Video: Cannizaro, Pilkington Confident Heading Into 2018 Season

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI/MSU Athletics) – With Mississippi State beginning team practice on Friday at Dudy Noble Field, head coach Andy Cannizaro and Preseason All-American pitcher Konnor Pilkington met with the media on Wednesday to discuss the 2018 Diamond Dawgs, among other topics.

State has received preseason top 25 rankings from four publications so far, with the highest being No. 12 from D1 Baseball. MSU is also ranked No. 13 by Collegiate Baseball, No. 23 by Baseball America and No. 25 by Perfect Game.

In terms of individual accolades, three Diamond Dawgs have combined for six Preseason All-American honors. Pilkington has garnered three (Collegiate Baseball, D1 Baseball and Perfect Game), while junior outfielder Jake Mangum has received two (D1 Baseball and Perfect Game) and junior relief pitcher Spencer Price has one (Collegiate Baseball).

Fans will have opportunities to meet the 2018 Diamond Dawgs prior to Opening Day at a pair of free events on MSU’s campus. Fan Day is set for Sunday, Feb. 11, while Cowbell Yell will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 13.

2018 Preseason Honors

Jake Mangum – OF – Third Team Preseason All-American (D1 Baseball, Perfect Game)

Konnor Pilkington – SP – Second Team Preseason All-American (Collegiate Baseball, Perfect Game), Third Team Preseason All-American (D1 Baseball)

Spencer Price – RP – Third Team Preseason All-American (Collegiate Baseball)

Head Coach Andy Cannizaro Quotes

Opening Statement…

“Obviously, yesterday was the very first day for us to get out on the new field. It was an incredible day. We were able to get a great day of defensive work done. Lot of ground balls. Lot of fly balls. It was just a really good feeling for our guys to be able to get on the field, run around and get some of that energy and excitement going. We’ve been inside every day since August. It’s one of those things where you don’t realize what you have until it’s not there anymore. And now we had a chance to get out on the field yesterday. It was a really great day for us. Guys were flying around, lots of energy. We got a lot of great work done yesterday.”

On the team’s health…

“Health wise, everyone that is going to be available for us for the beginning of the year is ready to go right now for spring practice. Several guys who are coming back from arm injuries are back and that helps our pitching and pitching depth. Those guys are back for the most part. Ethan Small has been back with us all fall. His bullpens are going great right now. He was outstanding for us all fall. I am looking forward to seeing big things from Ethan in terms of major contributions to our 2018 baseball team. Keegan James threw live yesterday and did an outstanding job throwing strikes. In terms of getting some of these arms back from injuries, from a head coaching standpoint, that’s a great feeling and just trying to increase our depth on the mound is a really great feeling compared to a year ago where we were so short-handed on the mound.”

On who will be available…

“There will be several guys that will be joining us as the season goes on, in terms of rehab, pitch counts and getting their stamina back on the mound. Any time that you start talking about pitching and arm injuries and elbow injuries and Tommy John surgery and labrum surgery; those are major arm surgeries. It’s not one of those things where everybody bounces back so quickly. Everybody is on their own time frame in terms of coming back and being competitive on the mound. Blake Smith is back throwing again. He’ll pitch this weekend for us. He’s a fifth-year senior who had a tremendous year for us two years ago with the 2016 SEC Championship team here. I mentioned Ethan Small and Keegan James. Kale Breaux is another guy on the mound now throwing and should be able to throw this weekend for us. It’s an exciting time when you’re talking about elongating that pitching staff. I can’t speak highly enough of the job that Gary Henderson did for us a year ago, in terms of piecing that staff together and making sure that we get through all of the innings of a full, 56-game season and then obviously, a Super Regional run. I can’t speak enough about him as a pitching coach and what he was able to do last year. I’m really excited to hand him a full holster of bullets, so to speak. I’m looking forward to it. We’re rocking and rolling and ready to go.”

On the construction of the new Dudy Noble Field…

“One of the things that is outstanding about the group that’s working on [Dudy Noble Field] is those guys are working around the clock. They spend seven days a week working on Dudy Noble. We’ve been told that Friday, once our spring practice starts that we’re going to be full go on the field. We’re going to be able to scrimmage on Friday. There won’t be any restrictions. There won’t be anything we won’t be able to do on Friday in terms of preparing for our season and getting our guys ready to go for the opening weekend against Southern Miss. Yesterday was a great day on the field. We’ll be right back out there. We’ll be able to hit on the field today. Yesterday was a defensive day for us. We’re still in our individual periods right now, today and tomorrow. Obviously, Friday will be our very first day of team practice. We’ll have the whole team on the field. Obviously, there will be hitting and fielding and base running. We need to get that done in order to be ready for opening day. We’re going to start on Friday and we’re looking forward to it.”

On the goal of winning a National Championship…

“I think that’s always the goal for Mississippi State baseball. That’s one of the things that we talk about all the time. So many of the achievements that this program has done in the past, a program that has been to the College World Series nine times, a program that has been to numerous regionals and has won so many SEC championships and super regional appearances and played for a national championship as recently as 2013 — It’s had college baseball hall of famers and major leaguers with 3,000 hits. Everything that you can do in college baseball has been done here at Mississippi State with the exception of one major, massive thing. And that one major thing is that we have yet to win the very last college baseball game of the season and everybody that’s in this program, everyone that’s under the Mississippi State baseball umbrella that drives us every single day. It is a relentless pursuit of it, relentless work ethic every single day, whether it’s our current team, whether it’s recruiting, it doesn’t matter. Everything we do here is so that we can accomplish the last thing of bringing the first ever national championship here to Mississippi State. I believe that we have the best fan base in the country. The support from our administration is incredible. Everybody is all in on Mississippi State baseball and myself, our staff, our players are doing everything we possibly can to help them to be able to put that first national championship trophy up and, in doing so, representing the great players and the great history of this program. We want to win one for everyone that’s ever been a part of [the program] and put it on the national map right now.”

On anticipating this season while looking back at last season…

“I’m excited about having so many guys that were kind of thrown into the fire last year. They had to learn on the job in the SEC. It’s the toughest amateur baseball conference in the world. Its thirty games. It’s an absolute dogfight for thirty games. You don’t win the SEC; you just outlast everybody else. Offensively, we have so many guys that played major roles and made major contributions to our team and now those guys are back. Those are guys like Hunter Stovall, Elijah McNamee, Hunter Vansau, and Luke Alexander. These are guys that really had their very first taste of SEC action last year. They had incredible seasons. They’ve gone off and had great summers. All of those guys were summer ball All-Stars. They hit home runs. They played great and now they’ve all had great falls for us. Now I consider them veterans in college baseball. I expect them to have tremendous 21-year old, 22-year old seasons in college baseball this year. I feel like they have worked extremely hard and prepared themselves for the success that they’re going to have. And then we return a guy like Jake Mangum who has had two incredible years here at Mississippi State. As a freshman, he won the SEC batting title for the first time in the history of the league. Last year he hit .330 playing half of the season with a broken hand. He’s a guy that I think is going to have a tremendous junior season. He’s a guy that, when it’s all said and done, could be the SEC Player of the Year. Obviously, he’s a different mold than maybe Brent Rooker from a year ago. He’s more along the lines of a Tony Kemp from Vanderbilt several years ago where somebody is going to hit north of .400 and steal a lot of bases and impact the game in so many ways. I’m really excited about the group we have coming back offensively. Certainly, guys have made adjustments. We have several younger guys that can make an impact. Freshman Tanner Allen from Mobile, Alabama, Freshman Rowdey Jordan from Auburn, Alabama — I think both of those guys are going to find their way into our opening day lineup in some capacity. I’m not exactly sure where, but we’re going to figure that out. Both of them are extremely advanced offensive players that are going to hit the baseball, use the field and can steal bases. They have mature, veteran at bats from 18-19 year old kids. I really believe those guys are going to have tremendous freshman years for us.”

On difference between preseasons in his two seasons…

“A year ago, at this time we were still trying to learn everyone’s names. I know Jake Mangum, we competed against him last year, Brent Rooker had a tremendous season the year before, you kind of knew two or three different guys. But there were six or seven or eight that we were going to have to play that we did not know anything about and there was so much of an evaluation period that was going on a year ago at this time and now there is a greater comfort level in guys like Stovall, McNamee, Vansau, Alexander, in terms of what those guys are going to be able to bring to the table each and every day, and what they’re going to be able to do to help us win. Now we play in less than a month, it’s a matter of trying to intrasquad every single day when we are on the field. Once we get to Friday, that’s the part and piece we were not able to have in the fall. We have got to get some questions answered in terms of several positions that are still up for grabs and looking for guys to really go win jobs here in the next three weeks before opening day against an outstanding Southern Mississippi team.”

On the position battles at shortstop and catcher…

“Regardless of whether it’s Luke Alexander or Hunter Stovall, I feel like either of those guys are going to be able to play at a really high level and both of those guys are going to help us be able to win ball games [at shortstop]. I think if you are talking about Luke Alexander playing short and Hunter Stovall playing second, I think you might have one of the best middle combinations in the SEC. I think both of those guys are ready and are going to have great junior seasons with us. The battle behind the plate is going on between Marshall Gilbert and Dustin Skelton. Both of those guys have looked extremely well during their individual sessions, but ultimately it’s about going out there and performing under the lights and that catching position is really one where you need tremendous amounts of leadership. You’re looking for guys to be able to control the pitching staff and be able to receive it and block the baseball; do those things that put a really high level of importance on it in this program. That’s a battle that is going to come down to the wire I think here in the next three weeks. Somebody new is going to have to play third base, and we’re going to have to find a new first baseman too. There are positions available all over the field. I’m not exactly sure who’s going to play those spots just yet, but I feel really good about the candidates that we have that are going to fill those roles for us.”

On what his weekend starting rotation might look like…

“We have tremendous amount of confidence on Friday nights we’re going to get out of Konnor Pilkington. You’re talking about an innings eater, workforce kind of guy that’s got a chance to be a first round pick in June. After him, there’s a tremendous pool of applicants that we didn’t quite have a year ago. I think when you’re starting to talk about those guys, you’re talking about a mix of Ethan Small, Jacob Billingsley, Cole Gordon, J.P. France, and Zach Neff. I feel really good about the guys that are applicants to be able to pitch on the weekends for us. Those questions for us are going to be answered for us in the next three weeks, in terms of who it potentially may be. I’m going to look for Friday, Saturday, Sunday, to come from that pool of guys that was just mentioned. It’s going to leave us a tremendous, talented arm for a Tuesday or a Wednesday start, which is certainly going to be a welcome addition to the 2018 version of the Dawgs. Ethan Small is good to go. He is going to pitch for us Sunday in scrimmages and intrasquads, and he’s been outstanding. He is another 6’4 left handed pitcher that gets up to 95 with his fastball with a good breaking ball and change-up. He’s a guy that’s really grown-up this year in terms of the maturity and leadership of what it’s going to take to pitch on the weekends here in the SEC and he’s been outstanding. The biggest difference between Pilkington and Small — their pitch packages are the same — but we’ve got Konnor Pilkington with a tremendous track record in the SEC, having made 17 SEC starts last year on a Friday night. And I think that’s the biggest difference between the two: one has done it for two years and the other only has 10 innings here at Mississippi State due to an elbow injury. I’m looking forward to big things from those guys, but I can certainly envision going Pilkington on a Friday, Small on a Saturday. Now you’re talking about two 6’4” left handed pitchers with mid-90s fastballs, and that’s a big package to roll out there on a Friday and Saturday to roll out there and keep the score down.”