Had Enough

I have no feelings toward Turner but as a general philosophy I’m perfectly fine with this stance. Particularly as it applies to Sooners.

Didn’t realize Burke was a walk-on. And I know we’ve debated playing time. It is limited. Hitting a baseball is hard enough. So for those guys getting one AB a week is a damn near impossible task to stay sharp. Same for a pitcher getting one inning a week. Hard to be sharp. The depth of hitters is way better now so you can’t just come out grooving pitches either. I do take the opinion that you’ve got to run multiple guys out there enough to give them a better chance. So maybe they’re a little better prepared for that pinch hit or surprise mound appearance. It’s also why I’m big for some guys on them getting settled into expected roles. It just allows a better focus on what’s expected. In the end, most all of them will look crappy or at best inconsistent. These guys still are young and inexperienced and likely not fully confident.

Yes, the scholarships are a limiting factor so I think it does spread the talent out more. It’ll be interesting to see if NIL changes that. I’d say ultimately it will. The balance may be that guys won’t ride the pine. It’s hard to build out a full roster with depth offensively and on the mound. Our 2021 team got caught because Stevens didn’t have the stuff to go 7 so Witt had to extend. Then he didn’t have quite enough juice. We were awfully close but really about 1 inning shy of being able to complete the deal. Truth be told, they did enough to give the offense a chance to win it. That was the result of losing game 1 as well. I’d like to have better, more consistent pitching but objectively that’s not our primary issue this season. The pitching is trending poorly though and may ultimately be our downfall. Unfortunately, we’ve lost Hurley and Morehouse, maybe Sthele for the moment. They are needed, but it’s looking less likely we’ll get production out of them.

Ole Miss had 4 guys with 40 IP last year and a sub 3.5 ERA. Their guy with the most starts had a 6.89 ERA on the season. Only 5 guys had sub-4 ERAs and 10 innings pitched. 4.21 team ERA. OU 5.38 team ERA. Only 2 dudes with a sub-4 ERA. Only 3 with a sub-5 ERA. A&M. 4.67 team ERA. Their 3 primary starters on the season were 4.99 to 5.19 in ERA. Only 2 pitchers with 20 innings and sub-4.5 ERAs. Arkansas 4.07 team ERA. Starters ERAs were 3.65, 4.66 and 6.55. Of their top 7 pitchers in innings pitched, that best starter had the 2nd best ERA at 3.65. MSU in 2021. Team ERA of 4.04. Their number 2 and 3 starters had ERAs above 5. 3 guys with 20 innings on the season and a sub-3.5 ERA. Vandy 2021. 5 guys with 20 innings and sub-4 ERA. One of those had exactly 30 innings. Rocker and Lester. 2021 Texas was better than 2022. We had 5 that could mow you down plus Stevens. But we absolutely wouldn’t throw a 7th guy out there, and it may have cost us. MSU was fortunate against us to use one guy to beat us twice. Right now we have 5 guys with 20 plus innings pitched and sub-3 ERAs. Two more with 20 plus innings and sub-4 ERAs. The numbers do not back your assertion. I didn’t pull the number but I saw quite a few pitchers logging innings with walk ratios of plus 4/9 innings. Also quite a few starters that remained starters even though on average their ERAs were not great. We’re better served having LBJ and Witt, if he works back, with one as a starter and the other as a lock down bullpen guy.

We are 4th in Era. .01 out of 3rd and were possibly first prior to today. We’re second fewest in XBHs allowed. Walks are frustrating, but the facts are it’s the hits that kill you. We gave up 50% more runs today than any other conference game and damn near any other game cause why? Hits. And lots of them. On the season we’re best in conference and that isn’t cause we played the crappiest schedule. We’re still top 20 in the country in team ERA. We were damn near top 10 prior to today. We are 5th in batting average and tied for next to last in runs scored per game in the conference. Slugging percentage. On base percentage. Walks. Homers. We’re are bottom half in conference. Today’s game skewed the numbers a bit. Slightly positive for the hitters and substantially worse for the pitchers. The college baseball landscape is that runs are scored. A lot. There aren’t many staffs sitting there with 10 guys ready to mow you down. I pulled some numbers quickly today. Of the top 25 teams, we are top 10 in fewest losses by 5 runs or more and fewest games giving up 10 or more runs. We’ve given up 10 or more in a blowout over ICW, the 3 error inning game versus Vandy, to Baylor and today. This is two years in a row the staff has gotten progressively worse as the season went on. It could be the Big 12 just knows us better. Or maybe it’s something else. We are to the point of almost now or never. WVU could sweep us. Maybe lose one to KU. Maybe lose one to SJSU. Then we’re in trouble. Or we get our shit together and get on a run.

I believe by definition an over reaction is not possible when used incorrectly. And while there’s substantial over reaction on this board, I also was referencing Pierce. Lummus is a lefty-lefty kind of pitcher. Probably 1-3 hitters at a time. He’d have to go 6 versus a number of teams to prove otherwise. If you extend him more than an inning, there’s a bit of fire every time because you’re probably getting more righties and more looks at him. Whatever happened today shouldn’t necessarily preclude him from pitching in a critical spot again. That’d be an overrreaction from Mr. Pierce.

He’s a situational guy. Always has and will be. That’s how he should be used. We shouldn’t over react to a 6 inning performance. Probably shouldn’t over react when trying to stretch him out either.

If they could each take one from WVU, that’d be incredibly helpful. I watched the final 3 innings of Tech-KSU today. Control issues hurt them and what looked like a catchable ball from the RF that was not caught did them in. Maybe Molina can give them a good start, and they can hit. First and foremost, it’d be great to get a sweep tomorrow.

If we win tomorrow, we’re back to controlling our own conference destiny. 3-way tie for 2nd. KState and OSU play each other. We play KU, WVU at home. WVU also plays Tech and OU at home. Obviously, WVU is playing quite well. I’d say chances are good they hit a bit of a rough spot.

Out, imo.

Y’all must have slept thru the Augie years. 2014. A bunch of .260 hitters. Clemens started 63 games. Hit .212 with 1 homer. 2015. Hinojosa hit .242 with a .321 OBP. Cantù .249 with 1 homer. Shaw .243 and .312. Marlow .251 and .322. 2016. Kody .242, .306, 5 HRs. Tyler Rand .265, .324, 1 HR. 2017. Reynolds .212, .346, 5 HRs. Hamilton .218, .305, 0 HRs. Cantù .222, .308. 2018. Reynolds .247, .351, 4 HRs. McKenzie .252, .341, 0 HRs. Shaw .252, .355, 0 HRs. 2019. MCCann, Shaw, Hibbeler. All lower averages. All lower OPS. Todd and Ford similar. 2021. EK .253, .333, 4 HRs, 13 XBHs. Silas .239, .704 OPS. We’ve always had mediocre to poor hitters in the lineup. These are just the years I found on texas sports.com. We have guys that could tank further.

I know. It’s frustrating to watch. He’s got pretty good pop. His homers aren’t exactly cheap ones. He’s pretty balanced at the plate and doesn’t chase terrible pitches all the time. He watches too many 3rd strikes as the counter to that though. I’m a big fan of average with RISP. He is terrible there. And he’s poor in conference. His OBP is in the .340s which isn’t terrible. Overall. I know his conference numbers are way less than that. I do think he has a positive run at the plate before seasons end.

If Carlson can hit, that’ll help. Looks as though he’s the primary DH now. Stack the lineup at the top with righties. EK is largely a bunter against lefties so drop him like last night even though that was a righty. When he’s not on, he sees too few pitches, has some ugly swings and whiffs too much. Powell can hit lefties if he’s staying on the ball and going the other way. O’Dowd is less defender than Daly and his offensive numbers aren’t better overall. Bring a righty there. Maybe it’s Carlson then Galvan slides into the DH slot. JD can fill one of those too. We still have some growth potential from our hitters. Hot hand versus set lineup is who this team is.

Well I was being a smartass, but it was in a general sense. To you and others. We shit ourselves with the walks we issue. And you called out one dude. A dude who’s repeatedly called out. Yep need more production out of Daly. He’s only 2-12 in the last 4 conference games, but he walked 5 times including 2 last night. Strike outs often are suboptimal but Daly did soak up 25 pitches which is better than 2-5 with 2 singles and drawing 10 pitches. Assuming those singles were non run scoring. We had 18 base runners but only 8 scored, which means take away the home runs and we scored 2 of 13 runners. That will almost always be less about your 7-9 hitters and more about 1-6. We’ve had other games that this was an issue. It’d be great if we can get 2/3rds of the lineup hitting at the same time. It’s capable, but we’ll see.

Just out curiosity, are walks only shitty and critical when we issue them but not when receive them?

Noted. But being literal goals is plural. Reaching Omaha is singular. Good pitching beats good hitting. There’s absolutely enough data to say that we can compete in the pitching department. We’ve got righties and lefties. We do have some guys that can throw hard. To date, we don’t allow many homers or hits for that matter. And they typically keep us in games. And the walks while frustrating are top half in the country on a per inning basis. I’d guess were top 10 in fewest games allowing 10 or more runs. Teams like Campbell, ECU, Virginia, DBU, Boston College, Miami, Louisville, DUKE, Kentucky, Coastal Carolina are the competition for hosting a regional. They’re all up and down and get blown out. Whoever plays best down the stretch likely gets to host.

What goals are those?

I hope Morehouse gets the 9th.

I see that now. Do we know how long the grandfathered donation holds?

That’s true of those teams. But maybe it’s easier sometimes to find that RB than the QB. The truth is you need the Oline to be a next level offense. So maybe you go run game rather than pass pro. How good is Hurts really? Good, experienced Oline. Good running game, which does include him. Excellent at starting WR, above average pass catching TE. Ridder has a chance here. If the run game dominates, maybe he can dominant. Pitts and London are good pieces. He needs like quick, shuttle playing making dude now. Edelman, D. Smith.

Cause they wanna be the best.

I think sections 2 and 7 are donations of $500 per seat. You jump inside that it may go to $2,500 per for the donation. Section 3 is the seat backs and presumably 6 on the north end. That was the previous locked in price. Not sure where it is this year. The rows in the 50s or 60s so get under the overhang. The higher you get the less air flow/breeze you get.

Falcons were 3rd in rushing yards. 4th in yards per carry. Trailed the Bears, Ravens and Bills in yards per carry..

I’d consider it. The biggest question to answer is how much time will he share. They didn’t draft him to sit him though. Patterson was very solid until he got hurt then Algere mostly took over. Huntley did fine as well. In spite of QB issues, three RBs producing is a pretty solid indicator that production opportunities are available. One would think London, Pitts and Ridder would all improve too.

This is an interesting post and not sure how to feel about it. You handed out some solid advice. But damn if I haven’t seen and heard of what I view as complete coaching dumbassery that runs a bit counter to that. There likely is an element that they did not rise far enough above it. But also a very good chance it would require a hell of an effort.