PITCHING

This has the makings of our best bullpen in quite a few years.

Quality bullpen depth has been the boehn of our existence as a team for the past several years.
 
I'm not disappointed at all in Hurley after his first start of 2024 (the loss to San Diego). Nobody's going to pencil in Hurley as an All-American, but he's pretty good. He gets the job done and is an above-average starting pitcher in the Big 12. In many years, he'd be the #3 starter for UT (starting pitching is usually one of our strongest areas of the game). This year, he's our #2 starter. Such is the depth chart this year at starting pitcher. He'll be fine.

I'd be overjoyed if one of the true Freshmen shot up through the ranks and became a weekend starter equal to what we usually see on the mound in Burnt Orange on the weekends. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won't. Tumis has reliever written all over him. Selvig may get the shot, but he has to prove himself on the big stage. Most factors are pointing to Selvig as the most likely Freshman to start (if any of them do). The coaches really like Hamilton, but he looks like a strikeout-pitching reliever to me. Zaharias is a phenom athlete, with an interesting story, but he may be a few years off. We should give all these guys lots of chances in the pre-conference schedule.
 
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Chop said:
Y'all are going to really like TUMIS.

IMHO, he showed the best of the Freshmen pitchers.

Other than LBJ, Tumis may have the nastiest stuff in our pitching staff.

I think Tumis may be the pick of the litter of our Freshman pitchers. (and there's more than a couple of really good ones)

He's definitely an ectomorph, so his pals ought to be taking him to some of the great Austin area BBQs, the all-you-can-eat pizza buffets, etc.


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He's got "it."

We'll see more and more of Tumis on the mound.
 
Phil Elliott said:
I am disgruntled that I am not seeing Ace on the mound near enough.
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I'm pretty sure we'll rely on Ace plenty in the weekend series against good teams.

Here at the start, we've got to see what our young pitchers have in real game situations.

Ace did really well in Summer League college ball up in Alaska last Summer. He's one of our most reliable relievers. Last year, he (and Shaw) caused the least amount of fan heartburn among the bullpen pitchers.

I think Selvig is fairly similar to Ace on the mound, with a bit more velocity.
 
I'm pretty sure we'll rely on Ace plenty in the weekend series against good teams.

Here at the start, we've got to see what our young pitchers have in real game situations.
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[Bart Simpson]God Scmhod! I want my monkey man![/Bart Simpson]
 
Ace might be needed this weekend. I'm still not confident in Hurley to go 6-7 innings which is how long a starting pitcher should be able to go at minimum. If he can't go that long today then I think Ace will come in today or tomorrow easily.
 
If Hurley falters look for Fontenont to get a shot at a starting role. Hurley is still valuable but we need our starters to get deeper.
 
aUTfan said:
If Hurley falters look for Fontenont to get a shot at a starting role. Hurley is still valuable but we need our starters to get deeper.
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Or Hurley + Fontenot (or Ace W) could tag team pitching duties. 4 innings each, then Boehm, Shaw, or Tumis comes in as the closer in the 9th.

I think Fontenot could go for as long as we need him, or 100 pitches. He's rapidly building up the Coaches' trust in him, and for good reason. I bet LSU wishes they still had him on their staff.
 
Not sure if our pitching is getting better or Cal Poly is just a bad hitting team or both, but we have shut them out twice now. I can say seeing both games in person they looked mostly lost at the plate.. Great job Horns!
 
Will Mercer going down to injury and Witt not being quite as "Outstanding" as coach Pierce said he was to begin the season hurts. We are essentially in the same position we were last year with no real starters beyond Friday night. Much like last year, I saw alot of raw talent that if it all came together could make a deep run not only to Omaha but in Omaha. This years team looks slightly behind last years team at this point and I was one of the ones saying this team could be the best team Pierce has put together. I'm thinking I was wrong. We may or may NOT make it out of the regional. Still a lot of baseball to go and we do have the talent to write a great story.

Some of Pierce's decisions on starters is perplexing. I liked the lineup aside from him inserting Sanders, Sanders is batting near .100!!! and now it's below .100. What do some of these kids do to Pierce that he doesn't play some over others? Example: Gasparino was out of the lineup, i know he went o'fer against LSU but he's still batting over .300. Another example: Cummings, he tore it up in the fall and is still batting over .300 as well, he got a shot recently and struck out, still batting over .300, why Sanders over Cummings? I get it, Sanders displays more potential power, Powell's body doesn't scream power hitter but he's 2nd on the team in HR's!!

Kennedy will need to flash better leather at 2nd if he want's to keep that job. We can't go backwards on defense in that position for the sake of offense.
 
After these last two games I'm officially off the Pierce as pitching coach band wagon. This display is absolutely pathetic. How the **** do you give up an 8 run lead in less than 3 innings?!?!? Absolutely terrible.
 
On Saturdays, Sundays, and midweek games, we may just have to out bash the opposition. And with this batting lineup we might be able to do just that for most games. It’s a feast or famine approach. I generally prefer good pitching.

Now, high scoring baseball can be fun to watch at times, but it’s a far cry from Gus ball.
 
I hope Hurley and Howard can get it together against the top end batting lineups.

Grubbs will get there, but he looks like a mid week starter for this year.

Can Boehm start?
 
Vol,

Thank you. I came out of church to an 11-3 lead, so decided to accept an invitation for a free lunch. Lunch is over and it's 12-11. Normally my first reaction would be "how", but it doesn't matter. I am requesting that all NIL money to the baseball program be put in escrow until earned.

I suggest Dion change the title of this thread since (1) we have none, and (2) nobody on our payroll seems to know **** about the subject.

Had the discussion with my son at Dinner Friday about replacements, but like basketball, everyone seems to be another crap shoot.
 
Viper,

The problem for Chris is that there are plenty of fans still around that can talk about the days when the SWC had been around for 74 years and the Horns had won the baseball Championship 64 of those years. (Not sure about the total numbers, but I know it was only 10 times that Horns had not won it)
 
Sabre,
Chris' value is he isn't going to make a change just to make a change. If he cannot find the coach he wants he will keep looking no matter the volume from outside of his office.
 
SabreHorn said:
Vol,
I suggest Dion change the title of this thread since (1) we have none, and (2) nobody on our payroll seems to know **** about the subject.
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The last two weekend games are the worst performance (or lack of performance) by a Texas pitching staff I can remember. LBJ was also showed less than expected.
Will be interesting to see if Pierce can piece something competent together in the next few weeks.
:hookem:
 
Ace Whitehead.....what gives?

Outside of one out against San Diego we haven't seen him all year long after him being one of my favorite overall relievers last year. He wasn't elite, but he was 4-0 with 4 saves in 16 appearances with a 4.1 ERA.

I was at the game yesterday and when everything was in the middle of falling apart Pierce brings in Whitehead and he promptly shuts Vandy down 1-2-3 ending what looked to be a big inning. The next inning I fully expected to see him on the mound but he's not and the staff falls completely apart.

What the heck is going on? Why would we have such a debacle on our hands, finally have someone sit down three consecutive batters and not pitch him the next inning? Is he in the dog house or injured or something?
 
Vol Horn 4 Life said:
Ace Whitehead.....what gives?

Outside of one out against San Diego we haven't seen him all year long after him being one of my favorite overall relievers last year. He wasn't elite, but he was 4-0 with 4 saves in 16 appearances with a 4.1 ERA.

I was at the game yesterday and when everything was in the middle of falling apart Pierce brings in Whitehead and he promptly shuts Vandy down 1-2-3 ending what looked to be a big inning. The next inning I fully expected to see him on the mound but he's not and the staff falls completely apart.

What the heck is going on? Why would we have such a debacle on our hands, finally have someone sit down three consecutive batters and not pitch him the next inning? Is he in the dog house or injured or something?
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I very much agree. More Ace Whitehead on the mound!

Also, what about Lummus? He's another guy who doesn't overpower anybody, but he was a steady reliever for us last year. My memory whispers that Lummus actually had the best WHIP of any reliever in our bullpen last year. That's how I recall it anyways. Lummus is still on the roster. And he's a LHP. Let's give him a chance, Coach.
 
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Chase Lummus. Read below--that sounds pretty good, aside from the ERA (not really a reliever's main stat), it sounds really good. He showed up well, and against some good competition. As of 3/4/24 he has not pitched a single inning for us this year...????? :idk:

AS A REDSHIRT SOPHOMORE (2023)
Pitched in 11 games for the Longhorns out of the bullpen as a redshirt sophomore in 2023…posted a 1-1 record with a 5.17 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 15.2 innings pitched…recorded an out and did not allow a baserunner in the NCAA Super Regional against Stanford…pitched a career long 5.0 innings against Oklahoma (4/22) allowing just one run on four hits and striking out five batters…pitched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts against Texas State (4/11)…picked up first career win with two scoreless innings against Kansas State (4/7)…made first career outing against Vanderbilt with two scoreless innings (2/19).

Chase Lummus - Baseball - University of Texas Athletics
 
Vol Horn 4 Life said:
Ace Whitehead.....what gives?

Outside of one out against San Diego we haven't seen him all year long after him being one of my favorite overall relievers last year. He wasn't elite, but he was 4-0 with 4 saves in 16 appearances with a 4.1 ERA.

I was at the game yesterday and when everything was in the middle of falling apart Pierce brings in Whitehead and he promptly shuts Vandy down 1-2-3 ending what looked to be a big inning. The next inning I fully expected to see him on the mound but he's not and the staff falls completely apart.

What the heck is going on? Why would we have such a debacle on our hands, finally have someone sit down three consecutive batters and not pitch him the next inning? Is he in the dog house or injured or something?
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We were spoiled with Frank Anderson as a pitching coach back when Augie was here. Was very disappointed pierce didnt snatch him up when he arrived here at Texas. Anderson is a magician with pitching and is responsible for our outstanding start to the 2000's. Find it hard to understand how we an get to the season and not have a solid understanding of who can be the starters and who can relieve and save. Its like we use the season for Pierce to figure out how to get to omaha which he has done but its frustrating for Texas fans.
 
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