Mailbag: Why is Ole Miss going the pro route for a pitching coach?

The NCAA baseball postseason is at the super regional stage, and the transfer portal is open and conducting plenty of business. Meanwhile, Ole Miss is hiring a pitching coach and putting the final parts of a roster together for next season.

It seems like a good time for a mailbag, so let's get into it.

Ole Miss stole Love is Gone from the Miami Hurricanes.. Traditions in baseball seem to be fairly transferrable, and I first heard and saw the Love is Gone thing in Coral Gables in 2008 when the Rebels were there for the regional. It appeared in Oxford after that, though with the media exposure in the SEC, I assume most associate it with the Rebels at this point.

Southern Miss took the Throw it in the Dirt chant from Ole Miss, though that cheer takes some baseball knowledge and is screwed up a lot. There are times you don't want the opponents to throw it in the dirt. Ole Miss started doing the clap thing to The Stroke by Billy Squier following a visit to Athens where Georgia does it.

Batting around to me means at least nine batters go to the plate, and the leadoff doesn't have to get a second turn, however this is a hotly contested question in bored baseball circles. You can read about that here. I don't fault anyone for being team 10 players must bat, but if nine players bat, you'll see bat around in my content, and I'm not sorry about it.

I assume you're referring to this Ruby Red chilton recipe, a play on the traditional chilton that's just lemony. Grapefruit is never going to by my preferred choice, but that does look pretty refreshing.

For those allergic to links, I've seen this with lime or lemon, then add in grapefruit vodka, salt and top with club soda. it's a drink you shake because you shake fruit juices. That's the rule.

My favorite summer cocktail is the traditional daiquiri, and it's also a great way to see what kind of bartender you're dealing with. If the barkeep tells you they don't have daiquiri machines (even though there's nothing wrong with a frozen one from Funky's), run away quickly.

A true daiquiri is this:

Ingredients:1 1/2 oz White rum, 1 oz Lime juice, 1/2 oz Simple syrup

Preparation: Pour all ingredients into shaker with ice cubes. Shake well. Strain in chilled cocktail glass.Serve it straight up with a half a lime slice garnish in a cocktail glass.

I'm going to do a podcast with Brian and Collin detailing realistic things that can make them better for next season. It'll hopefully be somewhat of a checklist that isn't filled with pie-in-the-sky hopes but things that actually make sense.

But in the meantime, it's hard to know that argument because no one knows the roster and what the pitching or lineup look like. No matter what happens in the portal, development with guys on the current roster is key to having measurable iimprovement next season.

The pitching coach situation could greatly impact that, as Justin Parker at Mississippi State did a great job in a first-year turnaround. The Bulldogs, however, had more young pieces that were on a natural development track. Ole Miss has to ignite development that simply hasn't happened yet.

Mike Bianco's actions are the answer to your question. If he truly steps away from the pitching side completely and hands that section of the team over to someone else, it shows true adaptation. Should it have happened sooner? Sure, but that's beside the point the tangible conversation of how to get better now.

The hope would be that handing over all the pitching also has an impact on defensive improvement because the staff is better organized to handle all the facets. The structure of responsibilities wasn't optimized, and that can easily lead to poor results in all areas.

You're trusting that the good parts of Bianco maintain or get stronger, and his awareness to let some things go are the missing sauce. The truth is there's no answer until the games are played.

Slade Caldwell is going to bypass college and sign a professional contract. The outfielder has shot up draft boards and seems a certainty to not be at Ole Miss. Otherwise, there's a good chance to keep the class intact.

Poughkeepsie, New York shortstop Owen Paino is trending toward being at Ole Miss, and he's the person I'd tab as the highest chance of immediate impact. He can play infield or outfield, and he's going to develop plus left-handed power. The makings are there of a really, really good college player.

Paino has size at 6-foot-3 and moves well with instincts and quickness. With Caldwell all but gone, Paino is the key to the potential of the class. It's an overall good class that doesn't have a lot of the draft-issue pitfalls because it's heavy right-handed, and the elite projectable body types for the pros aren't littered through this class.

The class as a whole is ranked seventh nationally.

These two questions are asking the same thing, so I grouped them together. Everything I hear is Ole Miss is looking to add a pitching coach with considerable professional experience while also knowing enough about the college game to understand the logistics and the need to win now.

I mentioned above Ole Miss has had a staff structure issue, and that's played out primarily with pitching development as analytics and technology are more necessary and common. The Rebels have a force plate mound and camera system and the majority of the toys that get brought up about Wake Forest and other schools with excellent reputations in that area. It's the implementation that's the issue, according to multiple I've talked to during this search.

The current structure has Bianco calling pitches, doing all mound visits and handling a lot of the bullpen observation, as well. Carl Lafferty is the pitching coach and has all the rest of the tasks related to the position, including development, strategy, etc, all while being the recruiting coordinator in a world that never stops considering the portal and NIL and high school evaluations.

The structure simply doesn't make sense, and the use and analysis with pitching development pertaining to technology is one of the main flaws, according to multiple sources outside the program.

A coach with professional experience will have superior knowledge on how to use the technology and also how to optimize each player from the results. Pro organizations maximize prospects and players by making sure they are throwing the correct pitches with the correct tunneling and using technology as the guide to get the most out of each player.

Also, with the pitching coach having that as the primary and nearly sole focus, that's the concentration and there's no reason or excuse that other duties pull him away from simply making the 20-man pitching staff as good as possible. The pro coach, in theory, will have a better understanding of the technology needed, how to use said technology and what to take from the results.

It's the combination of a science and real-world approach to improve what's been a weakness for the Rebels.

Some level of college experience is also wanted because staff sizes are different, and there's not a long window to make all of the above work and translate to the field. It needs to happen quickly, and things need to be expedited. The mindset is completely different, while the actual work happens better on the pro side.

My educated guess is Ole Miss hires someone who currently works for a professional organization but has some college experience in the background. I know the Rebels initially reached out to some really big fish, including MLB pitching coaches. That seemed to be too high of a bar, but it at least shows the mindset with the search.

They want to be on the forefront of the things that can make them better and then have someone who knows what to do with the information.

Trenton Lyons is in the transfer portal, so it's down to two on the roster from this past season - Campbell Smithwick and Eli Berch. An experienced catcher is one of the main portal priorities and a must for next season.

Smithwick is in the Cape League this summer, so there will be a good sample size of him catching high-level arms to try to diagnose what happened this spring. Was it mental or does he need another position? He's an SEC hitter, so Ole Miss needs that answer. If it's the latter, Smithwick has the fall to work on that transition.

Not getting a portal catcher was a huge error last offseason.. The Rebels have to go land a viable one right now. .

The portal currently isn't showing a lot of catching options who look plug and play, so this may require patience. You can't rush and just pick someone to fill a spot. There must be a plan and realistic expectation with every addition that makes the team better.

Berch is expected to return, as well, and he did an admirable job defensively considering the situation. He's a backup option that makes sense.

That seems to be going around a little bit. Big, if true. If it's not true, you guys can have the message board. I'm going to take a month or two off.

Nah, I don't think the 25 years has any impact on anything. Bianco told me in 2019 he wanted to coach approximately 10 more years. The retirement on the state portion of his salary or a fairly arbitrary year total isn't a factor in his thinking or performance.

I don't think he'll be Wayne Graham walking out to the mound, but he doesn't think he's done yet. Bianco is only 57 years old -- a half decade younger than Dave Van Horn and Tim Corbin.