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SEC Baseball Power Rankings Week 6: Bama is legit and Texas A&M is hurting
By Joe Cox
Published:
With a weekend of SEC play now in the books, the rewriting of the league’s narratives can begin in earnest. Looks like Alabama is pretty tough and Texas A&M’s hitting is horribly broken. There’s plenty more to talk about.
Here are the weekly power rankings and 1 player from each team that’s worth watching this weekend (in between NCAA Tournament games).
SEC Baseball Power Rankings, Week 6 edition
Here’s how we have every SEC team stacking up from 16-1:
16. Missouri (8-11, 0-3)
The Missouri Tigers were unsurprisingly swept by LSU. The pitching is saw fairly putrid. Offensively, keep an eye out for Jackson Lovitch. He’s hitting .324 with 3 homers and 12 RBIs.
15. Mississippi State (14-7, 0-3)
Mississippi State was swept at home by Texas, which doesn’t bode well for the season. The good news, such as it is, was that all 3 games were close, with the Bulldogs losing by a total of 6 runs. Still, getting swept at home to one of the more average teams in the SEC is brutal. Pico Kohn remains one of the most interesting pitchers in the league. He’s 3-0 with a 3.03 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 29 2/3 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting .157 against him.
14. South Carolina (17-5, 1-2)
The Gamecocks lost a tough series to Oklahoma. Much as with Mississippi State, the losses were competitive. On the upside, South Carolina did win a game, but it was a home series that ended up as a loss. The guy to watch remains Ethan Petry. He’s hitting .377 with 5 homers and 22 RBIs.
13. Texas A&M (11-9, 0-3)
Texas A&M getting swept by Alabama would have been inconceivable a month ago. The pitching has been more or less what it was supposed to be. It’s the absolutely awful work at the plate that has doomed the Aggies so far. Ryan Prager, the pitching ace, remains the player to watch. He’s 2-0 with a 1.48 ERA and is holding opponents to a .155 batting average.
12. Kentucky (14-5, 1-2)
Kentucky won a game at Georgia, but the Wildcats’ pitching got absolutely lit up. The defense has been surprisingly mediocre, too. Guy to watch? Cole Hage is hitting .424 with 6 homers, 18 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. If he could pitch, he might be perfect.
11. Vanderbilt (16-5, 1-2)
The Commodores dropped their first series to Auburn, in part due to genuine bullpen issues. Cody Bowker is perhaps the most interesting guy to see so far for Vanderbilt. Bowker is 2-1 with a 2.08 ERA. With 32 strikeouts in 26 innings pitched, he’s holding opponents to a .143 mark.
10. Oklahoma (18-2, 2-1)
Oklahoma nabbed a road series win over South Carolina. In another week, that might get the Sooners up to fifth or sixth. For a player to watch, how about bullpen ace Dylan Crooks. He’s 1-0 with 6 saves in 8 appearances. Crooks has an 0.68 ERA and opponents are hitting just .188 against him.
9. Auburn (17-4, 2-1)
Auburn got some clutch hits to take down Vanderbilt in the first SEC action. In honor of his series-winning grand slam, consider Cade Belyeu the player to watch. He’s at .300 with 3 homers. He’s also stolen 10 bases, which might be a little more typical of his game than his big slam.
8. Ole Miss (15-5, 1-2)
Ole Miss took a tough series loss to Arkansas. The pitching staff had a rough series. Hunter Elliott has bounced back to nearly 100% and looks very sharp. Elliott is 4-0 with a 2.22 ERA. Elliott has 33 strikeouts in 24 1/3 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting just .198 and have only a single homer off him.
7. Florida (18-5, 0-3)
Yes, the Gators were swept. But they were swept by the Vols. It’s going to happen to plenty of other teams and shouldn’t be room to panic. The Florida player to watch is Brody Donay, who is hitting .373 with 8 homers and 20 RBIs.
6. Texas (17-2, 3-0)
The Horns grabbed an impressive series sweep at Mississippi State. It’s a tough call to pick one Texas ace to watch, but Jared Spencer gets the nod. Spencer is 2-0 with a 2.36 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 26 2/3 innings pitched. Batters are hitting just .214 against Spencer. Honorable mention to Luke Harrison, whose numbers are basically equally brilliant.
5. Georgia (21-2, 2-1)
Georgia blasted its way to a series win over Kentucky. The Bulldogs look like they’ll battle Tennessee to have the best hitting team in the SEC. One player to see? The must-see star is transfer Ryland Zaborowski, who leads the SEC at .444 and has 12 homers and 40 RBIs.
4. Alabama (21-1, 3-0)
The Tide might be the surprise of the SEC after a sweep over Texas A&M. One thing not surprising is how great Alabama shortstop Justin Lebron has been. He’s hitting .360 with 12 homers, 45 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. He’s the early leader in the clubhouse for SEC Player of the Year.
3. Arkansas (20-2, 2-1)
The series win over Ole Miss was impressive, particularly after dropping the opener. Everybody knew Arkansas had pitching and it’d be easy to list a pitcher. But we’re doubling down on the Aloy brothers. Kuhio is at .419 with 8 homers and 35 RBIs, while Wehiwa is at .402 with 9 homers and 28 RBIs. Is it wrong to pick 2 guys? It’d be too hard to choose one.
2. LSU (21-1, 3-0)
LSU just keeps doing what it does. The Tigers remain one of the most balanced teams of the league, but admittedly, the series at Texas should be a better test than facing Mizzou was last week. Make sure to watch Derek Curiel, the freshman who looks like an absolute natural. His .434 average is second-best in the SEC. It’s worth noting that he also has taken 23 walks vs. 12 strikeouts.
1. Tennessee (20-1, 3-0)
Tennessee did lose, but not in the SEC. Who knew that East Tennessee would be the giant slayer? That’s a midweek non-league game, even if it was a surprising one. Anyway, they’re still the Vols. Who’s the top Vol? How about Louisville transfer Gavin Kilen. He’s hitting .431 with 3 homers and 5 stolen bases.
Joe Cox is a columnist for Saturday Down South. He has also written or assisted in writing five books, and his most recent, Almost Perfect (a study of baseball pitchers’ near-miss attempts at perfect games), is available on Amazon or at many local bookstores.
