2023 Texas Baseball

[Elmer_Fudd 22,312]

What's the scoop on OSU?  Looking at team stats, they have a team era of over 4.50, do they have a bad bullpen?  Starters shaky after Watts?  Inflated from mid-week games?

[Js1 85,507]

32 minutes ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

What's the scoop on OSU?  Looking at team stats, they have a team era of over 4.50, do they have a bad bullpen?  Starters shaky after Watts?  Inflated from mid-week games?

Got shut out by DBU tonight 8-0

[Hookem2147 21,347]

If we take 2 of 3 this weekend, it’s time to recalibrate expectations for this season and start talking about winning this damn conference and hosting.

[Hookem2147 21,347]

40 minutes ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

What's the scoop on OSU?  Looking at team stats, they have a team era of over 4.50, do they have a bad bullpen?  Starters shaky after Watts?  Inflated from mid-week games?

Their ERA is probably still inflated a bit from when they gave up 18 runs (13 earned) in 7 innings to Arkansas at the beginning of the season.

They have had some injuries to the pitching staff and haven’t had consistent starting pitching outside of Watts-Brown. 

Their ballpark plays pretty small so expect lots of runs this weekend.

Edited March 29, 2023 by Hookem2147

[The Dog 44,115]

3 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

If we take 2 of 3 this weekend, it’s time to recalibrate expectations for this season and start talking about winning this damn conference and hosting.

according to Boydsworld we can't be a top 8 seed but can host. 

would be incredible after the way the season started.

[hornian 5,222]

When was the last time Texas had a 15 game winning streak? I know that we have 30+ game winning streaks in the 70s and 80s, but I can’t remember a winning streak this long in a while. We had a long one back in 2010 - it was like 20 or 21 games. Have we had one like that since that I’ve forgotten?

[OB3 3,629]

Sorry I have to add this to the season thread too 😂😂

[Hookem2147 21,347]

5 minutes ago, hornian said:

When was the last time Texas had a 15 game winning streak? I know that we have 30+ game winning streaks in the 70s and 80s, but I can’t remember a winning streak this long in a while. We had a long one back in 2010 - it was like 20 or 21 games. Have we had one like that since that I’ve forgotten?

We won 16 in a row in 2021. Ironically the streak started after we lost to A&M.

[ztejas 43,528]

I think we should fire him because some people complain about his pitcher management on a Tuesday in March. 

[hornian 5,222]

4 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

We won 16 in a row in 2021. Ironically the streak started after we lost to A&M.

Well, let’s add 16 more to this streak then why don’t we?

[Fletch 5,800]

43 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

If we take 2 of 3 this weekend, it’s time to recalibrate expectations for this season and start talking about winning this damn conference and hosting.

Like clockwork with Pierce. Always has the team rolling come conference play. 

[NeverMarryAStripper 21,920]

48 minutes ago, The Dog said:

according to Boydsworld we can't be a top 8 seed but can host.

That just means there will be a super in Austin after we win the Austin regional when the host of the regional we’re matched up with gets upset by a 2 or 3 seed.  There will be 10 threads on texags about the BOMC/ESiPN seeding conspiracy to give the Horns the easiest path to Omaha.

Edited March 29, 2023 by NeverMarryAStripper

[Rholl 220]

2 hours ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

That just means there will be a super in Austin after we win the Austin regional when the host of the regional we’re matched up with gets upset by a 2 or 3 seed.  There will be 10 threads on texags about the BOMC/ESiPN seeding conspiracy to give the Horns the easiest path to Omaha.

EVERY SINGLE TIME….. and different sport…. but post season basketball…… blah the NCAA just has it for us….. Texags mantra

[The Earl of Texas 3,161]

Should’ve won 12-1. 🤘

[Valmy77 13,269]

8 hours ago, The Dog said:

according to Boydsworld we can't be a top 8 seed but can host. 

would be incredible after the way the season started.

Really? Lose a few one run games in February and that's it? We could win the Big 12, Big 12 tournament, and sweep our remaining OOC and that's not good because we lost by one run to Arkansas in February? Whatever. Let's do that and see them deny us.

And even if they do, just hosting the Regional is good enough. For whatever reason we seem invincible in Super Regionals.

[Post Oak 20,256]

Highlights from last night for those who missed it.

 

[MuellerHorn 4,264]

https://d1baseball.com/nitty-gritty/

Moved to 15 in D1's RPI after last night's win over little brother.

Still searching for a quad 1 win, but OSU is currently ranked 22. Win this series and Texas is 100% in the driver's seat to host come early June.

Edit: aggy now at 49 with a 15-10 record. They're on their way to missing the postseason.

Edited March 29, 2023 by MuellerHorn

[Hookem2147 21,347]

32 minutes ago, MuellerHorn said:

https://d1baseball.com/nitty-gritty/

Moved to 15 in D1's RPI after last night's win over little brother.

Still searching for a quad 1 win, but OSU is currently ranked 22. Win this series and Texas is 100% in the driver's seat to host come early June.

Edit: aggy now at 49 with a 15-10 record. They're on their way to missing the postseason.

Q1 wins are top 50 RPI wins and we have 3 right now. Not sure why D1baseball splits 1 through 25 and 26 through 50.

https://www.warrennolan.com/baseball/2023/rpi-live

[Horndog 2,228]

23 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

 

https://www.warrennolan.com/baseball/2023/rpi-live

Right above Xavier. Right below Miami. Ironic. 

[BillyGoatHill 4,312]

1 hour ago, MuellerHorn said:

 

Edit: aggy now at 49 with a 15-10 record. They're on their way to missing the postseason.

Ohhhhhhhh, if that happens to them AND Schlossnagle...??? 😂

[jdhorn92 1,554]

Eating crow right now.  I was guilty of going negative after the opening series.  Not sweeping IU and Looking pretty average at CSU-F , I still had my doubts.

 This run has been pretty salty, albeit sub standard competition.  Nice win last night. The P staff is rounding out and IF we get Witt back, we could make some noise. 
 

Big weekend in Stillwater. 

Edited March 29, 2023 by jdhorn92

[TrashMaster G 17,584]

1 hour ago, Horndog said:

Right above Xavier. Right below Miami. Ironic. 

If you are using the Alanis Morissette definition of irony, sure.

Otherwise, it's coincidence.

[MuellerHorn 4,264]

Thank you for the clarification. Texas is sitting even better as of now then.

[Hookem2147 21,347]

 

[zlavydra 2,123]

Daly, in his 3rd season, with 5 extra base hits in 97 PA's strikes me as...weak.

[Rickylovesweed 14,537]

Daly struggled last year too. I think it's past time to try somebody else in his place. 

[Had Enough 2,085]

ODowd, Flores, Carlson, Duplantier all have similar or lesser numbers than Daly. Average, slugging, OBP. His numbers are slightly better than Thomas’s too.

Daly was over .300 two weeks ago. He’s slumping. He’s also hit some deep flies including one that was likely going out if not caught. He’s actually executed some bunt attempts.

[Hookem2147 21,347]

44 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

Daly struggled last year too. I think it's past time to try somebody else in his place. 

The two times they’ve tried that this year it’s been so bad they had to put Daly back in during the middle of the game.

As shaky as he’s been at times (and he’s been less shaky defensively the last few weeks or so), grass isn’t always greener on the other side.

Edited March 30, 2023 by Hookem2147

[Rickylovesweed 14,537]

11 minutes ago, Had Enough said:

ODowd, Flores, Carlson, Duplantier all have similar or lesser numbers than Daly. Average, slugging, OBP. His numbers are slightly better than Thomas’s too.

Daly was over .300 two weeks ago. He’s slumping. He’s also hit some deep flies including one that was likely going out if not caught. He’s actually executed some bunt attempts.

I would much prefer to see Duplantier in the lineup. He's done some good things situationally at the plate this year. 

Plus, he's only a FR. Play the younger guy that might have upside over a guy that's been hitting around .240 for 2 years. 

Edited March 30, 2023 by Rickylovesweed

[Rickylovesweed 14,537]

9 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

The two times they’ve tried that this year it’s been so bad they had to put Daly back in during the middle of the game.

As shaky as he’s been at times (and he’s been less shaky defensively the last few weeks or so), grass isn’t always greener on the other side.

There's almost zero risk. He's been a below average hitter for 2 years and his defense isn't good enough to justify playing time. 

Play the younger guys in an era where younger players transfer when they don't get playing time. See Kash. 

[Hookem2147 21,347]

4 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

There's almost zero risk. He's been a below average hitter for 2 years and his defense isn't good enough to justify playing time. 

Play the younger guys in an era where younger players transfer when they don't get playing time. See Kash. 

The risk is the other guys can’t field a groundball which is what we’ve seen when they’ve tried O’Hara and Duplantier at SS.

[Rickylovesweed 14,537]

3 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

The risk is the other guys can’t field a groundball which is what we’ve seen when they’ve tried O’Hara and Duplantier at SS.

There are ups and downs with any FR. That's why you have to play them so they gain experience. 

You know what you're getting with Daly at this point. I can live with a few defensive miscues if it means prioritizing younger players that potentially have a higher upside. 

[Hookem2147 21,347]

7 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

There are ups and downs with any FR. That's why you have to play them so they gain experience. 

You know what you're getting with Daly at this point. I can live with a few defensive miscues if it means prioritizing younger players that potentially have a higher upside. 

I can’t. Not at this point in the season. We have a shot to win the conference. The time for playing the long game has come and gone imo.

We gave two young guys opportunities at SS during our early season struggles to show they deserved a longer look and both couldn’t even field routine groundballs and make throws across the diamond. It was really, really bad.

Duplantier’s future is also likely at 2B or the OF. He doesn’t have the arm for SS. If you want to discuss him getting more looks at DH or in LF with Brown sliding into the DH role, I am a lot more open to that.

Edited March 30, 2023 by Hookem2147

[MuellerHorn 4,264]

What is up with Burke not getting any action since Incarnate Word? He's one of Texas' better relievers.

[ClubWhatever 12,154]

I don’t think we have a true shortstop on the roster a la the freshman from Tech.  I don’t think the marginal offense, if any, from the younger guys is worth the defensive hit.  It’s too late now to break them in anyway. 

[Rickylovesweed 14,537]

1 minute ago, Hookem2147 said:

I can’t. Not at this point in the season. We have a shot to win the conference. The time for playing the long game has come and gone imo.

We gave two young guys opportunities at SS during our early season struggles to show they deserved a longer look and both couldn’t even field routine groundballs and make throws across the diamond.

Duplantier’s future is also likely at 2B or the OF. If you want to discuss him getting more looks at DH or in LF with Brown sliding into the DH role, I am a lot more open to that.

I think you're drastically exaggerating any harm to replacing Daly. He's been a .240 hitter for 2 years, he's not hitting for any type of power, and he's just an ok defensive player. 

Replacing Daly is not going to be the difference between winning a conference championship and not winning one. My guess is that there's also a better chance a player like Duplantier ends up being a better hitter by the end of the season if given opportunities. 

[ClubWhatever 12,154]

3 minutes ago, MuellerHorn said:

What is up with Burke not getting any action since Incarnate Word? He's one of Texas' better relievers.

Him and Grubbs.  Grubbs first outing looked good.  He was throwing a heavy 91 sinker.  Where did that go?

[Had Enough 2,085]

That’s the thought exhibited on this board two years ago with Kennedy and to an extent last year with him as well. I believe each of the past two years he finished strong. It’s baseball so you’ve got to balance the ups and downs.

Right now, he has more combined sac flies/sac bunts than anyone else. His experience probably helps in that regard. Not sexy but functional.

His upside as a hitter is at least .316 as a hitter with .829 OPS. At a minimum. But playing SS may bring that down some.

As a veteran, he’s likely bringing stability to the practice field and live games. We are winning and he’s added some positives offensively.

Agree that we need to keep guys engaged that we want to return.

[Hookem2147 21,347]

O’Hara is probably the purest SS on the roster longterm but his bat was slightly above average at best in HS and certainly isn’t ready to face Big 12 competition right now.

A year or two down the road, he will likely be a factor and be a plus defender.

Flores is a tweener and has probably already outgrown SS. We have a few guys signed in the 2023 class that profile to SS.

[Rickylovesweed 14,537]

Didn't O'Dowd come in a couple games last year at SS in blowouts? Seems like a very easy solution is to slide him to SS and put Duplantier at 2nd. 

Either way, I don't really buy the argument because Daly is far from an elite defensive player at SS to begin with. 

 

Edited March 30, 2023 by Rickylovesweed

[jimmyjazz 46,079]

In my mind, you don't pick the SS for offense.  You just don't.  You have to find the best guy in the field and figure out the hitting deficit that might arise.

[Hookem2147 21,347]

16 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

I think you're drastically exaggerating any harm to replacing Daly. He's been a .240 hitter for 2 years, he's not hitting for any type of power, and he's just an ok defensive player. 

Replacing Daly is not going to be the difference between winning a conference championship and not winning one. My guess is that there's also a better chance a player like Duplantier ends up being a better hitter by the end of the season if given opportunities. 

You are certainly entitled to that opinion. We definitely don’t see eye to eye on this, which is fine.

In my opinion, Daly has been putting together productive AB’s, seeing pitches and doing some things offensively that aren’t showing up in box scores. He had 17 extra base hits in 209 AB’s as a freshman so he’s never been someone who has put the ball in gaps consistently. He actually had more extra base hits last year in two less total AB’s than his freshman year.

I think you are underestimating the step back that would be taken defensively. Daly might be just ok defensively but what we’ve seen from the other options is much, much worse than ok.

Edited March 30, 2023 by Hookem2147

[ClubWhatever 12,154]

6 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

Didn't O'Dowd come in a couple games last year at SS in blowouts? Seems like a very easy solution is to slide him to SS and put Duplantier at 2nd. 

Either way, I don't really buy the argument because Daly is far from an elite defensive player at SS to begin with. 

 

There’s a reason the two incumbents play where they do at the same time.  Daly is a better SS than O’Dowd.  You absolutely must be solid at SS to win.  

[hobbes2702 13,052]

1 hour ago, Rickylovesweed said:

Daly struggled last year too. I think it's past time to try somebody else in his place. 

I’d be ok with moving him to second and replacing O’Dowd in the lineup.

That said I don’t think O’Hara will hit worth a shit. But I think if you really want to replace a middle infielder you, you don’t replace the better defensive player.

Edited March 30, 2023 by hobbes2702

[Rickylovesweed 14,537]

1 minute ago, ClubWhatever said:

There’s a reason the two incumbents play where they do at the same time.  Daly is a better SS than O’Dowd.  You absolutely must be solid at SS to win.  

The problem is Daly isn't a great SS. He has limited range and is just an ok fielder. 

He might be better defensively than the replacements but I bet the difference wouldn't be significant given more playing time for the younger guys. Reality is, Daly is likely in the lineup simply because of all the turnover and inexperience across the board in the infield.

I understand that line of thinking and there certainly aren't any "sure fire" upgrades but I think we've seen enough of Daly to justify playing the younger guys for the future. 

[Hookem2147 21,347]

2 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

I’d be ok with moving him to sending and replacing O’Dowd in the lineup 

O’Dowd hasn’t been that bad defensively outside of last night. And he’s hitting .284, has pop and doesn’t strikeout a lot.

He’s fine. Not all-conference good or anything but more than passable.

[hobbes2702 13,052]

Just now, Hookem2147 said:

O’Dowd hasn’t been that bad defensively outside of last night. And he’s hitting .284, has pop and doesn’t strikeout a lot.

He’s fine. Not all-conference good or anything but more than passable.

I think his defense is just ok.

Daly is an elite defensive 2b but just an average defensive ss. 

I don’t think we should replace either of them really because the offense behind them falls off a cliff but if I was swapping one it would be Jack before Daly 

[Spaceman_Spiff 121]

I’d probably put in Carlson, and replace Thomas (Powell to 1B) before anything else. Daly is who he is, but the defensive dropoff with another SS is too big to risk. And we’re struggling already defensively. Its not like Daly is the one weak link in our lineup.

[Valmy77 13,269]

Carlson has been in the dog house since the Fullerton series. Not sure what is going on there.

[Rickylovesweed 14,537]

24 minutes ago, Spaceman_Spiff said:

I’d probably put in Carlson, and replace Thomas (Powell to 1B) before anything else. Daly is who he is, but the defensive dropoff with another SS is too big to risk. And we’re struggling already defensively. Its not like Daly is the one weak link in our lineup.

We can't keep benching FR that go through prototypical FR struggles. Or else we are going to see players like Kash every year producing at other schools in their 2nd or 3rd years.