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2024 Texas Baseball

Hookem2147

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Rickylovesweed
Rickylovesweed

No surprise but it's official.   

Caver60
Caver60

Super excited for this season. April 16 circled on the calendar. My son is a true freshman OF at UTRGV. Right now it's looking like he won't redshirt. He's the fourth or fifth OF on the squad. 

Rickylovesweed
Rickylovesweed

Jesus we're loaded.    If we add one more good arm from the portal, I think we have a legitimate argument to be ranked #1 in the preseason polls. 

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66BUFF

66BUFF 2552

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19 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

Yes, in the video you can see the umpire pointing at the batter as he's rounding the bases so whatever he said must have been beyond normal trash talk. The batter was actually suspended for taunting but obviously it's hard to say if that would have happened without the pitcher laying him out. 

Must have called him a cocksucker

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Hookem2147

Hookem2147 20926

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35 minutes ago, Horny Bull said:

@Hookem2147 to the courtesy telephone

 

Ask and you shall receive

Spoiler

Texas always seems to be a program that has someone unexpected step up when they’re needed the most.

Two seasons ago on the way to back-to-back College World Series appearance, outfielder Murphy Stehly came out of nowhere to have a monstrous season at the plate, while Ivan Melendez won National Player of the Year honors after more than doubling his home run production from the previous season.

Then, in 2023, the Longhorns lost Melendez and Stehly, and desperately needed some sluggers to step up. No problem at all. Peyton Powell, who totaled just 19 at bats in 2021 and ’22, finished last season a team-best .339 average, along with 16 doubles, 10 homers and 46 RBIs, while Dylan Campbell was one of the hottest hitters in the country down the stretch.

Though Powell is back for another season, Campbell is gone, as is Big 12 Pitcher of the Year and lefthander Lucas Gordon, among others.

So, that begs the question, who will be the next Longhorn to step up and carry the torch in 2024?

There are plenty of options out there. Lebarron Johnson was outstanding at the end of the ’23 campaign and could be that bonafide superstar ace that the Longhorns desperately need. There’s also Tanner Witt, who could regain his old form after some much-needed rest for much of fall workouts. But the answer to the above question?

Jalin Flores.

Flores arrived in Austin with sky-high expectations last season but struggled immensely at the plate in 103 at bats — hitting .175 with four homers and 23 RBIs. He, among others, had a strong fall and is expected to take a big step forward in the spring.

A fascinating season awaits for this Texas team.

“There are a lot of bodies on this team, and in the ever-changing world of college athletics and the MLB draft, we actually returned a few guys that we didn’t think we would get back for another season,” Texas head coach David Pierce said. “Roster management was challenging this fall with the returning guys and influx of new players, but I like where are right now. I’m really pleased with the motivation from the returning player, and the fact they did a great job of kind of teaching the younger players what our standard is in this program.

“I thought the buy-in from the new players was outstanding, too,” he added. “There’s balance in our lineup and we have some nice pieces in our weekend rotation. I don’t think this is going to be a pitching staff with a ton of guys throwing 96-97 mph, or something like that, but I think it’s a staff with a lot of kids who really know how to pitch.

Let’s dive into Texas’ Fall Workouts.

Texas offense looks the part with Brown, Thomas’ return

The Longhorns are in good shape from a position player standpoint with the return of several experienced players, but that doesn’t mean they’re not without question marks.

The biggest question mark entering the spring is behind the plate. The Longhorns got more than expected from veteran Garret Guillemette last season. In addition to hitting for solid power with 11 homers and 60 RBIs, he was a key leader and a quality backstop. Now, the Longhorns will turn to Rylan Galvan and Kimble Schuessler as his replacement with Peyton Powell another option as well. In my look at Texas in the fall, Galvan certainly seems to have a lot more upside overall. Galvan hit .226 in just over 100 at bats last season and was solid behind the plate this fall. Schuessler has yet to make a big impact for the Longhorns but does have experience.

The Longhorns have a good but interesting situation at first base. Jared Thomas, who hit .321 last season and is expected to take yet another big step forward this spring, is back for another season. However, the Longhorns could very well start him in center field, where he played in high school. It’s a unique situation to have a potential first baseman also playing center, but Pierce has experience with this from his days at Tulane with Grant Witherspoon. Outside of Thomas, Duke transfer Luke Storm is another option at the position. Storm will join the team after the holidays and certainly provides some big-time pop at the plate.

The second base position will have a familiar face in the spring with Jack O’Dowd returning. O’Dowd was somewhat quiet offensively at times last season, but finished strong, had some key hits and ended the season with a batting average just under .290. O’Dowd is not a flashy defender but makes the routine plays. He’s a steady player.

Shortstop should be all about Jalin Flores. Flores was one of the more highly touted freshmen in college baseball last season, but struggled offensively for much of the year, hitting .175 with four homers and 23 RBIs. Flores had a strong fall and appears ready to take that expected step forward.

“I thought he made some huge strides during fall ball,” Pierce said. “He is as improved as anyone on our team, and sometimes that’s the natural progression is going from a freshman to a sophomore. His mobility is much better, he has more power and his bat to ball skills have improved a great deal.”

Peyton Powell will play third base and could see some time behind the plate, while the outfield will have a couple of bodies to replace between Dylan Campbell and Eric Kennedy. Porter Brown is back for another season and his return is huge from both a production and experience standpoint. Brown was a key cog in the Texas lineup last season with a .322 average, 14 doubles, 12 homers and 59 RBIs.

The right field position will likely either be Will Gasparino or Max Belyeu. Gasparino stands out when you watch the Longhorns. He’s a 6-foot-6, 215-pounder, who has some serious pop. Gasparino does have a long swing, and he reminds me a lot of former Vanderbilt standout and high draft pick Spencer Jones. Belyeu didn’t make a massive impact last season, but like Flores, Pierce said he had a strong fall from an offensive standpoint.

“Belyeu, other than Flores, may be our most improved player from last season,” Pierce said. “He did a nice job in Santa Barbara this past summer and he really bought into our approach this fall. He’s moving much better and has a huge arm.

“Gasparino had a foot injury when he arrived here, so he started a little slow, but he’s cleaning up his movements and he’s going to be special. He’s got the frame and I think he has a ton of big-time potential.”

We mentioned Jared Thomas potentially starting in center field. But also keep an eye on intriguing freshman outfielder Tommy Farmer. Shockingly, Farmer is a walk-on for the Longhorns, but his skill set is mighty impressive. Farmer has blazing speed at 6-foot-3, 190 pounds and did a terrific job of tracking down fly balls the day I was in Austin. He also has some physicality to him. Obviously as a freshman, Farmer will have his fair share of ups and downs, but UT might have struck gold with this addition.

Weekend rotation leads the way for pitching staff

Assuming everyone stays healthy, Texas should have one of the more accomplished weekend rotations in college baseball in 2024.

Texas righthanded pitcher Lebarron Johnson will lead the charge entering the spring. Johnson was one of the better starters in the country at the end of last season, and the Longhorns are confident he carries that over to the spring. Johnson will get up to 97-98 mph with his fastball, but typically sits more in the 91-94-95 mph range. The splitter at 86-87 mph has improved and is a big-time weapon, while the righty possesses a quality breaking ball in the low-to-mid 80s.

The key to the season for the Longhorns might be the crispness of righthanded pitcher Tanner Witt. Witt missed much of last season because of Tommy John surgery but returned on a limited basis the final few weeks of the season. He also played summer baseball at the Cape Cod League. However, while Witt typically is 91-94 mph with his fastball and possesses a plus breaking ball at times, his stuff wasn’t crisp over the summer, and he had limited work this fall. The Longhorns will need him to return to his old form to accomplish their goals in ’24.

Another intriguing piece to the rotation is veteran 6-foot-8, 215 pounder, Charlie Hurley. Hurley worked in 22 games last season and started five of those — tallying a 4.42 ERA in 55 innings of work. The command of his fastball, which can get up to 94-95 mph, has improved, as has the slider, which sits in the mid-80s.

“You know, I don’t think we’re going to have a pitching staff loaded with power arms outside of the guys in the rotation and what not, but we’re going to have a staff that possesses arms that all have a quality commanded three-pitch mix,” Pierce said. “Hurley is a guy who made some huge strides in the fall in terms of tightening up his slider. Witt, we just need to make sure his arm is in the best shape possible going into the spring, so we went light with him this fall. As for LBJ, he’s just a very determined pitcher. He understands his body better than ever and does a great job of making in-game adjustments.”

Looking at the bullpen entering the spring, it’s a unit that is reshuffling a bit after a tough injury to end fall workouts. The Longhorns had high hopes for veteran and Notre Dame graduate transfer Will Mercer. The talented lefty was up to 95-96 mph during fall workouts with electric stuff but will now miss the 2024 season because of an injury. Without Mercer, the Longhorns will lean on several solid, but unproven candidates.

One of the guys who could step to the front of the line is righty Cody Howard. Howard is a 6-foot-1, 198-pounder, who worked in eight games last season, but who showed solid stuff in my one-day look at the ‘Horns. Howard was anywhere from 90-94 mph with his fastball this fall, but what stood out to me in a one-day look was his feel for a quality mid-80s slider. He also has feel for a changeup.

Heston Tole is back for another season and has a fastball in the 87-89 mph range but has the most success with the changeup and slider. Tole tweaked his arm slot a bit this fall to add more deception to his stuff. Andre Duplantier will log some important innings this spring, potentially even at closer, and has a quality cutter, while Max Grubbs was one of the more improved pitchers this fall, getting up to 92 mph with his fastball along with an improved slider. He reminds some around the Longhorns program of former righthanded pitcher Bryce Elder.

“I feel like Cody Howard really has a lot of upside,” Pierce said. “He could play numerous roles going into the spring. He could be a guy who starts on Sundays for us, or he starts on Tuesdays — or he could just be an inning-eater out of the bullpen. He has a much-improved changeup and he’s definitely in the mix.”

David Shaw is a funky lefthander who is back for another season, while another lefty, Luke Harrison, is someone that Pierce pinpoints as a potential breakout candidate. Chase Lummus is a quality who has the stuff to be effective if his velocity continues to climb, while two-way talent Ace Whitehead is up to 91 mph and has added a cutter to his repertoire. Finally, keep an eye on freshman righthanded pitcher Hudson Hamilton. Hamilton is a 6-foot-1, 210-pounder, who showed a lot of upside the day I was in Austin. He was up to 95 mph with his fastball, and the slider and changeup are both quality pitches. Cole Selvig and Easton Tumis are two arms who caught the coaching staff’s attention at times this fall, especially Tumis with his unicorn fastball up to 95 mph, while Gage Boehm was up to 96 mph and has the stuff to make a move in the spring.

 

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Hookem2147

Hookem2147 20926

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Assuming Storm takes over 1B and Thomas shifts to CF, my guess on the opening day lineup is:

CF Thomas, 3B Powell, LF Brown, 1B Storm, RF Gasparino, SS Flores, 2B O'Dowd, DH Beyleu/Sanders, C Galvan/Schuessler. Maybe they break up the lefties at the top of the order by flipping Brown and Storm (who is a switch hitter).

I like this pitching staff on paper but damnit the Mercer injury really throws a wrench into things. By conference play you gotta have a closer and 2 guys in the middle innings who can get the ball to your closer. Mercer was going to check at least one of those boxes. We are probably going to need at least one of Selvig, Tumis and Hamilton to be a reliable bullpen arm early. 

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po elvis

po elvis 2070

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On 12/12/2023 at 6:18 AM, closetojumping said:

Does anyone have a link to that story or know what in the hell happened? The video looks absurd.

Believe it or not, the batter simply yelled “Fuck You” at the pitcher as he rounded the bases. I thought it had to be something about his mom or girlfriend.

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hornian

hornian 5203

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On 12/21/2023 at 1:13 PM, TornACL said:

When the hell are we going to be able to order season tickets? I put down a deposit...site has said ticket info coming in December. I'm not optimistic that's going to happen. 

This is the timeline I got back in November:

TIMELINE
 
January – Online Seat and Parking Selection Process
 
During this time, you may add or upgrade your seat locations and purchase parking for the 2024 season. Please note due to high demand seating inventory is very limited. You will receive a selection date and time in early January based on your loyalty points as of Nov. 28, 2023.
 
Guaranteed priority season parking in East Campus Garage is available to Longhorn Foundation donors with a combined total of football seat gifts (excluding suites), baseball seat gifts, and Longhorn Excellence gifts of $200. If you are not already eligible to purchase parking, you can make a gift of $200 or more to Longhorn Excellence by calling the Longhorn Foundation at 512-471-4439 (Monday-Friday 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. CT).
 
Early February - All season tickets and parking (if purchased in January) will be sent via mobile delivery to your email address on file.
 
For additional questions, please contact Ticket Sales and Services, Monday through Friday 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. at 512-471-3333.
 
Hook 'em, Horns! 
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BillyGoatHill

BillyGoatHill 4276

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23 hours ago, YGIFS said:

Harmon would never allow it.  
 

Anybody see on social media what time the alumni game is at?  

Most likely it will start after the mens basketball game (they play Frog at 1pm @ Moody Center) similar to '22 (around 330-4ish start time after B-ball finished up with Iowa St). Last year the game was earlier if my memory is correct cuz the basketball team played away at K St on that Saturday. 

I'm sure about the time in '22 as I got a pic with Roger just before first pitch and the photo is time stamped at 3:39. Due to the later start, the sun was already behind the stadium and it was cold as fuck. North wind was blowing in and even standing in the sun on the walkway down the left field line was miserable. I only stayed for like 4 innings.

 

Edited by BillyGoatHill
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zlavydra

zlavydra 2116

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28 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Starting to get that baseball itch fellas. Really believe this team is going to do some damage this year.

4 weeks til the alumni game.

Me, too. Has Luke Storm arrived? Do you still expect Hurley to open as the Sunday starter?

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Hookem2147

Hookem2147 20926

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1 minute ago, zlavydra said:

Me, too. Has Luke Storm arrived? Do you still expect Hurley to open as the Sunday starter?

Yes and yes. They apparently made some tweaks with Hurley’s mechanics and think he is in store for a big year.

Catcher, DH and bullpen roles will probably be the biggest questions when practices start later this month. My hunch is Pierce is going to try to let one of the veterans (Howard, Shaw, Whitehead, Duplantier) run with the closer role early in the season but keep an eye on the 3 freshman arms (Selvig, Hamilton and Tunis) and Gage Boehm (juco kid). Hamilton was running his fastball up to 94-95 in the fall and Boehm throws like 7 different pitches.

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YGIFS

YGIFS 19449

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Show me on your bat where the Deacon touched you.  Sickie.

As suspected, I think it comes down to us and TCU for the last Big XII title.  For once, I'm kinda glad we don't have salty of a non-conf. schedule.  Because we need to sort out some roles and our SOS should be fine anyway when we get into league play.  Hard to believe we're just a few weeks away from the Alumni Game and then first pitch in just 6 weeks.  

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.

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hobbes2702

hobbes2702 12791

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On 1/6/2024 at 11:29 AM, Hookem2147 said:

Yes and yes. They apparently made some tweaks with Hurley’s mechanics and think he is in store for a big year.

Catcher, DH and bullpen roles will probably be the biggest questions when practices start later this month. My hunch is Pierce is going to try to let one of the veterans (Howard, Shaw, Whitehead, Duplantier) run with the closer role early in the season but keep an eye on the 3 freshman arms (Selvig, Hamilton and Tunis) and Gage Boehm (juco kid). Hamilton was running his fastball up to 94-95 in the fall and Boehm throws like 7 different pitches.

Please oh please do not let Duplantier close. I don’t think I can watch us give up grand slams to lose games 

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TornACL

TornACL 7674

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I received my email from UT with my seat selection appointment on Tuesday. Just heads up in case anyone is looking and hasn't seen it yet. I missed it originally because I get so many promotional emails from Texas Athletics I usually just ignore them.

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YGIFS

YGIFS 19449

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I haven't been since the Augie days.  It was called something else but basically the same thing, but whenever I've heard Pierce speak at preseason events, he's usually pretty open and frank about the state of the team/roster/schedule/rankings/etc. and I think worth the price of admission (not sure how it works now with baseball NIL if some of the players can come too and speak).  IIRC, it was either like a 2-drink ticket kinda thing or just open bar but the kind of atmosphere where you wouldn't have time/access to have more than two anyway.  But like Augie, Pierce is pretty "no-bullshit" and happy to answer questions, though nowhere near as funny and engaging as Augie (but who is?).  If you can't make that, I always like seeing him talk at the Headliner's Club before the season starts or the RBI Austin luncheon at Matt's El Rancho.  Anywhere you see him, he's always genuine.  One of the reasons I like Pierce.  a far cry from those later season Mack Brown Austin Longhorn Club lunches where you felt like you wanted to take a shower afterwards because he just wasted 90 minutes of your life bitching and moaning about unfair life is for him.  

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Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen 45491

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On 1/11/2024 at 10:15 AM, TornACL said:

I received my email from UT with my seat selection appointment on Tuesday. Just heads up in case anyone is looking and hasn't seen it yet. I missed it originally because I get so many promotional emails from Texas Athletics I usually just ignore them.

Got mine. Picking seats Friday. 

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Hookem2147

Hookem2147 20926

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21 hours ago, YGIFS said:

I haven't been since the Augie days.  It was called something else but basically the same thing, but whenever I've heard Pierce speak at preseason events, he's usually pretty open and frank about the state of the team/roster/schedule/rankings/etc. and I think worth the price of admission (not sure how it works now with baseball NIL if some of the players can come too and speak).  IIRC, it was either like a 2-drink ticket kinda thing or just open bar but the kind of atmosphere where you wouldn't have time/access to have more than two anyway.  But like Augie, Pierce is pretty "no-bullshit" and happy to answer questions, though nowhere near as funny and engaging as Augie (but who is?).  If you can't make that, I always like seeing him talk at the Headliner's Club before the season starts or the RBI Austin luncheon at Matt's El Rancho.  Anywhere you see him, he's always genuine.  One of the reasons I like Pierce.  a far cry from those later season Mack Brown Austin Longhorn Club lunches where you felt like you wanted to take a shower afterwards because he just wasted 90 minutes of your life bitching and moaning about unfair life is for him.  

Pierce is usually great in those types of settings. Sometimes he can be too forthcoming which is kind of funny.

A few years ago in an interview on the radio, he announced Porter Brown's commitment before he was allowed to talk about it and before Brown publicly announced it. Think he may have gotten a slap on the wrist for that one.

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Hookem2147

Hookem2147 20926

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They are placing a lot of blind faith in that A&M pitching staff and the new pitching coach. The majority of their big portal transfers were on the position player side. They are a top 15-20 team but I don't know about #8.

When you consider the known pieces we have, we should be in the top 15 easily, maybe pushing the top 10 if Mercer was healthy and available (just got sad all over again).

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