​STARKVILLE — Mississippi State baseball has an obvious strength for 2027.All three weekend starting pitchers — Tomas Valincius, Ryan McPherson and Duke Stone — are returning. Baseball America recently ranked them as top 30 MLB draft prospects, with Valincius ranked No. 2.The Bulldogs are the only team in the SEC returning all three weekend starters.But there were still plenty of roster questions after coach Brian O’Connor’s first season ended in the Athens Super Regional. The struggling bullpen needed a reboot, and six of the starting position players are gone after the MLB draft.Thirteen transfers were added with 11 high school signees. “I love what we have,” O’Connor said in a wide-ranging interview with the Clarion Ledger on Aug. 10. “I love our team on paper. That said, we have our first team meeting a week from today and then we’ll start working out on Aug. 19. We’ll know more about where we’re at two and three months from now, but I’m excited about it.”Could Mississippi State transfers challenge for starting job?It’s easy to pencil Valincius, McPherson and Stone as MSU’s 2027 starters, but O’Connor is still leaving options open before fall practices begin.”I know a lot’s to be made that the guys that were in the rotation last year are back, but everything’s earned every year,” O’Connor said. “Those guys even that started for us last year know that know we are bringing pitchers in that are going to compete for their spots. That’s good. It’s going to drive everybody to be better.”Mississippi State added some intriguing transfers who could challenge the starters.UCLA transfer Landon Stump started 13 of his 18 games last season and had a 4.12 ERA. He’ll be a senior next season and has 42 starts in his career. Miami transfer Nick Robert was a weekend starter in 2025, but had his season cut short with an injury and was limited to just four games last season and had a 9.82 ERA.MSU also returns a lot of young pitchers like Jack Bauer, Maddox Miller, Jack Gleason, Parker Rhodes and William Kirk.”I love the depth and the versatility that we have from a pitching staff standpoint and position player as well,” O’Connor said.Mississippi State baseball got multiple-year transfers for the lineupThe position players were a big need for Mississippi State too with the six starters gone. Some of the Bulldogs’ replacements could be multi-year starters instead of one-year players.MORE: Would Mississippi State baseball add a newly eligible player? Brian O’Connor weighs inGeorgia Southern’s Brady Christman and Army’s Josiah Overbeek are both coming off freshmen All-American seasons. Christman, projected to start at designated hitter, batted .384 with 12 home runs, 44 RBIs and 41 runs. Overbeek, a projected starting infielder, batted .314 with 17 home runs, 44 RBIs, 52 runs and 56 walks. He also made 15 relief pitching appearances with a 5.57 ERA.The Bulldogs also got South Carolina infielder Will Craddock, who was a starter as a freshman last season. The th