

By Nathan Wright

Jul 1, 2016; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Detailed view of the baseball bat of San Francisco Giants outfielder Gregor Blanco against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 1, 2016; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Detailed view of the baseball bat of San Francisco Giants outfielder Gregor Blanco against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /
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After two solid performances Monday night against Southern Miss, Brent Rooker gets closer to becoming the SEC’s first triple crown winner since 1984.

With a couple of days remaining before Mississippi State‘s next baseball game, let’s take a look at what Brent Rooker needs to do in order to win the conference triple crown.

Below are the current statistical leaders in each of the Triple Crown categories (Players of teams that are still playing are in bold):

Home Runs

1st (SEC) Brent Rooker, MSU – 23

2nd (SEC) Chad Spanberger, Ark – 20

3rd (SEC) Greg Deichmann, LSU – 19

Runs Batted In

1st (SEC) Brent Rooker, MSU – 82

2nd (SEC) Greg Deichmann, LSU 69

There is a 3-way tie for 3rd (SEC) between Chad Spanberger, Braden Shewmake, and Riley Mahan – 67

Batting Average

1st (SEC) Brent Rooker, MSU – .395

2nd (SEC) Jonah Todd, AU – .376

3rd (SEC) Tristan Pompey, Evan White, UK – .368

Players done for the season:

Chad Spanberger and Arkansas are now done for the season. Brent Rooker will finish ahead of him in home runs and RBIs .

Jonah Todd and his Auburn Tigers are also done for the season. Todd’s batting average is locked in at .376.

Rooker’s remaining competition:

While Jonah Todd and Evan White still remain in the hunt for the batting average title, the only real threat of ruining Brent Rooker’s Triple Crown hopes is Greg Deichmann. Deichmann is certainly one of the best hitters in the league, but he’ll have his work cut out for him if he plans to stand in the way of Rooker winning the Crown.

Brent Rooker leads Deichmann in home runs by four and while that may not seem like a lot, it definitely won’t be an easy task for Deichmann to pass Rooker with the season winding down. I think there are a couple of issues that might present a problem for Deichmann as he tries to catch Brent Rooker in home runs. First, teams will try pitching around him. He’s a dangerous hitter and you’ve got to think that teams will be smart when pitching to him. With MSU playing the Tigers this weekend, I can see the Bulldog pitching staff using this strategy.

Second, he will probably need to reach Omaha to have a chance, and we know that home runs are a rarity at TD Ameritrade. Hitting four home runs this weekend will be difficult. The most likely way for Deichmann to pass Rooker in home runs is if LSU goes on a run in the College World Series.

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The same goes for RBIs, in which Rooker has a 13 RBI lead. It’s highly unlikely that Greg Deichmann is able to catch Rooker in RBIs this weekend. So again, he would probably need to have a huge run in the CWS to catch Brent Rooker.

It’s also important to note that this would need to be done with Rooker not adding anymore to his stats. Brent Rooker just might have something to prove this weekend, and if he does, he might just win himself a Triple Crown.

Both MSU and LSU are guaranteed to play at least two more games.

*Note: all stats can be found here.

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