Baseball Mailbag: Ryan Olenek isn't Stephen Head, but he can pitch, too

Ole Miss put together a 3-1 week including a road series win at Tulane to stay No. 10 nationally in the the D1Baseball.com top 25. Then, on Tuesday, the Rebels overcame four UT Martin first-inning runs to blast the Skyhawks, 12-6, in Oxford. Long Beach State (0-7) visits Ole Miss this weekend.

Let's get to the questions.

I want to see Tyler Keenan continue to get better defensively. He was underrated there last year as a freshman and has made incremental improvement, becoming very proficient at the couple plays third basemen most often have to execute. With more maturation and development I think he can stick at third base at the next level.

That brings in a lot of opportunity because the bat is likely to play, and he's shown relatively good plate awareness for a young hitter. He's not a super athlete, but he's not a negative in that category. The ceiling is a college All-America selection and a top-5 round draft pick who makes the show and has a chance to stick. Even the floor is pretty solid because if you can hit in the SEC you're going to get a lot of chances to prove you can hit with a wood bat. This is a big season for him with Thomas Dillard serving as protection in the lineup.

Well, see, Benjamin, there are bases and balls. I have no idea, and no one else seems to either. Baseball's history is vague and no well-documented. I do know Abner Doubleday gets a lot of credit for things he didn't accomplish. To his, well, credit, he never made the claim during his life. Doubleday was a 2-star general for the Union in the Civil War and fired the first shot for his side at Fort Sumter.

But as far as baseball, there's not much proof he did anything. He's not in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and the history of the game remains pretty scattered in undocumented evidence.

Parker Caracci was 92-94 MPH with his fastball in New Orleans over the weekend. He looked a little rusty but also looked healthy and fresh. The fastball seemed fine from a velocity standpoint, and the breaking ball was good for most of his work. Even though he gave up the home run on Saturday, I didn't notice any warning signs or real issues -- especially for February.

Greer Holston is on the roster and traveled to Tulane but has not seen action so far this season. At the end of last season I expected the junior to have a pivotal bullpen role this year, but he's regressed in several areas. Holston threw 4.2 innings and allowed four runs on four hits with six strikeouts and four walks in preseason intrasquads but did hold teammates to a ..235 batting average against.

Holston, who pitched in the low 90s last season, has suffered a significant loss of velocity with his fastball, per Mike Bianco, and it's hard to imagine a role for him until he gets in a game and we see what's what.

I've seen the two men in the same room together, so that's a negative. Also, Stephen Head probably hasn't weighed whatever Olenek weighs since middle school. No offense, Stephen. Ryan is just really skinny.

To Olenek's credit he got a lot of mileage out of that opportunity on Tuesday night. We'll talk more about it in a few questions.

Look, I get the starting pitching is less than ideal, but a 35-year-old Tommy John survivor who could barely break glass in high school isn't the ticket.

Also, while the starters have to get it together, the bullpen has, even though it's looked odd at times, been fairly reliable other than the windy Saturday in the Big Easy. In wins this season Ole Miss' bullpen has given up only two runs in 25 innings, including two scoreless efforts at Tulane.

This is a little "So how was the play Mrs. Lincoln," I know, but the pen has shown multiple players capable and been fairly serviceable if you remove the extremely windy Saturday in the Big Easy.

I'd rather not since that seems kind of rude. But, if I must, we'll go with:

Friday - Will Ethridge (The blister will heal and Ethridge will win more than he loses on Fridays)

Saturday - Houston Roth (He was excellent in intrasquads and I think he figures it out)

Sunday - Gunnar Hoglund (He has to get better but I'm still a believer)

I really like my chances to get this one right. Freshman Doug Nikhazy has three appearances already on the season, and those came in a five-day span, as he bounced back effectively and showed a bit of a rubber arm out of the bullpen. I think he can start as well, but as of now he's a valuable reliever. Basically, Ole Miss needs about three of him.

The fastball has cut and life, and he flashes a good breaking ball to go with an impressive demeanor for a newcomer. Some media members were coming up with random hot takes during the first weekend of the season, and I went with NIkhazy leading Ole Miss in saves as a freshman. He has one already, and he's going to get a lot of opportunities to affect games.

I'm setting myself up for disaster even answering this question, but since I did say anything goes in the request: Ole Miss finishes the regular season 37-19 by way of 20-6 in the non-league and 17-13 in the SEC.

That's good enough for a regional host but not a national seed, if it happened, of course. I have little confidence in the prediction because so many pitching questions are still up in the air. This is an impossible team to predict. If you're looking for a good bit of history, in 2006 Ole Miss had to replace all three weekend starters and struggled with finding the right mix for several weeks.

However, an opening weekend rotation of Tommy Baumgardner, Nick Hetland and Cody Satterwhite moved to Will Kline, Brett Bukvich and Lance Lynn -- with Craig Rodriguez also thrown in -- eventually. The Rebels started 1-5 in the league and 13-11 overall but got hot in the middle of the year and hosted a regional after winning the SEC Tournament.

I knew I was going to say no when I first saw it, but it did get a little harder to type that as I gave it more thought. First, if you want to really make me thing, offer up 2010 Drew Pomeranz as the trade bait. He lost the Golden Spikes Award to Bryce Harper by one vote, and you won't find a media member more enamored with Drew the college player. Pomeranz and Ethridge would give you the best one-two in the league, and then you figure it out from there, especially considering Pomeranz against these bats and balls would be an innings-eater.

But... my gosh that's a heavy price to pay for the trade. The lineup without those two would shift Anthony Servideo or Carl Gindl into the outfield and force Tim Elko into a certain everyday role. And offensively Keenan would lose almost all his protection while bringing in some relative holes in the back-middle of the order.

You'd certainly pitch it, and I wouldn't call anyone an idiot for the trade, but assuming all involve stay healthy I'd grit my teeth and pass. And then pray Bianco figures out the arms like his history suggests. If Dillard hits the way is possible I can't give that bat away, and Cole Zabowski is one of the more underrated players -- other than by coaches -- in the league.

That I can't answer, but I do know Connor Green seems comfortable for the first time in a long time. In an effort to find a niche he transitioned to submarine prior to last season, and it was a failed experiment from the standpoint of a career-low 12 innings over nine appearances. He only had a 3.75 ERA but he walked eight batter in limited action, causing some trust issues.

But Green has been impressive during his career. He threw 33 innings as a freshman with 37 strikeouts in 33 innings. And there was a maturity about him Sunday at Tulane. He entered with runners on the corners and one out and got out of it with two pitches. While no one was throwing strikes, Green steadied things and gave the Rebels a chance to rally.

The Collierville, Tennessee, native has earned the chance for a significant role. In fact, he may already have one.

I still think it's Hoglund, as I said above. My theory, one Bianco might roll his eyes at, is Hoglund is still learning how to pitch in a way. We all talked about his excellent control in high school as he didn't walk a batter during the regular season of his senior season and only had three-ball counts. And that's certainly a notable mark, but it may also mean he overmatched all the hitters and didn't have to be precise.

It's possible he's falling behind some hitters trying to be too fine and then throwing get-over fastballs to get back in it, and Division I hitters are lacing those all over the place. He's going to pick up velocity and life on his fastball as the season goes on because he has thrown harder than this in the past. And I think the changeup may be the difference-maker as it keeps coming.

He showed a couple plus changes in New Orleans that faded and really caused some swing and miss. Now he also threw a few way out of the zone. Hoglund needs to gets closer with his misses while getting a little less close with his strikes. It's a work in progress, but I truly think he's going to settle in at some point. All the scouts who had him in the first 50 picks aren't idiots.

I have no idea. It was only an SEC rule last season, so that may still be the case. If so, it wouldn't be used right now anyway. But last year it received very high marks, and the equipment seemed to operate appropriately most of the time.

Does it say something about the Ole Miss pitching that I thought about this question for a minute? I'm not ready to go there, but Olenek is an athlete who can do a little of everything. I still think it's possible Bianco lets him play all nine positions in one game this season. And he can help this team on the mound if you find the right role.

Olenek's fastball was 91-93 mostly on Tuesday, and the breaking ball was quite good. He threw strikes and worked aggressively. It went as well as possible. Olenek, in his confident way, said this after the game:

“I mean, what you saw tonight, I don’t know why you would only use it for the midweek. I think it is a serious thing. I wouldn’t be out there if it weren’t serious. We are trying to win every baseball game. I think they seriously want me to pitch.”

You have to run him back out there and see if it sticks. Do it this weekend. Do it in a blowout or a decided game where you can play with how to handle the designated hitter being lose when he enters to pitch. The one positive is Ole Miss has a bench full of bats. May as well use them if necessary if it makes the Rebels better on the mound.

With the way the man is hitting, I wouldn't want to risk a jammed finger or any kind of fatigue that comes with catching behind the plate. Cooper Johnson has been tremendous defensively and is going to catch on the weekend. Use Dillard sparingly or throw Knox Loposer in and see what you have for the future during the midweek. Dillard caught very well against Arkansas State, so it's not about that. It's about the wrecking ball in the middle of the lineup not being thrown off track.