Potential Alabama Baseball Starting Pitchers for Mississippi State Series Finale

Weekend starting pitchers in a Power Four conference are indispensable. As No. 12 Alabama prepares to face Mississippi State this weekend in Tuscaloosa, things seem pointed in the direction of a new name getting a shot to ascend to that part of the rotation.

The Crimson Tide's probable starting arms were revealed in a Thursday press release, and until that time, its weekend rotation has been consistent: Zane Adams, Riley Quick and Bobby Alcock, in that order. However, the starter for Sunday afternoon's game against the Bulldogs was listed as TBA.

Alabama (28-6, 7-5 SEC) fell to then-No. 16 Auburn in a road series last weekend, and starting pitching output was a big reason for that. Adams and Alcock had tough games in their respective starts; Alcock went one-third of an inning in the series' third contest, which the Crimson Tide lost by a 7-5 final score. Adams went one inning in the opener. Both got hit hard, with four runs allowed each.

Alcock (3-2, 5.97 ERA) is pitching in his first season with the Crimson Tide after rehabbing from a shoulder injury throughout 2024. His best outing by far was a March 16 road start against Texas A&M in which he went seven shutout frames, earning SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week for his performance.

He could still get the nod to start this Sunday, but it doesn't look likely; at minimum, it's not exactly close to a sure thing. He is tied with Adams for the most starts on the team and did excellent work at Gardner-Webb before joining Alabama, in addition to crimson-clad contributions he's made.

JT Blackwood, who normally gets the ball for midweek games, was effectively named by head coach Rob Vaughn in February as the player who was the fourth man in the rotation coming out of preseason practice. At that time, Vaughn said Blackwood had delivered the kind of preseason performance to be a potential weekend starter.

Blackwood has appeared in 10 games with six starts, but could be the freshest regularly-used arm in the stable right now since he didn't pitch in Tuesday's home win over No. 23 Southern Miss. Across 25.2 innings pitched, he has a 3.86 earned run average.

Tuesday's Crimson Tide starter was Aeden Finateri, who is experienced on high-major conference weekends owing to past time spent as Georgia Tech's Friday starter. On March 30, with Quick scratched from the weekend slate against then-No. 9 Oklahoma, Finateri stepped in on a Sunday and put in 4.2 innings to help his team notch a massive series win.

Finateri has been an effective piece in a swingman's role, which is a capacity Blackwood has found himself called upon for as well. The latter last pitched during the Auburn series. Finateri far from taxed his arm too badly against the Golden Eagles, tossing 28 pitches.

Based on how head coach Rob Vaughn and pitching coach Jason Jackson have managed the stable this spring, it is a near certainty that the eventual Sunday starter against the Bulldogs will be one of the three above names. That does not mean that those are the only three with weekend starting experience.

One of those experienced arms belongs to Hagan Banks, a redshirt junior who has started multiple times every year he's been in college. He was in the weekend rotation during conference play last season but was forced to the sidelines after an elbow injury necessitated surgery in late March 2024.

Banks has a 1.59 ERA in just over 11 innings pitched, but as with Quick (who had Tommy John surgery last February), it's a process bringing a hurler back from elbow surgery in modern baseball. Banks has thrown the ball well, but there is the factor at play of not putting undue stress on him.

The Crimson Tide and the Bulldogs are scheduled to go to battle at 1 p.m. CT on Sunday on SEC Network+. It is not out of the realm of possibility that the results in the two contests preceding that game, whatever they may be, can influence which pitcher will toe the slab for the final act.

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