Mississippi State pitching coach Scott Foxhall thinks Landon Sims could be their Friday night starter.

This coming from a coach with three potential day one MLB draft picks in his starting rotation already including preseason All-American Christian MacLeod.

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“His stuff is electric,” Foxhall said of Sims, a sophomore who struck out 23 and walked seven in his first 13 collegiate innings in 2020. “There's 89 reasons why he could be our Friday night starter. He can do it and he will do it at some point. It could be this year. It could be next year that he's the anchor of the staff.”

That’s how deep the Bulldogs’ arms figure to be in 2021.

Sims, who may find himself trending toward becoming a high draft prospect himself in 2022 with a good season this spring, will challenge for a steady starting spot with MacLeod, Eric Cerantola and Will Bednar.

All three are ranked among the top 60 college draft prospects by Baseball America and interchangeable in terms of what order they may start for the Bulldogs according to coach Chris Lemonis.

“I would say that it is almost like having a staff full of unicorns,” Foxhall said recently during the Bulldogs’ media day press conferences. “You get them once in your coaching career and it seems like I have a whole staff of them right now.”

Foxhall thinks Sims has the best slider of any pitcher on their staff.

Should Sims not start he can “piggyback” starts out of the bullpen. He can also pitch in late-inning, high-leverage relief spots. He could be called upon to close out games as well.

Basically, Mississippi State won’t be afraid to deploy Sims in pretty much any role this season.

“He's our X-factor guy,” Lemonis said. “He can do everything, as talented as probably anybody on our staff. He's just a tough, hard-nosed kid. I feel comfortable running him out there in any situation.”

Sims, who posted a 3.46 ERA in seven appearances, showed glimpses of his stuff last season – the last of which came in Mississippi State’s penultimate game. Sims helped the Bulldogs finish off Texas Tech with 2 1/3 innings of relief in which he struck out six and gave up one run on one hit and one walk.

“He is a very important piece,” Foxhall said. “We call him 'The Hybrid' a lot of the time. He's building his innings like everyone else. He's a guy that you feel like could be electric in one- or two-inning stints. We also feel like he's a guy if a starter goes five innings, you can put Landon in, and he can finish the game. He has got a chance to be the heart and soul of this pitching staff a variety of different ways.”

MacLeod, a 6-foot-4, 227-pound left-hander, led the Bulldogs with 35 strikeouts in 21 innings and a 0.86 ERA. With a fastball in the low-90s and a solid curveball-changeup mix, MacLeod worked this offseason on executing his pitches with more bite toward the plate.

“We have been working on a little bit more vertical movement with his fastball, so back spinning his fastball just a little bit more,” Foxhall said. “He already had great vertical movement, but we are just trying to make it better. His breaking ball, same thing. The depth on his breaking ball, just making it a bit better. His changeup, believe it or not, with Christian's changeup we tried to soften it just a bit. Sometimes his changeup can almost look like a two-seam fastball. We want to try to make that pitch a little bit more of a swing and miss pitch.”

Cerantola, a 6-5, 220-pound right-hander who grew up playing hockey and was once drafted by the Ontario Hockey League, is the power thrower of the group with a fastball that can touch 98 mph.

But locating that pitch and his curveball and changeup haven’t always been easy for Cerantola, a junior, who has walked 22 batters in 31 2/3 career innings (15 appearances, eight starts).

“With my fastball, I made adjustments on the mental and physical/mechanics side that allow me to be more consistent with it,” Cerantola said.

Foxhall praised the way Cerantola improved the effectiveness of his changeup during fall ball.

“We had scouting directors come in here in the fall and say that is the best breaking ball in the country,” Foxhall said. “So, it is really about strike percentage with him.”

Bednar, a 6-2, 230-pound sophomore, bounced back from a shoulder injury to compile a 1.76 ERA with 23 strikeouts and six walks in 15 1/3 innings in 2020. Bednar’s fastball touches 96 mph and he complements it with a curve, change and slider that’s prompted scouts to believe he has starter potential at the next level.

“With Will, we really have been focusing on his off-speed pitches,” Foxhall said. “He dominated about 20-percent of a season last year with mostly fastballs. He can dominate with his fastball this year as well, but he has added a lot more confidence in a slider. He has a real curveball, too, as a weapon.”

The Bulldogs, who were 12-4 before COVID canceled the 2020 season, are chasing their first national title and a third trip to the College World Series in four years.

Their surplus of arms will be tested immediately when they open the season against Texas, TCU and Texas Tech on Feb. 20-22 in the State Farm Showdown in Arlington, Texas.

“For all of the talent and competitiveness, all of the great qualities that they have, the one quality that they do not have a lot of right now is experience,” Foxhall said. “I would say to all the people that are putting high expectations up right now that we do not have a lot of SEC wins on this pitching staff right now…The game is the best teacher and that is what we have lacked for the past year due to the situation we have all been placed in. I am anxious to see how they handle games.”

Andre has covered baseball at the high school, college and both minor-league and major-league levels for the past 15 years for multiple publications including the Miami Herald, the Athletic and Baseball America. You can follow him at @FernandezAndreC on Twitter.