PITCHING

So perfect, Chop. Now I feel compelled to carry an Ace of Diamonds card in my wallet to every home game, on the off chance I might get Ace Whitehead sign it.

 

3/31/2024

The KSU series busted up LBJ and Ace's ERA a bit. But Grubbs now looks like a real "Ace" of the staff at this point. I remember that interview with All-American pitcher Lucas Gordon late last year. Gordon was asked about who to watch among the young pitchers and he said (paraphrased): 'Max Grubbs, he's really good, he will get you a lot of ground balls, he's like having another Tristan Stevens.'

Pitcher............ERA...........WHIP...........Innings
LBJ...................4.72...........1.51..............34.1
Ace W.............3.29............0.91.............27.1
Grubbs...........1.87...........1.13.............33.2

Not a bad looking starting 3.

 

3/31/2024

Closers:

Boehm is the real deal. DuPlantier is doing quite well this year, provided he only faces 4-6 batters per game. Tumis has shown flashes of greatness.

Closer...........WHIP......Strikeouts....Walks
Boehm..........1.14.............22...................3
DuPlantier...1.00.............14...................6
Tumis............1.46.............15...................6

 

4/20

Relievers with WHIP <= 1.50

Boehm..........0.94
O'Hara...........0.96
DuPlantier....1.03
Lummus.......1.37
Tumis............1.43
Tole...............1.44

These are the guys to rely on for relief pitching down the stretch.

 

LBJ was dealin’ against TCU.
If we get more of that, we could go very far. Grubbs and Whitehead are getting it done.

Overall, I would not call our bullpen strong, but the six guys I listed above with WHIPs below 1.50 are good enough to get the job done. With Boehm, and usually Dre, performing very well.

 

After the 2 WPs early, yes.

Time to cut down to your core guys you can trust and let everyone else compete for Tuesday night playing time. This goes for pitching and for offense.

 

Shaw bounced back from some crappy appearances to throw a really good inning on Tuesday.

After his injury and recovery, he might be a guy to limit to one inning, maybe two. Like DuPlantier.

We need Shaw and DuPlantier to be on top of their games. The bullpen can't be just Boehm + a bunch of chumps (and it's not).

I also like what I've seen from Lummus this year. He's been solidly reliable. Sort of like having an Ace Whitehead protege in the bullpen.

As of 5/1: Lummus --- 1.32 WHIP......2.84 ERA......19.0 IP.......0.209 Opponents' Bat. Avg. against him.

Lummus' one drawback is that he's walking a few more batters than you'd like to see, but nothing like some of our pitchers.

 

Tumis now has 25.1 innings under his belt and is posting a good WHIP (well under the 1.50 dividing line), and a very solid strike out to walk ratio.

WHIP....1.34
SO........25
BB........11

 

Could't agree with this more. Time to bench those guys who aren't helping win the series. No more Tuesday games left, anyone that can't help win should be SOL.

I half way expect that Boehm is going to get the call to start a game if not soon we will see a surprise call in the playoffs. LBJ has been too inconsistent, it's killing us. The confidence won't be there in a win or go home game. We have to get 5-6 innings out of our starters and NOW! Build some confidence with more defined roles for the relievers.

If Pierce makes the lineup similar to Sunday/Tuesday, Grubbs has a better chance of winning his games (all starters would). Kennedy in the 2 hole with Brown in the same lineup killed our offense against TCU. Having Brown, O'Dowd and Kennedy in the same lineup killed our offense against Houston on Friday. Defense killed us against OU (nothing to do with making out the lineup).

Guess we will see what happens against OSU. Maybe we finally put it all together this weekend and sweep OSU. This team is still capable.

 

At UCF, LBJ was really good...until he wasn't.

 

For a 3 game series--KU, the Big 12 Tournament, the Regional, or the Supers (Regional could be 4 games):

Starters: Grubbs, Whitehead, LBJ

Relievers: Right now we have about 5 relievers we can generally trust. In order:

Boehm
DuPlantier
O'Hara
Lummus
Tumis

Game 1 relievers: Boehm (1, 2, or 3 inninngs) , DuPlantier (1-2 innings); Lummus or O'Hara (only if more innings are needed)
Game 2 relievers: O'Hara, Lummus, Tumis
Game 3 relievers: Boehm (1, 2, or 3 innings), DuPlantier (1 inning), whomever hasn't thrown much that weekend among O'Hara, Lummus, Tumis

If we're blowing a team out (6+ run lead) then Hurley or Tole can eat innings. If we run out of pitchers, Hudson Hamilton has very nasty stuff, but his pitcher's mind doesn't seem to be at this level just yet (he's a very bright prospect for next year and the year after--think Grubbs last year). Shaw can be tried for a single inning, but with a very short leash--he's struggling since his injury last year.

 

If we go 4 games in a Regional, that's where Tole and Hurley have to get in there and do the best they can for as many innings as they can last without getting shelled too badly. The other team will be in the same predicament, so it could be a 12-10 sort of game.

 

I am not sure LBJ can be trusted anymore. His season ERA is now just over 6 and his conference ERA is 8.58. In conference teams are batting 327 against him and his WHIP is over 2. In his last 3 starts he has only made it through a total of 11.1 innings and has given up 19 hits, 13 earned runs, walked 7, and 3 homeruns.

 

Hurley came out of nowhere to pitch an excellent game vs. Kansas. Let's hope he's got it all together now, and was just farting around for the first 5/6 of the year.