STARKVILLE — The members of the Gary Henderson’s bullpen can know one thing for certain: if they perform, he will stick with them as long as possible. Even if that means, in the case of Cole Gordon at Auburn, being given a second appearance of the weekend after taking the loss in his first one, or JP France getting an unprecedented fourth inning of work against Arkansas.
One could call it going with the hot hand, in certain situations. MSU’s interim baseball coach could also be working off of a short list.
Seventy percent of the way through its Southeastern Conference schedule, MSU (24-21, 9-12 SEC) has made it through with innings totals suggesting it has one of the thinnest bullpens in the league: five pitchers account for 91.8 percent of its conference-play bullpen innings, with only one team in the league (Ole Miss) also over 90 percent. Four SEC teams have their five most used bullpen arms accounting for fewer than 80 percent of their innings and only MSU and Ole Miss are higher than 87 percent — but help could be on the way as MSU starts its weekend series against Alabama (23-23, 5-16 SEC) 6 p.m. Friday at Sewell-Thomas Stadium (SEC Network+).
In 21 conference games, MSU has turned to JP France (23), Zach Neff (17), Cole Gordon (14 1/3), Blake Smith (8 2/3) and Keegan James (8 1/3) to throw 71 1/3 of the 77 2/3 bullpen innings required. France, who has yet to start in conference play, has been turned to so often that he is only five innings pitched behind MSU’s Sunday starter Jacob Billingsley, despite the latter starting seven times in league.
Some of this is a byproduct of injury, as Spencer Price and Graham Ashcraft recover from season-ending elbow and hip injuries, respectively, yet there are corners of the roster left untouched. Kale Breaux has faced one batter in SEC play, Denver McQuary four and Cole Marsh has made just one appearance, throwing one inning at LSU.
If MSU does get the help it covets, the timing couldn’t be better.
“They’ve got some power at the top,” Henderson said of Alabama. “You’re going to have to deal with Chandler Taylor effectively, that’s for sure.”
Henderson referenced Alabama’s right fielder and his 11 home runs, tied for seventh in the conference, and his .471 slugging percentage. Alabama’s second baseman Chandler Avant is tied seventh in the league with 13 doubles.
The help MSU awaits is a familiar face for the Crimson Tide — the same pitcher that took the mound in all three games of last year’s sweep.
Riley Self was a crucial bullpen piece for MSU last year, ending his freshman campaign with a second-best bullpen earned run average of 3.72 over 31 appearances and 48 1/3 innings. Offseason shoulder surgery has proved to slow him down more than he hoped, to the tune of one conference play appearance and just 10 1/3 innings entering the final month of the regular season.
A team with 10 saves spread through five players could use a steady presence late in games, and Self could be it.
“Riley is making progress,” Henderson said, adding he threw from a mound last Sunday before throwing again on Wednesday.
For more help, the Bulldogs could turn to a position player.
One more shortcoming of the current bullpen is left-handed help: Henderson said Trysten Barlow, who has not pitched since March 27, had a procedure this week, leaving graduate transfer Neff as MSU’s only southpaw in the bullpen. Although MSU has not done it in a conference game, it could turn to Josh Hatcher, the first baseman/designated hitter that has pitched three times, throwing three scoreless innings.
Henderson seems hesitant to make Hatcher a consistent pitching option in conference play, but the potential return of Self has him optimistic for the bullpen’s future.
“We’re actually going in the other direction, I think we’re going in the positive way in getting those guys back,” he said. “He could help us, there’s no doubt about that.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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