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2019 Texas Baseball Thread

texasstrong12

By texasstrong12
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HuntinHorn
HuntinHorn

1-3 against Tree......this is why you don't do stupid shit, like the window licker and his broom, to the LSU bus.

C-Man
C-Man

Update on Greyson: surgery was a smashing success. First two people on scene of wreck were a firefighter and anesthesiologist. He was following his mother in his car so she saw it all happen in her re

bschoolprof
bschoolprof

Grass would be great, but I'd settle just for dirt in the base paths and at the plate.  It's simply un-American to have turf there.  It's a goddamn travesty.  

LTtxfan

LTtxfan 49913

Posted
Posted (edited)

Damn poor effort in loss vs Krusty Krab Aggy!!

Pierce has done a poor job this season, but the lack of leadership from the veteran players is a joke!!  They don't seem to give a shit in the Horns dugout when they lose. 

Crazy that the injuries to Hamilton and DJ would be so devastating.  Pierce better recruit like hell for 2020 Season.....

Edited by LTtxfan
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bschoolprof

bschoolprof 6339

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

Damn poor effort in loss vs Krusty Krab Aggy!!

Pierce has done a poor job this season, but the lack of leadership from the veteran players is a joke!!  They don't seem to give a shit in the Horns dugout when they lose. 

Crazy that the injuries to Hamilton and DJ would be so devastating.  Pierce better recruit like hell for 2020 Season.....

Injuries at SS and C have definitely hurt this season and cost us some wins.  But I'm not sure a healthy Hamilton and DJ really turn this season around for us.  We are that bad, in a systematic fashion.  Fielding (even beyond 2 and 6), pitching, hitting.  Those two were decent to good hitters last year, but neither batted above .300 last year IIRC and given how shitty our returning bats have been this year (I'm looking at you Zubia and Reynolds), it's not really a sure thing Hamilton and DJ would have been great at the plate this year either.

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Cajun

Cajun 11771

Posted
Posted
On 4/30/2019 at 10:57 AM, Valmy77 said:

Nope. I am just a baseball fan who is along for the ride, even if the ride gets a little shitty.

Yeah, me too.  It's shitty, and I'm here.

Difference is sunshine vs realist stance.

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LTtxfan

LTtxfan 49913

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, bschoolprof said:

Injuries at SS and C have definitely hurt this season and cost us some wins.  But I'm not sure a healthy Hamilton and DJ really turn this season around for us.  We are that bad, in a systematic fashion.  Fielding (even beyond 2 and 6), pitching, hitting.  Those two were decent to good hitters last year, but neither batted above .300 last year IIRC and given how shitty our returning bats have been this year (I'm looking at you Zubia and Reynolds), it's not really a sure thing Hamilton and DJ would have been great at the plate this year either.

Solid post..... Agree that Zubia and Reynolds have really disappointed this year.

Stupid errors by Hibbeler and Reynolds, and lack of hitting from almost all of the veteran players is ridiculous.... I mean come on, check out these batting averages:

Kennedy      .306   (Freshman)

Reynolds      .273      (Jr.)

Ford.             .267   (Freshman)

Todd.            .267.      (Jr.)

Hibbeler       .259.      (Sr.)

Zubia.           .259       (Soph)

Shaw.           .242.       (Sr.)

Ellis.             .238        (Jr.)

McCann       .218.      (Sr.)

Bertelson.    .209.     (Soph)

Two freshman are 2 of the top 3 hitters on this team.  With Zubia not hitting worth a shit there is no power hitting either.  Although I partly blame Pierce for the shitty stretch starting with the TCU series, I'm more pissed at veteran guys like Ellis, Reynolds, Todd, Zubia, Shaw and McCann. Too many unproductive AB's and way too many strikeouts.

When your defense has such poor play up the middle (catching and shortstop) and at firstbase, it's not surprising to see such a shitshow with Texas pitchers are averaging 5+ walks per game.

One criticism that Pierce has to own 100% is having issues defensively at 1st base..... Texas played a short senior outfielder at 1B last season and Pierce did nothing to fix that deficiency.  For defensive purposes, Pierce better move Kennedy to rightfield, DH or leftbench next season.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Btw...That Damn Centerfielder for WVa was incredible defensively!!

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Valmy77

Valmy77 13569

Posted
Posted (edited)
12 minutes ago, Cairn Horn88 said:

This season is OVER.   Horns will not make the B12 tourney.  Did I miss something?

Only it isn't. We still have eight games left to enjoy/suffer through. I have to think some of the guys on the team wish it was over.

Edited by Valmy77
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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31996

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, LTtxfan said:

Solid post..... Agree that Zubia and Reynolds have really disappointed this year.

Stupid errors by Hibbeler and Reynolds, and lack of hitting from almost all of the veteran players is ridiculous.... I mean come on, check out these batting averages:

Kennedy      .306   (Freshman)

Reynolds      .273      (Jr.)

Ford.             .267   (Freshman)

Todd.            .267.      (Jr.)

Hibbeler       .259.      (Sr.)

Zubia.           .259       (Soph)

Shaw.           .242.       (Sr.)

Ellis.             .238        (Jr.)

McCann       .218.      (Sr.)

Bertelson.    .209.     (Soph)

Two freshman are 2 of the top 3 hitters on this team.  With Zubia not hitting worth a shit there is no power hitting either.  Although I partly blame Pierce for the shitty stretch starting with the TCU series, I'm more pissed at veteran guys like Ellis, Reynolds, Todd, Zubia, Shaw and McCann. Too many unproductive AB's and way too many strikeouts.

When your defense has such poor play up the middle (catching and shortstop) and at firstbase, it's not surprising to see such a shitshow with Texas pitchers are averaging 5+ walks per game.

One criticism that Pierce has to own 100% is having issues defensively at 1st base..... Texas played a short senior outfielder at 1B last season and Pierce did nothing to fix that deficiency.  For defensive purposes, Pierce better move Kennedy to rightfield, DH or leftbench next season.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Btw...That Damn Centerfielder for WVa was incredible defensively!!

Dont leave Ellis off the underachieving shit list.  He was quite salty at the plate during conference last year.

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bschoolprof

bschoolprof 6339

Posted
Posted
Just now, TwiceHorn said:

Dont leave Ellis off the underachieving shit list.  He was quite salty at the plate during conference last year.

I remember thinking after he hit a massive oppo dinger against LSU how he and the team were destined for great things this year.  I think that may have been his only homer of the season.  

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Valmy77

Valmy77 13569

Posted
Posted (edited)

Duke started the season looking like he was going be our next star. Todd also had his moments. They both turned out to be really disappointing. We needed Hibbeler to have a good year...yeah that didn't happen. Zubia needed to step up and exceed his power numbers from last year and that didn't happen. McCann had his worst season as a senior. I kept waiting to see if those guys were going to turn it on and they never did. All the upper classmen pretty much let us down. Our best players at this point are all freshmen and Elder is the only one of those who is awesome, Kennedy and Ford just might be good.

 

Edited by Valmy77
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torre

torre 1293

Posted
Posted

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/projected-field-of-64-5119/

https://d1baseball.com/projections/college-baseball-projected-field-of-64-may-1/

http://www.boydsworld.com/baseball/rpi/currentrpi.html

 

Both projections have us as first 4/5 out.   Current RPI 49.

 

As previously stated above,  Pierce is in year 3 of a 6 year contract ( close to 800K including Nike apparel money, performance, etc, not sure of buyout)     Personally,   I think he gets 5 years unless continued or steep decline.    Though keep in mind,  CDC is accustomed to winning baseball at TCU,  probably likes the Omaha restaurants.

- '17 -   Regional Final (though up 2 games,  double-dipped by LBSU)

-18  -  B12 Champions,  CWS,  Baseball America Coach of the Year 

-  Recruiting overall good (pitching),   development questionable

  (trust me,  there are alot of teams that would like to have this pitching staff you guys like to malign 😊).    Just not developed.   Read ClubWhatever's post in the game thread (I think) about Tristan Stevens' mechanics.    As stated by many,  position player recruiting is lacking in key areas.    Hitting is difficult,  situational hitting and moving runners is paramount.   WVU is last in the B12 with a .246 team average,  we are at .253, Kansas .247) 

-  Season ticket sales, attendance good.

 

I do think Pierce will have to evaluate his staff and may face the task of replacing 1 or 2 of his long time assistants to be successful at Texas.    From attending games and watching on TV,  this staff overall does not seem to communicate well with the team (encourage, correct, etc).    Personal opinion only,  perhaps at practice it is different.

 

tl/dr:    David Pierce is learning on the job and we Longhorn faithful are along for the ride.    Don't count us out, yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Llano Estacado

Llano Estacado 1257

Posted
Posted

Though keep in mind,  CDC is accustomed to winning baseball at TCU,  probably likes the Omaha restaurants.

 

-  Season ticket sales, attendance good. 

 

 

As someone who usually only makes one series a year in Austin for the last decade how do those two jibe?

 

He started with such an uptick. Were the attendance numbers and season tix sales noticeably different year to year, say 12-15 and 17-19? Do they directly correlate with post season success?

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31996

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, 2005 said:

This isn't University of Texas talent. This is barely D1 baseball talent. Gustafson wouldn't have recruited this shit. Augie did but he was top heavy with quality pitching and defense at the very least, to balance out this atrociousness at the plate. Clemons' kid was UT latent of lore. This team has maybe 2 guys who'd fit in on what is expected of Texas baseball.

UT Athletics should never put up with non-competitive programs. Never. 

They should be the arrogant winners for which the longhorn logo stands. When you lose you lose to the best and to your most enthused rivals. You don't lose to everybody -- to every horns doin throwing taunting shithead on your scedule.

You have been given extraordinary resources, a large following and a championship legacy to uphold. 

You should not produce mediocrity. You should not engender apathy. You should not fail miserably.

Minor point, but Augie didn't really recruit.  It was wholly delegated to Harmon and then Nicholson, and, a string of pretty, pretty good pitching coaches.  And, the upperclassmen, except for some of the juco bandaids, are the dregs of the late Garrido era.

I think the cupboard really was kind of bare.

For most of our fandom, and program history, we were the only program in Texas to speak of.  Rice grabbed a fistful of magic with Wayne Graham, and the less-competitive Garrido teams of the late aughts and teens let Tech and TCU get their nose under the tent (they may have anyway).  And, Baylor and OSU have always been lurking in the wings.  It's now harder to recruit the state and region than it's ever been.

tl;dr We were the fucking shit, we aren't anymore.

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torre

torre 1293

Posted
Posted
44 minutes ago, Llano Estacado said:

 

As someone who usually only makes one series a year in Austin for the last decade how do those two jibe?

 

He started with such an uptick. Were the attendance numbers and season tix sales noticeably different year to year, say 12-15 and 17-19? Do they directly correlate with post season success?

With nearly three weeks prior to the Texas Baseball home opener, season tickets and mini plan sales for the 2019 season have surpassed sales totals from the 2018 season. Among the 2019 sales to date are more than 500 new season tickets and 2,000 new mini plan purchases

https://texassports.com/news/2019/2/6/2019-baseball-ticket-sales-outpace-2018-season.aspx

 

Above from this year.

Texas Baseball has always been among the NCAA leaders in attendance.    I don't have figures from the years you quote.    Also,  unless they have changed procedures,  attendance is reported as tickets sold,  not actual attendance.    If someone knows,  please opine.   

Credit for attendance can also be given to CDC and the UT Marketing Dept for their promotions which make a nice family atmosphere.   But prior to this year,  the product on the field was exciting to watch.     I do not think there is correlation between attendance and post season success other than if the team is playing well more fans will attend.    If team continues to decline,  will see what sales will be in 2020.    But point is I would think they would look at attendance when evaluating a coach.

Below is a link for the NCAA Attendance for 2018 per 247.    PAC12 has very low attendance  but much success in the postseason.

https://247sports.com/college/west-virginia/Board/105475/Contents/Baseball-Attendance-Report-2018-115660773/

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LTtxfan

LTtxfan 49913

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, 2005 said:

This isn't University of Texas talent. This is barely D1 baseball talent. Gustafson wouldn't have recruited this shit. Augie did but he was top heavy with quality pitching and defense at the very least, to balance out this atrociousness at the plate. This team has maybe 2 guys who'd fit in on what is expected of Texas baseball.

 

11 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Minor point, but Augie didn't really recruit.  It was wholly delegated to Harmon and then Nicholson, and, a string of pretty, pretty good pitching coaches.  And, the upperclassmen, except for some of the juco bandaids, are the dregs of the late Garrido era.  I think the cupboard really was kind of bare.

Thanks TwiceHorn and 2005 for pointing out how part of the reason for the poor current baseball roster is a result of Augie's lack of recruiting. 

But Pierce is in the Big Leagues of Texas Longhorn Baseball and probably only deserves one Get Out of Jail Free Card for the results of this piss poor 2019 season from the TCU series on.  Pierce can no longer afford to ignore positional roster depth in order to carry more pitchers.  Texas may have to consider bringing in a few Juco players to fill some of the glaring holes on this current roster.

Also,  Pierce's player development has to produce results where players actually improve.  Granted a couple freshmen (Ford & Kennedy) have shown some improvement, but what the hell has happened on defense because both Reynolds and Hibbeler have regressed and no one can play 1st base worth a shit??  Why are so many veteran players struggling with hitting this season??  Seeing so many pitchers failing with control is creating doubts about both Haig and Pierce's abilities to coach and develop pitchers.

Pierce will get a 4th Season at Texas next year, but Texas fans won't put up with another season like 2019.  🤘

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Llano Estacado

Llano Estacado 1257

Posted
Posted
But point is I would think they would look at attendance when evaluating a coach.


As CDC & ADept should.

Thanks. I was just curious.

I would think UT or college baseball in general wouldn’t see as many bandwagon fans. Families wanting a single Sunday conference game or season tix are going to do so whether last seasons team made it to Omaha or not. People enjoy it because a day/evening in the park are fun (assuming your team BA is above the Mendoza line and can locate a fastball 2/3rd of your pitches).

Obviously, CDC is busting his ass marketing and making games a great experience. It’d be hard to analyze their improvements versus increased fan interest from the previous years success. Especially difficult this year with in season changes between Stanford, LSU, BU wheels-off.
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Goodman

Goodman 3280

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Dont leave Ellis off the underachieving shit list.  He was quite salty at the plate during conference last year.

Thanks for bringing this up because I had Zubia as my biggest disappointment but forgot about Ellis. 

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bschoolprof

bschoolprof 6339

Posted
Posted (edited)
13 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

 

 

Pierce will get a 4th Season at Texas next year, but Texas fans won't put up with another season like 2019.  🤘

I never would have predicted this back in February, but I agree next year is make or break for him.  This is not UT basketball.  Another shitty season in baseball and he's out.  

Edited by bschoolprof
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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31996

Posted
Posted

Kind of devil's advocating here, but I'm not completely convinced that position recruiting has been bad, with the possible exception of 1B.  Injuries have made it seem that way, but we've been extraordinarily unlucky in that department.

The really, really worrisome thing is regression at the plate by second and third year starters that began to show life last year and crashed back to earth this year.

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EZ$

EZ$ 2125

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, Goodman said:

Thanks for bringing this up because I had Zubia as my biggest disappointment but forgot about Ellis. 

But Ellis looks cool when he whips his bat back around after hitting foul balls from being late on about 80% of his swings. 

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LTtxfan

LTtxfan 49913

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Kind of devil's advocating here, but I'm not completely convinced that position recruiting has been bad, with the possible exception of 1B.  Injuries have made it seem that way, but we've been extraordinarily unlucky in that department.

The really, really worrisome thing is regression at the plate by second and third year starters that began to show life last year and crashed back to earth this year.

Thanks for adding constructive comments!

I'm more of an old school believer that strong defense, speed and pitching tend to win a lot of games in college baseball.  So far the only decent new defender added to the 2019 roster is Ford.

Reagan and Peter are young and hopefully will improve.  But Kennedy just doesn't have good enough instincts to play the outfield.... if he can't learn to play 1B (backup) his only position is DH.

Proper strong defenses are strong up the middle and at 1st base.  Ellis is really just an average centerfielder with a weak arm.  In fact none of the outfielders are better than average defensively.  Pierce should upgrade defensively immediately at CF, 1B and Catcher.  Hopefully Peter can be quality depth for catcher, 1B, and DH.  Another added outfielder with speed would be a luxury that would really help too.

As far as power hitting, that often comes from the positions of 1B, 3rd, and an outfielder.

Edited by LTtxfan
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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31996

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, LTtxfan said:

Thanks for adding constructive comments!

I'm more of an old school believer that strong defense, speed and pitching tend to win a lot of games in college baseball.  So far the only decent new defender added to the 2019 roster is Ford.

Reagan and Peter are young and hopefully will improve.  But Kennedy just doesn't have good enough instincts to play the outfield.... if he can't learn to play 1B his only position is DH.

Proper strong defenses are strong up the middle and at 1st base.  Ellis is really just an average centerfielder with a weak arm.  In fact none of the outfielders are better than average defensively.  Pierce should upgrade defensively immediately at CF, 1B and Catcher.  Hopefully Peter can be quality depth for catcher, 1B, and DH.  Another added outfielder with speed would be a luxury that would really help too.

As far as power hitting, that often comes from the positions of 1B, 3rd, and an outfielder.

I read somewhere that Kennedy was added to the class as a legacy and that the staff had basically not laid eyes on him.  That is a bit disturbing in and of itself.  But then again, as indicated earlier, I'm not sure Texas Baseball is in a position to have top 10 classes full of can't miss five-tool guys yet (I jest, somewhat).

And, while I think the last few Garrido/Nicholson classes were subpar, the defensive bona fides were solid.  And it's also possible that Augie was making chicken salad out of chicken shit on that front, just not offensively.

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jinx

jinx 2636

Posted
Posted

I think over 50% of my comments have been about how pathetic our bunting has been, and I will continue to beat that drum as long as we look this pathetic.  My high school coach would simply fold his arms and stare and refuse to give another sign after most of the attempts that I have seen at bunting.  It is 100% a coaching issue on a number of fronts - coaching the fundamentals of bunting, calling them for people that show some ability to bunt, and calling them off when the bunt attempts look as pathetic as this team's do.  We are giving up free outs without moving the runners to the next base over and over again.

The number of walks and passed balls seems to be a coaching issue too.  I would much rather have the pitcher get shelled throwing strikes, than to give up base runner after base runner on walks and HBP.  It has been very frustrating to watch this team the second half of the season, because the fundamentals seem non-existent and baseball is a game of fundamentals and routine.

Also - why is our 1st baseman the shortest person on the team?  Can we not teach anyone else how to play 1st base?

At the end of last season, I thought Pierce seemed like a guy that had everything going in the right direction and would be here for the long haul.  Now, not so much.  This team seems to lack any redeeming qualities and that will be hard to come back from in 2020.

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LTtxfan

LTtxfan 49913

Posted
Posted
29 minutes ago, jinx said:

I think over 50% of my comments have been about how pathetic our bunting has been, and I will continue to beat that drum as long as we look this pathetic.  My high school coach would simply fold his arms and stare and refuse to give another sign after most of the attempts that I have seen at bunting.  It is 100% a coaching issue on a number of fronts - coaching the fundamentals of bunting, calling them for people that show some ability to bunt, and calling them off when the bunt attempts look as pathetic as this team's do.  We are giving up free outs without moving the runners to the next base over and over again.

The number of walks and passed balls seems to be a coaching issue too.  I would much rather have the pitcher get shelled throwing strikes, than to give up base runner after base runner on walks and HBP.  It has been very frustrating to watch this team the second half of the season, because the fundamentals seem non-existent and baseball is a game of fundamentals and routine.

Also - why is our 1st baseman the shortest person on the team?  Can we not teach anyone else how to play 1st base?

At the end of last season, I thought Pierce seemed like a guy that had everything going in the right direction and would be here for the long haul.  Now, not so much.  This team seems to lack any redeeming qualities and that will be hard to come back from in 2020.

Great stuff and agree about bunting issues.  Hell didn't Peter get hurt on a bunt attempt???  😡

Plenty of things to be critical of.  While Pierce has to ultimately shoulder the blame, I'm more angry with the shit show from the veteran players this season.... the older guys need to f'n step up in this Kansas series!!

If they win the KU series (can't believe I just has to write that... smh).... the bye week between May 7th and May 14th hopefully helps...

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VirginiaLonghorn

VirginiaLonghorn 4878

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, jinx said:

I think over 50% of my comments have been about how pathetic our bunting has been, and I will continue to beat that drum as long as we look this pathetic.  My high school coach would simply fold his arms and stare and refuse to give another sign after most of the attempts that I have seen at bunting.  It is 100% a coaching issue on a number of fronts - coaching the fundamentals of bunting, calling them for people that show some ability to bunt, and calling them off when the bunt attempts look as pathetic as this team's do.  We are giving up free outs without moving the runners to the next base over and over again.

The number of walks and passed balls seems to be a coaching issue too.  I would much rather have the pitcher get shelled throwing strikes, than to give up base runner after base runner on walks and HBP.  It has been very frustrating to watch this team the second half of the season, because the fundamentals seem non-existent and baseball is a game of fundamentals and routine.

Also - why is our 1st baseman the shortest person on the team?  Can we not teach anyone else how to play 1st base?

At the end of last season, I thought Pierce seemed like a guy that had everything going in the right direction and would be here for the long haul.  Now, not so much.  This team seems to lack any redeeming qualities and that will be hard to come back from in 2020.

How did you get my password?

Touch ‘em all ... 👏

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LTtxfan

LTtxfan 49913

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, zlavydra said:

Seems like Son of Bertel plays pretty good defense at 1B, and he provides a big target. Obviously needs to shorten his swing, but I still think he ahould get more of a look. 

 

Sandor of Clegane is a big target.....

giphy.gif

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dcar00

dcar00 14908

Posted
Posted

he'll be eating those words next year but whatever.  he apparently thinks he has a plan after not firing Shaka this year.  I hope he does.

how would you like to be David Pierce and be the first Texas Baseball coach in 100 fucking years to not be successful.

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