Texas Baseball News (Wed 10:13 AM)

[Blake Munroe]

Spoke with a couple of folks this morning after the Horns 4-1 loss to TAMU-CC. 

First, the bad news has now been made public but RHP Tanner Witt is out. How long? They aren’t sure yet. Witt hasn’t pitched in a few weeks and I’m told that they’re trying to figure out what the issue is (medically) exactly. That has yet to be determined from what I hear. 

Last week I reported that the staff felt really good about Ace Whitehead. You saw that come to fruition Saturday when he pitched a complete game, all 117 pitches, against Baylor to help the Horns secure the win. I’ve been told that only boosted the confidence he has in himself and that the staff and team have in him. Expect Ace to continue to have that role going forward. His emergence is huge.

Texas fans are down and out after last night, and rightfully so, but the Horns are only 1 game behind first place in the Big 12 right now. No. 23 ranked Kansas State is in sole possession of first and that’s who the Longhorns take on this weekend. 

I was told that’s what the sights are set on right now, winning the conference. A series win this weekend will be a big step in that direction. 
 

[McCoy2Shipley]

This team is going to be a roller coaster of highs and lows. We just have to hope they get hot at the right time like last year. Having a reliable weekend rotation is huge now for the team. Big weekend ahead

[Jerry K]

5 minutes ago, Blake Munroe said:

Spoke with a couple of folks this morning after the Horns 4-1 loss to TAMU-CC. 

First, the bad news has now been made public but RHP Tanner Witt is out. How long? They aren’t sure yet. Witt hasn’t pitched in a few weeks and I’m told that they’re trying to figure out what the issue is (medically) exactly. That has yet to be determined from what I hear. 

Last week I reported that the staff felt really good about Ace Whitehead. You saw that come to fruition Saturday when he pitched a complete game, all 117 pitches, against Baylor to help the Horns secure the win. I’ve been told that only boosted the confidence he has in himself and that the staff and team have in him. Expect Ace to continue to have that role going forward. His emergence is huge.

Texas fans are down and out after last night, and rightfully so, but the Horns are only 1 game behind first place in the Big 12 right now. No. 23 ranked Kansas State is in sole possession of first and that’s who the Longhorns take on this weekend. 

I was told that’s what the sights are set on right now, winning the conference. A series win this weekend will be a big step in that direction. 
 

Thanks Blake. Man I hope T Witt can make it back this season. Doesn’t sound like that’s going to happen.
 

A series win this weekend and they’re back in the drivers seat. I was so pumped for Boogie! Hope he keeps it rolling. Also Hurley seems to be doing better too. If he could come back as a solid weekend pen arm that would be a huge help. I think O’Dowd has lost his starting job at 2nd. Dee Kennedy saved 2 runs in that game last night snagging balls Jack wouldn’t even have tried to get. 

[John Moore]

18 minutes ago, Blake Munroe said:

I was told that’s what the sights are set on right now, winning the conference. A series win this weekend will be a big step in that direction. 

This is the difference between the B12 and SEC. Texas baseball is back half of the SEC. Not going to cut it.

[hookem1]

As much as we’ve struggled, our worst games have been out of conference. Which is good in some respects, as we’re still heavily in the Big 12 title race. 
 

Baseball is a lot about being hot at the end of the season, not necessarily the best team all year. See: Ole Miss winning the title after being the last team in. We will see

[closetojumping]

2 hours ago, hookem1 said:

As much as we’ve struggled, our worst games have been out of conference. Which is good in some respects, as we’re still heavily in the Big 12 title race. 
 

Baseball is a lot about being hot at the end of the season, not necessarily the best team all year. See: Ole Miss winning the title after being the last team in. We will see

[Derek Handler]

Texas Baseball shouldn't care about conf championships, especially Big 12 ones.  Omaha is all that matters.  We will be a 2 or 3 seed in a regional at best.  It's time for CDC to make a move...

[hookem1]

1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

That’s…not what I said. I didn’t even mention Pierce in my post at all. God forbid I try to root for our team to have a good rest of the year.

[closetojumping]

51 minutes ago, hookem1 said:

That’s…not what I said. I didn’t even mention Pierce in my post at all. God forbid I try to root for our team to have a good rest of the year.

Sorry, man, I wasn’t responding to you. I just thought it was funny. Of course we all still would like to see things turn around on the year.

[closetojumping]

Now I see what you’re saying. I don’t know why I quoted you when I just wanted to post that image. Maybe I was going to type something and switched gears and forgot to delete the quote. 

[hookem1]

1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

Sorry, man, I wasn’t responding to you. I just thought it was funny. Of course we all still would like to see things turn around on the year.

It is funny, in a painful way LOL

[Burnt Orange Horn]

6 hours ago, John Moore said:

This is the difference between the B12 and SEC. Texas baseball is back half of the SEC. Not going to cut it.

This is the difference between the B12 and SEC. Texas baseball NIL is in the bottom half of the SEC. Not going to cut it.

FIFY

[CoachBobbyFinstock]

Only problem with this is that the Big 12 is not a strong baseball conference. It’s like being the tallest midget.

SEC has 7 of the top 10 and 12 teams ranked in the top 25.

One of the B12 teams ranked is a future SEC school.

Texas is in deep crap. No whistling past the graveyard from me.

 

[closetojumping]

30 minutes ago, Burnt Orange Horn said:

This is the difference between the B12 and SEC. Texas baseball NIL is in the bottom half of the SEC. Not going to cut it.

FIFY

Give us the 8 programs in the SEC that you’ve discovered have strong NIL than Texas. 

[CoachBobbyFinstock]

1 hour ago, Burnt Orange Horn said:

This is the difference between the B12 and SEC. Texas baseball NIL is in the bottom half of the SEC. Not going to cut it.

FIFY

CDC didn’t indicate that in an interview with Trey E. 
 

I didn’t get that feeling at all. A lot of hidden nuggets in that interview too if you watch it.

[Jerry K]

1 hour ago, CoachBobbyFinstock said:

Only problem with this is that the Big 12 is not a strong baseball conference. It’s like being the tallest midget.

SEC has 7 of the top 10 and 12 teams ranked in the top 25.

One of the B12 teams ranked is a future SEC school.

Texas is in deep crap. No whistling past the graveyard from me.

 

Guys the SEC is NEXT year. It is impossible to know what kind of team Texas baseball will have next year with the draft and portal. Texas might be fine in the SEC next year. And that goes for most other teams too. Guestimating how we will do in a new season and conference is nothing but just that. You certainly can’t seriously expect CDC to fire a coach because of what might happen down the road. 

[Blake Munroe]

16 hours ago, Burnt Orange Horn said:

This is the difference between the B12 and SEC. Texas baseball NIL is in the bottom half of the SEC. Not going to cut it.

FIFY

15 hours ago, closetojumping said:

Give us the 8 programs in the SEC that you’ve discovered have strong NIL than Texas. 

14 hours ago, CoachBobbyFinstock said:

CDC didn’t indicate that in an interview with Trey E. 
 

I didn’t get that feeling at all. A lot of hidden nuggets in that interview too if you watch it.

BOH is correct.  In the Big 12, Texas is doing pretty good NIL wise when it comes to baseball... they're near (or at) the top.  When Texas moves to the SEC, however, that won't be the case. I was told the Longhorns will be much more like the A's, rather than the Yankees.  People inside the baseball program aren't very keen on where things stand NIL wise at the moment.

LSU leads the pack for NIL. The gap between them and Texas is tremendous.  There's quite a few other SEC schools ahead of the Horns as well. I'd say that number would be closer to 8 than 1.

[John Moore]

16 hours ago, Burnt Orange Horn said:

This is the difference between the B12 and SEC. Texas baseball NIL is in the bottom half of the SEC. Not going to cut it.

FIFY

While important this is not the be-all and end-all.

[closetojumping]

17 minutes ago, Blake Munroe said:

BOH is correct.  In the Big 12, Texas is doing pretty good NIL wise when it comes to baseball... they're near (or at) the top.  When Texas moves to the SEC, however, that won't be the case. I was told the Longhorns will be much more like the A's, rather than the Yankees.  People inside the baseball program aren't very keen on where things stand NIL wise at the moment.

LSU leads the pack for NIL. The gap between them and Texas is tremendous.  There's quite a few other SEC schools ahead of the Horns as well. I'd say that number would be closer to 8 than 1.

Arkansas and LSU are ahead of Texas in baseball NIL. The Marucci money certainly puts LSU at the top of the class. The Hunt family and other uber wealthy folks for Arkansas have chosen to emphasize NIL on baseball. Tennessee beats its chest but they are not ahead of Texas in NIL unless marginally so. If they were able to flex the way they want folks to believe, they'd have kept Chase Burns. 

Any coach, for any program, is going to tell you they don't have enough NIL. Some guys on the collective side feeling the weight of delivering for a program will always tell you they don't have enough either. As a reporter, you're also an easy mark for getting word out there that someone somewhere doesn't have enough NIL support. 

Texas is not in the bottom half of NIL in the 16 team SEC for baseball. It's not even close, and if you really believe that, you are flatly wrong. It also won't be the case going forward. Now, Pierce choosing to more evenly distribute NIL is probably a strategic error on his part. That isn't what they're doing at LSU, Arkansas, Clemson, or Miami. That's a different discussion, however.

[closetojumping]

2 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

Arkansas and LSU are ahead of Texas in baseball NIL. The Marucci money certainly puts LSU at the top of the class. The Hunt family and other uber wealthy folks for Arkansas have chosen to emphasize NIL on baseball. Tennessee beats its chest but they are not ahead of Texas in NIL unless marginally so. If they were able to flex the way they want folks to believe, they'd have kept Chase Burns. 

Any coach, for any program, is going to tell you they don't have enough NIL. Some guys on the collective side feeling the weight of delivering for a program will always tell you they don't have enough either. As a reporter, you're also an easy mark for getting word out there that someone somewhere doesn't have enough NIL support. 

Texas is not in the bottom half of NIL in the 16 team SEC for baseball. It's not even close, and if you really believe that, you are flatly wrong. It also won't be the case going forward. Now, Pierce choosing to more evenly distribute NIL is probably a strategic error on his part. That isn't what they're doing at LSU, Arkansas, Clemson, or Miami. That's a different discussion, however.

Sorry, just to build on this  because NIL misinformation kind of pisses me off for very legitimate reasons on my end:

-LBJ, Witt, Porter aren't back on the roster without strong NIL.

-Gordon and Campbell don't end up thinking long and hard about a return to Texas without significant, mid-6 figure offers to each of them from TOF.

There aren't more than 5-7 programs in the entirety of the college baseball landscape that are coming in that hot on such matters. Sorry.

[Bobby Burton]

17 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

Arkansas and LSU are ahead of Texas in baseball NIL. The Marucci money certainly puts LSU at the top of the class. The Hunt family and other uber wealthy folks for Arkansas have chosen to emphasize NIL on baseball. Tennessee beats its chest but they are not ahead of Texas in NIL unless marginally so. If they were able to flex the way they want folks to believe, they'd have kept Chase Burns. 

Any coach, for any program, is going to tell you they don't have enough NIL. Some guys on the collective side feeling the weight of delivering for a program will always tell you they don't have enough either. As a reporter, you're also an easy mark for getting word out there that someone somewhere doesn't have enough NIL support. 

Texas is not in the bottom half of NIL in the 16 team SEC for baseball. It's not even close, and if you really believe that, you are flatly wrong. It also won't be the case going forward. Now, Pierce choosing to more evenly distribute NIL is probably a strategic error on his part. That isn't what they're doing at LSU, Arkansas, Clemson, or Miami. That's a different discussion, however.

Your description of the push and pull between the administrators of NIL and the coaching staff is entirely apt.

There's never enough because an abyss is bottomless. If a coach could have infinity, he'd want infinity plus more. Same for collectives.

Interestingly, your contention about baseball's equity across roster being an issue is exactly why football doesn't do it that way. All players are not equal.

[closetojumping]

2 minutes ago, Bobby Burton said:

Your description of the push and pull between the administrators of NIL and the coaching staff is entirely apt.

There's never enough because an abyss is bottomless. If a coach could have infinity, he'd want infinity plus more. Same for collectives.

Interestingly, your contention about baseball's equity across roster being an issue is exactly why football doesn't do it that way. All players are not equal.

One of things that almost never gets discussed about NIL so far, irrespective of sport, is how the capital gets allocated. I realize that is in part due to the opaqueness of NIL generally, and necessarily so. That said, it's also probably simply due to how poorly NIL is understood by fanbases and many folks in the media. I know it's not due to lack of interest, as NIL discussions sprout up on the boards and on XM84 daily. NFL salary caps are discussed ad nauseum. 

The big issue with the capital allocation is that it really freaking matters. It's like getting the salary cap wrong. Perhaps it is somewhat self-serving, but I really think the football NIL work at Texas, from both ends, is managing the roster in elite ways. Yes, there are still warts and the work never ends, but proof is visible.

Basketball is a more even thing, but if the whole program is just above the vast majority other programs nationally in total outlay, that strategy isn't a problem. Volleyball is apparently similar. Baseball? I don't think they're on the right path strategically. If they were doing what they're doing at, say, Kansas State, it would make a lot of sense. 

[goathumper]

1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

Sorry, just to build on this  because NIL misinformation kind of pisses me off for very legitimate reasons on my end:

-LBJ, Witt, Porter aren't back on the roster without strong NIL.

-Gordon and Campbell don't end up thinking long and hard about a return to Texas without significant, mid-6 figure offers to each of them from TOF.

There aren't more than 5-7 programs in the entirety of the college baseball landscape that are coming in that hot on such matters. Sorry.

College baseball players are getting offered six figure NIL deals???

[Blake Munroe]

42 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

Arkansas and LSU are ahead of Texas in baseball NIL. The Marucci money certainly puts LSU at the top of the class. The Hunt family and other uber wealthy folks for Arkansas have chosen to emphasize NIL on baseball. Tennessee beats its chest but they are not ahead of Texas in NIL unless marginally so. If they were able to flex the way they want folks to believe, they'd have kept Chase Burns. 

Any coach, for any program, is going to tell you they don't have enough NIL. Some guys on the collective side feeling the weight of delivering for a program will always tell you they don't have enough either. As a reporter, you're also an easy mark for getting word out there that someone somewhere doesn't have enough NIL support. 

Texas is not in the bottom half of NIL in the 16 team SEC for baseball. It's not even close, and if you really believe that, you are flatly wrong. It also won't be the case going forward. Now, Pierce choosing to more evenly distribute NIL is probably a strategic error on his part. That isn't what they're doing at LSU, Arkansas, Clemson, or Miami. That's a different discussion, however.

In my defense, I never said the bottom half of the SEC.  I said that number would be closer to 8, rather than 1. LSU, Arkansas, Texas A&M, Florida and Ole Miss are for sure ahead of Texas' NIL efforts in baseball. Tennessee has done well there, along with Vanderbilt. 

This doesn't just come from the Texas side, either. 

Yes, NIL definitely played a role in guys like Witt, LBJ, etc coming back. There's no denying that. They got their fair share.

With that said, there's a ton of money being thrown around in the SEC.  LSU is offering HS kids so much money it's insane. Proven portal players are going for much more than that. Texas A&M paid A LOT for Braden Montgomery.

A very high-level prospect (who holds offers from most of those programs listed above) told my son the other day what some schools are offering. It's a whole other ballgame.

What a lot of these programs are exceling at is getting big time sponsors (LSU/Marucci for example) to help out, rather than crowd funding.  That part hasn't been easy, for whatever reason, for Texas. 

Baseball NIL is improving, but there's still a gap between Texas and a few select other schools.

Many baseball programs in the SEC (NIL wise) are offering everything paid for, plus some pocket money too. Texas baseball is not at the level where they can pay for everyone to essentially be on full scholarship at the moment.   

[Blake Munroe]

Just now, goathumper said:

College baseball players are getting offered six figure NIL deals???

LSU is offering HS kids six figure deals. And not in the 100s.