Cannizaro, Diamond Dawgs Preview 2017 Season At Media Day

MSU opens the 2017 season on Friday, Feb. 17 at 4 p.m. at Dudy Noble Field.

Cannizaro, Diamond Dawgs Preview 2017 Season At Media Day

February 11, 2017 | Baseball

STARKVILLE, Miss. – With opening day of the 2017 season for the Mississippi State baseball less than one week away, the annual on-campus media day was held Saturday morning prior to Fan Day.

Head coach Andy Cannizaro spoke highly of his team's performance in preseason practices in addition to previewing MSU's first opponent of the year—2016 College World Series team Texas Tech. Quotes from Cannizaro as well as Preseason All-Americans Brent Rooker and Jake Mangum, along with Friday-night starter Konnor Pilkington can be found below.

The Diamond Dawgs will begin the 2017 season at Dudy Noble Field on Feb. 17 at 4 p.m. CT against 2016 College World Series participant Texas Tech. Season tickets and Pick 15 Flex Pack options are on sale at HailState.com/tickets.

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Media Day Quotes

Head Coach Andy Cannizaro

Opening Statement
"First of all, I want to thank everybody for being here. It's such an exciting time of the year with the college baseball season less than a week away. Next Friday we are going to open up against a very good opponent, Texas Tech, who I think is ranked top-15 in all the polls right now, coming off a College World Series appearance last year. Their head coach, Tim Tadlock has done a tremendous job at Texas Tech. He's been a longtime head coach. He's won several national championships at Grayson Community College before he ever got to Texas Tech. He's probably one of the better head coaches in the country and a guy that I've actually known since high school. I've always kind of looked up to Tim Tadlock in terms of his teams. To be able to start my head coaching career against him is going to be a really cool opportunity. It's going to be a tremendous challenge for our team and it's one that we're really excited about. We've had a tremendous last two or three weeks of practice. I feel like our young team is getting better and better every single day that we take the field. There is so much competition on the field. We have guys that are competing for innings each and every day. We have ongoing position player battles that are coming down to the wire for us. We've got questions on the mound. We've got position player playing time questions that's going to develop while we get into the season and I think that's a great thing for us. Because we have so many young players so there will always be an opportunity to impact our team and always be an opportunity to help our team win ballgames. So for a young team that has so much inexperience, I think creating that environment of competition is the very best way to do this right now. Guys have really performed well. Some guys have outperformed others. I've always believed in the theory that if you put guys on the field and let them compete against each other, the cream truly does rise to the top. That's a model that I've gone into the past couple of weeks with. Put them on the field in head to head competition. Show me you can play. Show our coaching staff who can help our team win. Show Gary Henderson who he can trust to put out on the mound because that opening weekend, we are going to have 36 minutes to play against some really tough competition. So there are innings available. There are at bats available. There's playing time available, but I know one thing, we'll be ready to play when those lights come on and the best fans in college baseball show up next Friday at four o'clock against Texas Tech. I know our team will be ready to play and be prepared and give us their very best effort every single day. I'm excited to get this thing cranked up. I'm looking forward to the start of the 2017 season. I feel good about where we are right now."

On his style of baseball…
"One of my coaching philosophies is that we are going to play the game, offensively the way that I used to play the game offensively. And that means we're going to put pressure on the defense, we want to be aggressive on the fastball. We're not going to strike out. We are going to take a lot of pride in putting the ball in play, making the other team pick the ball up and throw us out. I believe in putting pressure on young players, defensively. Make the defense handle the baseball. The last two seasons I coached at LSU, we had by far the fewest strikeouts out of any team in the SEC. We led the league in hitting in those past two seasons there. That was a philosophy that our players really bought into. Being aggressive and looking to swing at impact pitches that you can do damage with offensively, but once you get to two strikes it's going to be an absolute fist fight in the batter's box. Put the ball in play It becomes a pride thing. We have to be better than the guy standing on the mound. Put it in play and make somebody pick the ball up and throw you out. I really believe that we can cut down on strikeouts and make the defense handle the baseball, they're going to make errors. They're going to do things that allow you to take an extra base, that allow you to win games. On the mound, we are going to throw strikes. Throw the ball over the plate and make the other team swing. That is a philosophy that I've had since I played. There was nothing that bothered me more, playing shortstop, than a pitcher out there walking the yard. Throw it over the plate. Put the ball in play. I really believe that this team is going to defend at a really high level. We have outfielders that can absolutely fly in the outfield which is what I love. I believe that we have two or three centerfielders that are going to be in the outfield for us at any given time. I think that we have three guys that are very capable of playing shortstop on the infield. One is going to play short. One is going to play third. One is going to play second. I think that we're going to defend at a really high level. Its going to be of the utmost to throw it over the plate and get ahead in the count. We want to live in 0-1 counts. Hitting is really hard to do. It is really difficult to do. If we can make the other team swing the bat and put it in play early in the count, limit our pitch count and try to leave our starting pitchers out there as long as they can and pitching to contact early in the count, I think our starting pitchers will start standing out on the mound longer which will get us to our bullpen which we have a lot of confidence in right now. So to recap my answer, we're going to put pressure on the defense and be aggressive. We're not going to strike out. We're going to defend at a high level, play fast and put pressure on the defense. That's my philosophy."

On the expected pitching rotation for the year…
"Starting pitching for us is an ongoing battle every single day and every single weekend. Today is a gigantic opportunity for guys to win innings. Tomorrow will be a gigantic opportunity to guys to win innings. Yesterday we probably had our best pitching performance of the spring so far. We matched up Konnor Pilkington against Ryan Cyr. Both of those guys threw the ball exceptionally well. I can go ahead and announce right now that Konnor Pilkington is going to be our Friday night starter. He's a 6'3", 230 pound, physical left-handed pitcher who's going to run his fastball up to 93 or 94 miles per hour with a plus breaking ball and a swing and miss changeup. He's an innings eater, workhorse type of guy. He pounds the strike zone. He's a guy, in my opinion and the opinion of the coaching staff, that will be the next great Mississippi State pitcher. He's only a sophomore so we're going to have him for the next two years and I think he's going to have a chance to leave here next year as a high first round draft pick guy. He will be our Friday night starter. Like I said, Ryan Cyr threw the ball really well yesterday. Cole Gordon is going to get an opportunity today. Peyton Plumlee is going to get an opportunity today. Tomorrow, Graham Ashcraft is going to be out on the mound. Guy are going to have opportunities all the way until Sunday to go out there and win those innings for next weekend. So right now, I still think it's a little too early to announce what we're going to do. Those names of guys I just mentioned are kind of in the pool right now that we think could start for us. But we feel really good about our bullpen as well. We have several veterans back there that return from last year's SEC championship team. They had gigantic years last year. I have the utmost confidence turning the ball over to in the seventh, eighth or ninth inning. It's a bullpen that's veteran. It's a bullpen that has a proven track record in the SEC. Anytime that you feel good about the last third of the game, there's a certain comfort level that comes with that. Now it's just a matter of finding those Saturday and Sunday starters. I can envision that that Saturday and Sunday role for us might change several times depending on the matchups, depending on who we're playing, depending on who's feeling well and those types of things. It is competition. If I knew who our Saturday and Sunday starter was going to be, I promise that I'd let you know. We're going to intrasquad today, so I invite everyone to come on out to see for yourself. It's a battle every single day for innings and I think that's the perfect way to do this right now."

On the prestige of coaching at Mississippi State…
"It surprised me. I always had a feeling that this was an incredible place for college baseball, and it's been even better than I could have anticipated. The residents and the people of Starkville have been amazing to myself and my family without even having played a game yet. It's the Mecca of college baseball. We have people out in the left field lounge for practice every day. Just the excitement that you can feel around the town building around college baseball season. You can start to feel it. Then we had the Cowbell Yell the other night where 1,000 people showed up. It was a college baseball pep rally. That doesn't happen anywhere else in the country. With that said, I really do believe that this is the Mecca of college baseball. This is the single coolest place to play college baseball. I'm really excited to be here and I know our coaching staff is fired up. I know our players are excited. I just can't wait to get everything started."

On Mississippi State's catchers this season…
"The catching position might be the single most important spot on the field. That's a spot this year that I have a tremendous amount of confidence in. I feel that we are three-deep right now behind the plate with Josh Lovelady, a returning senior that got hurt last year. Elih Marrero is a sophomore and Dustin Skelton is a freshman. I think anytime you can start the season with three catchers, we have a tremendous comfort level with that. Because in that position, you're only a foul tip away from a foul tip off the wrist or a foul tip off the finger. So those guys can go down pretty quickly. Once you start trying to find a position player that can go back there and catch, it can put a lot of stress on your pitching staff and then your team. We have three guys behind the plate and I anticipate all three guys playing for us next weekend in some capacity. I think all three of them bring something to the table. Josh Lovelady has a incredible leadership ability. He's the best that we have in terms of handling the staff and his maturity level, being able to direct our pitchers and being able to communicate with them. Elih Marrero is probably our most athletic guy behind the plate. He can really throw. He's a switch hitter. He plays with a lot of aggression and a lot of energy. He plays fast and loves playing baseball. Dustin Skelton is an outstanding talented young freshman for us who has done an outstanding job offensively. He has been one of our leading hitters for us these past couple of weeks. Dustin has continuously gotten better and better for us behind the plate. There's a learning curve for Dustin just as far as having to catch 88 to 94 miles per hour most days. You don't see that in high school. He needs to learn how to handle those guys and catch balls and block balls and take a step up in terms of leadership. Those are all things he's going to do the longer the position here. Three guys that I'm really excited about. All three of them will play. And I think that all three will have a positive impact on our team throughout the course of the season."

On the MSU infield…
"I feel really good about our infield right now. I think we have three guys that have the ability to play shortstop. Anytime that you have that, you feel great. As a coach, you feel great because you know they're going to pick the ball up and throw the runner out. That's one of the biggest things that we talk about every day. Our guys probably get really tired of hearing me say, take care of the baseball. I want them to play good catch, and by that I mean, just keep the game simple. All I have to do is pick it up and throw them out. I'm not looking for the Sportscenter web gem plays. Just be that good, consistent fielder on the infield. Ryan Gridley is going to be our shortstop and Ryan Gridley has been sensational. I was really impressed with Ryan last year when I was at LSU and we played Mississippi State. He's a guy that can really defend at a high level. He has leadership ability. He's a consistent defender and very accurate throwing the ball. He keeps on getting better and better. I'm really convinced that Ryan Gridley is going to be one of the surprise baseball players of the SEC this year. He's got range and he comes and gets the baseball as well as any college baseball player I've ever seen. He's going to be our shortstop. Luke Alexander to won the job over at third base for us. Luke is another guy that was competing with Ryan over at shortstop, so Luke is going to slide over and play second base. He defends at a really high level for us as well. He's new to the position over at third base, but already in the first week in a half he's made plays that I don't think anyone else on our team was capable of doing. He has a strong throwing arm. He's going to strictly hit right-handed now. He was a switch hitter in the past, but now he's going to hit strictly right handed. He's using the field. He's aggressive and confident. Hunter Stovall will more than likely be our second baseman. Hunter is a grinder and a gritty player. He loves to play the game. He's the first guy on the field every day and the last guy to leave. I think he's kind of a table setter type guy that can bunt, run and play the short game. Reminds me a lot of the guy we had playing second base last year at LSU, Cole Freeman who was an All-SEC player last year. I think Hunter Stovall could be that type of player for us. He's only a sophomore so I think the more playing time Hunter gets, the better he's going to get. He's a really high energy type of guy. He brings a really good presence to the field for us.

We have several options at first base. Cole Gordon is a big, strong, physical, left-handed guy. I think he's tied with Brent Rooker right now. He has five home runs in the past couple of weeks. Cody Brown, the senior, has also been working some over at first as well. I have a big comfort level with Cody because he's been through this league. He's a veteran in college baseball and gives us competitive at bats every single day. He has a leadership ability as well so hopefully those guys are going to get some playing time over at first base. With that being said, college baseball has a long season. We can have all these thoughts on how your team is going to be opening night, but then its always an ongoing battle. Players are always looking to get an opportunity to help your team win. And there's going to be guys that get off to slow starts and there are going to be guys that get opportunities. College baseball goes that way every year. Someone that you're not anticipating being a big presence on your team, ultimately comes out and surprises everybody. Then once the year is over you're always saying, 'man am I happy that guy had that type of year for us'. Everyone is going to get an opportunity to give back to the team. Like I said, it's a competition. Go wild. Win the job. Keep the job. Do everything you can to help Mississippi State win as many games as possible.

On the excitement of coaching his first game at Dudy Noble Field
"I am so fired up to get started next Friday. I think my nature is to be a positive, high-energy type of guy. Baseball is fun. It's one of the most fun games in the world. There's nothing better than taking the field and going and competing against another team. I've been that way since the day I was born. I can remember playing my mom in Candyland and being so competitive and hating to lose. That's one of the biggest traits that I had as a player that allowed me to be successful: I hate to lose. I probably hate to lose more than I like to win. I want to do everything that I can to prepare our players the very best success that they can have in a Mississippi State uniform. So for myself, and I haven't played in 7 years, the fact that I get to be on the field every single day in a uniform helping young players become better is a dream come true for me. This is the perfect job. This is the dream job for myself, to be a division one head baseball coach, to be the head coach here at Mississippi State University. It's unbelievable. So next Friday are we excited? Absolutely. I'm actually dying to run out there at shortstop with Ryan Gridley and field ground balls. I can't wait for these guys to get out there. We've got five or six more days. They're really important days. And like I've said, when our guys are out on the field, they have given us everything that they have for their time they're out there. I just want them to experience the success. That drives me every day. It drives our practices, too. If it's not going the way that we want it to go, then we stop the practice and remind them of our goals, remind them of the things that we want to do. I'm not a big yeller or screamer but I want to communicate with our players to help them become the best that they can be. If we maximize each guy's skill level, then Mississippi State is going to win a lot of games this year."

RJr. - Brent Rooker - OF

On how the coaching change has affected practice…
"The atmosphere is always going to be the same here, no matter who the coach is. The atmosphere is always going to be an atmosphere where we play hard, we compete every day, we work hard every day, we compete with each other during practice, and then we go out there and we try to win every game by playing hard and giving our best effort. Coach Cannizaro has brought in an unbelievable new energy to the program though, we're really excited to play for him. He does a phenomenal job being really hands on with everything we do, whether it be in practice or outside of practice. He's done a great job so far and we're just ready to get started."

On reasons for returning after being drafted following the 2016 season…
"There are a lot of reasons. Personally, I think I have more to accomplish at the college level. My goal is to make it to the big leagues, it's not to get drafted, so I thought coming back to school another year, having that year of development, was a big key for me. As a team, the way last year ended kind of left a sour taste in my mouth. I think we have more to accomplish as a team, I would say our goal is to get to Omaha like it is every single year, and I think we have the talent to do that. I think we have a really good chance to make a run and go to Omaha."

On what national polls say about Mississippi State heading into the season…
"National polls are just based around guys that they know are coming back. The thing is, we have really good players coming back, it's just that some people don't really know about them yet because they were maybe backups last year on a really good team or maybe they just came in from JUCO or something. We have really talented guys that a lot people just don't know about yet. We have guys who are hungry to prove themselves and who are going to have really big years for us."

So. - Konnor Pilkington - P

On being announced as opening day starter…
"I was ecstatic. I'm really looking forward to it. Texas Tech was ranked high in everything, but it really doesn't mean anything to me. I'm just going to go out there and give them all I have."

On comparing coach Cannizaro and former head coach John Cohen…
"They both have winning mindsets. Coach Cannizaro, I feel like he really understands the players. Having him as our head coach has meant the world to us so far, and he's really brought a lot to the table."

On working with pitching coach Gary Henderson…
"When you can control your body, the speed is going to come. When you can put it to one side of the plate and then to the outside of the plate, being able to bounce that curve ball in the dirt or putting a changeup right where you want in any count, that's really what he preaches on."

So. - Jake Mangum - OF

On Coach Cannizaro…
"He does a great job of teaching us how to be ready to hit. Hitting is just so mental. Everyone at this stage has a good swing, has talent, but mentally, can you figure out how to hit? And that's what makes the jump, and I think Coach Cannizaro is the perfect coach for us."

On Coach Cannizaro's "hands-on" approach…
"Coach is immediately letting you know what you did wrong or what you need to get better at, and that's what's awesome about him. He's able to stop the game and let you know immediately, hey, this is what you need to do better if we're going to win. He's been through it, he's played for some awesome coaches and he knows how to coach. He's going to win a lot of ballgames, he's going to be a great recruiter, great coach, just a great person to lead this program to where we need to go. I can't wait to watch him do it."