Mizzou Baseball

Nothing puts me in the mood for baseball talk more than freezing temperatures and sleet. I know we don't have many here who follow Mizzou's team, but I've been having baseball withdrawal lately so if nothing else, figured I would talk to myself here.

Really interested to see how this years team does. Most have picked Mizzou to finish last in the east. I don't buy it. Our bats won't be any worse than they were last year. I can't imagine our fielding will be any worse than last year either. So if those two areas of the game improve, the next biggest question is how will the pitching compare? We lose Rob Z who was a weekend starter and Jake Walsh who pitched out of the pen. But it really seems to me we have a lot of arms returning so what we lose in Rob Z, we may make up for in numbers. Returning contributors from the past:

Brett Graves: 3.80 ERA in 13 starts and 14 appearances. Pitched the 2nd most innings for the Tigers last year, throwing 71 innings. Graves had an outstanding summer as well, making his leagues All Star game and at one point had a 0.61 ERA with 27 strikeouts to 9 walks.

Keaton Steele: 2.83 ERA. Only 3 starts last year but threw 63.2 innings. Highlight for me was his gutsy performance coming in after Rob Z in the SEC tourney against MSU who played for the national championship.

Jace James: 2.79 ERA. Had 7 starts and threw 42 innings. I was impressed with his outings last year and was surprised he didn't get more starts.

Alex Rash: 4.55 ERA as a freshman last year with 7 starts and 27.2 innings. Started red hot not giving up an earned run through his first couple of outings before arm troubles slowed and halted his contribution. If his arm is healed and he has strengthened it, he may show the biggest improvement of any pitcher from last year.

Eric Anderson: 3.90 ERA in 4 starts and 27.2 innings thrown. Showed he can be a weekend starter a couple years ago but has struggled getting back from arm surgery. If he's healthy, he can again be a legitimate contributor.

John Miles: 2.35 ERA in 23 innings but had zero starts. Also had an outstanding summer and was slated to start the All Star game against fellow Tiger Graves. At last look, he had a 0.00 ERA with 20 strikeouts and 6 walks.

That's 6 guys who all could legitimately be weekend starters and I know little about the guys they have coming in whether from high school or JUCO. With that staff, and with what has to be better bats and fielding, I can see Mizzou doing better in the SEC than last year (not claiming they'll win any titles) and making the SEC tourney, but certainly not finishing last.

Can't wait for the SEC Network to get here so I can actually watch some of the games.