Michigan State baseball on pace to have its best season in years

Michigan State baseball is off to its best start since 2016 and it could have its best season in five years.

Recent history has not been friendly to Michigan State baseball and its overall record. Since 2017, Michigan State has not had a winning season outside of the COVID-19 year. This year, that streak could end due to the team’s great start through 30 games.

Through 30 games, Michigan State is 20-10, its best record since going 24-6 in its first 30 games in 2016. What has changed this year for Michigan State and can it keep this winning going?

The first thing that has been apparent with this team is that it can hit and score runs in bunches. It seems like this team is never out of it because one inning could get it back into it. The runs could come from the front half of the order or from the last few batters.

This Michigan State lineup is very balanced with both contact hitters and bats with power. We have seen Trent Farquhar getting on base consistently from the lead-off hitter. Mitch Jebb is rounding into form as one of the top shortstops in the Big Ten. We have also seen the power of Brock Vandenburg who leads Michigan State in home runs this season. These are just a few of the players that have stepped up throughout the season.

There are other hits that have contributed as well like Sam Busch, Jack Frank, Dillon Kark, and many others. Michigan State’s offense is one of the reasons why they have gotten off to a great start but it’s not the only reason.

The second reason is Michigan State’s pitching. There was an article written earlier in the year where the pitching staff was the biggest question mark going into the season. This question in the last 20 games has been answered. Michigan State has gotten quality pitching out of its starters and then when it’s time to close the game, the Spartans seem to have a great closer to shut the door. While pitching issues still come up from time to time, the great part of this pitching staff is that the starters are relatively young. Having the starters being relatively young will help not only Michigan State this year but in future years. If Michigan State’s pitching staff can keep having quality starts, this is a team that will win a lot of games.

The last reason that Michigan State baseball has gotten off to a great start is the mix of veterans and young players. We have seen teams in other sports that have gone on runs with only veteran players and we have seen teams go on runs with young players. This is an MSU team that has a mix of both which allows for great chemistry to be built. Some of these veterans on this team have not had that feeling of success and the young players have only had that feeling so far. Because of that, this is a perfect balance of having a feeling of success with the knowledge that things can turn. This mix of veterans and young players will not only help this year, but it could be the reason that leads Michigan State back to competing in the Big Ten.

I’ve talked about the reasons why the baseball team has been successful but is it something that can be sustained? Yes. It’s up to the players and coaches to sustain the success by doing what they have done so far this season while improving in other areas. If Michigan State can continue to do that, this could be a very fun second half of the season and it could be the start of the baseball program being turned around.