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Texas Baseball Recruiting Thread


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14 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

Texas will lose 2 starters.

A Witt, Gordon, and Skenes rotation would be filthy. I think Skenes is slightly overrated as he struggled against P5 competition but he's still a great option as a Saturday or Sunday starter. 

I have no doubt he can hit even though he struggled in the regional. 

Sure but he's been eating MRE's & taking experimental meds at an academy. He'd train like a pro here, I like his odds to take that next step here.

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Pitching staff will be interesting next year because the main arms coming back are in the bullpen. Gordon is obviously back. Southard, LBJ, Harrison, Stewart, Sthele, and Duplantier are all back. Harrison and Stewart probably profile to the rotation the best out of that group but I wouldn't pencil either into the weekend rotation this early. I would definitely be looking in the portal for at least 1 starter. Nixon is a complete wild card. Would love to see him press the reset button here and get back on the horse, but also wouldn't blame him one bit if he portal'd and wanted a complete restart. We already added that portal pitcher from Rice and have a RHP from the juco ranks coming in who should be an option.

And then Witt is also a wild card. If he follows the Cade Horton timeline (made his first appearance about 13.5 months after surgery) he could be available out of the pen by mid-late April as he ramps up. If it's a little bit longer then it becomes more of a toss up.

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5 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

Texas is going to add a couple more pitchers from the portal. 

Too many good players out there and and Texas needs some proven arms. 

Agreed, they will add at least 2-3 more transfer arms. But I bet just as many or more bats. It's looking like the only contributors we are going to get from the 2021 class in the lineup are Kash and Whitehead. And I don't see them pushing a bunch of true freshman into action in 2023. That leaves a gap that will need to be filled in the portal or juco ranks considering we are probably going to be replacing our C, 1B, SS, 3B, 2 of 3 OF's and DH.

Edited by Hookem2147
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Skenes actually has the stuff of a closer. 

In college baseball, there's as much value in having a reliable bullpen arm as there is a starter. This is a big reason I like Skenes even though I think he's slightly overrated as a Friday night starter. He's versatile and can be used in a lot of ways. 

 

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4 minutes ago, Revolution512 said:

What Texas needs most is a new pitching coach. Texas has a boat load of plus arms not developing. Mechanics, consistency and adding plus pitches are holding us back

You want to fire the pitching coach that finished #1 in ERA last season and is now #17 in ERA after losing Tanner Witt? 

michael-jordan-laughing.gif

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2 minutes ago, Revolution512 said:

What Texas needs most is a new pitching coach. Texas has a boat load of plus arms not developing. Mechanics, consistency and adding plus pitches are holding us back

What you call it when your weekend starter goes down the 2nd week of the season and your Tuesday starter has to step into the rotation, gets better every start and ends up being an all-conference player? Because I would call that development. I would call what they've done with Southard development. I would call what they've done with Marcus Olivarez (who had a ERA north of 5.00 at Lamar) development. 

I know it's frustrating that some of the guys with electric stuff aren't falling out of bed one day ready to take on big roles, but the developmental curve in college baseball is a long one. The ones who are ready-made aren't making it to campus half the time. 

If anything, this staff has maximized the parts they've had this season considering their All-American closer got his own head and now can't be used at all.

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Pitching numbers are inflated everywhere because the baseballs are clearly juiced. 

Texas will still likely finish as a top 15 pitching staff this year after losing their most talented pitcher to injury. Wanting to making a change at pitching coach is the type stupid shit you see on fan forums. 

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1 minute ago, Revolution512 said:

This isn’t the first season we’ve seen depth lacking in the bullpen.

This is college baseball. We had 3 high-level arms in the pen last year. That is not the norm. Most teams are lucky to have a good set up man and closer and they cross their fingers for pretty much everyone else.

We are no different than 95% of the teams in the country.

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6 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

What you call it when your weekend starter goes down the 2nd week of the season and your Tuesday starter has to step into the rotation, gets better every start and ends up being an all-conference player? Because I would call that development. I would call what they've done with Southard development. I would call what they've done with Marcus Olivarez (who had a ERA north of 5.00 at Lamar) development. 

I know it's frustrating that some of the guys with electric stuff aren't falling out of bed one day ready to take on big roles, but the developmental curve in college baseball is a long one. The ones who are ready-made aren't making it to campus half the time. 

If anything, this staff has maximized the parts they've had this season considering their All-American closer got his own head and now can't be used at all.

Gordon has been terrific, he’s a battler for sure. He’s someone we all need to monitor next season. Primarily a two pitch pitcher with a plus change up and an average curve. Can he develop?

We will disagree on Southard. Oilvarez is a redshirt senior with 17 appearances. 

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1 minute ago, Revolution512 said:

Yes TS12, you fucking rube. 

This isn’t the first season we’ve seen depth lacking in the bullpen.
 

I don’t know that I would say Southard developed, the kid can’t spot a fastball and depends on his slider. 

 

What? I blocked that guy on twitter because we had a heated disagreement over politics. 

Your argument is still dumb but I guess keep on going. 

 

 

 

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2 minutes ago, Revolution512 said:

Gordon has been terrific, he’s a battler for sure. He’s someone we all need to monitor next season. Primarily a two pitch pitcher with a plus change up and an average curve. Can he develop?

We will disagree on Southard. Oilvarez is a redshirt senior with 17 appearances. 

I guess we have different definitions of development. Gordon threw 21 innings last year and .1 innings in the postseason. He is now the #2 starter on a top 10 team in the country. He has taken a huge leap forward from last year.

They've been able to reign in Southard a lot more this year compared to last year. He threw 10 innings in all of 2021 and is at 25 innings so far this year.

And yes Olivarez is a redshirt senior with 17 appearances. He also made only 11 appearances for Lamar all of last year and had a 5.40 ERA playing in the Southland. He has a .39 ERA in 17 appearances for us this year. Fair to say he got better over the last year? 

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Baseball will have no shortage of good options in the portal. 11.7 scholarships make it extremely easy for tampering too. Very few of these guys are on full scholarship so you just hit up a guys summer ball coach and say "hey, heard Joe Smith is on a 50% scholarship at blah blah school, we can offer him 65% scholarship + NIL if he transfers to Texas".

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2 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Baseball will have no shortage of good options in the portal. 11.7 scholarships make it extremely easy for tampering too. Very few of these guys are on full scholarship so you just hit up a guys summer ball coach and say "hey, heard Joe Smith is on a 50% scholarship at blah blah school, we can offer him 65% scholarship + NIL if he transfers to Texas".

I don't even follow recruiting outside of what's posted here but based on what Kendall Rogers has been tweeting it sounds like the portal will have a bunch of very good players. 

I always found recruiting and following 18 year olds to be creepy but the transfer portal makes it interesting. No offense to anyone that keeps up with recruiting. 

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51 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

@Hookem2147

Who is likely gone from the current roster? I know Hansen is gone and Stevens because of eligibility. 

No clue about the position players and the draft. 

 

Before I list this out, I will say that players this year will have more leverage because of the covid season in 2020. Guys who would normally be juniors are redshirt sophomores so they really have 2 more seasons after this year instead of just one. This will give them a lot of leverage at the negotiating table because a guy like Silas Ardoin or Trey Faltine could come back to Texas if they wanted and still have leverage during next years draft when they are redshirt juniors.

With that said, for draft eligible guys:

Out of eligibility: Messinger, Todd, Stehly, Olivarez, Stevens

Probably gone: Melendez, Faltine, Ardoin, Hodo (he graduated this year and has tools teams will probably like), Hansen, Southard (completely forgot he is a redshirt sophomore, I doubt he comes back. Someone will take a chance on him)

Could come back: Kennedy (could he pull a Stevens and say eff it I'll just ride out my Texas career? He's already 22 and his hit tool isn't that loud. His defense and speed might be attractive though), Coy Cobb (he still has a year left, but he probably has his degree by this point. If he moved on it probably wouldn't be for more baseball),

Probably coming back: Daly and O'Dowd (they are the only two draft eligible sophomores we have), Morehouse.

I'm sure there are a few upperclassmen who will just move on or enter the portal. Guys like Blair, Eckhardt, etc.

Edited by Hookem2147
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On 6/7/2022 at 3:45 PM, Hookem2147 said:

Baseball will have no shortage of good options in the portal. 11.7 scholarships make it extremely easy for tampering too. Very few of these guys are on full scholarship so you just hit up a guys summer ball coach and say "hey, heard Joe Smith is on a 50% scholarship at blah blah school, we can offer him 65% scholarship + NIL if he transfers to Texas".

Sounds like a good plan

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Tennessee site is reporting Skenes is on a visit right now.

I know our coaches are probably doing it, but they need to be mining the portal hard right now even though the season is still going on. Deadline for guys to enter is July 1 so it’s going to be a quick turnaround after the CWS.

Edited by Hookem2147
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2 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

Tennessee site is reporting Skenes is on a visit right now.

I know our coaches are probably doing it, but they need to be mining the portal hard right now even though the season is still going on. Deadline for guys to enter is July 1 so it’s going to be a quick turnaround after the CWS.

I say, it's a shame he can't visit Texas in Omaha. 

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On 6/7/2022 at 1:41 PM, HenryJames said:

Not sure I'd count on Witt in the rotation.

Yep, there is no way he's pitching next year. It takes 15 months with an aggressive TJ rehab.

The best part of NIL is going to be the death of the Vandy program. They can no longer offer a financial advantage with academic scholarships.

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On 6/7/2022 at 1:52 PM, Goodman said:

Sure but he's been eating MRE's & taking experimental meds at an academy. He'd train like a pro here, I like his odds to take that next step here.

His nutrition is far better at the afa than it will be here. 

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On 6/13/2022 at 9:29 PM, Gidnik said:

His nutrition is far better at the afa than it will be here. 

I'm not so sure this is correct at all. I have a good amount of friends who attended the three service academies and I'd be very surprised if the AFA's nutritional support bests UT Athletics array of dieticians and tailored plans for individual athletes.

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On 6/13/2022 at 6:49 PM, Hookem2147 said:

Tennessee site is reporting Skenes is on a visit right now.

I know our coaches are probably doing it, but they need to be mining the portal hard right now even though the season is still going on. Deadline for guys to enter is July 1 so it’s going to be a quick turnaround after the CWS.

I’m sure Skenes is going to love how classy and respectful the Tennessee program is 

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