MSU head baseball coach Chris Lemonis Q&A on the fall, the MLB Draft and more

Bulldogs head coach discusses the upcoming months and what his roster might look like following the draft

Sports Illustrated's Cowbell Corner had an exclusive Q&A with Mississippi State head baseball coach Chris Lemonis on Friday afternoon. You've seen a couple of details from the chat on Cowbell Corner earlier this weekend, but here is the full session, slightly edited for clarity. In it, Lemonis discusses what his team is doing now, what's coming in the fall and spring, as well as his thoughts on who will stay and come back after this coming week's MLB Draft:

Cowbell Corner: What’s going on right now in your program and what’s the plan for the remainder of the summer as far as summer ball and things?

Lemonis: It’s really quiet for us right now. There are a lot of teams that know their rosters and know everything. For us, we don’t know a lot right now because we’re waiting on the draft. This last week and this upcoming week heading into the draft we’re really pretty low-key with everything because we’re just trying to figure out our next team. After the draft, after the 10th and 11th (of June), we’ll have a good idea of what our next team is and be able to move forward from there. So guys are working out. We have some guys playing in a couple of different summer leagues and trying to keep it going. Then we have some guys trying to work out, but we really don’t have anyone (in Starkville). We have some pro guys back in town, but we really don’t have any of our current team. Except for Brad Cumbest. He’s back because of football. That’s really all we have back at this point.

Cowbell Corner: Do you have an idea for when you’ll have most of your guys back on campus?

Lemonis: The luxury that we have right now is that our (athletic director) is a former coach. I think that’s really important right now because John (Cohen) has been really somebody to lean on even at a time when there’s not a lot of answers. We’d like to possibly get guys starting to move back in here. Usually our summer schoolers, our incoming guys come in July. But we still don’t even know if that’s happening. It could be August when everyone comes in. It could be July. We’re just in uncharted territory. I think we’re all watching football closely and hoping the football transitions go really smooth and then we can bring different athletes back and kind of go from there. But I’d like to be able to get some guys back at least just to use the facilities. We can’t even practice, but a lot of my guys are out there and they don’t have great facilities. Again, we missed three-fourths of the spring probably. And what people don’t realize about baseball is our guys play another 50 games in the summer. So we have missed about 80 percent of our play and when we get back in here in the fall, I’m hoping we’re ready and we’re in shape because we’re going to have a hard reset to get these guys going.

Cowbell Corner: Do you have any idea what fall ball will look like? Will it be extended since you did miss so much this spring and summer?

Lemonis: We haven’t gotten any legislation on an extended fall or anything like that. I’m scheduling mine very similar to the last two falls that we’ve had. We have two scrimmages set up. We’re supposed to play Alabama and Auburn this fall, but we just don’t know if that happens. But we’ve got it all laid out there. I know in my mind, just as a coach and not dealing with NCAA rules, we’re going to have to play the game a lot more than we have in the past because we haven’t played, but also because we’ve got more pitchers and more hitters with a bigger roster than we’ve ever had. We’re going to have to schedule some midweek scrimmages and things like that so guys can get out there and get their work.

Cowbell Corner: Is there any idea what the spring will look like? Will the season be backed up any with maybe a later College World Series as D1Baseball wrote about a few weeks ago? Will you guys kind of keep the same SEC schedule since that part of things didn’t even start?

Lemonis: I don’t think (pushing back the season) would be this season anyway. It has to be voted on and put on and schedules are already done. We don’t have a great history of winning things in the NCAA. We couldn’t even get a third (paid) coach this past year, so saying we’re going to move everything back four weeks, I still think that’s a little bit out there. We have a normal schedule. We have two northern teams (we’re scheduled to play). I haven’t put anything out because how does travel effect it? I still think we have some questions. But ours will be pretty normal. I’ve already told a lot of people we open in Dallas in that big tournament at the Rangers’ ballpark. But after that, it’ll be pretty similar. I just hope we’ve got a packed house and fans are everywhere and we’ve moved through all this and back to some normalcy.

Cowbell Corner: Do you know, since SEC play didn’t start in 2020, if you’ll basically have the same SEC schedule in 2021 that was originally set for this last season? For example will you still be hosting Arkansas, Ole Miss and everyone that was on the 2020 schedule?

Lemonis: We don’t have our schedule yet, but my five home teams and my five away trips are the same as they were last year, we just don’t know the order right now. They’re having to reorder it because of different conflicts of schools. But Ole Miss is supposed to be coming to Starkville next year. And we’re supposed to be going to South Carolina, just like this past year’s schedule. We never started SEC play, so the decision was made to keep it. Now could that change? It could possibly change. But that’s how it’s set up right now. It just may not be Ole Miss on Super Bulldog Weekend. It could be somebody else. That’s kind of where we’re at right now.

Cowbell Corner: To your guys a little bit, have you spoken any with JT Ginn or Tanner Allen and how are their rehabs going?

Lemonis: I talked to Tanner Allen (Friday). It was his birthday so I called to wish him a happy birthday. He told me his hand felt great and he’s been hitting a good bit. That hasn’t been the case. He’s really had to battle through some rehab. But he feels like he’s 100 percent now. I spoke to JT maybe last week and he’s right where he’s supposed to be. He’s rehabbing and doing everything he’s supposed to. Brandon Smith is looking great and doing great in his rehab. They’re all (rehabbing) in their hometowns. We’ve set it up they can do all that in their hometowns and they’re all doing well.

Cowbell Corner: Of course JT is one of the guys that could be drafted highly this coming week. Do you already have a good general idea of who will be back or is it just a waiting game?

Lemonis: I think for 80 percent of the program, we have a really good idea. We just have five or six or eight guys that are up in the air. I count Justin Foscue and Jordan Westburg as out. I pray every day that they are first rounders. That’s what you want. That’s what we sell on the front side of the recruiting process. As you come here, you’ll get better. You’ll prove to everyone on this stage, then become a high draft pick with a chance to be a big leaguer. That’s the whole recruiting pitch in our world. That’s what we want. Same for JT Ginn. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I just saw him for a year and it’s one of the best arms I’ve ever seen in college baseball. His surgery obviously is a step back, but that surgery in pro ball, they’re doing it every other day. He’s going to be 100 percent ready to go next year, so I think JT has a great chance. I’m hoping. Once again, for his sake and what he sacrificed to come here and pitch at Mississippi State, I’m hoping he has a chance. Going into the year, he was projected as a Top-10 pick. You fall a little bit, but I think you have a chance to possibly be (taken) in the first round again. On the other side, there’s some other guys we’re watching – Tanner (Allen), Rowdey (Jordan) and Josh (Hatcher). Going into this last year, we thought they were all gone. Now that MLB has changed the draft and everything, it puts them all in a little different spot. The only positive for those guys is if they do come back, they’ll graduate and play. I fell so bad for Foscue and Westburg. They didn’t get to go out the right way. You know every college does it pretty cool, but man, the way our fans treat our kids and the way things happen, you wish they’d have gotten to go out and say goodbye. Hopefully, for the guys that are going to come back, they can come back and have a great year and move into the draft next year. I’m hoping that’s the case and thy’ll have their degrees in their back pocket.

Cowbell Corner: Seems like Austin Hendrick and Blaze Jordan are the two signees whose names you hear the most in regards to this year’s MLB Draft. Have you been in contact with them and do you have a feel for what may happen there?

Lemonis: We talk. In the world of those two guys, every projection I see, Austin is in the top 15 picks I think. Once again, that’s when you should go. You’re in the top 15 rounds and they’re going to pay you millions of dollars and say, hey, you’re our investment in the future? That’s where you should go. After that first round and maybe those supplemental rounds, it gets a little tricky. That’s where these guys have to start making some decisions. We have a handful of guys coming out of high school that are going to have to make some decisions. The positive for us is we’re showing if you come (to MSU) and play on this stage with this development, in three years you’ll go back and maybe two years for some of the guys, then you’ll get a chance to go back in the draft and go into a better draft. Right now, the draft because of (the coronavirus), it’s a tough time for everybody. There’s a lot of question marks out there.

Cowbell Corner: If JT Ginn is back at Mississippi State next year, is it safe to assume his role would change?

Lemonis: I think JT’s role here would definitely change from the fact he’d be rehabbing back during the season. So he’d be in one-inning stints or whatever as we lay down his protocol. We’re not going to be able to run him out there to be a starter because he’s got to get back with a slow progression. I think that’s the toughest part with JT. With someone like Brandon Smith, he has a chance to work and be a starter because we’re going to get to see a full Brandon Smith in the fall because of the timing of his injury. JT’s was a little different. So we’ll have to play that by ear.

Cowbell Corner: Lastly, do you know if you’ll have your five seniors/grad transfers back in 2021 since they’ve been given the extra year of eligibility?

Lemonis: They’re all waiting for the draft and maybe, possibly free agency, but you’ve got Spencer Price planning on coming back. Riley Self is planning on coming back. Carlisle is planning on coming back. Jack Eagan is planning on coming back at this point. David Dunlavey has decided to go to law school. I understand. He was really starting to throw well for us too, but David is trying to apply to law school and move on to the next chapter of his life.