Here’s a new one. Stop me if you have heard this one before — an SEC team will start the season as the unanimous No. 1 in the polls.
Well, that pretty much rules out basketball, leaving football and baseball as the sports the Southeastern Conference seems to dominate on a yearly basis.
The 2016 baseball season cranked up last week with Florida sitting atop all six preseason baseball polls, and you shouldn’t hear much argument about that.
The Gators made the College World Series last year and return many core contributors for 2016, including junior left-handed pitcher A.J. Puk — considered by most the top draft eligible player in college baseball this season.
Puk has always had electric stuff, but he was able to harness it in the second half of last season, and now is the favorite to be the SEC Player of the Year.
Florida has made it to Omaha nine times but never won it all. That might change this season as the Gators are loaded with talent.
Much has been made of the Gators’ pitching staff, but they also have sophomore J.J. Schwarz, who hit .332 last season with 18 homers and 73 runs batted in.
Florida isn’t the only SEC squad to look out for, though. In addition to the Gators, the league has three more teams ranked in the top seven in Texas A&M, Vanderbilt and LSU. In all, 10 SEC teams were ranked in the top 25 by at least one of the six polls.
Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin has built arguably the SEC’s most powerful program. The Commodores won the national title in 2014, nearly did it again last season and show no signs of stopping anytime soon. Corbin has to replace more talent than most — the Commodores lost three first-round MLB draft picks in June — but recent history indicates Vanderbilt will be a contender once again.
Many expect this to be a bounce-back year for Mississippi State. The Bulldogs played in the College World Series championship series in 2013 but struggled with a 24-30 record last season, including an 8-22 mark in the SEC.
Much of that improvement though will hinge on the team’s ability to stay healthy and the pitching of Austin Sexton and Dakota Hudson. Both have shown great stuff in the preseason and are part of what head coach John Cohen thinks might be his deepest pitching staff.
He told the media at MSU’s recent fan day that 20 Bulldog pitchers have hit 90 on the gun, with eight having thrown 93 or better and four having eclipsed 95.
One of those pitchers tossing upwards of 95 will determine whether the staff will take the jump from above average to elite is Hudson, the team’s likely Friday night starter. If the junior can duplicate his performance from summer ball in the Cape Cod, he’ll give State its first SEC ace pitcher since Chris Stratton in 2012.
But first he will have to prove he now has better control of his command.
It will also be interesting to see if junior Zac Houston earns a spot in the weekend rotation. He is the flame thrower of the staff and tossed 98 or better multiple times over the fall and spring. He pitched solely out of the pen last season, but Cohen believes Houston is more comfortable right now in a starting role.
MSU might have a chance to jump back in the top half of the toughest league in the nation if the pitchers live up to expectations.
To do so, the Dogs will have to overcome a brutal schedule that includes games in Los Angeles against UCLA, USC and Oklahoma along with a home series against Oregon. Then consider this SEC road schedule that includes trips to Nashville, Gainesville, Baton Rouge, Tuscaloosa and Auburn.
• Contact Bill Burrus at 581-7237 or bburrus@gwcommonwealth.com.
