Mississippi State missing out on top-ranked ex-Virginia players in portal

If the latest reports are true, Mississippi State won’t have one of the top-ranked players in the transfer portal follow Brian O’Connor to Starkville.

On3’s Sam Gillenwater is reporting that former Virginia shortstop Eric Becker will be withdrawing from the transfer portal and return to Virginia, who hired former Duke coach Chris Pollard to replace O’Connor.

Combine that with the news that former Virginia outfielder Henry Ford committing to Tennessee and Notre Dame catcher Carson Tinney committing to Texas, and Bulldog fans might feel a little disappointed.

It’s understandable. When O’Connor was hired and former Virginia players filled half of the top 10 ranked players in the transfer portal, there was some hope those Cavaliers would follow O’Connor to Starkville.

That hope was buoyed when three former Virginia players – all ranked inside the top 40 players in the portal by 64 Analytics – committed to Mississippi State. Then a few days later, outfielder Aidan Teel committed to Mississippi State.

Since then, the Bulldogs have gotten transfer portal commitments from players without an obvious connection to O’Connor. That hasn’t been a bad thing. The Bulldogs currently have the top-rated transfer portal class.

But seeing at least one former Virginia player opt to withdraw from the portal, another go to an SEC team and a catcher many had on the Bulldogs’ watch list went to another SEC team.

Again, it’s an understandable feeling, but rest assured O’Connor is doing exactly what he was brought to Starkville to do: build a championship roster.

Let’s look at what a potential Mississippi State lineup would like based on current players, transfers and signees:

Lineup

C: Kevin Milewski
1B: Blake Bevis
2B: Reed Stallman
SS: Ryder Woodson
3B: Ace Reese
LF: Gehrig Frei
CF: Aidan Teel
RF: Vytas Valincius/James Nunnallee
DH: Chone James

Weekend Pitching Rotation

SP1: Tomas Valincius
SP2: Ben Davis
SP3: Jackson Logar

How many Mississippi State fans would be upset with that lineup? Not many.

At this point, though, it’s impossible to accurately predict what the Bulldogs roster will look like next season, let alone starting lineups and pitcher rotations. There’s still the potential for more transfer portal commitments and the MLB Draft next month will have an impact.

In fact, the MLB Draft might have the biggest impact on the Bulldogs’ roster. Just for fun, let’s assume O’Connor is able to convince Mississippi State’s drafted players to all return for another season. Here’s what that lineup could look like:

Lineup

C: Kevin Milewski
1B: Blake Bevis
2B: Gatlin Sanders
SS: Ryder Woodson
3B: Ace Reese
LF: Gehrig Frei
CF: Aidan Teel
RF: Vytas Valincius/James Nunnallee
DH: Noah Sullivan

Weekend Pitching Rotation

SP1: Pico Kohn
SP2: Tomas Valincius
SP3: Jack Bauer

The lineup doesn’t change much, but the additions of Sanders and Sullivan is a definite improvement and that pitching rotation would be in contention for the best in the nation (that’s without considering the talent sitting in the bullpen).

Will that happen? Highly unlikely. Kohn and Sullivan are likely to go pro and Sanders could too. Bauer is more a wildcard and, reportedly, prefers to enter the college ranks first.

But this, hopefully, puts what O’Connor has done in less than a month into some kind of perspective for you, the reader.

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