From 14-18, State’s QB stability was a best case scenario (McClendon was 3rd with attempted 47 passes). Since 2019, it’s been a disaster: 9 QBs have attempted more than 47 passes, Bailey is 3rd on that list. I don’t think they need Bailey to be great, they just need stability.

Thinking about football. Opportunities pop up out of nowhere. 2023 was Dave’s best chance to win the league. 2021 was his best team. Expectations weren’t there for either of those teams. I wonder if another opportunity pops up this year.

Torvik preseason projections for non-conf schedule (State is 39):.Central 341.UAB 126.UNCG 269.VCU 51.Seton Hall 111.USC 25/Boise 49.ASU 70/Texas 36/WSU 143.Auburn 26.UNCA 223.Liberty 80.Kansas 17.Texas Southern 257.Ole Miss 43.

Credit to the ACC voters for getting their ducks in a row this year— their order of finish is nearly identical to Vegas odds. Tiers are clear going into the year:.Clemson, Miami, SMU, GT, Louisville. FSU, Duke, UNC, VT, Pitt, State.UVA, Syracuse, Stanford, Cal, Wake, BC.

Three main position player losses are Sosa, DeCriscio and Hogue. They totaled 6.65 WAR. They’ve more or less been replaced by Bargo, Wiggins and Peifer who totaled 5.97 WAR last year and 13.92 in their career. Easily State’s best portal cycle to this point.

Here’s how I see the lineup.Locks: McHugh, Nixon, Head, Peifer, Lanphere, Wiggins, Bargo. Johnson/Ryan battle at SS, Fraasman/Mitchell/Novy battle for 1 spot. Wiggins has negative DRS, but too good of a prospect to DH, McHugh OF likely ends and corner OF spots will be competitive.

14 and 21 are State’s best draft classes ever. The group of Marohn, Dudan, Head, McHugh and Wiggins project to surpass both of them, with others (Consiglio, Andrews, Nixon) lurking. Nobody will beat the duo of Rodon and Turner but this is 5 legitimately possible big leaguers.

Bargo has been a full time player in the SEC for 3 years. Known commodity and consistent with 5.3 career WAR. Power is his calling card with 27 homers and 56 XBH in his career. K rate is high at 26% but you live with it, should be a plug and play middle of the order bat.

Wiggins is a data darling with some obvious fixes that could make him a monster: swing the bat more and pull fly balls.

Andrew Wiggins is another major prospect in next year’s draft. Toolsy but has not come close to his ceiling yet. He has a .909 OPS, 125 wRC+ and more BBs than Ks in 256 career plate appearances, despite a jacked up 58% fly balls and 26% ground balls. Fix that and he will take off.

Did the baseball team decide to get serious about NIL?.

Without West, State is going to need Peifer to hit. wRC+ fell from a 116 to 67 last year. Biggest difference is BABIP from .361 to .271 and BBs 11% to 7.5%. Other underlying numbers were the same: Ks at 18%, 44% FBs, 8% HR/FBs. Need to get more power + positive BABIP regression.

Seems like it’s an unknown as to whether or not Khamil Pierre will be eligible. If she is, slots in as 1A/1B with Brooks and fits a massive need. Can’t do much better than her in the portal. Biggest strengths:.11.3 BPM.23% DREB.11% OREB.113 oRTG.11% TOs.

Offensive needs:.1) add a lower level portal bat to mash at DH.2) Nixon and Head to run. 20 combined steals needs to triple.3) Lanphere, McHugh, Novy, Fraasman combined for 22 HRs and had the 4 highest GB% on the team. Those 4 specifically need to elevate the ball.

Losing West and Hogue is tough. Surprised by Hogue— 15 months after a devastating injury, awesome for him. With Andrews back (Peissel, Consiglio looming too), rotation is interesting. And by interesting I mean terrified to see what they do.

MLB draft starts tomorrow. As always, anybody picked in the first 10 rounds is gone. 11th round and later is when it gets interesting

Synergy has DRS available from '23-'25, here's where Peifer stacks up with what we've seen:.Cozart 19.Peifer 18.3.Peifer 10.4.Makarewicz 10.1.Butterworth 9.4.Serrano (CF) 9.3.Groover 8.4.Nolan 8.Head 7.7.Nixon 7.2.McHugh 6.8.Serrano (1B) 6.7.Heavner 6.5.Nixon 6.5.Harrison 6.2.

Wyatt Peifer from JMU committed. Career 86 wRC+, but nearly 6 total WAR from his defense at third base. 2024 he was the best defensive infielder in the country with 18.3 DRS.

Lanphere.Pitches framed: 417.Framing: -0.66.Throwing: 0.07.Blocking: 0.7. Sosa.Pitches framed: 941.Framing: -2.15.Throwing: -0.65.Blocking: -0.48. Lanphere has good exit velos at the plate, 17% BBs/18% Ks, but just 32.3% fly balls. If he hits the ball in the air his bat will play.

Lanphere has given State 1 WAR combined the last 2 seasons (198 PAs). 81 wRC+ and 0 DRS to get there. Technically a moneyball move but not what I was looking for defensively.