2024 Texas Baseball

[Levi 2586]

My youth pick would be Canham at Oregon st. He doesn’t have any skins on the wall like Vitello does but I think he’s a really good coach.  I wouldn’t want to touch Vitello and the culture he creates. 

[chase25 2048]

7 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

1) There is no reason to believe that Texas wouldn’t pay what it takes to get Bakich. Clemson isn’t awash in cash. 

2) Michigan isn’t on the east coast. What in the fuck are you talking about?

3) I take it you know jack shit about Wake Forest historically as a program. You’ve referenced what Walter has done there as a straight line comparison to Texas, which is a laughable argument that has to be derived out of ignorance. 

4) Vitello is a terrible choice. That’s actually a guy that looks like an eventual flameout as his teams continue to fail to get the title. 

Michigan is east of the Mississippi, didn’t feel like going on a tangent explaining where every state sat geographically because I figure you knew. He hasn’t been west of the Mississippi since 1999. ECU, Clemson, Vanderbilt, Maryland, Michigan, back to Clemson. I hope that suits your fancy and is a more accurate description of where he has coached

It wasn’t a straight line comparison, you are hanging your hat on a guy that took 14 years to get his program off the ground while back handing someone who took an SEC doormat and turned them around in 2 seasons. That tells me all I need to know about your assessment of what we are talking about.

Bakich played for a title once, Walter almost played for a title once. Sign me up. Hell let’s just go get Gary Gilmore. 

[chase25 2048]

Here is to hoping the 2024 team continues to get better  because this group still has a pretty high ceiling. 

[Spaceman_Spiff 121]

Feels like the season is riding on Ace and Grubbs. If they can settle into starter roles there are still the pieces for a half decent, if below standard, season.

If not, well, buckle up.

Feeling a lot better here two days later. Baylor is not a good team, but we just maybe might have a bit of pitching. And we’ve definitely got the bats. Hope the starters keep it up, the BP starts to settle, and that Pierce works his magic with the defense and the lineup.

[jimmyjazz 45950]

I'm not sure I put a lot of stock into the assessment that Vitello "looks like" an eventual flameout.  He sure isn't flaming out yet.

Again, Texas fans have a distorted sense of what is possible, what is reasonable, and where we currently stand.

[closetojumping 62720]

Just now, jimmyjazz said:

I'm not sure I put a lot of stock into the assessment that Vitello "looks like" an eventual flameout.  He sure isn't flaming out yet.

Again, Texas fans have a distorted sense of what is possible, what is reasonable, and where we currently stand.

It’s completely subjective with Vitello. All of this is. We’re talking about a bunch of guys who have not gotten it done yet, Pierce included. 

As to what Texas fans think is possible, I certainly don’t think the last job search and how it was handled is instructive to what is possible now. This is a program that should be a top 5 program. It’s a top 3 historically. Rather than lower expectations, I’d rather see the AD go get whoever they need to get and get back to occasionally winning titles. That’s not asking too much and that coach would have all of the NIL support he needed. 

I’m all for Pierce figuring it out, but going to 2 and a Q in Omaha and just missing it in the super is not figuring it out. This is Texas and the expectations should continue to be sky high in this sport. 

[TrashMaster G 17557]

Can someone explain to those of us on the outside what UT's NIL "situation" is?

[Hookem2147 21274]

Not bad for not having a true Saturday or Sunday starter the first 6 weeks of the season.

Edited March 25 by Hookem2147

[BigOrange1 6437]

20 hours ago, chase25 said:

Here is to hoping the 2024 team continues to get better  because this group still has a pretty high ceiling. 

agreed.  also, i was thinking about it yesterday and the 2025 team should be pretty stout offensively with Thomas, Flores, Belyeu, Galvan, and Gasparino all set to return.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21907]

Unless they all portal out after Pierce gets fired

[Hookem2147 21274]

40 minutes ago, BigOrange1 said:

agreed.  also, i was thinking about it yesterday and the 2025 team should be pretty stout offensively with Thomas, Flores, Belyeu, Galvan, and Gasparino all set to return.

Flores and Thomas are draft-eligible sophomores. I think Thomas is a top-100 pick and will be gone. We will see on Flores.

[hobbes2702 13033]

28 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Flores and Thomas are draft-eligible sophomores. I think Thomas is a top-100 pick and will be gone. We will see on Flores.

Damn you think JT goes that high? I wondered if not seeing a lot of him in the OF might hurt his stock some. We really need both of them back for next year

[Hookem2147 21274]

24 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

Damn you think JT goes that high? I wondered if not seeing a lot of him in the OF might hurt his stock some. We really need both of them back for next year

Oh yeah, unless he prices himself out of the top 100 and wants to return for whatever reason.

MLB.com had him as their 59th-best draft prospect headed into the year. I think it's pretty easy to project him to the OF, even without him playing a lot of game innings out there. He can hit for average, has plus speed and will tap into more power as he continues to fill out. The biggest knock will be his strikeout rate is up to almost 30% this year after being 17% last year, but that comes with him putting more balls in the gaps and over the fence. He will be considered a better "prospect" than Dylan Campbell and Campbell went in the 4th round. 

The biggest issue for Flores will be he is likely a 3B at the next level, and if you are going to be at 3B you better hit the crap out of the ball. His speed will probably grade average and he has a tendency to struggle against high-end pitching. One thing that may work for him is his fly ball/line drive rate is extreme (think about how many times this year he has put the ball in play on the ground. It ain't much). Teams will view him as a guy who can hit 20+ homers as a pro but will be a bit of a project. 

Edited March 25 by Hookem2147

[petscii 1189]

1 hour ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Unless they all portal out after Pierce gets fired

Stupid like this is why men's basketball lost to a former Texas coach over the weekend..

Edited March 25 by petscii

[BillyGoatHill 4312]

58 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Flores and Thomas are draft-eligible sophomores. I think Thomas is a top-100 pick and will be gone. We will see on Flores.

Listed as #79 overall on a list I saw within this last week.

Edited March 25 by BillyGoatHill

[hobbes2702 13033]

Well fuck. Hope we can find a way to get him back.

[zlavydra 2121]

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP
TUESDAY–Texas RHP Cole Selvig (0-1, 9.00) vs. A&M-Corpus RHP Jack Hill (1-1, 8.31)

Might this mean we see Hurley on Thursday, LBJ Friday and Ace/Grubbs Saturday!

[markstanco 12577]

https://texassports.com/news/2024/3/25/baseballs-belyeu-named-big-12-player-of-the-week.aspx?fbclid=w1e2yfpwgdb2rizd470ls4707xtayciaemzhwyuzw7tiww092k1gh5n4zkcctk2j51gy21v

[BigOrange1 6437]

6 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

Flores and Thomas are draft-eligible sophomores. I think Thomas is a top-100 pick and will be gone. We will see on Flores.

well shit.  i never know which sophmores are and aren't draft eligible.  

[Had Enough 2081]

The old ones.

[.45s 28]

4 hours ago, markstanco said:

https://texassports.com/news/2024/3/25/baseballs-belyeu-named-big-12-player-of-the-week.aspx?fbclid=w1e2yfpwgdb2rizd470ls4707xtayciaemzhwyuzw7tiww092k1gh5n4zkcctk2j51gy21v

Congrats to Belyeu.  He is really coming on.

[chase25 2048]

Kansas State and Nebraska cancelled their game tonight with not a drop of rain in sight.

Have to make sure every arm is fresh and ready for the big bad empire this weekend.

[Hookem2147 21274]

14 minutes ago, chase25 said:

Kansas State and Nebraska cancelled their game tonight with not a drop of rain in sight.

Have to make sure every arm is fresh and ready for the big bad empire this weekend.

Yep. Also just noticed Tyson Neighbors is back for KSU, their all-American closer. Missed about a month with a “muscular injury”.

[NorthLoop 14203]

1 hour ago, chase25 said:

Kansas State and Nebraska cancelled their game tonight with not a drop of rain in sight.

Have to make sure every arm is fresh and ready for the big bad empire this weekend.

Reminds me of when aggy cancelled a Tuesday game to boost their RPI 

[chase25 2048]

3 hours ago, NorthLoop said:

Reminds me of when aggy cancelled a Tuesday game to boost their RPI 

What’s odd is it’s the opposite, Nebraska is sitting 10th in the RPI and Kansas State is sitting 20th. This game would benefit both of them

[torre 1285]

4 hours ago, chase25 said:

What’s odd is it’s the opposite, Nebraska is sitting 10th in the RPI and Kansas State is sitting 20th. This game would benefit both of them

https://weather.com/weather/today/l/f904ca8ddafdb6b615b9962fc48788197f33bc23de727651b54d67ad3b89fe2a

 

Nebraska site says cancellation due to cold weather.    They have a point - mid to low 30's at gametime.

I miss the Nebraska series.   We had some great, competitive games at Haymarket Park before their move to the B1G.

[Horny Bull 2759]

 

[MuellerHorn 4233]

15 minutes ago, Horny Bull said:

 

This season is cursed:

- the entire transfer class is lost to season-ending injuries or “retirements.”

- Texas loses an assistant coach mid season. 

- the entire pitching staff (outside of Ace) has regressed. Although, he has some weird “Rookie of the Year” type injury that actually makes him a more effective pitcher. Weird  

- they either score a massive amount of runs or way too few. This leads to more losses than there should be. 

- Top-25 ERA, yet a 15-10 record. See point above.

- Witt hurt, yet again. Sucks for his future earnings, especially since he passed up a ton last year to come back. 

What else am I missing?

[Hookem2147 21274]

1 hour ago, Horny Bull said:

 

Just read the exact quotes from Pierce and I would consider Witt done. Sounds like some sort of cleanup procedure for scar tissue or a bone spur.

Edited March 27 by Hookem2147

[tx 3 putt 76957]

I vote yes, but live about a 20 min walk away …

 

[NorthLoop 14203]

38 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

I vote yes, but live about a 20 min walk away …

 

Fuck no. We suck there. 

 

Though I'm sure Alex Box will be so much better for us. 

[tx 3 putt 76957]

With the right timing, It can pull 60k for a three game series

[ClubWhatever 12144]

Elbows are the worst

[TornACL 7698]

50 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

With the right timing, It can pull 60k for a three game series

Easily.

[WBT 20571]

Stadium is occupied during conference play, no?

[tx 3 putt 76957]

Just now, WBT said:

Stadium is occupied during conference play, no?

[chase25 2048]

Better start putting your plan in motion, if Del Conte has a competent search and moves quickly at the end of the year you can still keep much of the next 2 classes. 

There is enough talent on this team that if you move quickly after the year you can make moves in the portal and still field a really good team next year.

 

[BachelorTrek 2975]

On 3/27/2024 at 9:04 PM, tx 3 putt said:

With the right timing, It can pull 60k for a three game series

It would've been even more if they'd let all 41,000 seats be used instead of Idiotically limiting it to 20,000 seats per game and turning people away for a LSU-Texas game.

Those Bumblefucks turned away whatever their percentages of the gate and the concessions/alcohol increased profit that would have gone far above the overhead of bringing in the whole regular-season concessions/usher/security staff.

[MuellerHorn 4233]

4-0 this week, or we riot.

But seriously. Texas plays Abilene Christian (17-11, RPI 131) on Tuesday and BYU (11-14, 4-8, last place in the Big 12, RPI 134) Th/Fri/Sat - all at home.

This is a conference series Texas absolutely needs to sweep.

OU vs. OSU, KSU vs. UCF, and WVU vs KU this week. If Texas sweeps, they could be in/tied for first place come Sunday evening.

Edited April 1 by MuellerHorn

[jimmyjazz 45950]

I'll be happy with 8-2 over the next 10.  Split with Texas State, go 5-1 against BYU and Cougar High, take ACU and UTRGV.

A man can dream.

[MuellerHorn 4233]

37 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I'll be happy with 8-2 over the next 10.  Split with Texas State, go 5-1 against BYU and Cougar High, take ACU and UTRGV.

A man can dream.

This is the realistic ideal. 

[Hookem2147 21274]

Some 2023 slash lines (AVG/OBP/SLG) compared to 2024

Jared Thomas: .321/.398/.484 -> .409/.511/.678

Jalin Flores: .175/.293/.311 -> .345/.412/.690

Peyton Powell: .339/.431/.548 -> .353/.422/.586

Rylan Galvan: .226/.356/.405 -> .347/.417/.653

Kimble Schuessler (2022): .350/.435/.500 -> .342/.411/.519

Max Belyeu: .300/.333/.350 -> .319/.431/.769

On the flip side you have these:

Jack O'Dowd: .284/.353/.441 -> .187/.241/.347

Porter Brown: .323/.426/.545 -> .233/.358/.437

[brojangles2 786]

ACU or not, we lost to fucking Whataburger aggy. Pardon my Tuesday PTSD. 

[MuellerHorn 4233]

13 minutes ago, brojangles2 said:

ACU or not, we lost to fucking Whataburger aggy. Pardon my Tuesday PTSD. 

Yeah, unfortunately, scenarios from 1-3 to 4-0 are all real possibilities this week. 

[Had Enough 2081]

We’ve lost 5 times tamucc. We’ve never lost to ACU.

It’ll come though. It’s just a matter of when.

[chase25 2048]

Hopefully the midweek games going forward center around Lummus, Shaw, Fontenot, Tumis, and Hurley. Really need 2 of those guys at the least, and preferably 3, to step up and help out Andre and Gage on the weekend.

If it were up to me I’d probably start Hurley so the other 4 get comfortable coming out of the pen 

[Had Enough 2081]

Is O’Hara a legit option to eat an inning here or there?

[Hookem2147 21274]

15 minutes ago, Had Enough said:

Is O’Hara a legit option to eat an inning here or there?

As a guy to get you an inning when you are up 6 or down 6? Sure.

Probably going to see Tumis and Hamilton get some extended looks with 7 games in 9 days coming up. Can't see either being worse than Cody Howard or Luke Harrison at this point. 

[chase25 2048]

21 minutes ago, Had Enough said:

Is O’Hara a legit option to eat an inning here or there?

He showed good command against Kansas State this past weekend.

Struck out their leadoff guy Chuck Ingram with a painted fastball at the knees. A guy the rest of our staff struggled like hell to retire. 

Believe he is only 1/4 guys that feature a curveball on this team. At least that I’ve seen in live action. Ace, Cade, Andre, and Gage are the only ones I’ve seen throw a curveball which is a sight for sore eyes given the last 2 years.

When Gage threw that 3-2 curve to Culpepper, he looked like he had seen a ghost.

[Had Enough 2081]

It’ll be interesting the next two weeks. I’m not one to chase midweek victories like some of you, but that Texas State double dipper forces some decisions.

I’d probably lean towards consistency of roles and agree on Hurley as starter and let the others work in a fairly defined roles. I’d bet DP goes a little analytics in the midweek though.

We’re to a point that conference is probably more important than it’s been in several years for post season positioning so I’d make decisions with that in mind.