Returning players and recruiting class

[Chop]

Max Grubbs, Sr., Arlington Martin

"Grubbs has been a strikeout machine during his senior season at Martin. The Texas signee has a plus fastball and is also an impact player at the plate."

[and again, watch that video above of Grubbs throwing his slider]

"Strikeout machine" Extra low WHIP (sub 1.00). This points towards a potential closer. We'll need more than one.

Top 30 right-handed pitchers in Texas high school baseball: A closer look at the Lone Star State's best players

 

[Chop]

Q&A with Max Grubbs:

Prep Baseball Report > Texas > News

First PBR's commentary on Grubbs:

"The RHP has always been an elite strike thrower with a good frame. As he has gotten stronger we have seen his velocity keep rising and now he is consistently in the low 90's with a sharp slider and above avg change up."


Then lots of Q&A:

...

"P: Who is the best player you have faced in your state? What about them makes for a tough opponent?

G: The best hitter I have faced from the state of Texas is probably Jared Thomas. He is a very good decision maker on what pitch he wants to hit and how to keep the at-bat going till he gets the pitch he wants.

...

P: What do you like most about the program you chose, and what were the key factors in making your decision?

G: The winning tradition and the drive to always get better. Key factors to me were coaching, location, mentality among other things."

 

[Chop]

 

[Chop]

Rylan Galvan, C, Sinton

Galvan has already shown he is one of the top prep catchers in Texas. In his junior year, he hit .404 with six home runs and 27 RBIs. Galvan was also named Texas Sports Writers Association 4A all-state team. Good defensively with a strong and accurate catcher's arm.

Galvan should challenge that transfer catcher from USC, and Schustler, for a starting slot, or at least a lot of games, at catcher this year. Schuster has a good bat, so he'll need to get in our lineup one way or the other (catch 1/3 of the games, DH 1/3 of the games, sit 1/3 of the games, or something...). Galvan could really hit in high school.

The new USC transfer has the most and best proven defensive capabilities at the college level thus far, but Shussler is no slouch behind the plate either. I don't think any of these guys can play defensive catcher like Ardoin, but I could be surprised... Ardoin will make the majors.

Top 10 Texas baseball players in the Class of 2022

By the way, wasn't there some unintentionally comical aggie fan from that town on this site years ago...?

 

[mchammer]

By the way, wasn't there some unintentionally comical aggie fan from that town on this site years ago...?

Are you talking about Bill in Sinton? He was burnt orange through and through unless he was hosing us.

 

[Chop]

Cole Chamberlain
C, 3B
San Martin HS
Novato, CA
Class of 2024
6'1"
195 lbs
Left-handed batter
0.366 Batting Average
0.513 On Base %
30 RBI

Good defensive catcher and Third Baseman with a plus bat and an impressive OB%.

"Cole Chamberlain is a 2024 C/3B with a 6-1 175 lb. frame from Novato, CA who attends San Marin. Lean athletic frame. Ran the 60 yard dash in 7.49 seconds. Primary catcher, has a side saddle set up, has quick feet with a quick transfer gaining ground. Displayed firm accurate throws down to second base. Also worked out in the infield, moved well laterally, had soft hands and good foot work with a quick transfer and release. Left handed hitter, hits from an open stance with a small toe tap stride. Displayed an easy hand path with a slight downward angle. Excellent student."



Cole Chamberlain | San Marin HS, Novato, CA | MaxPreps

Cole Chamberlain Class of 2024 - Player Profile | Perfect Game USA

 

[aUTfan]

chop, there have been so many commitments in the last 2-3 weeks I couldn't even keep up with it. There were probably 12.

 

[Chop]

chop, there have been so many commitments in the last 2-3 weeks I couldn't even keep up with it. There were probably 12.

Yeah. I can’t highlight them all. This guy stood out for some reason. I’ll try to highlight some pitchers.

 

[Chop]

Ok, if he doesn't go pro right away, here's a likely future star pitcher:

EASTON TUMIS
RHP
6'4"
165 lbs
Friendswood High School
93+ mph fastball
Outstanding slider
Changeup
A smart pitcher with control

"Easton Tumis is a 2023 RHP/SS with a 6-4 165 lb. frame from Friendswood, TX who attends Friendswood. Long and very lean build, can get stronger but type of body frame that won't hold too much weight. Very long arm action in back coming to a mid 3/4's arm slot, gets out front on release very well, repeats his delivery and release well. Slider is his best pitch, throws at any count and tunnels it well with his fastball/change up, slider has power and sharp biting action with good two-plane shape, consistently landed for strikes. Walks his fastball up and down the scale and into his change up range, gets nice running life at the lower velocities. Rarely gives the same look two straight pitches and has an advanced idea how to pitch. Should be immediately successful at the next level as he continues to get stronger. Very good student, verbal commitment to Texas."

Was originally committed to UH, until we came a knockin'





Easton Tumis Class of 2023 - Player Profile | Perfect Game USA

Prep Baseball Report - Player: Easton Tumis

 

[mchammer]

Ok, if he doesn't go pro right away, here's a likely future star pitcher:

EASTON TUMIS
RHP
6'4"
165 lbs
Friendswood High School
93+ mph fastball
Outstanding slider
Changeup
A smart pitcher with control

"Easton Tumis is a 2023 RHP/SS with a 6-4 165 lb. frame from Friendswood, TX who attends Friendswood. Long and very lean build, can get stronger but type of body frame that won't hold too much weight. Very long arm action in back coming to a mid 3/4's arm slot, gets out front on release very well, repeats his delivery and release well. Slider is his best pitch, throws at any count and tunnels it well with his fastball/change up, slider has power and sharp biting action with good two-plane shape, consistently landed for strikes. Walks his fastball up and down the scale and into his change up range, gets nice running life at the lower velocities. Rarely gives the same look two straight pitches and has an advanced idea how to pitch. Should be immediately successful at the next level as he continues to get stronger. Very good student, verbal commitment to Texas."

Was originally committed to UH, until we came a knockin'





Easton Tumis Class of 2023 - Player Profile | Perfect Game USA

Prep Baseball Report - Player: Easton Tumis

Why would his parents name a pitcher after a bat?

 

[Chop]

Why would his parents name a pitcher after a bat?

And he turned out to be a pitcher!!!

 

[Chop]

These tall, lean, lanky lads on the mound often put on some muscle from about 17-20 years old and turn out to be really, really good.

 

[Chop]

Travis Sykora
RHP
Round Rock
Class of 2023
UT commit

He already throws 100 mph


Grades out as a perfect 10 prospect by Perfect Game.

With Sykora, it will be a matter of getting him to college for a few years instead of straight to the pros.

 

[mchammer]

 

[Chop]

That’s some high vertical jumping for baseball players!

 

[mchammer]

Texas up 12-1 in the 7th against UH.

 

[aUTfan]

Watched the game today, I stayed 13 of the 14 innings and here is who i saw and where folks played, hope this is somewhat readable........

SP Zane Morehouse
P
Kobe Minchey
Charlie Hurley
Labaron Johnson
Andre Duplantier
Travis Stehle

Starting Lineup
1 Jared Thomas 1b
2 Porter Brown LF
3 Dylan Campbell RF
4 Eric Kennedy CF
5 Jalin Flores 3rd
6 Peyton Powell C
7 Jack O'Dowd 2nd
8 Mitchell Daly SS
9 Kimble Schuessler DH

Also got to see Garret Guillemette, Cam Constantine, Cade O'hara, Jayden Duplantier, Ace Whitehead, Rylan Galvan and Max Belyeu

My thoughts:

Defensively we look as solid as any Texas team we've had, we turned at least two double plays that I remember, could have been more, i didn't write anything down other than jersey numbers trying to get a name before the inning changed. In my projection for starting roles long before this semester started, I wasn't sure where Mitchell Daly and O'Dowd would go, I was more worried about offensive production but it makes sense that he put them both up the middle and that's where they were playing today. Looked solid, will need more time to see how Jalin fills in the 3rd base role but he looks the part, there was one hard hit ball that got past him but wouldn't be ruled an error, it was sharply hit. Jared Thomas looks great, did well at first base and then moved to RF later when others started coming in. Behind the plate, Peyton Powel started, I guess the assumption is Kimble Schuessler will be the starter so that leaves a spot open for the DH where he was at today. Not much to report on the catchers, Garrett and Rylan filled in nicely, not too much action to tell anything apart and Kimble was unable to go in that position. Not a lot of base runners. Outfield, well, you can lock that one down, actually I don't know too much about Porter Brown's defense but Eric Kennedy and Dylan Campbell are back, porter did fine today, guess we will see how he does but I expect the outfield is about as solid as there is in all of college baseball and probably the best hitting outfielders as a group.

Offensively: I think we can win any game with this offense, it looks like we have 9 hard outs. Notable at bats - Dylan Campbell, Porter Brown and someone else went yard, jaylin Flores?? Max and Jared for freshman crushed the ball, Jared several times, he did strike out once but he had a great day and so did Dylan and Porter. other notable hits - Ace Whitehead, Jayden Duplantier. Cade O'Hara went 0-2 when i left. We laid down two bunts and now my memory escapes me, one was great and they got on and the other was pushed a little hard and up the middle too much and they were thrown out, Eric Kennedy bunted one of them but now i don't remember who's was who's. Jayden Duplantier will put a lot of pressure on a team with his speed. Im curious to see who we use in the DH role when Schuessler is at catcher but we may have several options.

Pitching: All of them had flashes, Charley Hurley looked like he got through his innings the easiest. LBJ and Andre Duplantier labored to get through their innings but got through them, LBJ threw a beach ball at 88mph and the hitter sent it over the fence, I don't know what he threw but it was 88 and he was throwing 95-96 leading up to it, something off speed obviously and it didn't fool the hitter. LBJ seemed to have command of his fast ball but struggled with locating his off speed today. Stehle probably struggled the most though, he's the only one i saw throw the ball into the dirt 10 feet in front of the plate, thats a pretty big miss, woody has his work cut out for him, i was glad to see Woody come out so quickly for a couple of them. Like I said, LBJ touched 96, didn't see any one else hit 96. I don't remember who it was touched 95 but we had at least two pitchers reach that level.

 

[STHAustin]

I left after 10 innings. The other homer was Flores, a freshman who was playing 3rd. Campbell's was a grand slam, and Porter Brown's came in his 4th at bat after he had doubled, singled and tripled--yep, that's the cycle in 4 at bats. He got an assist from the sun on the triple--the outfielder lost the ball in the sun, but still--he was impressive at the plate. I like him a lot more in burnt orange than in TCU purple. Another nice moment was when Jayden Duplantier (as a pinch-runner) scored from first on a double by Thomas in the 7th, and he was grinning ear-to-ear as he crossed the plate. It was a beautiful day for baseball, and a pretty good crowd for an exhibition game. I love baseball...

 

[mchammer]

 

[Chop]

Watched the game today, I stayed 13 of the 14 innings and here is who i saw and where folks played, hope this is somewhat readable........

SP Zane Morehouse
P
Kobe Minchey
Charlie Hurley
Labaron Johnson
Andre Duplantier
Travis Stehle

Starting Lineup
1 Jared Thomas 1b
2 Porter Brown LF
3 Dylan Campbell RF
4 Eric Kennedy CF
5 Jalin Flores 3rd
6 Peyton Powell C
7 Jack O'Dowd 2nd
8 Mitchell Daly SS
9 Kimble Schuessler DH

Also got to see Garret Guillemette, Cam Constantine, Cade O'hara, Jayden Duplantier, Ace Whitehead, Rylan Galvan and Max Belyeu

My thoughts:

Defensively we look as solid as any Texas team we've had, we turned at least two double plays that I remember, could have been more, i didn't write anything down other than jersey numbers trying to get a name before the inning changed. In my projection for starting roles long before this semester started, I wasn't sure where Mitchell Daly and O'Dowd would go, I was more worried about offensive production but it makes sense that he put them both up the middle and that's where they were playing today. Looked solid, will need more time to see how Jalin fills in the 3rd base role but he looks the part, there was one hard hit ball that got past him but wouldn't be ruled an error, it was sharply hit. Jared Thomas looks great, did well at first base and then moved to RF later when others started coming in. Behind the plate, Peyton Powel started, I guess the assumption is Kimble Schuessler will be the starter so that leaves a spot open for the DH where he was at today. Not much to report on the catchers, Garrett and Rylan filled in nicely, not too much action to tell anything apart and Kimble was unable to go in that position. Not a lot of base runners. Outfield, well, you can lock that one down, actually I don't know too much about Porter Brown's defense but Eric Kennedy and Dylan Campbell are back, porter did fine today, guess we will see how he does but I expect the outfield is about as solid as there is in all of college baseball and probably the best hitting outfielders as a group.

Offensively: I think we can win any game with this offense, it looks like we have 9 hard outs. Notable at bats - Dylan Campbell, Porter Brown and someone else went yard, jaylin Flores?? Max and Jared for freshman crushed the ball, Jared several times, he did strike out once but he had a great day and so did Dylan and Porter. other notable hits - Ace Whitehead, Jayden Duplantier. Cade O'Hara went 0-2 when i left. We laid down two bunts and now my memory escapes me, one was great and they got on and the other was pushed a little hard and up the middle too much and they were thrown out, Eric Kennedy bunted one of them but now i don't remember who's was who's. Jayden Duplantier will put a lot of pressure on a team with his speed. Im curious to see who we use in the DH role when Schuessler is at catcher but we may have several options.

Pitching: All of them had flashes, Charley Hurley looked like he got through his innings the easiest. LBJ and Andre Duplantier labored to get through their innings but got through them, LBJ threw a beach ball at 88mph and the hitter sent it over the fence, I don't know what he threw but it was 88 and he was throwing 95-96 leading up to it, something off speed obviously and it didn't fool the hitter. LBJ seemed to have command of his fast ball but struggled with locating his off speed today. Stehle probably struggled the most though, he's the only one i saw throw the ball into the dirt 10 feet in front of the plate, thats a pretty big miss, woody has his work cut out for him, i was glad to see Woody come out so quickly for a couple of them. Like I said, LBJ touched 96, didn't see any one else hit 96. I don't remember who it was touched 95 but we had at least two pitchers reach that level.

Great info.
Thx.

 

[Chop]

Great to hear about Porter Brown. Our outfield looks stout. All that power hitting plus speed. I like Daly at shortstop. If O’Dowd is the guy at 2nd base, his bat needs to improve a lot from last year.

I expect good things from Thomas. As for Schuesler, his bat is too good to leave out of the lineup, so if he’s not catching, then he could be the DH. Gotta find a way to work Ace Whitehead into the lineup. Maybe OF every third game, and DH when Schuesler is catching or every third game otherwise. That way Ace would be in the batting lineup at least 2/3 of the time.

Rough outing for Sthele, huh? He had some struggles in Summer league. We’ll need LBJ to have a solid year, as either a middle reliever, starter, or even closer. He brings the heat, as does Zane Morehouse. I don’t know anything about Minchey, but I hope he works out. We need more than just a few good arms.

 

[Chop]

Next up…

San Jac

 

[Chop]

Here's an SI.com write-up:

Longhorns Impress With 18-5 Win Over Houston in Fall Ball Opener

Sounds like Hurley looked good on the mound (3 scoreless innings), and obviously Campbell and Porter Brown lit up the scoreboard with their bats. Pretty much like the fan reports above.

 

[Chop]

I'd say Porter Brown is off to a good start:

 

[aUTfan]

Great to hear about Porter Brown. Our outfield looks stout. All that power hitting plus speed. I like Daly at shortstop. If O’Dowd is the guy at 2nd base, his bat needs to improve a lot from last year.

I expect good things from Thomas. As for Schuesler, his bat is too good to leave out of the lineup, so if he’s not catching, then he could be the DH. Gotta find a way to work Ace Whitehead into the lineup. Maybe OF every third game, and DH when Schuesler is catching or every third game otherwise. That way Ace would be in the batting lineup at least 2/3 of the time.

Rough outing for Sthele, huh? He had some struggles in Summer league. We’ll need LBJ to have a solid year, as either a middle reliever, starter, or even closer. He brings the heat, as does Zane Morehouse. I don’t know anything about Minchey, but I hope he works out. We need more than just a few good arms.

I agree with everything…

I should have said more about Porters at bats, he did amazing, top hitter for the day with Dylan and Jared next two up. Max belyue hit a frozen rope to the wall his first at bat. There were several more good hits so I apologize for not remembering who and where to those players and not giving recognition but there were very few poor at bats.


Pitching is still an enigma but we didn’t see several pitchers; Heston Tole, Chris Stuart, David Shaw, Max Grubbs, or Mathew porchas. We know what we have in Lucas Gordon and praying we get Tanner Witt back in decent form. So still a good possibility that we have a deep pitching staff but we won’t know till early spring but I’m liking what I see out of the team.

 

[Chop]

Here are our 2023 recruits. The ones that don't go pro will enter UT in the Fall of next year. This recruiting class is ranked #10 in the Nation.

Travis Sykora
RHP 6-6 220 R-R Round Rock Round Rock TX Texas

Will Gasparino
OF 6-6 215 R-R Harvard-Westlake Los Angeles CA Texas

Cole Selvig
RHP 6-0 192 L-R Regis Altoona WI Texas

Easton Tumis
RHP 6-4 165 R-R Friendswood Friendswood TX Texas

Casey Borba
3B 6-1 205 R-R Orange Lutheran Santa Ana CA Texas

Nikolas Sanders
C 6-2 198 R-R La Vega Waco TX Texas

Dondreone Kennedy
SS 5-11 190 R-R Prestonwood Christian Academy Fort Worth TX Texas

Oliver Service
C 6-0 188 R-R University Liggett Detroit MI Texas

Hayden Morris
RHP 6-8 255 R-R Oak Ridge Conroe TX Texas
S

Evan Miranda
RHP 6-3 205 R-R Orange Lutheran Fontana CA Texas

Samuel Ardoin
SS 6-1 165 R-R Sam Houston Lake Charles LA Texas

Hudson Hamilton
RHP 6-1 210 R-R Grand Oaks Spring TX Texas

Lane Allen
SS 6-3 200 R-R John H Guyer Corinth TX Texas

Ean Czech
3B 6-4 210 R-R Downers Grove North Downers Grove IL Texas

Blake Peterson
OF 6-1 180 R-R Westlake Austin TX Texas

Jon Shields
BHP 6-3 205 S-B St. John XXIII Katy TX Texas

MJ Sweeney
1B 6-8 245 L-R St. Augustine Rancho Santa Fe CA Texas

George Zaharias
RHP 6-3 190 R-R Menlo-Atherton Menlo Park CA Texas

Tommy Farmer
OF 6-3 188 R-R Oaks Christian Santa Monica CA Texas

 

[Chop]

I agree with everything…

I should have said more about Porters at bats, he did amazing, top hitter for the day with Dylan and Jared next two up. Max belyue hit a frozen rope to the wall his first at bat. There were several more good hits so I apologize for not remembering who and where to those players and not giving recognition but there were very few poor at bats.


Pitching is still an enigma but we didn’t see several pitchers; Heston Tole, Chris Stuart, David Shaw, Max Grubbs, or Mathew porchas. We know what we have in Lucas Gordon and praying we get Tanner Witt back in decent form. So still a good possibility that we have a deep pitching staff but we won’t know till early spring but I’m liking what I see out of the team.

Sounds like we have another weekend starter in Hurley.

So, entering the season, it might look something like this for our starters:

1. Geno
2. Hurley
3. Zane or DuPlantier

Mid-week. Zane or DuPlantier

 

[aUTfan]

I’m getting excited about the baseball and softball team.

 

[aUTfan]

Sounds like we have another weekend starter in Hurley.

So, entering the season, it might look something like this for our starters:

1. Geno
2. Hurley
3. Zane or DuPlantier

Mid-week. Zane or DuPlantier

Not sure about the 3rd starter, Hurley is a safe bet for #2, we will have to see who bursts onto the scene in the spring from the freshman class and the transfers, sometimes that competitive juice churns when the lights go on and even though they may be a freshman, they pitch lights out. If the pitching is decent this is going to be a fun team to watch and I like what looks like a lot of pitching options.

 

[Chop]

Hitting those weights! Add another mph or two to Geno's fastball for next year...