A More Comfortable Mule
February 10, 2022 | Baseball, Joel Coleman
Brad Cumbest looks to benefit from a full focus on baseball.
STARKVILLE – For 15 years, every fall was the same for Brad Cumbest. The Mississippi State outfielder – known nearly just as well by his nickname, 'Mule' – was fully focused on football.
From the gridiron at East Central High School down in Hurley, Mississippi, to the cowbell-clanging coliseum that is MSU's Davis Wade Stadium, falls were always for football.
Then came the fall of 2021. The pads were popping, but there was no Cumbest to be found. For the first time in a decade and a half, Mule was away from the game.
"It was kind of different," Cumbest admitted, most likely underselling how weird it was.
Not playing on the gridiron was an easy decision for Cumbest to make. Why? Well, he didn't have much choice.
"I dislocated my shoulder [in the 2020] football season," Cumbest disclosed. "So, I had to have surgery on my labrum as soon as we got back from [winning the College World Series in] Omaha. That was my determining factor on if I was going to [play football or play only baseball]."
The procedure was done. Cumbest healed. Then the fall rolled around. With no football to concern himself with, Cumbest had the chance to go through some fall workouts with the baseball Bulldogs. It's that added time on the diamond that has Cumbest feeling perhaps more comfortable than he's ever felt headed into a baseball season.
"I feel like I'm ready to roll right now," Cumbest said. "I feel good. When [pitchers] throw the ball at me, it doesn't look so small anymore. Not right now at least."
This is a young man that has often had to play catch up when it came to his baseball career. While his MSU teammates grew and developed in the fall months, Cumbest basically always went from June to February with very little in the way of at-bats or fielding drills. The result has been that it has taken Cumbest a little extra time each baseball season before he's completely right at the plate.
Last June, only days before the Bulldogs won it all, Cumbest explained his usual early-season feeling this way:
"Dude, I felt like somebody was shooting BBs out of a Red Ryder at me up there at the plate," Cumbest said at the time. "I couldn't even see the ball. So, it just took a little time."
Early-season issues aside, he's still found success. He hit .286 as a freshman back in 2019 in limited playing time. Cumbest struggled in the COVID-pandemic-shortened 2020 season (perhaps because it didn't offer him the time he needed to get back in a baseball groove), then in 2021, Cumbest put together his best year yet for the Diamond Dawgs.
Cumbest hit at a .306 clip with five homers and 21 RBI last season for MSU as he helped the Bulldogs to the school's first-ever national championship. Many of Cumbest's big hits came down the stretch – once again a sign he might've gotten better as the season went along. He essentially became a lineup regular for State by the latter stages of the season.
But the best Mule might still be left to come. Consistency is the next step for Cumbest. He's been hard at work to find it.
"[Cumbest] and [hitting coach Jake Gautreau] have a great relationship and Brad has had to learn a lot on the offensive side [about] the consistency of being a great player," State head coach Chris Lemonis said. "Brad in the past would have a good at-bat or a good swing. You'd watch him in [batting practice] and there's nobody better in batting practice, but [he's had to learn] the consistency of being a great player [in games]."
Cumbest believes he's getting there. He's certainly been putting in the effort to get there.
"I've been working on my stance and swing and staying more inside the ball and staying in my legs and learning how to drive the ball to all fields," Cumbest said.
Put simply, Cumbest is trying to become a more well-rounded hitter – a more reliable at-bat each turn through the order for the Bulldogs.
But it's not just Cumbest's on-field performance that he wants to take a step up in. He wants to be a leader for the Bulldogs and help the team absorb the blow of losing longtime stalwarts like Tanner Allen and Rowdey Jordan. He wants to help set the tone.
You could see glimpses of that a week ago. Meeting the media for the first time this season, Cumbest was asked about the pressures of MSU having a target on its back following a title-winning season. Suddenly, Cumbest's maturity shined through with a response that reflects an aggressive mentality he hopes trickles down through the squad.
"I don't think it's like that," Cumbest said. "We're going to be gunning for THEM. The target's on their backs. We're just going to attack."
It almost sounded like something a football player would say. Only this wasn't a football player. Not now.
This was the singularly-focused Brad Cumbest – the full-time Mississippi State Diamond Dawg version. And he might very well be on the doorstep of his biggest-yet baseball breakthrough.
"I'm looking forward to him having a big year," MSU head coach Chris Lemonis said of Cumbest. "I think he's one of the better players in our league if he can do it consistently."
