Moderators Blake Munroe Posted February 13 Moderators Share Posted February 13 Baseball season starts in three days for the Longhorns, as they play host to San Diego at Disch-Falk Field. Here are some insider notes to hold you over until then. Team notes: - Texas feels great about their offense. They have about 10-12 guys they feel very comfortable with at the plate. Development has been huge during the offseason, leading up to Friday. - Freshmen Will Gasparino and Tommy Farmer look to play a big part of this team. Nothing groundbreaking there, as we’ve discussed them in our videos, but have had a handful of people rave about them both. - Sophomore Jalin Flores was a name that has been mentioned as a guy who’s steadily improved and has looked good. Obviously Flores came in with a lot of hype, but his freshman year didn’t go as anticipated, so that’s a good sign. - I heard a lot of good things about OF Jared Thomas and they’re expecting yet another big year from him. - The pitchers have made some big strides with Pierce taking the reigns. A noticeable change for sure. Was also told he loves being in this role. - The coaching staff is expecting Lebarron Johnson Jr. to have a phenomenal season. They truly believe he is one of the best pitchers in the country. Possibly even the best. He will be your Friday night pitcher. - The staff also feels great about Charlie Hurley. He continues to look great and Hurley will be your Saturday starter. - Your Sunday starter is up in the air. Everyone has penciled in Tanner Witt, but ideally they want to bring him on slowly. He will be more involved as this season progresses, but that could also be more of a closing role as well. It’s to be determined at this point. - If it isn’t Witt, redshirt sophomore Cody Howard is a name to keep an eye on, along with Luke Harrison and David Shaw. Don’t be surprised if one of those three names starts on Sundays, especially early in the season. - Expect three freshmen pitchers to make some noise this season: Cole Selvig, Easton Tumis and Hudson Hamilton. They’ve impressed the staff early on and the trio of fresh arms are expected to turn some heads. NIL Notes: - If you’re a fan of Texas baseball, I implore you to please donate to the Texas One Fund and specify that the donation goes to baseball. Texas is definitely doing better, NIL wise, but they are heading to the premier baseball conference. When that happens, the Horns will need to step their game up. - SEC baseball is a completely different animal then what Texas fans are accustomed to and that goes for recruiting too. - NIL was a big part of the reason guys like LBJ and Witt came back. If Texas fans want to see continued success and players return, the NIL needs to really ramp up for the baseball program. View full news 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy2Shipley Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 Thanks, Blake. I agree with you on Witt. I got a not so positive review on him yesterday with someone close to the program on how he's coming along. Hopefully it gets better as the season goes along and he can be an important piece. Surprised on the Luke Harrison news, he's fully ready to go? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoDakHornsFan Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 Is it true that Farmer was/is a walk on? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THookem Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 Sounds like we better be prepared not to have Witt this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy2Shipley Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 10 minutes ago, NoDakHornsFan said: Is it true that Farmer was/is a walk on? I’m pretty sure he still is. I could be wrong. There’s only 11.7 scholarships in baseball so some of your better players could still be walk ons 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Blake Munroe Posted February 13 Author Moderators Share Posted February 13 13 minutes ago, NoDakHornsFan said: Is it true that Farmer was/is a walk on? Yes. Here’s what I was told: ”Kind of a weird deal but ultimately yes.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Blake Munroe Posted February 13 Author Moderators Share Posted February 13 45 minutes ago, McCoy2Shipley said: Thanks, Blake. I agree with you on Witt. I got a not so positive review on him yesterday with someone close to the program on how he's coming along. Hopefully it gets better as the season goes along and he can be an important piece. Surprised on the Luke Harrison news, he's fully ready to go? I would assume so, since he was mentioned… but I’m double checking with someone to make sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Blake Munroe Posted February 13 Author Moderators Share Posted February 13 Just now, Blake Munroe said: I would assume so, since he was mentioned… but I’m double checking with someone to make sure. Of course as soon as I type this, I get the answer. 100% ready to go. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookem1 Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 Farmer going from one of the lowest ranked recruits we signed in the class to potentially having one of the biggest impacts of the freshman is so cool to see! I’m excited to see Fontenot and Boehm, both have really good stuff that could play well out of the bullpen this year. At DH, I expect to see a lot of Belyeu and Sanders. With appearances by J Duplantier as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy2Shipley Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 5 minutes ago, Blake Munroe said: Of course as soon as I type this, I get the answer. 100% ready to go. That's great. I was expecting to not see him till April or so. We have a good selection of left handed arms this year. I think Ace Whitehead will surprise some folks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Blake Munroe Posted February 13 Author Moderators Share Posted February 13 4 minutes ago, McCoy2Shipley said: That's great. I was expecting to not see him till April or so. We have a good selection of left handed arms this year. I think Ace Whitehead will surprise some folks. I have a great Ace story. One of his former football coaches at Lampasas is my oldest son's defensive coordinator. It's too long to type, but I'll have to tell it during Coffee and Football one day. He raves about Ace though and the type of kid he is off the field. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Assistant Regional Manager Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 (edited) 17 minutes ago, hookem1 said: Farmer going from one of the lowest ranked recruits we signed in the class to potentially having one of the biggest impacts of the freshman is so cool to see! I’m excited to see Fontenot and Boehm, both have really good stuff that could play well out of the bullpen this year. At DH, I expect to see a lot of Belyeu and Sanders. With appearances by J Duplantier as well. Bullpen may not have the shutdown arms some may desire, but I think there is actually some nice depth in there. Just a matter of carving out roles. Whitehead, Shaw, Harrison, Fontenot, Boehm and Duplantier are all guys who we should feel at least semi-good about. Surely at least 1 or 2 of the freshman arms mentioned will be serviceable. If this team had Will Mercer fully healthy, they would be a top-10 team in the country in my eyes. He would be the shutdown arm at the backend of the bullpen. That injury hurt so bad. Edited February 13 by Assistant Regional Manager Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Assistant Regional Manager Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 The floor of this team feels fairly high, but the ceiling seems like it will be determined by whether Gasparino can play like a dude as a freshman and if we can get at least one of Luke Harrison or Witt to be like their old selves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookem1 Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 6 minutes ago, Assistant Regional Manager said: Bullpen may not have the shutdown arms some may desire, but I think there is actually some nice depth in there. Just a matter of carving out roles. Whitehead, Shaw, Harrison, Fontenot, Boehm and Duplantier are all guys who we should feel at least semi-good about. Surely at least 1 or 2 of the freshman arms mentioned will be serviceable. If this team had Will Mercer fully healthy, they would be a top-10 team in the country in my eyes. He would be the shutdown arm at the backend of the bullpen. That injury hurt so bad. Pitching Injuries seems like a cliche, but it’s often the truth on how successful a season can be. Losing Mercer definitely hurt, but if Shaw and Harrison return to pre injury form and stay that way it will be huge from a lefty perspective. Don’t know that Santos can get there in time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Assistant Regional Manager Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 4 minutes ago, hookem1 said: Pitching Injuries seems like a cliche, but it’s often the truth on how successful a season can be. Losing Mercer definitely hurt, but if Shaw and Harrison return to pre injury form and stay that way it will be huge from a lefty perspective. Don’t know that Santos can get there in time. I believe Santos is also out for the year with an injury. He, Rigney and Mercer all went down in the fall—our 3 portal arms. Brutal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry K Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 Thanks Blake good stuff!! Im hoping Ryan Galvan takes another good step forward in his progress. We are going to need two reliable catchers at least. I would love to see Casey Cummings at the plate some this weekend and give his former team a not so welcome to Texas 🤘 In terms of other pictures I am interested to see the progress of Grant Fontenot and also Gage Boehm. Both seem to have big upside. Other things I’m looking forward to seeing unfold as the season moves forward is how the team plays after an offseason with Tulo and how Pierce does with the pitching staff. There’s questions on the team but I do believe the talent is in place to compete for another championship. Who’s braving the weather and going Friday and/or Saturday? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Blake Munroe Posted February 13 Author Moderators Share Posted February 13 Side note: All this talk about pitching.... man Wake Forest is absolutely loaded. Best group in the nation, imo. Chase Burns, Josh Hartle, Michael Massey... phenomenal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.45s Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 I am glad to see Luke back. He may be ready to go, but I wonder how ready. Only a few weeks ago Pierce said that Luke had just thrown his first pitch to a live batter. Luke was really good as a freshman and I was expecting him to really progress last year. Unfortunately, his elbow didn't cooperate. Regarding Charlie Hurley, he sure was shaky early on in the alumni game. I hope that is a one off thing. If Charlie really has progressed and LBJ hasn't regressed that would be a pretty good 1-2 punch. If Witt can return to some semblance of his old form or one or two of these other guys step up we should have an outstanding staff as far as starters go. It will also be interesting to see where Thomas winds up (1B?) and who starts in the outfield. Too many freshman in the outfield makes me uncomfortable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoDakHornsFan Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 2 hours ago, Blake Munroe said: Yes. Here’s what I was told: ”Kind of a weird deal but ultimately yes.” Not to get ahead of ourselves but if Texas returns to Omaha, will you be there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlakeMay Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 I'm ready to hear some bats pinging and mits popping. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperDave0805 Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 Spring and Summer is always better when Texas baseball is good 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmk4pres Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 I don't love Hurley as a #2. Solid but can get hit hard at times with not amazing stuff. the offense is going to have to carry us until pitchers step up hopefully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Blake Munroe Posted February 14 Author Moderators Share Posted February 14 13 hours ago, NoDakHornsFan said: Not to get ahead of ourselves but if Texas returns to Omaha, will you be there? It all depends on my son’s tournaments. Ideally, yes! Always a good time up there. That’s for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy2Shipley Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 This will forever be one of my all time favorite moments at the Disch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Handler Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 7 hours ago, Blake Munroe said: It all depends on my son’s tournaments. Ideally, yes! Always a good time up there. That’s for sure. FYI - Triple Crown has the Pathways tourney @ Council Bluffs during Omaha weeks. Good comp and scouting there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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