2023 Texas Baseball

[SizzleChest 8295]

2 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Jfc this bit is so old already and we are 18 hours into the offseason.

Well, if you think this is a "bit" is one thing.  To discuss it the day after we got 2 and que'd is another.  Should I wait until football season?  When's gon' be my time?!?

[Cajun 11766]

12 hours ago, Balcones said:

No. I won’t give you a break.

Frank Anderson and Skip Johnson are in a different league than Sean.

Without a doubt.

[Hookem2147 21485]

Bryce Elder became a top 5 round pick despite Sean Allen.

Ty Madden became a first round pick despite Sean Allen.

Tanner Witt became a freshman all-american despite Sean Allen.

Cole Quintanila went from a 8.31 ERA to 1.35 ERA and 9th round pick despite Sean Allen

Marcus Olivarez went from a dude with a 5.00 ERA at Lamar to a .69 ERA despite Sean Allen.

Tristan Stevens went from a 5.31 ERA to Saturday starter on an Omaha team despite Sean Allen

Jared Southard went from a 7.71 ERA to a 2.76 ERA and is about to be drafted despite Sean Allen

Lucas Gordon went from little used middle reliever to Saturday starter in one offseason despite Sean Allen.

 

If we can just get rid of this Sean Allen guy, this program can finally be good again.

[Had Enough 2093]

I don't know what Harrison is, but I'm excited to find out.  I think he's a starter.

I’m curious about this. How is Harrison so much more starter material than Gordon? Keep in mind I’m not saying he’s not.

I don’t know if Gordon’s a number 1 starter, but a power arm in one of the top 3 starters is helpful. Two/three softish throwing pitchers as starters probably does lend itself to inconsistency. A 93 MPH fastball is not what it used to be so you’ll need to hit spots.

[Cajun 11766]

15 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Bryce Elder became a top 5 round pick despite Sean Allen.

Ty Madden became a first round pick despite Sean Allen.

Tanner Witt became a freshman all-american despite Sean Allen.

Cole Quintanila went from a 8.31 ERA to 1.35 ERA and 9th round pick despite Sean Allen

Marcus Olivarez went from a dude with a 5.00 ERA at Lamar to a .69 ERA despite Sean Allen.

Tristan Stevens went from a 5.31 ERA to Saturday starter on an Omaha team despite Sean Allen

Jared Southard went from a 7.71 ERA to a 2.76 ERA and is about to be drafted despite Sean Allen

Lucas Gordon went from little used middle reliever to Saturday starter in one offseason despite Sean Allen.

 

If we can just get rid of this Sean Allen guy, this program can finally be good again.

Cherry picking is a fun game.  I’m not going to, but it would be beyond easy to turd pick the other way.  Neither would prove a thing.

[zlavydra 2125]

1 hour ago, HenryJames said:

Gordon needs to be able to pitch more than five innings.

Any starter does, but Gordon was considerably better this year than last.  Not saying he'll make as great of a leap next year, but I think at this point he still has to be seriously considered a top-three starter.  It would be great if other guys stepping up and/or transfers could move Gordon into a bullpen weapon/swingman or Tuesday starter though.

[Goodman 3274]

39 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Bryce Elder became a top 5 round pick despite Sean Allen.

Ty Madden became a first round pick despite Sean Allen.

Tanner Witt became a freshman all-american despite Sean Allen.

Cole Quintanila went from a 8.31 ERA to 1.35 ERA and 9th round pick despite Sean Allen

Marcus Olivarez went from a dude with a 5.00 ERA at Lamar to a .69 ERA despite Sean Allen.

Tristan Stevens went from a 5.31 ERA to Saturday starter on an Omaha team despite Sean Allen

Jared Southard went from a 7.71 ERA to a 2.76 ERA and is about to be drafted despite Sean Allen

Lucas Gordon went from little used middle reliever to Saturday starter in one offseason despite Sean Allen.

 

If we can just get rid of this Sean Allen guy, this program can finally be good again.

It begins and ends with Pierce. He's the leader and one who needs to adjust to this level & the expectations set.

[HenryJames 66293]

5 minutes ago, zlavydra said:

Any starter does, but Gordon was considerably better this year than last.  Not saying he'll make as great of a leap next year, but I think at this point he still has to be seriously considered a top-three starter.  It would be great if other guys stepping up and/or transfers could move Gordon into a bullpen weapon/swingman or Tuesday starter though.

He’s definitely a solid starter, and he improved tremendously. I just don’t think he’s a Friday guy because he throws too many pitches and doesn’t have dominating stuff.

[Levi 2606]

Arguing about pitching development can go both ways if you tried hard enough. An undeniable fact tho is our pitching management has been poor. Definitely this year and at times last year but not as bad because the depth of the starting rotation was deeper. 

[Valmy77 13446]

20 hours ago, Fletch said:

Hey where the fuck is @Valmy77!?!?

Father's Day yesterday. It was the first one without my father and we had a big family thing it was emotional blah blah

It sure would have been cool if Texas had won the game against Notre Dame so I could have watched an evening game but instead I followed on stat tracker as best I could and recorded it to watch later. Which I haven't yet and I don't wanna.

This is a critical offseason for the team since we stand to lose the vast majority of the top contributors from this season. But isn't that true for a lot of teams? I think everybody was loaded full of guys who in normal times would have been long gone. So it might not be as devastating as it appears on the surface. Can we reload? Are there any leaders and contributors who will be back next season? We probably won't know the answer to the second question until after the amateur draft and we see who is back on campus in the fall. I don't know anything about the recruiting class, as I usually don't pay much attention until I see who is left after the pros take the cream off the top. As far as if we can reload, well maybe next year instead of an Antico or a Messinger we need 3 or 4 of them. 

But we all know what happened this season. We had a national championship #1 type team. We had a line up full of experience and leadership and we had a pitching staff with four ace pitchers who were battle proven against elite hitting line ups in the 2021 CWS. Hansen, Stevens, Witt, and Nixon and if we had gotten performances like 2021 this probably was a national championship winning team. But Witt got injured, and that happens, but I think Gordon would have been a decent enough Sunday starter. But then all of those guys: Hansen, Stevens, and Nixon underperform.

Obviously Hansen was by the far the best guy but he got shelled against South Carolina, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and Kansas during the regular season and brutally against East Carolina and Notre Dame in the post season. Every single one of those games was worse than ANY game he had in 2021. And I don't want to take away from the great games he did pitch this year, and there were many, that is way too many bad starts by your Friday Night ace and certainly far more than we expected from Hansen. Now granted I wasn't expecting another 1.88 ERA year, but maybe a 2.50 one or something. Instead his ERA was 3.76 and it was no fluke. He earned that ERA over the course of the season. And people were hitting him hard, it wasn't like he was walking people or having control problems; it was definitely his stuff.  In his defense ERAs are up all over the country and maybe it was all those 5th year COVID seniors and juiced balls and in 2021 a lot of those pitches that got us in trouble this year were easy outs. I don't know what happened.

But Stevens, freaking Tristan Stevens. He was my favorite player on the team last year. I thought he was the perfect pitcher for our team. A guy who could generate playable balls for our nation's best defense and we saw that play out so much in 2021. But wow this year he was terrible. It was painful. And it was weird because at the beginning of the season he looked invincible. And he did have some games where he looked like his old self like against East Carolina where it seemed like he was the only guy who could stop their line up. And I think that is true for most of the pitchers on the staff. Sometimes they looked great and you thought that maybe this meant they were about to start being a reliable performer but it never really happened. Anyway if you need to be reminded of some of the horrendous 2022 moments: Giving up 7 earned runs from Texas Tech without recording an out. Getting shelled by TCU, Oklahoma State, West Virginia, and freaking Kansas. Maybe it was just inevitable with the kind of offensive season the whole country had, as in Hansen's case, but wow. A 4.73 ERA and again it was no fluke, he certainly produced results like a 4.73 ERA guy.

But at least Stevens and Hansen were still college pitchers who could be really great for stretches. Aaron Nixon went from one of the nation's elite closers to a guy we were afraid to use. You can't have a closer with a 5+ ERA who walks 25 guys in 30 innings. The only comparison I could think of was when Friday Starter Ryan Kjos psychologically lost it in the early 90s and could no longer throw strikes. But Kjos was clearly psychologically struggling. Whereas Nixon wasn't melting down up there, he could still come in and sometimes almost randomly pitch some good innings. But he was not throwing like the same guy from last year.

Obviously Gordon had the best season but oh my was he horrendous against East Carolina and Texas A&M. Is this guy really going to be a star shut down ace next year? Can we even count on him being better next year? 

How did all that happen? What does it mean for the future of the program? How did three ace pitchers suddenly all decline at the same time? And the same guy who coached them to be aces in 2021 was in charge when they all underperformed in 2022. I don't know. It is a concern. What exactly happened here and is there any reason to expect it to repeat itself? Was it some kind of weird fluke?

Another thing that fills me with a bit of concern is what is Pierce's ceiling? Obviously I have been very happy with him. My expectations were not exactly very high when we hired him but he turned the program around much faster than expected. Won the Big 12 twice. Got us to Omaha three times in four chances. But I was a little worried after the Mississippi State loss last year that we had hired coach 0-2, we turned it around after that and went on a great run and that was great to see but now we are 3-6 in nine CWS games. That's not great. But it remains to be seen if this is some kind of pattern. We don't want to be the Florida State of the 21st Century. But so much of it is about getting hot and things going your way that maybe it isn't the case that the team is playing tight and not rising to the challenge, things just haven't been lucky for Pierce in Omaha so far. I don't know. We'll see.

But on to 2023. I sure the fuck hope we are not hearing about if we can stop the defending national champion Oklahoma Sooners all offseason.

Edited June 20, 2022 by Valmy77

[Fletch 5802]

52 minutes ago, Goodman said:

It begins and ends with Pierce. He's the leader and one who needs to adjust to this level & the expectations set.

So wait, now we can give Pierce props when something good happens? I need to know 

[Fletch 5802]

4 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

Father's Day yesterday. It was the first one without my father and we had a big family thing it was emotional blah blah

It sure would have been cool if Texas had won the game against Notre Dame so I could have watched an evening game but instead I followed on stat tracker as best I could and recorded it to watch later. Which I haven't yet and I don't wanna.

This is a critical offseason for the team since we stand to lose the vast majority of the top contributors from this season. But isn't that true for a lot of teams? I think everybody was loaded full of guys who in normal times would have been long gone. So it might not be as devastating as it appears on the surface. Can we reload? Are there any leaders and contributors who will be back next season? We probably won't know the answer to the second question until after the amateur draft and we see who is back on campus in the fall. I don't know anything about the recruiting class, as I usually don't pay much attention until I see who is left after the pros take the cream off the top. As far as if we can reload, well maybe next year instead of an Antico or a Messinger we need 3 or 4 of them. 

But we all know what happened this season. We had a national championship #1 type team. We had a line up full of experience and leadership and we had a pitching staff with four ace pitchers who were battle proven against elite hitting line ups in the 2021 CWS. Hansen, Stevens, Witt, and Nixon and if we had gotten performances like 2021 this probably was a national championship winning team. But Witt got injured, and that happens, but I think Gordon would have been a decent enough Sunday starter. But then all of those guys: Hansen, Stevens, and Nixon underperform.

Obviously Hansen was by the far the best guy but he got shelled against South Carolina, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and Kansas during the regular season and brutally against East Carolina and Notre Dame in the post season. Every single one of those games was worse than ANY game he had in 2021. And I don't want to take away from the great games he did pitch this year, and there were many, that is way too many bad starts by your Friday Night ace and certainly far more than we expected from Hansen. Now granted I wasn't expecting another 1.88 ERA year, but maybe a 2.50 one or something. Instead his ERA was 3.76 and it was no fluke. He earned that ERA over the course of the season. And people were hitting him hard, it wasn't like he was walking people or having control problems; it was definitely his stuff.  In his defense ERAs are up all over the country and maybe it was all those 5th year COVID seniors and juiced balls and in 2021 a lot of those pitches that got us in trouble this year were easy outs. I don't know what happened.

But Stevens, freaking Tristan Stevens. He was my favorite player on the team last year. I thought he was the perfect pitcher for our team. A guy who could generate playable balls for our nation's best defense and we saw that play out so much in 2021. But wow this year he was terrible. It was painful. And it was weird because at the beginning of the season he looked invincible. And he did have some games where he looked like his old self like against East Carolina where it seemed like he was the only guy who could stop their line up. And I think that is true for most of the pitchers on the staff. Sometimes they looked great and you thought that maybe this meant they were about to start being a reliable performer but it never really happened. Anyway if you need to be reminded of some of the horrendous 2022 moments: Giving up 7 earned runs from Texas Tech without recording an out. Getting shelled by TCU, Oklahoma State, West Virginia, and freaking Kansas. Maybe it was just inevitable with the kind of offensive season the whole country had, as in Hansen's case, but wow. A 4.73 ERA and again it was no fluke, he certainly produced results like a 4.73 ERA guy.

But at least Stevens and Hansen were still college pitchers who could be really great for stretches. Aaron Nixon went from one of the nation's elite closers to a guy we were afraid to use. You can't have a closer with a 5+ ERA who walks 25 guys in 30 innings. The only comparison I could think of was when Friday Starter Ryan Kjos psychologically lost it in the early 90s and could no longer throw strikes. But Kjos was clearly psychologically struggling. Whereas Nixon wasn't melting down up there, he could still come in and sometimes almost randomly pitch some good innings. But he was not throwing like the same guy from last year.

Obviously Gordon had the best season but oh my was he horrendous against East Carolina and Texas A&M. Is this guy really going to be a star shut down ace next year? Can we even count on him being better next year? 

How did all that happen? What does it mean for the future of the program? How did three ace pitchers suddenly all go to shit at the same time? And the same guy who coached them to be aces in 2021 was in charge when they all underperformed in 2022. I don't know. It is a concern. What exactly happened here and is there any reason to expect it to repeat itself? Was it some kind of weird fluke?

Another thing that fills me with a bit of concern is what is Pierce's ceiling? Obviously I have been very happy with him. My expectations were not exactly very high when we hired him but he turned the program around much faster than expected. Won the Big 12 twice. Got us to Omaha three times in four chances. But I was a little worried after the Mississippi State loss last year that we had hired coach 0-2, we turned it around after that and went on a great run and that was great to see but now we are 3-6 in nine CWS games. That's not great. But it remains to be seen if this is some kind of pattern. We don't want to be the Florida State of the 21st Century. But so much of it is about getting hot and things going your way that maybe it isn't the case that the team is playing tight and not rising to the challenge, things just haven't been lucky for Pierce in Omaha so far. I don't know. We'll see.

But on to 2023. I sure the fuck hope we are not hearing about if we can stop the defending national champion Oklahoma Sooners all offseason.

One thing about Pierce is we’ve had a solid go great lineup and elite defense 4 out his 5 full seasons. We’ll have a badass lineup again. Now gotta see how Gordon develops, if we get Skenes, and see who comes out as a weekend dude between morehouse, sthele, Harrison, Southhard and Stewart. Gonna be a fun offseason 

[Fletch 5802]

Also @Valmy77 regarding Pierces ceiling. I think he’s pretty much baseball Mack Brown. Gonna win a lot games off pure talent, will push the right buttons at the right times but every now and then get out coached or get into his own head. But if he gives us baseball equivalent results that Mack had from 01-09 then fuckin a. He pretty much already has. Just need to dogpile. We will within the next 4 years 

Edited June 20, 2022 by Fletch

[SizzleChest 8295]

1 hour ago, Had Enough said:

 

 

I’m curious about this. How is Harrison so much more starter material than Gordon? Keep in mind I’m not saying he’s not.

I don’t know if Gordon’s a number 1 starter, but a power arm in one of the top 3 starters is helpful. Two/three softish throwing pitchers as starters probably does lend itself to inconsistency. A 93 MPH fastball is not what it used to be so you’ll need to hit spots.

 

 

Harrison's not going to be a #1 or even #2 starter next season (if he is, whoa).  He was a true freshman this year and should be a mid-week starter / sometime Sunday starter next season.  He throws strikes and is sneaky fast.  

I used Harrison as an example of a guy I'm excited about for another reason - there's no one else I'm really that excited about.    Whether that's emblematic of under-development of some of the guys on the current pitching roster or guys that regressed, namely Nixon, it doesn't really matter.  We can't really afford to miss in the portal this season, and it's not like we only need one big arm.

[Valmy77 13446]

3 minutes ago, Fletch said:

Also @Valmy77 regarding Pierces ceiling. I think he’s pretty much baseball Mack Brown. Gonna win a lot games off pure talent, will push the right buttons at the right times but every now and then get out coached or get into his own head. But if he gives us baseball equivalent results that Mack had from 01-09 then fuckin a. 

I don't know man. You can't be Mack Brown in College Baseball. The Vince Youngs and Cedric Bensons of Baseball are not playing in College. You are never going to have a huge talent advantage over the good programs. You have to make your own stars using flawed talent. 

We all saw how uneven and raw Ivan Melendez was last year. Dude struck out an amazing number of times. The staff coached him to be the best hitter in College Baseball. That's how you win.

Edited June 20, 2022 by Valmy77

[SizzleChest 8295]

Just now, Valmy77 said:

I don't know man. You can't be Mack Brown in College Baseball. The Vince Youngs and Cedric Bensons of Baseball are not playing in College. You are never going to have a huge talent advantage over the good programs. You have to make your own stars using flawed talent. 

Bingo.  

Pierce is a good college baseball coach, but he's just not elite.  I'm not advocating for replacement right now or anything, but we definitely need to be hunting the next few years with purpose.  The probability Pierce evolves into an elite coach is pretty small.

[davi34 80]

5 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

I don't know man. You can't be Mack Brown in College Baseball. The Vince Youngs and Cedric Bensons of Baseball are not playing in College. You are never going to have a huge talent advantage over the good programs. You have to make your own stars using flawed talent. 

We all saw how uneven and raw Ivan Melendez was last year. Dude struck out an amazing number of times. The staff coached him to be the best hitter in College Baseball. That's how you win.

When was the last time a sure fire MLB superstar turned down the money and went to college anyway? 

Does NIL in baseball have the potential to change that?

Edited June 20, 2022 by davi34

[hobbes2702 13166]

1 minute ago, davi34 said:

When was the last time a sure fire MLB superstar turned down the money and went to college anyway? 

Does NIL in baseball have the potential to change that?

It’s less about the money and more about getting into the farm system as early as possible.

[Fletch 5802]

8 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

I don't know man. You can't be Mack Brown in College Baseball. The Vince Youngs and Cedric Bensons of Baseball are not playing in College. You are never going to have a huge talent advantage over the good programs. You have to make your own stars using flawed talent. 

We all saw how uneven and raw Ivan Melendez was last year. Dude struck out an amazing number of times. The staff coached him to be the best hitter in College Baseball. That's how you win.

Melendez is a baseball Benson or Vince haha. Basically just keep recruiting like we are, keep developing like we are and bring in Alaniz then go on a tear 

[Valmy77 13446]

3 minutes ago, SizzleChest said:

Pierce is a good college baseball coach, but he's just not elite.  I'm not advocating for replacement right now or anything, but we definitely need to be hunting the next few years with purpose.  The probability Pierce evolves into an elite coach is pretty small.

Yeah. I am very happy with what he has done so far. But will he produce champions? Is it reasonable to think Pierce can produce Garrido or Gustafson results? And if not well that puts us in a bad position. But three CWS in four full seasons is approaching elite kind of results. Is it impossible? I don't know.

[Fletch 5802]

Just now, Valmy77 said:

Yeah. I am very happy with what he has done so far. But will he produce champions? Is it reasonable to think Pierce can produce Garrido or Gustafson results? And if not well that puts us in a bad position. But three CWS in four full seasons is approaching elite kind of results. Is it impossible? I don't know.

If Witt was healthy this year we’re probably sitting pretty at 2-0 in the winners bracket right now. We caught every bad break possible this year and still went to Omaha. I think we win one in the next 4ish years 

[Valmy77 13446]

Just now, Fletch said:

If Witt was healthy this year we’re probably sitting pretty at 2-0 in the winners bracket right now. We caught every bad break possible this year and still went to Omaha. I think we win one in the next 4ish years 

I get what you are saying and I don't entirely disagree. But it wasn't just bad breaks that did us in. It was also guys playing well below expectations. That is the part that gives me pause. I hope that doesn't happen next season. You want to see guys get better in our program, not worse.

[SizzleChest 8295]

2 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

Yeah. I am very happy with what he has done so far. But will he produce champions? Is it reasonable to think Pierce can produce Garrido or Gustafson results? And if not well that puts us in a bad position. But three CWS in four full seasons is approaching elite kind of results. Is it impossible? I don't know.

Our Sunday starter went down in March with a TJ.  In and of itself, did that cause a meltdown?  No, but we weren't the same team and ultimately had to bang our way out of a super on the road to get to Omaha.  

If Tulo is gone, who is the replacement?  Would we even worry about this during the Gus or Garrido years?  I wouldn't.  With Pierce, it is a concern.

[Hpara759 1781]

2 minutes ago, Fletch said:

If Witt was healthy this year

 

[Valmy77 13446]

6 minutes ago, Fletch said:

Melendez is a baseball Benson or Vince haha. Basically just keep recruiting like we are, keep developing like we are and bring in Alaniz then go on a tear 

He was a junior college guy right? No, Vince and Benson didn't go to Blinn. More of a Shon Mitchell guy. Lots of raw talent and potential that needed to be harnessed. 

[Fletch 5802]

Just now, Valmy77 said:

I get what you are saying and I don't entirely disagree. But it wasn't just bad breaks that did us in. It was also guys playing well below expectations. That is the part that gives me pause. I hope that doesn't happen next season. You want to see guys get better in our program, not worse.

True. Though per every beau ridgeway/Nixon/stevens that regress we end up finding another stud. Like Parker joe, Josh sawyer or Southhard and Olivarez this year. All of this would be solved if we brought in Alaniz though 

[Fletch 5802]

3 minutes ago, SizzleChest said:

Our Sunday starter went down in March with a TJ.  In and of itself, did that cause a meltdown?  No, but we weren't the same team and ultimately had to bang our way out of a super on the road to get to Omaha.  

If Tulo is gone, who is the replacement?  Would we even worry about this during the Gus or Garrido years?  I wouldn't.  With Pierce, it is a concern.

Lobo said David Freese has been hanging around the program and is looking to get into coaching. So maybe him

[Fletch 5802]

4 minutes ago, Hpara759 said:

 

Yes? How do you think the 2011 team would’ve done if Jungmann went down the 3rd week of the season?

Edited June 20, 2022 by Fletch

[OB3 3633]

18 minutes ago, davi34 said:

When was the last time a sure fire MLB superstar turned down the money and went to college anyway? 

Does NIL in baseball have the potential to change that?

I know Gerrit Cole got drafted 28th overall out of high school, didn’t sign and went to UCLA. Then got picked 1st

[Hookem2147 21485]

12 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

I get what you are saying and I don't entirely disagree. But it wasn't just bad breaks that did us in. It was also guys playing well below expectations. That is the part that gives me pause. I hope that doesn't happen next season. You want to see guys get better in our program, not worse.

College baseball as a whole is just full of rollercoaster development rides. The sure things aren't making it to campus 90% of the time which is why the product is frustrating at times for a lot of people because a lot of these dudes didn't get drafted for a reason and are flawed. The developmental curve is way different than professional ball. I have no proof to back this claim up because I don't follow other teams around the country as closely as I follow Texas, but I can't imagine our rate of guys getting better vs guys not getting better is much different from a lot of places. We feel like we are the only school who had guys like Nixon and Daly go south after successful first years but the reality is that happens probably more than we think around the country. Sophomore slump is a thing in almost all sports. Dudes like Stevens who had monster years in 2021 regress back to the mean the following year. Just feels like it is part of baseball.

We have our success stories of guys like Elder, Quintanilla, Madden, Stehly, Campbell, Ardoin, Southard, Gordon, Faltine, Olivarez, Hodo, etc of dudes who progressively got better year over year just like I'm sure other schools do. Hell, you could even throw Melendez in that category too because it is night and day from when he first got here.

I don't think our development or lack of development of dudes is much different than a lot of schools. Just my .02

Edited June 20, 2022 by Hookem2147

[HenryJames 66293]

11 minutes ago, Fletch said:

All of this would be solved if we brought in Alaniz though 

[Fletch 5802]

Just now, HenryJames said:

It’d be pretty cool if it did though 

[Valmy77 13446]

2 hours ago, SizzleChest said:

Having to extend Hansen in too many games this season due to the shitshow that was the bullpen for sure was an impact on his late season decline.

I don't see evidence for this. Hansen had bad games and good games spread throughout the season. It wasn't like he was consistently awesome and then was bad against ECU and Notre Dame. We saw that before, it was always a possibility. I just hoped the great Hansen would show up and he didn't. I don't see any evidence we overworked him. He had one complete game, went longer than seven innings only 4 times, and never once pitched on short rest. 

[Valmy77 13446]

15 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

College baseball as a whole is just full of rollercoaster development rides. The sure things aren't making it to campus 90% of the time which is why the product is frustrating at times for a lot of people because a lot of these dudes didn't get drafted for a reason and are flawed. The developmental curve is way different than professional ball. I have no proof to back this claim up because I don't follow other teams around the country as closely as I follow Texas, but I can't imagine our rate of guys getting better vs guys not getting better is much different from a lot of places. We feel like we are the only school who had guys like Nixon and Daly go south after successful first years but the reality is that happens probably more than we think around the country. Sophomore slump is a thing in almost all sports. Dudes like Stevens who had monster years in 2021 regress back to the mean the following year. Just feels like it is part of baseball.

We have our success stories of guys like Elder, Quintanilla, Madden, Stehly, Campbell, Ardoin, Southard, Gordon, Faltine, Olivarez, Hodo, etc of dudes who progressively got better year over year just like I'm sure other schools do. Hell, you could even throw Melendez in that category too because it is night and day from when he first got here.

I don't think our development or lack of development of dudes is much different than a lot of schools. Just my .02

Yeah alright. But three guys all playing the same position in the same year? That's crazy. 

[Hpara759 1781]

23 minutes ago, Fletch said:

Yes? How do you think the 2011 team would’ve done if Jungmann went down the 3rd week of the season?

I'm agreeing with your post...if Witt was healthy we have at least 6 more wins and still in Omaha

[Hookem2147 21485]

2 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

Yeah alright. But three guys all playing the same position in the same year? That's crazy. 

You referencing Stevens, Nixon and Hansen?

[Valmy77 13446]

Just now, Hookem2147 said:

You referencing Stevens, Nixon and Hansen?

Yeah. The thing I discussed in my wall of text post.

[Valmy77 13446]

17 hours ago, HenryJames said:

I think Pierce can do better than the same staff he had at Sam Houston.

There is one thing I can guarantee: whatever happens Allen and Miller are staying on this staff, unless some school wants to make one a head coach. Pierce is loyal to his boys.

We will have to hope we get extra paid coaching slots if we want to bring in somebody else.

[Had Enough 2093]

Harrison's not going to be a #1 or even #2 starter next season (if he is, whoa).  He was a true freshman this year and should be a mid-week starter / sometime Sunday starter next season.  He throws strikes and is sneaky fast.  
I used Harrison as an example of a guy I'm excited about for another reason - there's no one else I'm really that excited about.    Whether that's emblematic of under-development of some of the guys on the current pitching roster or guys that regressed, namely Nixon, it doesn't really matter.  We can't really afford to miss in the portal this season, and it's not like we only need one big arm.

Fair enough.

I’d put him as a bullpen guy. In part because he has some similarities to Gordon. There also is tremendous value in bullpen, role guys. Lock him in as a 7th/8th inning guy.

The biggest question for Gordon is whether he was that good thru the Regional and wore down or was he just not that good and things went his way?

His numbers thru the Regional were All American type given our schedule and on par with Big 12 pitcher of the year.

We’ll need to find arms. Seems like half of A&Ms contributors (not just pitchers) are transfers this year so it can happen. LeBarron and Morehouse throw hard. Stehle has fits of goodness. Duplantier should be fully healthy. That’s 6 guys that have shown flashes. Absolutely a true lockdown #1 would be nice as there are no sure fire bets here. It’ll be interesting.

[Fletch 5802]

14 minutes ago, Hpara759 said:

I'm agreeing with your post...if Witt was healthy we have at least 6 more wins and still in Omaha

Yep. That’s the story of the season. Losing him completely threw us off and it took us till May to figure it back out. Damn fucking shame. Witt was on pace to be the next Texas great. He’d be up there with Jungmann, roger, swindell, hooten and Connor Mayes. Man if he could give us a couple innings late in the year next year……wishful thinking I know 

[Hookem2147 21485]

18 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

Yeah. The thing I discussed in my wall of text post.

Sorry, missed that.

I can't explain Stevens and Nixon's regression. Especially Nixon's. Stevens just couldn't consistently seem like he could locate his sinker until the postseason.

As you said, Hansen had 3 bad outings in the regular season (Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Kansas). But he was #1 good in pretty much every other start until the postseason. Had a 3.01 ERA entering the regional before falling apart in 2 of his 3 starts. He was never going to repeat his ERA or BAA from last year (mainly because he spent the first 60% of the season as the midweek guy so he wasn't facing super great competition), but I did expect him to be a little bit better than what we showed. The home run ball obviously bit him. Whether that was the juiced ball or having to throw in hitter-friendly Lubbock and Manhattan, I don't know. 

I guess Hansen "regressed", but he threw well enough overall to where he could have been a #1 on a championship team. He and Gordon held the pitching staff together during the entire month of May pretty much.

Edited June 20, 2022 by Hookem2147

[Fletch 5802]

12 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

There is one thing I can guarantee: whatever happens Allen and Miller are staying on this staff, unless some school wants to make one a head coach. Pierce is loyal to his boys.

We will have to hope we get extra paid coaching slots if we want to bring in somebody else.

Maybe. I know Huston and a lot of former players are hanging around the program nowadays. David Freese may be on the staff next year. I could easily see dudes like Huston and Moreland getting into CDCs ear. We’re finally dumping even more money into the baseball program. Get Sean Allen a Sam Houston State type landing spot then go snag the best pitching coach we can find. Y’all know who I want 

[Fletch 5802]

3 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Sorry, missed that.

I can't explain Stevens and Nixon's regression. Especially Nixon's. Stevens just couldn't consistently seem like he could locate his sinker until the postseason.

As you said, Hansen had 3 bad outings in the regular season (Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Kansas). But he was #1 good in pretty much every other start until the postseason. Had a 3.01 ERA entering the regional before falling apart in 2 of his 3 starts. He was never going to repeat his ERA or BAA from last year (mainly because he spent the first 60% of the season as the midweek guy so he wasn't facing super great competition), but I did expect him to be a little bit better than what we showed. The home run ball obviously bit him. Whether that was the juiced ball or having to throw in hitter-friendly Lubbock and Manhattan, I don't know. 

I guess Hansen "regressed", but he threw well enough overall to where he could have been a #1 on a championship team. He and Gordon held the pitching staff together during the entire month of May pretty much.

Nixon lost control of his slider and that was the end of that. Everyone just sat fastball on him cause he couldn’t throw a slider for a strike to save his life 80% of the year. He really needs to work on that slider and maybe add a circle change. 

Edited June 20, 2022 by Fletch

[Hookem2147 21485]

3 minutes ago, Fletch said:

Maybe. I know Huston and a lot of former players are hanging around the program nowadays. David Freese may be on the staff next year. I could easily see dudes like Huston and Moreland getting into CDCs ear. We’re finally dumping even more money into the baseball program. Get Sean Allen a Sam Houston State type landing spot then go snag the best pitching coach we can find. Y’all know who I want 

As I messaged you yesterday, I know someone close to the program and the expectation is there will be at least one new face on staff. Real chance there is more than just one, too.

[Balcones 312]

3 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

Bryce Elder became a top 5 round pick despite Sean Allen.

Ty Madden became a first round pick despite Sean Allen.

Tanner Witt became a freshman all-american despite Sean Allen.

Cole Quintanila went from a 8.31 ERA to 1.35 ERA and 9th round pick despite Sean Allen

Marcus Olivarez went from a dude with a 5.00 ERA at Lamar to a .69 ERA despite Sean Allen.

Tristan Stevens went from a 5.31 ERA to Saturday starter on an Omaha team despite Sean Allen

Jared Southard went from a 7.71 ERA to a 2.76 ERA and is about to be drafted despite Sean Allen

Lucas Gordon went from little used middle reliever to Saturday starter in one offseason despite Sean Allen.

 

If we can just get rid of this Sean Allen guy, this program can finally be good again.

Wow. What a resume. I hope Allen is leading with these examples on the recruiting trail.

 

What the fuck? Olivarez is in Sean Allen’s pitching resume? Stevens is a Sean Allen prize product in one post but regressed in another post? Southard? He is only getting drafted based on what his parents gave him physically.

I know you are are going to defend Allen for whatever reason. But, Pierce dumps Haig, gets Tulo and says, let’s make my third base, offense coach be the pitching coach for Texas. WTF? obviously we are great at fielding and hitting. That part is in place and clearly we have a track record. Pierce needs to go get the best pitching coach in the country and our pitching staff needs to look like 2005-2015 Texas teams.

[Hookem2147 21485]

Sort of a side note, but Vandy has a ton of guys in the portal right now. Think they are up to 10 or 11. Two guys that are interesting are Christian Little (RHP who had a 3.72 ERA in 38.2 innings, fastball gets into the mid 90's) and SS Carter Young (really good defender who has started a ton of games for them and had 16 home runs in 2021 but saw his average dip into the low .200's this year).

Little is being followed by Sean Allen and the Texas baseball official account on twitter, which is interesting.

[Fletch 5802]

31 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

As I messaged you yesterday, I know someone close to the program and the expectation is there will be at least one new face on staff. Real chance there is more than just one, too.

I can haz David Freese and Alaniz?!?

[Fletch 5802]

25 minutes ago, Balcones said:

Wow. What a resume. I hope Allen is leading with these examples on the recruiting trail.

 

What the fuck? Olivarez is in Sean Allen’s pitching resume? Stevens is a Sean Allen prize product in one post but regressed in another post? Southard? He is only getting drafted based on what his parents gave him physically.

I know you are are going to defend Allen for whatever reason. But, Pierce dumps Haig, gets Tulo and says, let’s make my third base, offense coach be the pitching coach for Texas. WTF? obviously we are great at fielding and hitting. That part is in place and clearly we have a track record. Pierce needs to go get the best pitching coach in the country and our pitching staff needs to look like 2005-2015 Texas teams.

Be patient. I think that’s in the works 

 

13 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Sort of a side note, but Vandy has a ton of guys in the portal right now. Think they are up to 10 or 11. Two guys that are interesting are Christian Little (RHP who had a 3.72 ERA in 38.2 innings, fastball gets into the mid 90's) and SS Carter Young (really good defender who has started a ton of games for them and had 16 home runs in 2021 but saw his average dip into the low .200's this year).

Little is being followed by Sean Allen and the Texas baseball official account on twitter, which is interesting.

Yeah I’m expecting about 6 or so transfers. Already got the rice dude. I’m assuming we’ll snag Skenes. I fully trust Pierce to bring in some studs. He’s been nails with transfers 

Duke Ellis, Mason Hibbeler, Antico, Bochhi, Messinger, stevens. O’Dowd is gonna kill it next year. Can’t wait for the mlb draft. We’re due to get lucky. Still pissed about Josh bell, Swihart and Lutz. Also wonder if NIL is gonna help get some of these dudes here. Give a Dylan Bundy type a million dollar NIL deal

[UTEE97 3770]

3 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

Bryce Elder became a top 5 round pick despite Sean Allen.

Ty Madden became a first round pick despite Sean Allen.

Tanner Witt became a freshman all-american despite Sean Allen.

Cole Quintanila went from a 8.31 ERA to 1.35 ERA and 9th round pick despite Sean Allen

Marcus Olivarez went from a dude with a 5.00 ERA at Lamar to a .69 ERA despite Sean Allen.

Tristan Stevens went from a 5.31 ERA to Saturday starter on an Omaha team despite Sean Allen

Jared Southard went from a 7.71 ERA to a 2.76 ERA and is about to be drafted despite Sean Allen

Lucas Gordon went from little used middle reliever to Saturday starter in one offseason despite Sean Allen.

 

If we can just get rid of this Sean Allen guy, this program can finally be good again.

Kudos to these putchers for overcoming coaching deficiencies?

[Fletch 5802]

59 minutes ago, Had Enough said:

We’ll need to find arms. Seems like half of A&Ms contributors (not just pitchers) are transfers this year so it can happen. LeBarron and Morehouse throw hard. Stehle has fits of goodness. Duplantier should be fully healthy. That’s 6 guys that have shown flashes. Absolutely a true lockdown #1 would be nice as there are no sure fire bets here. It’ll be interesting.

Snag Skenes and we got Skenes-Gordon. And I think one of Harrison, Duplantier, Morehouse, Sthele or Stewart steps up. Would be great to have a full 4 man rotation. Would love for Stewart to lock down the Tuesday role and let those other dudes battle it out for Sunday starter. I think we’re gonna have a salty ass staff next year. 
 

Again is Cobb eligible for another year? Would love to have him back and let him be the Quintanilla type set up dude for (hopefully) a rejuvenated Nixon or Lebarron. Lebarron has closer type stuff.  Man after that brutal 2012-2016 stretch, it feels fucking awesome being back to reloading instead of rebuilding. Now plz snag a badass pitching coach and let David Freese be our 3rd base coach