MSU baseball bits: Hatcher's maturity, Clark's return & Skinner's progression

On the heels of No. 3 Mississippi State's seventh straight win on Tuesday night, let's take a brief look at a few things currently happening with the Bulldogs:

Hatcher all grown up

Less than a couple of weeks ago, Mississippi State's Josh Hatcher was hitting just .219. He was a victim of some struggle and a little bad luck. However you look at it, things weren't going his way.

Fast-forward to this past Tuesday night. There was Hatcher smashing a baseball over the centerfield wall at Dudy Noble Field for his first home run of the season. That batting average? Well it has gained 40 points since May 5. It's all the way up to .259. Hatcher is tied for the team lead in doubles with four. Hatcher's maturity is paying off. He's displayed traits that even he admits he might not could've a couple of years back.

"Earlier in my career if this was happening, I would be down on myself because I wasn't getting hits left and right," Hatcher said on Tuesday. "If you're going out there and hitting balls hard consistently, then that's all you can really ask for."

And hit the ball hard is exactly what Hatcher has been doing of late. No, they haven't all fallen. Many have found gloves. But Hatcher seems to be getting a bit more fortunate in recent days as his patience pays off.

"It's a really hard game to play," Hatcher said. "It's for the tough minded...I think being an older player, you learn how to cope with (things) and keep playing your game."

(NOTE: YOU CAN WATCH HATCHER'S FULL INTERVIEW FROM AFTER TUESDAY'S GAME WITH THE VIDEO AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE.)

Skinner inching closer to full health

Outfielder Brayland Skinner has been limited in the early going this season because of a hand injury. Because of that, he has been primarily used as a late-inning defensive replacement.

However Skinner got a couple of plate appearances last Friday and a couple more on Tuesday. If all continues to go well, it might not be long until Skinner inserts himself as an option to start some games in the outfield for the Bulldogs.

"He's real close," Lemonis said of Skinner getting back to full health. "I've had a bad history with the hamate bone (injury) guys, that strength of your hand you know is coming back. It's coming back, you (just) need him to be 100 percent. A lot of times what happens is you rush them back. They're not hurting anymore, (but) they're in a slump – which is worse than being hurt sometimes. We want to get him back and give him a chance to compete, especially at this level, to be 100 percent. But he's close. He had a couple at-bats (Tuesday). We'll see how he does (Wednesday). He gets a little sore at times after the game. Hopefully he'll be ready to roll and he can get in that lineup here soon."

Where would Skinner fit in the lineup? Well he could play left, which has been filled by a mixture of different Bulldogs up to this point this year. Or he could slide into center and MSU could move Rowdey Jordan over to left. All that remains to be seen.

"He can play every field," Lemonis said of Skinner. "He can play centerfield. He's a really good centerfielder. Right now, the luxury, if you have him out there is you have two centerfielders – Rowdey Jordan and him. He can kind of play them all. He has the ability to play centerfield, too. He can play right or play left. And Rowdey has the ability to play them all. He's shown that in the past. It'll be a situation where we have a couple of centerfielders playing at one time."

Clark back in the mix

It has been more than three weeks now since highly-touted freshman Kellum Clark has seen action for Mississippi State. He last played when he started as designated hitter against Jackson State back on February 24.

Since then, Clark has been dealing with an undisclosed medical issue. However MSU head coach Chris Lemonis disclosed on Tuesday that Clark is finally back in the mix with the Bulldogs.

"Kellum got back (Tuesday)," Lemonis said. "He took some (batting practice) and took some ground balls. He's kind of limited right now, just getting him back in. It was good to have him back here (Tuesday) working out with us. Like the other guys coming off the (disabled list) a little bit, he’s got some work to do. He is back and in the mix with the guys."

It remains to be seen how long it'll be before Clark can get back to game action, but when Clark is back to full strength, the promising potential of his bat gives Lemonis yet another intriguing lineup or bench option.

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