PITCHING

Ace Whitehead.

Now 3-0 for the year.

:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:

No-28-Ace-Whitehead.jpg




























































































































x
 
Last edited:
4/6/2023

Below is a list of all pitchers in the Big 12 averaging at least one inning per game (starters or very frequently used relievers), with sub-3.00 ERAs:

ERA.....Pitcher..................Institution of Higher Education
1.67.....Isaac Stebens.............Okla State
2.04.....Lucas Gordon..............:bevo:
2.25.....Charlie Hurley..............:bevo:
2.57.....Blaine Traxel................WV
2.61.....Juaron Watts-Brown....Okla State
2.70.....LeBarron Johnson........:bevo:
2.76.....Mason Buss.................Kansas State

3 of the top 6 starters in the Big 12 Conference are..........TEXAS LONGHORNS!!!

:cheernana::cheernana::cheernana::cheernana::cheernana::cheernana:
:bevo::bevo::bevo::bevo::bevo::bevo:

Big 12 Conference
 
Last edited:
Lebarron-Johnson-Jr-800x800-1.jpg

jr-richard-1980jpg-1.jpg


If LeBarron sticks around another year or two, he may turn into the best we've ever had. (and we've had some of the greats)
 
https://www.ncaa.com/stats/baseball/d1/current/team/211

We're #9 in the Nation in Team ERA.

If you throw out Wm & Mary and Northeastern (who both play crap for a schedule), we'd be #7. Wake has a colossal lead on everyone with a 2.28 Team ERA. Forget LSU, pencil Wake in as the favorite to win it all (but watch out for Kentucky, and us...).

:bevo::bevo::bevo:
 
Last edited:
Chop said:
https://www.ncaa.com/stats/baseball/d1/current/team/211

We're #9 in the Nation in Team ERA.

If you throw out Wm & Mary and Northeastern (who both play crap for a schedule), we'd be #7.

:bevo::bevo::bevo:
Click to expand...
Arkansas is at #90 with a 5.04 ERA. I don't care how good their bats are (and they're good), you can only go so far pitching like that.

Teams like OU and aTm aren't even in the Top 100. You'd be lucky to get into a Regional as a 4 seed pitching like that. Fortunately, we have far superior coaching to those sad clowns (not talking about Arkansas here--Arkansas' baseball coach, Van Horn, is a good coach and he deserves some respect).
 
Last edited:
Big 12 - Team ERA 4/9/2023

Texas......3.32
WV..........4.26
Tech........4.54
TCU.........4.64
Kan St.....4.93
Okla St....5.11
OU..........5.52
Kansas....5.68
Baylor......6.81

We're almost a full point ahead of our closest competitor.

So who's complaining about our pitching...?

:bevo::bevo::bevo:
 
Top 10 pitchers in the Big 12. 4/9/2023

Listed in order, for the whole world to see.

Pitcher...............................ERA
1. Gordon (UT)....................2.17 :bevo:
2. Hurley (UT)......................2.43 :bevo:
3. Buss (KSU).......................2.60
4. Stebens (Okla St)............2.86
5. Douthit (OU)...................2.95
6. Traxel (WV).....................3.25
7. Watts-Brown (Okla St)....3.30
8. Klecker (TCU)..................3.48
9. LBJ (UT)...........................3.53 :bevo:
10. Baumgartner (KU)........3.77


Big 12 Conference
 
We should see plenty of Lummus, Minchey, and Grubbs against Texas State. Howard and Tole as well.

Tole and Lummus should already be considered part of the trusted core of pitchers.

Howard - had one really lousy inning, but has otherwise been pretty good.

Grubbs - has pitched very well in limited action; ground ball pitcher with high praise from both Coach Pierce and Lucas Gordon. His question mark seems to be fielding from the pitcher's mound.

Minchey - looked very, very good for the one inning we've seen him. This would be a good 2 games to see a lot more of Minchey and the other young guns above. Pitch them until they stop throwing well, or hit 70-80 pitches. These dudes pitched full games in high school (Minchey didn't go to high school, but private leagues--almost the same thing...).

Even if we're on "Johnny All-Staff" mode for both Texas State games, I think we can get 3+ quality innings from the above pitchers (that would be 15+ innings) and not have to burn up weekend pitchers. Understand that this year's Texas State team is down quite a bit from where they've been in the recent past.

:bevo::bevo::bevo:
 
Chop said:
Understand that this year's Texas State team is down quite a bit from where they've been in the recent past.
Click to expand...
Are you saying they are not going act like giant a-holes this year?
 
:wake:

Here's Wake's 3 weekend starters:

Pitcher.................ERA
Rhett Lowder........1.40
Josh Hartle...........1.71
Sean Sullivan........1.77
 
If you throw out Wm & Mary and Northeastern (very weak competition played), the following teams are in the Top 10 for team ERA, in order (these are the teams to watch to go a long ways):

:wake:
:tenn:
:socaro:
UVA
:uk
:vandy:
:ut:
:ucla:
:arrow-up::arrow-up::arrow-up::arrow-up::arrow-up::arrow-up::arrow-up::arrow-up::arrow-up::arrow-up::arrow-up::arrow-up::arrow-up:
There's your teams to watch
right there.
 
Right now, Gordon could go head to head with any pitcher on Wake Forest’s staff And win 2/3 of the time.
 
Even after an overall lousy weekend against Baylor (we won the series 2-1), we're still #1 in pitching in the Big 12 (3.76 ERA), tied for #1 in fielding (0.979), and #5 in hitting (0.283 bat avg.).

Big 12 Conference
 
Chop said:
More on Minchey

"No. 3: Kobe Minchey, RHP
On a Texas pitching staff with more questions than answers, Coach Pierce will have to find innings wherever he can get them. Freshman right-hander Kobe Minchey is as good of an option as any.

Minchey stands at 6-foot-2, 220 pounds. He was homeschooled in high school and had a bit of late development, leading to recruiting rankings that do not reflect the juice he has in his arm. Minchey has gained 6+ MPH on his fastball over the past year.

His four-seamer sits in the low 90’s and can creep up to 95. He supplements that with a slider and changeup, the latter of which he is comfortable using in any count.

Coach Pierce noted that Minchey pitches with a ton of confidence. This is a must at the high D1 level and is a trait that is hard to instill in some pitchers.

I do not expect Minchey to be a weekend starter for the Longhorns, at least not yet. Coach Pierce and first-year pitching coach Woody Williams will likely deploy him as a mid-week starter and/or out of the pen on the weekend. If he holds up to start the season, Minchey could force his way to that Sunday starter role by the season’s end."

Texas Baseball: 3 freshmen poised for a breakout
Click to expand...
Who knows what Pierce will do this mid-week game (he's coached more teams to Omaha than anyone on these boards). I wouldn't be surprised to see him start Minchey and keep him in as long as he's good or hits 90 pitches. Minch is off to a really good start. Let's see more of what he can do.

Andre DuPlantier may get some work in this mid-week game as well. He looks pretty good on the stats sheet. It's just that when he falls, he falls off the cliff into the bottom of the abyss, and at the worst possible time with the game on the line. Fans remember those moments. But looking at his numbers objectively, he's not bad at all, and should get some more work. The key with him is to pull him right away when he starts to go downhill--before he falls off the cliff.
 
Leaving in struggling pitchers for too long.
Click to expand...

That's really easy to say in hindsight, but it does not hold up under scrutiny. Our pitchers, across the board, are using a crapload of pitches this year. When you put total pitch count up against our Big 12 leading ERA, it's clear that our pitchers are mostly working out of jams. Pierce gives them the latitude to do that and, in the long run, it's good for pitchers to not be looking for the hook as soon as they walk a guy. Sometimes they do not get the job done, but more often than not, they do. We do not have a strong enough bullpen to just yank every pitcher who is not getting guys out on 3 pitches, so you gotta let some guys have some rope and hope they get it done. The stats say that mostly they do.
 
Phil Elliott said:
That's really easy to say in hindsight, but it does not hold up under scrutiny. Our pitchers, across the board, are using a crapload of pitches this year. When you put total pitch count up against our Big 12 leading ERA, it's clear that our pitchers are mostly working out of jams. Pierce gives them the latitude to do that and, in the long run, it's good for pitchers to not be looking for the hook as soon as they walk a guy. Sometimes they do not get the job done, but more often than not, they do. We do not have a strong enough bullpen to just yank every pitcher who is not getting guys out on 3 pitches, so you gotta let some guys have some rope and hope they get it done. The stats say that mostly they do.
Click to expand...


You have to let guys work through some struggles. Every pitcher that ever lived gets in jams. The only way to learn to work thru them is to work thru them. But sometimes you fail. That’s baseball. It’s always been that way. While it may be frustrating to watch in the immediate term, you want those pitchers stronger come the post season.
 
Your Wrong said:
You have to let guys work through some struggles. Every pitcher that ever lived gets in jams. The only way to learn to work thru them is to work thru them. But sometimes you fail. That’s baseball. It’s always been that way. While it may be frustrating to watch in the immediate term, you want those pitchers stronger come the post season.
Click to expand...

Working through struggles is different than giving up 5 runs in the bottom of the 9th because Pierce refused to pull ZM. After struggling to start the inning the back to back walks should have been enough. But then the hit batter and he still left him in only to bounce it of the ground 15 feet in front of the plate and hit the next batter on the very next pitch. It was clear by the second walk Zane wasn't going to be able to get back in the groove.

I'm all for pitchers working through tough spots, but that absolute failure to recognized the situation or be hard headed was wrong.
 
I'm all for pitchers working through tough spots, but that absolute failure to recognized the situation or be hard headed was wrong.
Click to expand...

Again, *easy* to say in hindsight. Hey, I wanted him pulled earlier, too, but we all think our answer is right and we don't have to prove it. He *did* pull ZM for Stuart and Stuart wasn't any better.

If you are gonna give pitchers the room to get out of jams, sometimes they won't, but you cannot sit here and pick and choose and say everytime a pitcher worked out of a jam, well good for him, but when he does not, Pierce is an idiot. That is really unfair.
 
I have another strategy. Starting in 8th inning, when a reliever comes in, you tell him this is what is going to happen: 1 walk or HBP - you are done, 2 wild pitches - you are done, 2 hits - you are done. You cycle through 6-8 pitchers in a single inning if necessary. Have the whole team suffer because these guys can’t throw strikes. If what you have been doing is not working - go 180 degrees and try that.
 
mchammer said:
I have another strategy. Starting in 8th inning, when a reliever comes in, you tell him this is what is going to happen: 1 walk or HBP - you are done, 2 wild pitches - you are done, 2 hits - you are done. You cycle through 6-8 pitchers in a single inning if necessary. Have the whole team suffer because these guys can’t throw strikes. If what you have been doing is not working - go 180 degrees and try that.
Click to expand...
While I don't like either scenario, the reliever who comes out of the pen walking batters pisses me off more than the reliever who comes out of the pen throwing strikes and getting hit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Recent Threads

Prediction Results Threads

2024 Schedules

Back
Top