Although Mississippi State’s baseball team recently faced a mid-season slump, one thing has remained the same: promising hits at the plate from outfielder Bryce Chance and first baseman and outfielder Reed Stallman.
Showing up consecutively in the batting order, this duo holds the highest batting average for both left and right-handed batters on the MSU team. Right-handed Chance has achieved a .368 BA, while left-handed Stallman comes in with a .304 BA.
The player’s batting average represents their success rate at the plate and is calculated as total hits divided by at-bats.
As of April’s games, MSU is ranked top-3 for SEC batting averages with a team average of .304. Arkansas’ team bats with a .309 average and Auburn with .304.
In 2021, Mississippi State Baseball brought home its only NCAA National Championship trophy, and its top batter, Tanner Allen, batted .383 that season, not too far off from Chance.
The data used has been calculated from all SEC series games so far this season, including Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Ole Miss, as well as Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina.
Bryce Chance
Chance, a graduate student from Ridgeland, MS, has worn maroon and white since his freshman season in 2022. Across the conference series in which this data was collected, Chance has recorded 65 hits, making him a valuable asset to the Diamond Dawgs.
Left field, center field and second base are even playing grounds for any ball that makes contact with Chances’ bat, as 20% of his at-bats end up in each. Right field is also a familiar spot for Chance, with 16.92% of his hits landing there.
Short stop is not far behind right field; 14.63% of baseballs hit by Chance have landed there during conference games.
Third and first base are not commonalities for Chance compared to second base. 9.23% of AB’s landed down the left-field line to third base, and 3.08% ended up at first base.
The least likely place for Chance to hit the ball was to the pitcher, with only 1.54% of hits landing back on the mound.
With Chances’ at-bats finding contact throughout the field, the opposing team defenders stay on their toes trying to catch his hits.
Chance currently holds the highest batting average on the team, and since 2023, he has consistently been a top-10 batter for the Diamond Dawgs.
Chance is also ranked No.4 in leading the SEC in batting averages.
Reed Stallman
Stallman, a graduate student from Robins, Iowa, has not always been a Bulldog; his freshman and sophomore seasons were spent at Des Moines Area Community College, and his junior season was at Campbell.
Stallman made his way to Starkville in 2025 for his senior season. Stallman’s most likely at-bat was to right field, with 21.82% of his previous balls hit landing there.
Typical for a lefty, it was no surprise that right field was most prone to Stallman’s hits, whereas Chance found his hits on the opposite side of the field. Sullivan has had success with right-field lands – all three of his home runs in conference play have been to right field and have earned multiple runs for the Bulldogs throughout the season.
Coming in a close second, 20% of his hits ended up on first base, while left field and second base had equal opportunities with 18.18% of hits making a stop in those areas. Center field saw 12.73% of Stallman’s hits.
The least likely areas for Stallman’s ball to make a landing were third base, pitcher, and shortstop.
3.64% landed in third base, 3.85% were hit directly back to the pitcher and 3.64% made it to shortstop.
Stallman is 6th in Bulldog BA rankings, but 1st for left-handed batters.
Left-handed batters are not nearly as common as right-handed, and 12 out of the 41 MSU baseball players are left-handed.
All Diamond Dawg batters have shown progression and success at the plate, but Chance and Stallman continue to be the leaders of the pack in recent games.
