Outlook for upcoming season

[Vol Horn 4 Life]

Are the Horns going to make the conference tourney this year?

 

[Brad Austin]

Should be one of the best and deepest pitching staffs in the nation. Gonna be the same story offensively....will we be able to hit with any consistency and with runners on? Nobody knows that answer yet, too hard to predict. If we can hit well enough to rank in the top half of the conference, should have solid shot of winning it with pitching.

 

[NBHorn7]

Defense should be better which helps when your playing small ball. More players playing at their natural positions instead of mixing and matching trying to get any kind of hot bat in the line up. At least this is the plan.

Urban tranferring means we have to develop a closer as it looked like he was being groomed for this role. He wanted to be a starter, but Thornhill coming back meant that wasn't going to happen. So he left.

It would be nice to have at least a little bit of power in the line up, but any improvement in the hitting will be welcome.

Payton coming back helps, but Weiss leaving hurts.

Each year it's rumored we have brought in players that will end our hitting woes. Last year we went heavy on JC recruits and none of them panned out.

You have Payton and Hinojosa as proven hitters. From there we will have to see what happens.

Need to win a conference series first to get in the Big 12 Tourney. Been a long drought in that department. One step at a time would seem to be the marching orders for this season.

Just average hitting would go a long way with our starting pitching. Look what it did for WVU who wasn't even suppose to be able to compete in the Big 12 and challenged for the title. They had two quality starters and that was about it pitching wise. Their hitting wasn't that great, but they kept winning two out of three in the conference and stayed in the race.

With our pitching average hitting would probably get us the title.

 

[Vol Horn 4 Life]

Thanks guys! Were there any changes this year to improve hitting? That's been the theme for what, four years now?

 

[Orangeblood]

Vol,

The season after we went to Omaha, we tanked. Augie analyzed the problems and took action, firing Harmon and hiring Nicholson. Was that the right move? Damned if I know, I'm just a fan.

However, it shows that Augie won't just sit on the status quo. If our hitting doesn't improve by a pretty good bit this year, you may see another change at that position.

On the other hand, some of our best power hitting years (06-09) we didn't sniff Omaha. Such is baseball.

 

[NBHorn7]

The Link


Lots of good information in the threads here that explain our #6 recruiting class. I know we got infielders that all played shortstop and maybe can hit. The old idea once was that a good stortstop can also play third and second.

I agree about second, but third can be a different experience with dealing with bunts how the ball gets on top of you faster, and the extreme angle of throws to first.

Of course getting pitchers named Schiraldi and Clemens.

Clemens can play first and hit some. Schiraldi can contribute right away most likely out of the pen and as a starter if needed.

Makes me feel old knowing and being at Texas the same time as their dads.

 

[s102r18]

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[Vol Horn 4 Life]

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[Orangeblood]

Thanks s102. I meant '06-'08. The teams where Augie tried it his way, but Reynolds, Danks, and most of the rest just never could consistently lay down the bunt worth a damn, so he tried a lot more hit and runs and power ball.