PITCHING

Selvig showed up well, as expected. 91-92 mph with multiple pitches in his arsenal shown. Howard (hampered by injury recovery last year) had a good game on the mound. Both Selvig and Howard were starters.


 
Phil Elliott said:
Coach Elliott says Ace should be our closer.
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Maybe so; Ace W could be our closer.

As of right now, Ace Whitehead is our most consistent, proven reliever. I figured he's the sort of guy that can take the mound and throw 3 good innings frequently, so he'll remain a middle reliever. But closer is a real possibility.

I figured Mercer will be our closer, and maybe our best pitcher not named LBJ. But Ace Whitehead will get to make his case on the mound.

Now if we're looking for a wild-eyed big-time heat thrower for a second closer, maybe Boehm gets a shot...?
 
Ace has that closer mentality but i don't like his stuff for closing, at least not what I saw last year. He's a good middle reliever though and for sure has a spot on the team for the dog in him.
 
For me to have confidence in Ace as a closer, he would have to be able to supremely fool the best batting line up cause his fast ball isn't fast enough and his off speed doesn't move enough....... location, location, location ala Greg Maddux. It can be done and Ace has a great attitude for it and Ace did great in the tight spots he came into last year so we will see.

Before his injury I thought Harrison would make a decent closer but of course that's out the window, have no idea what he is going to return with just like Witt.

Witt also has that same dog on the mound as Ace, if either would just get their stuff back, either could perform in that role. Would be a good spot to build Witt's stamina back up and being in that situation may make him focus more on making each pitch count. I think it would be a good spot for him early on in the season or as a reliever and as his pitches and stamina improve he can slide into a starting role again, much like LBJ and Morehouse did by the end of the season last year.

I will be watching Witt closely to see how he looks early on. He has now had nearly two years to rehabilitate from the injury by the start of 2024, i am hoping to see the old Witt back this year and early in the season.
 
I'm anxious to see what this Boehm kid has, as well as the other newcomers, the pitching staff is the question mark in just how deep into the season we can go. The fielding and offense in my opinion will be able to stand against the best in the nation.
 
aUTfan said:
I'm anxious to see what this Boehm kid has, as well as the other newcomers, the pitching staff is the question mark in just how deep into the season we can go. The fielding and offense in my opinion will be able to stand against the best in the nation.
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Offense looks like our best in years. Even better than Ivan's last year.

Pitching:
LBJ = All American starter; has the potential to be one of our Top 5 pitchers of all time. 98 mph fastball; 90 mph slider with real good bite.
Witt = is he fully recovered yet?
Hurley = pretty good; clearly above-average for starters in this conference
Mercer = our best reliever
Ace W = our most reliable reliever
Howard = he is fully recovered now and he looks good on the mound (could be a starter if Witt isn't fully healed up)
Grubbs = posted some lousy numbers last year, but Pierce (and I) see a lot in him; a sinker/slider ground ball pitcher; could be a "poor man's Tristan Stevens" this year.
DuP = a lot better than he's been the last few years


Freshmen Pitchers:

Tumis = the pick of the litter among the Freshmen pitchers. Future all-Conference 1st Team sort of talent. Nasty, nasty, nasty movement/stuff; will "wow" the MLB scouts. The rub: At this point, his control is "just ok." Not bad, but not great, control. Very skinny/needs to eat.

Selvig = will see the mound a lot this year; very good control/very high floor/will not be a bust. His stuff probably won't "wow" any MLB scouts though. Decent and Reliable are words that come to mind. Could be another Ace Whitehead, but as a starter. His fastball is a bit faster than Ace's, coming in at around 91 mph.

Hamilton = high risk/high reward; very good slider. I like him as a reliever, but he started a Fall Ball game so the coaches apparently like him a whole lot. Left a few pitches just hanging up in the zone and got blasted by a couple of our better batters.

Morris = he's got the most buzz in the media. A very large individual. 92-94 mph fastball with a good breaker. I didn't see him in Fall Ball (I didn't see all the games)

Zaharias = should get a lot of innings in relief this year. Fastball in the low 90s. Wicked breaking ball. Competitive spirit. Has only played organized baseball for 2 full years. A natural phenom from a family of athletes. Got very little buzz online because he apparently did not do social media (even though he's a Silicon Valley guy).

Zatopek = will develop throughout the year. Got hit hard by our batters during Fall Ball.

Bertsch = will develop throughout the year
 
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I also don't know when Shaw will be back. Shaw was a good "stopper" before his injury/surgery--he'd often get thrown in with 2 men on base and no outs and worked our way out of it with minimal damage. He clearly loves this team. He got tickets and sat behind home plate at our Super Regionals series at Stanford.

This may be how Selvig is used this year. He may not fan the side, but he definitely will come out of the pen throwing strikes and not walking batters. And it's not like Selvig's "stuff" is sub-par. He won't just go out there in games and 'throw batting practice' real accurately. It's just that you watch Tumis on the mound and think "Wow, nobody we have can come close to equaling that type of sauce/movement!" (other than LBJ with his JR Richardesque 90 mph slider, of course...)

Selvig's "stuff" doesn't look like Tumis' "stuff", but it ain't bad; and Selvig's accuracy is exceptional. That's how I see it.
 
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Our luck has sucked in this realm for a few years now, I was expecting an unexpected loss at some point but not before the season even got started.
 
DCW said:
Matt Zatopek was cut this week.
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Yikes. That sucks for him. He got drilled by our batters in Fall Ball, but I figured we'd give him a chance. Hopefully he lands somewhere that works well for him. I wish him well.
 
Chop said:
Yikes. That sucks for him. He got drilled by our batters in Fall Ball, but I figured we'd give him a chance. Hopefully he lands somewhere that works well for him. I wish him well.
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He has plenty of options. I think he is going to go the JC route and then try to get back with a SEC school.
 
DCW said:
He has plenty of options. I think he is going to go the JC route and then try to get back with a SEC school.
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Hope it goes well for him—unless, of course, that SEC school is OU or aTm… :yes:

He was a late pick up / late bloomer on the recruiting stage. If you’re a pitcher, and UT wanted you, there’s probably quite a few schools that will want you.
 
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https://www.si.com/college/texas/ba...on-earns-big-12-preseason-pitcher-of-the-year

Big 12 Pitcher of the Year (Preseason):

LeBarron Johnson
lebarron-johnson-jr-regional.jpg

lbj3_xIHxM.jpg
 
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Witt update. Reports are that his fastball is inching up to the low-to-mid 90s (92-94 mph). And he's working on a new pitch.
 
If either Hurley or Witt falter, Howard is a guy who might move into the weekend starter rotation.
 
Chop said:
I want to see Gage Boehm throwing his 98 mph fastballs to Gasparino, Powell, Cummings, Thomas, and Porter Brown!
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We saw it allright, and Boehm delivered.

(he did not necessarily pitch to those precise batters)
 
I get the sense that Coach Pierce views Grubbs as his own personal "project" on the mound, and he's going to see him through. Grubbs threw pretty decent last night against San Diego, and came away with the 'W'. He's much improved from last year. I bet we see a lot of Max Grubbs on the mound this year.

Fontenot may be the top middle relief workhorse this year. He could tally the highest number of innings of any of our relievers--even including Shaw.
 
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