Heading into the 2024 Mississippi State baseball season, some Mississippi State Bulldogs are getting some really solid recognition and respect. And it seems like some new Mississippi State baseball players are among those being recognized.
D1 Baseball has named four new Miss. State Bulldogs to their Top 130 Impact Transfer list ahead of the 2024 NCAA college baseball season. And as it turns out, all four of those players are within the top 100 of said list.
Here are those four who made the list, according to a press release from Mississippi State's athletics department:
Four Mississippi State baseball players named to D1 Baseball Top 130 Impact Transfer list ahead of 2024 college baseball season
Starting off the list for the Bulldogs is Logan Kohler, who has played for both the Oklahoma Sooners and the Memphis Tigers. Last year with Memphis, Kohler had a solid season, recording a .328 batting average, hitting 10 home runs, having 32 RBIs, and hitting 12 doubles. That's an important bat to add to this roster.
Cam Schuelke is the first of three new Mississippi State baseball pitchers to make this list. Ranked at No. 75, Schuelke arrived in Starkville from the junior college ranks having helped the College of Central Florida with 32 relief appearances and a stellar 2.09 ERA. That ERA showed up with nine wins, eight saves, 86 strikesouts, and 60.1 innings pitched. The Bulldogs need help pitching and they likely got it.
Khal Stephen, ranked at No. 53, is set to join the Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team after two years of playing NCAA baseball for the Purdue Boilermakers. The pitcher performed well for the Boilermakers and he received conference recognition last season. And in last season, Stephen led the Boilermakers by striking out 66 foes across 76 innings and recording seven wins.
And last but certainly not least is Karson Ligon, the highest rated of the four Bulldogs. Coming in at No. 27 on the list, Ligon is an experienced right handed pitcher who came to Starkville from Miami. In his two seasons playing for the Miami Hurricanes, Ligon made 26 appearances, started in 25 games, and threw 104 strikeouts in 126 innings. Oh, and he had a respectable 4.86 ERA through that time.
All things considered, the additions of Stephen, Schuelke, and Ligon are pretty important for a pitching staff that was as messy as MSU's was over the past couple seasons.
Chris Lemonis and the Mississippi State baseball team need to have a bounce back season. Theoretically speaking, these four transfer additions could help the Miss. State Bulldogs considerably throughout this season.