Clutch hitting, wherefore are thou???

[notanative]

Watching Ole Miss at Tennessee; Tennessee has a 3-1 lead going into the top of the ninth. Ole Miss powers its way to a 4-3 lead (one error on the part of the Tennessee pitcher), then shuts the Vols down in the bottom of the ninth.

I remember when we used to be able to do that.

Sigh!!!

 

[LonghornCatholic]

I feel your pain.

 

[Vol Horn 4 Life]

Clutch hitting left a few years ago with the rest of the offense.

 

[jayakris]

Clutch hitting is not the problem. Hitting is.

If you can't hit, you won't suddenly start hitting in the clutch. When a team has 4 players (only three regulars) hitting .260 or more, you have a serious problem. This problem has been there for a while and it hasn't gone away. Augie keeps saying that we hit our top-rated pitchers in practice and that it will come around. But there is really no sign that it is coming around.

It is sickening to see a team ERA of 2.51, eighth best in the country, and a team 11-12 record since conference play started. Having one of the (if not THE) worst hitting teams in the country is a problem that Augie needs to explain better than he has been doing. Why it progressively gets worse every year is distressing.

We simply haven't recruited enough players who can hit. That's all I can surmise.

R.J.

 

[notanative]

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[Alex_de_Large]

Meanwhile, K-State has the highest batting average in the nation at .331. But they also have the worst ERA in the Big 12.

 

[Pericles]

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[blonthang]

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[Alex_de_Large]

That's exactly why LSU backed off Billy McKinney at Plano West. They know he's a 5 tool first rounder.

 

[notanative]

Yet the fan boards light up when we don't sign potential first rounders (just like football and its five-star recruits). Failing to take lower rated player with talent who will actually come to Texas and make the big league by demonstrating his abilities for 3 years in college is fodder for the canons of hindsight criticism.

 

[Pericles]

Who's disputing that Augie early on tried for kids too high on the draft-eligible list. I'm not.

My point was that, given Augie's record, he's likely to have a better shot at getting a Texas kid to come to UT than other competing college coaches around the state have of getting that kid to their schools.

But back to the questions I was asking. Who has any clue about these alternatives:

Tommy Harmon laziness (getting old) and watching highlight films in his office in Austin rather than making enough overnight trips outside of Central Texas to actually WATCH kids play in person -- resulting in a HUGE portion of the current lineup being from within a two-hour drive of Austin?

Or Garrido restrictions on the type of players that Harmon could recruit? Somebody mentioned tall, skinny kids as the profile.

Anybody have a clue about which it is? Or both? Or something else? The new bat?