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College  | Story | 3/3/2020

Scout Take: Long Beach State

Connor Spencer
Photo: Adam Seminaris (Long Beach State Athletics/John Fajardo)

College Player Database | College Player Rankings
College Notebooks: Feb. 28 | Feb. 29 | March 1

Scout Takes: Florida | Miami | Mississippi State

Long Beach State Dirtbags

What Happened: After sweeping Wake Forest last weekend at home, the Dirtbags welcomed in No. 6 Mississippi State to Blair Field for a potential statement weekend Series. LBSU took full advantage of the opportunity and made a huge statement by winning the series 2-1 and now are ranked securely in the national Top 25, making their 2020 ranking debut at No. 22. The only question is how far will the Dirtbags’ stock float? Friday night starter Adam Semiaris had a masterful performance on Friday night, holding the Diamond Dogs to one hit through eight full innings pitched. Mississippi State’s offense was able to bounce back late in the game on Saturday with a nine-run offensive outpouring, but freshman righthander Luis Ramirez stepped up and shut down one of the nation’s most dangerous offenses on Sunday, holding them to two runs.

Carrying Tool: Depth of their pitching staff. The maturity and success of freshman Luis Ramirez locked down Long Beach’s weekend rotation and now gives first-year head coach Eric Valenzuela room to play around with his arms in the bullpen. Moreover, all three starters are interchangeable and would find success no matter what day of the weekend they pitch on. Alfredo Ruiz already has a Friday win and Ramirez a Saturday win after Seminaris took the weekend off against Wake Forest. A strong argument can be made that they have the best weekend staff in the Big West this season.

Concerns: The Wild Wild Big West. Going into this season, no one really had a solid idea of how the Big West would look in 2020. A few weeks into the season, the climate of the conference is starting to come to light. As impressive as Long Beach State has been in all facets of the game these first three weeks of the season, the Big West as a whole has matched their excellent start against non-conference opponents, and the parity within the conference this year is terrifyingly strong. Last year’s champs, UC Santa Barbara, already sits at 9-2 on the season. In his first year back in the Big West, Cal State Northridge coach Dave Serrano has turned the Matadors into a very competitive club who defeated a ranked UCF team on the road. Cal Poly, and as of Saturday, Hawaii, have both beat the reigning national champs, Vanderbilt. Cal State Fullerton is young and is still discovering their identity as a team and UC Irvine’s pitching staff is strong and still settling in. The Dirtbags without a doubt check a lot of boxes, however, their deep pitching staff and productive lineup are going to have to stay consistent once conference play begins.

Best Player on the Field: Connor Kokx. After medical redshirting his freshman year, this season is Kokx’s first real crack at starting for the Dirtbags and he’s immediately filled big shoes as the three-hole hitter in the lineup. He’s got the strongest barrel control out of all Dirtbag hitters, and most importantly, he provides a hard-nosed competitive at-bat every time he steps to the plate. His plate discipline and overall approach will continue to refine with every start he makes. He’s hitting .500 with four doubles and five RBI through 10 games so far this season. 

Fearless Forecast: Eric Valenzuela has quickly implemented his winning culture into the program and it can immediately be seen in the chemistry this team has formed together as teammates. They play a hard and aggressive West Coast style ball and look to take the extra bag at all times. The team isn’t afraid to bunt in any count or situation and the pitching staff will use their entire arsenal no matter the count or handedness of the hitter. Plus, whenever the opposing squad changes pitchers the dugout and bullpen go crazy and try to sync up dance moves with each other. It really feels like Valenzuela has his young group of men firing on all cylinders and that should translate over into conference play. With how well the Big West has performed in non-conference play this season, along with the criticism the committee received from their lack of West Coast teams represented on Regional selection day last year, don’t be surprised if three teams earn postseason bids out of the Big West conference this season. Expect for Long Beach to compete for the conference title right up to the bitter end and they’ll have enough key pieces on their squad to earn their first Regional birth since 2017. This team very well could be an Omaha dark horse, which would be the Dirtbags’ first trip back to the College World Series since 1998.

Previous player reports:
 Feb. 28: Adam Seminaris, Devereaux Harrison
Feb. 29: Alfredo Ruiz

Players Covered: Connor Kokx, Leonard Jones, Calvin Estrada, Luis Ramirez



Connor Kokx, OF
As the three-hole hitter for the Dirtbags, Kokx possesses one of the best overall hit tools on the team with a handsy foundation and mature approach at the plate. At 6-foot-1, 180-pounds Kokx has plenty of athleticism to him that plays well in center field but his strength and pop at the plate are still developing. He has an upright, wide and closed off stance with a pretty heavy bat wag pre-load. The heavy bat wag does turn into a slight hand coil when he goes back into his load and this helps to generate some whip through the zone. Moreover, he’s able to keep his hands quiet as he loads and he fires through the zone with a flat line drive barrel plane. Kokx’s barrel control will most definitely be his carrying tool as he squared up numerous pitcher’s pitches for base hits in the series. He also has some scrappiness to his game as he battles well at the plate and fights to take extra bags. He’s not afraid to lay down a bunt and use his speed in any count, even with two strikes.

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