2023 Texas Baseball

[NeverMarryAStripper 21781]

Texas D1 fielding percentage rank under Pierce

2022 #1

2021 #10

2019 #171 (at least this year shouldn't be the worst fielding longhorn team

2018 #22

2017 #4

[Hookem2147 20932]

Fielding % is useful but it doesn't tell the full story. Like I said earlier, the pop fly that dropped between Campbell and Powell on Sunday was scored a hit because no one touched it, but the reality is that play needs to be made 100% of the time.

[hobbes2702 12846]

23 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Fielding % is useful but it doesn't tell the full story. Like I said earlier, the pop fly that dropped between Campbell and Powell on Sunday was scored a hit because no one touched it, but the reality is that play needs to be made 100% of the time.

Yup. The biggest issue with our defense so far hasn’t even been the errors (which are horrible). It’s been our lack of range on the left side of the field. 3B, SS, LF have all shown extremely limited range so far.

I was surprised that Daly seems so poor at short. I figured the arm might be lacking but I didn’t expect that was going to be so limited going back or towards the foul line. 

[torre 1284]

1 hour ago, hobbes2702 said:

Yup. The biggest issue with our defense so far hasn’t even been the errors (which are horrible). It’s been our lack of range on the left side of the field. 3B, SS, LF have all shown extremely limited range so far.

I was surprised that Daly seems so poor at short. I figured the arm might be lacking but I didn’t expect that was going to be so limited going back or towards the foul line. 

Was it you that made the comment about Brown not being aggressive "He is used to having a SS or 3B make that play" ? (excellent comment)

   11 games in,  all new infield, still learning each other.   I will be the optimist and say we revisit in a couple of weeks.   Perhaps J. Duplantier will be the next Trey Faltine tonight.

I really thought Flores would be the answer at SS but after checking seems he projects better at 3B or 2B where according to this Prospect Live report he played alot in HS.

 

90

Jalin Flores

SS

Brandeis

Helotes, TX

Flores is a tall, high-waisted, long-levered infielder with present bat speed and all-fields juice. There's some noise in the loading phase of his swing, but he's often on-time to drive the ball with authority into the gaps. Flores really hit a growth spurt in 2021 and now figures to likely shift to third base at the pro level, possibly even second base where he's played a good amount of his ball of late with Brandies. The bat is the calling card here.

https://www.prospectslive.com/prospects-live/2021/12/29/2022-mlb-draft-top-300-prospects

[hobbes2702 12846]

57 minutes ago, torre said:

Was it you that made the comment about Brown not being aggressive "He is used to having a SS or 3B make that play" ? (excellent comment)

   11 games in,  all new infield, still learning each other.   I will be the optimist and say we revisit in a couple of weeks.   Perhaps J. Duplantier will be the next Trey Faltine tonight.

I really thought Flores would be the answer at SS but after checking seems he projects better at 3B or 2B where according to this Prospect Live report he played alot in HS.

 

90

Jalin Flores

SS

Brandeis

Helotes, TX

Flores is a tall, high-waisted, long-levered infielder with present bat speed and all-fields juice. There's some noise in the loading phase of his swing, but he's often on-time to drive the ball with authority into the gaps. Flores really hit a growth spurt in 2021 and now figures to likely shift to third base at the pro level, possibly even second base where he's played a good amount of his ball of late with Brandies. The bat is the calling card here.

https://www.prospectslive.com/prospects-live/2021/12/29/2022-mlb-draft-top-300-prospects

 I saw that comment but not sure who said it.

I’m sure the young kids will get better but Daly and Porter are what they are at this point. We also don’t appear to have a 1st baseman which is a problem. 

There just isn’t any aspect of this team that I have any confidence in. The pitching has been better than expected and Woody seems to be making people better. Sucks the DP undermines that work with his terrible pitching mgmt

[Nueces River Rat 5529]

I think the next two weeks are going to tell us more about this team.    We are going to play three teams  is consecutive series that normally would be games that would be over early and some of the bench would get some time.  If we kind of play the blah ball we've been playing an squeak out some of these games and lose a couple, then I think it safe to say conference is going to be a long hard season.

In other news,  the ladies are doing well over at the Softball field.

[tx 3 putt 76400]

This pretty damn cool ….

 

[AUS-97HORN 11682]

I was at the game, I thought that ball hit the scoreboard....  did he clear the UFCU portion of the sign?

[Hookem2147 20932]

Team average up to .257, ERA down a tick to 3.31. Stat padding weekend coming up.

[ClubWhatever 12087]

On 3/8/2023 at 10:37 AM, Nueces River Rat said:

I think the next two weeks are going to tell us more about this team.    We are going to play three teams  is consecutive series that normally would be games that would be over early and some of the bench would get some time.  If we kind of play the blah ball we've been playing an squeak out some of these games and lose a couple, then I think it safe to say conference is going to be a long hard season.

In other news,  the ladies are doing well over at the Softball field.

I don’t believe you can tell much of anything when you face trash competition in baseball.  There’s such a difference in difficulty trying to string together hits and outs against trash versus against major conference talent.   What you did against trash just evaporates against an 88 mph slider. 

Edited March 9, 2023 by ClubWhatever

[NeverMarryAStripper 21781]

If you fail against poor competition that certainly tells you something

[Js1 85110]

1 minute ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

If you fail against poor competition that certainly tells you something

This is true. 

[MuellerHorn 4195]

23 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

If you fail against poor competition that certainly tells you something

100%

Texas is now 6-7, with an upcoming schedule of the following before opening conference play vs. Tech. 12 consecutive games at home (including sand aggy).

• Manhattan x3
• NDSU x2 (midweek)
• New Orleans x3
• Incarnate Word (midweek)

Realistically, Texas should emerge 14-8 (8-1 over this stretch, at worst). It's not good competition, but maybe they'll derive some confidence and get a nice reset before Big 12 action. If that doesn't happen, and something like 6-3 happens, I think we'll know all we need to know about this season.

[zlavydra 2116]

NDSU might be the best team out of that bunch, or at least the most battle-tested, based on the competition they've played so far.  They're playing 33 straight road games to start the season. If you can play baseball in North Dakota, why can't ISU field a damn team?

[Horny Bull 2759]

 

[HenryJames 65890]

1 hour ago, zlavydra said:

If you can play baseball in North Dakota, why can't ISU field a damn team?

They’re 1-11 so I don’t think it’s conclusive that you can play baseball in North Dakota.

[Hookem2147 20932]

37 minutes ago, Horny Bull said:

 

11th left handed starter in the first 14 games on Friday, I believe.

[Hookem2147 20932]

5 minute researched scouting report on Manhattan because they don't deserve more than that

• 3-8 on the season. Picked preseason to finish 6th out of 11 teams in the MAAC
• One win against Cal State Bakersfield (projected second to last in the Big West) and two wins against Maryland Eastern Shore (picked second to last in the mighty NEC)
• Team ERA is 7.95. Returned 2 of 3 weekend starters. Friday night starter is another lefty with a 10.05 ERA through 3 starts. Transfer from Boston College. Saturday starter is a righty that has a 9.00 ERA. Sunday starter will probably be another righty who has a 4.50 ERA.
• This team couldn't hit water if they fell out of boat. Batting .206 as a team against awful competition. 6 starters batting .200 or worse. Best hitter is SS Jack Lynch at .375. Second best is a dude hitting .237.
• Every groundball and flyball will be an adventure. They have 20 errors in 11 games.
• If we don't sweep this team.....

[NorthLoop 14093]

7 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

5 minute researched scouting report on Manhattan because they don't deserve more than that

 

• Team ERA is 7.95. Returned 2 of 3 weekend starters. Friday night starter is another lefty with a 10.05 ERA through 3 starts. Transfer from Boston College. Saturday starter is a righty that has a 9.00 ERA. Sunday starter will probably be another righty who has a 4.50 ERA.
• This team couldn't hit water if they fell out of boat. Batting .206 as a team against awful competition. 6 starters batting .200 or worse. Best hitter is SS Jack Lynch at .375. Second best is a dude hitting .237.

Which means they'll put up 7 on us tonight while we squeak out 8. 

[.45s 28]

Anyone know why Luke Harrison has not pitched this year?  Is he hurt?  He pitched pretty well last year.

[Hookem2147 20932]

5 minutes ago, .45s said:

Anyone know why Luke Harrison has not pitched this year?  Is he hurt?  He pitched pretty well last year.

Tommy John. Out for the year.

[Iguana 229]

The unique nickname of Manhattan College’s athletic teams, the Jaspers, comes from one of the College’s most memorable figures, Brother Jasper of Mary, F.S.C., who served at the College in the late 19th century.

A native of Ireland, Brother Jasper came to Manhattan College in 1861 as the head of resident students. During years at Manhattan, he founded the school's first band, orchestra, glee club, various literary clubs, and became the school's first athletic director.

One of the greatest achievements of Brother Jasper was that he brought the then little-known sport of baseball to Manhattan College and became the team’s first coach. Since Brother Jasper was also the Prefect of Discipline, he supervised the student fans at Manhattan College baseball games while also directing the team itself.

During one particularly warm and humid day when Manhattan College was playing a semi-pro baseball team called the Metropolitans, Brother Jasper noticed the Manhattan students were becoming restless and edgy as Manhattan came to bat in the seventh inning of a close game. To relieve the tension, Brother Jasper called a time-out and told the students to stand up and stretch for a few minutes until the game resumed.

Since the College annually played the New York Giants in the late 1880s and into the 1890s at the old Polo Grounds, the Manhattan College practice of the "seventh inning stretch" spread into the major leagues, where it has now become a time-honored custom practiced by millions of fans.

TLDR:   See Bold

[.45s 28]

12 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Tommy John. Out for the year.

Thanks.  I did another search and found that.  Too bad, he looked good last year.

[UnhappilyMarried 815]

On 3/5/2023 at 9:28 PM, tx 3 putt said:

Hopefully UT is back at Minute Maid in 2024. The crowds this year were tiny compared to last year 

Friday night was great and comparable to Tennessee last year. Mizzou was never going to be a draw. Was too hungover to make Sunday this year, but the UCLA crowd last year was bad too. We were top ranked last year vs unranked this year 

[Scott 2002 10]

Season ticket holder here who can’t make a number of games. Anyone wanting tickets for the games this weekend let me know and happy to give them away for free to ut fans.  3 tickets in section 104.  

[closetojumping 62247]

At the risk of drawing ire I'm not actually trying to draw, I wanted to ask the diehards here about your outlook on Pierce if the team finishes .500 or worse and not in the tournament this season. Is the majority opinion that he should be back regardless? Or opposed to that? 

 

[Mac8111 2103]

He will be back.

[Helobious 9481]

6 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

At the risk of drawing ire I'm not actually trying to draw, I wanted to ask the diehards here about your outlook on Pierce if the team finishes .500 or worse and not in the tournament this season. Is the majority opinion that he should be back regardless? Or opposed to that? 

 

He’ll be back. 3 CWS’s in 6 or whatever seasons. He did a shit job building this year’s team though. No reason to have a rebuilding year this far in to your coaching stint.

I read some analytics thing once that said the average MLB manager only makes a difference of +\- 2 wins in a season. Aaron Boone must be an exception as he costs us about 20 wins a year but anyway, not sure how it translates to lower levels. I think in college the biggest part of the job is just getting talented players on campus and he seems to have fallen short in that regard this year.

[66BUFF 2554]

20 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

At the risk of drawing ire I'm not actually trying to draw, I wanted to ask the diehards here about your outlook on Pierce if the team finishes .500 or worse and not in the tournament this season. Is the majority opinion that he should be back regardless? Or opposed to that? 

 

His success came from the Tulowitzki hire.  We are now seeing the results of his players without Tulo.  Feels like a repeat of 2019.

[closetojumping 62247]

Thanks for the responses. I asked because someone with usually very good insights about the machinations inside the AD declared in passing that he was gone after this season. I don't have a strong opinion in favor of or against him, personally. Getting to the CWS isn't something I take for granted as a fan, but it's also not a unique accomplishment for a Texas coach, given Texas has been to it versus missed it in more seasons since the CWS' inception. So, not sure how important that Powers That Be view that part of his resume so far.

In any event, I'll keep watching when I can and rooting for a better season than what it's been looking like so far. 

[Js1 85110]

3 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

I asked because someone with usually very good insights about the machinations inside the AD declared in passing that he was gone after this season.

CDC going to turn over the whole of Bellmont, except a few winning holdovers like Elliot, Reese, Capitani, Fields and Joffe, within 10 years of being hired.  Book it.

Edited March 10, 2023 by Js1

[UnhappilyMarried 815]

3 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

Thanks for the responses. I asked because someone with usually very good insights about the machinations inside the AD declared in passing that he was gone after this season. I don't have a strong opinion in favor of or against him, personally. Getting to the CWS isn't something I take for granted as a fan, but it's also not a unique accomplishment for a Texas coach, given Texas has been to it versus missed it in more seasons since the CWS' inception. So, not sure how important that Powers That Be view that part of his resume so far.

In any event, I'll keep watching when I can and rooting for a better season than what it's been looking like so far. 

He’s been to Omaha 3x, but each time we’ve laid a massive egg in game 1 which makes it virtually impossible to win it all. 

Last year was the best shot to win it all that Pierce will ever have and the team completely turtled going 0-2 including getting demolished by A&M. The stink from that week is still in my nose so maybe it’s in the nose of those in the AD too. 

His initial assistant hires were of Herman-level kronyism and retooling this offseason is likely a big reason for the poor start. 

All that said, I think Pierce is great at in-game decision making and he’s been able to find good talent from high school (elite recruiting classes past and future), juco, and transfers. His 2 biggest down years were driven by injuries to the most important players on the team. If the biggest complaint is that he hasn’t been all that good in Omaha, he’s been wildly successful up until then. Augie took 5 years to do things like win the Big 12 and make Omaha that Pierce started doing from the get-go. 

[hobbes2702 12846]

On 3/9/2023 at 11:03 AM, MuellerHorn said:

100%

Texas is now 6-7, with an upcoming schedule of the following before opening conference play vs. Tech. 12 consecutive games at home (including sand aggy).

• Manhattan x3
• NDSU x2 (midweek)
• New Orleans x3
• Incarnate Word (midweek)

Realistically, Texas should emerge 14-8 (8-1 over this stretch, at worst). It's not good competition, but maybe they'll derive some confidence and get a nice reset before Big 12 action. If that doesn't happen, and something like 6-3 happens, I think we'll know all we need to know about this season.

There is no reason we should lose any games to those teams. Even one loss to competition that had is a bad sign.

[hobbes2702 12846]

58 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

At the risk of drawing ire I'm not actually trying to draw, I wanted to ask the diehards here about your outlook on Pierce if the team finishes .500 or worse and not in the tournament this season. Is the majority opinion that he should be back regardless? Or opposed to that? 

 

He should be back regardless but missing the tournament turns the heat back up some. If we miss the tournament, and aren’t back at an acceptable level next year, that’s a huge problem.

[hobbes2702 12846]

37 minutes ago, 66BUFF said:

His success came from the Tulowitzki hire.  We are now seeing the results of his players without Tulo.  Feels like a repeat of 2019.

Dumb post is dumb

[Hookem2147 20932]

I do not think he is going anywhere and I don't believe they should make a move unless things just absolutely fall off a cliff this year, but if they did choose to make a move it would probably be smart to do it this year instead of next to allow the new coach a one year runway into the SEC.

Edited March 10, 2023 by Hookem2147

[Levi 2576]

19 minutes ago, UnhappilyMarried said:

He’s been to Omaha 3x, but each time we’ve laid a massive egg in game 1 which makes it virtually impossible to win it all. 

Last year was the best shot to win it all that Pierce will ever have and the team completely turtled going 0-2 including getting demolished by A&M. The stink from that week is still in my nose so maybe it’s in the nose of those in the AD too. 

His initial assistant hires were of Herman-level kronyism and retooling this offseason is likely a big reason for the poor start. 

All that said, I think Pierce is great at in-game decision making and he’s been able to find good talent from high school (elite recruiting classes past and future), juco, and transfers. His 2 biggest down years were driven by injuries to the most important players on the team. If the biggest complaint is that he hasn’t been all that good in Omaha, he’s been wildly successful up until then. Augie took 5 years to do things like win the Big 12 and make Omaha that Pierce started doing from the get-go. 

His in game decision making, especially with pitching management, is highly questionable. 

[MuellerHorn 4195]

1 minute ago, Levi said:

His in game decision making, especially with pitching management, is highly questionable. 

And baserunning...

[MuellerHorn 4195]

22 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

There is no reason we should lose any games to those teams. Even one loss to competition that had is a bad sign.

I agree that they should go 9-0, but good teams lose midweek games to inferior competition all the time. Hell, Tennessee and Vanderbilt both already have this season. That's why I said 8-1, at worst.  However, yes, they should go 9-0.

[Scott 2002 10]

He’s been to CWS 3 out of 5 years and Covid season was looking good before season ended so I doubt he gets canned this year unless there are issues with admin that extend beyond the field.  I know Texas has historically been over 50% in CWS appearances but it seems like now it is much harder with a lot more teams especially the whole sec basically putting a lot more into baseball programs.  That being said if I were betting I would take us making the tourney this year.  Pitching is still good just need some bats to pick up and if Witt comes back fully healthy could make a run down the stretch.  

[Valmy77 13094]

31 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

There is no reason we should lose any games to those teams. Even one loss to competition that had is a bad sign.

Yeah. If we are anything but 15-7 going into the Tech series I will be disappointed.

I know it is baseball and all but none of these scrubs should be able to touch our pitching.

[Hookem2147 20932]

Our RPI is going to be dicey all year. We failed to win any of our neutral site games against quality opponents and then dropped 2 out of 3 road games to a Fullerton team that will probably find their RPI hovering around 150-200 all year.

We have to find a way to take the one of the series at TCU or OSU. The system is built to reward wins away from home, especially against quality opponents, and we don’t don’t have a lot of those opportunities left.

Edited March 10, 2023 by Hookem2147

[Valmy77 13094]

1 minute ago, Hookem2147 said:

Our RPI is going to be dicey all year. We failed to win any of our neutral site games against quality opponents and then dropped 2 out of 3 road games to a Fullerton team that will probably find their RPI hovering around 150-200 all year.

We have to find a way to take the one of the series at TCU or OSU. The system is built to reward road wins, especially those against quality opponents, and we don’t don’t have a lot of those opportunities left.

Yeah. Another reason why we had to win that Sam Houston State game. Sad to say they were the last non-garbage team on our schedule for awhile. It isn't much, but its something.

[UnhappilyMarried 815]

25 minutes ago, MuellerHorn said:

And baserunning...

Baserunning, yes. Pitching, disagree. But bringing baserunning up in a hire/fire conversation feels silly 

[MuellerHorn 4195]

2 minutes ago, UnhappilyMarried said:

Baserunning, yes. Pitching, disagree. But bringing baserunning up in a hire/fire conversation feels silly 

I don't think @Levi or I were mentioning pitching or base running decision making as standalone reasons to fire Pierce. I personally don't believe he'll be fired this season even without a NCAA Tournament berth. You said "I think Pierce is great at in-game decision making," which neither of us agree with.

[Levi 2576]

6 minutes ago, MuellerHorn said:

I don't think @Levi or I were mentioning pitching or base running decision making as standalone reasons to fire Pierce. I personally don't believe he'll be fired this season even without a NCAA Tournament berth. You said "I think Pierce is great at in-game decision making," which neither of us agree with.

Yeah pretty much this. 

[Levi 2576]

13 minutes ago, UnhappilyMarried said:

Baserunning, yes. Pitching, disagree. But bringing baserunning up in a hire/fire conversation feels silly 

I actually think he’s good at developing pitchers, there is plenty of evidence for that. It’s the in game utilization of his pitchers that is just horrible at times. 

[Had Enough 2057]

Thanks for the responses. I asked because someone with usually very good insights about the machinations inside the AD declared in passing that he was gone after this season. I don't have a strong opinion in favor of or against him, personally. Getting to the CWS isn't something I take for granted as a fan, but it's also not a unique accomplishment for a Texas coach, given Texas has been to it versus missed it in more seasons since the CWS' inception. So, not sure how important that Powers That Be view that part of his resume so far.
In any event, I'll keep watching when I can and rooting for a better season than what it's been looking like so far. 

Achievement-wise he’s done enough to earn another year even with a losing record.

Did you get the impression that it would be anything beyond on-field performance?

[Had Enough 2057]

He’s been to Omaha 3x, but each time we’ve laid a massive egg in game 1 which makes it virtually impossible to win it all. 
Last year was the best shot to win it all that Pierce will ever have and the team completely

I don’t agree with this. 2021 was pretty damn close in both games that were lost. Not what I’d call an egg in game 1. The hitting was poor early, but it was against a big arm with a zone beneficial to him.

Then last year, we had lost our best arm. Outside of the incredible start in 2022 and after Witt went down, 2021 was better than 2022. In the CWs, it was poor pitching and hitting.

[closetojumping 62247]

7 minutes ago, Had Enough said:

Achievement-wise he’s done enough to earn another year even with a losing record.

Did you get the impression that it would be anything beyond on-field performance?

Nothing else at play from my impression, but it was basically one line in a conversation that spanned 30 minutes and focused a lot more on the basketball hire and the football program. I pay a lot more attention to the other sports than this person, so that’s what made it worth noting in my head.