Moderators Blake Munroe Posted March 4 Moderators Share Posted March 4 The new baseball polls are out and Texas, as expected, has fell in the rankings after going 1-3 last week. Here are the rankings: Perfect Game: No. 14 Baseball America: No. 23 D1Baseball: No. 24 View full news 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Blake Munroe Posted March 4 Author Moderators Share Posted March 4 A lot of you have asked my opinion on this past weekend. Here's my thoughts: - Texas going 0-3 this weekend is something I didn't expect, but isn't that surprising. The Horns never do well in these big neutral site contests early on in the season and then seem to get it together as the season progresses and when it matters the most. I will say that a loss to Texas State was a bit shocking, however. - Choking that game away to Vanderbilt was a bit inexcusable as well. To be up that much and then have 11 unanswered runs scored is not good. At all. - Pitching HAS TO IMPROVE. Texas has some guys, but their stuff isn't on par with the Wake Forest and LSU's of the world. It isn't elite. Velo is average. - Catching HAS TO IMPROVE. Was a big question mark coming in and is a question mark today. - The offense is a lot of fun at times and then sometimes makes me pull my hair out. Need more consistency and clutch moments. Speaking of clutch, I've also had concerns about RISP so far this season and those concerns haven't been alleviated. - Texas needs to be more active in the portal. It sort of reminds me of Dabo and Clemson. It's there. Take advantage. - Doing the above would fix a lot of roster balancing issues like this team currently has. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmk4pres Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Great point. Pierce closer to Dabo in terms of portal. LSU gets Skenes and Tommy White. We get Charlie Hurley and Luke Storm. said it before the season, pitching was razor thin and it most definitely is. We are clearly not sec ready which is scary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Five Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 So, just need improvement pitching, hitting, and catching. 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookem1 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 1 minute ago, cmk4pres said: Great point. Pierce closer to Dabo in terms of portal. LSU gets Skenes and Tommy White. We get Charlie Hurley and Luke Storm. said it before the season, pitching was razor thin and it most definitely is. We are clearly not sec ready which is scary I wouldn’t compare Pierce to Dabo in terms of portal usage. We were very much in the race for Skenes and Montgomery, so it’s not for lack of trying. So while we haven’t quite gotten our top target, it’s far from a reluctant approach. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookem1 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Petition to stop playing in MLB stadiums Kidding (kind of) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burntcowboy Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Is pitching something we can fix throughout the season to the point we can really be competitive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry K Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Coach Pierce is a good coach and knows baseball. BUT he has some glaring issues that keep coming up year after year. The portal is one of them as mentioned (he hasn’t figured out how to manage the recruiting and portal dates very well like other coaches have). He also has a track record at Texas of average bullpen pitching, constant staff changes and either bad talent evaluation or player development or (mostly likely) at times a combination of both. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying he needs to go at all. There’s just a number of areas where he needs to improve in my opinion. I do think the team will improve a lot as the season progresses because that is also his track record. Hopefully sooner than later. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoHorns1 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Blake, what’s Texas record against SEC teams under David Pierce? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uthorn1374 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Pierce seems to not be well liked. Coaches keep leaving and can’t attract portal players. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmk4pres Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 1 hour ago, hookem1 said: I wouldn’t compare Pierce to Dabo in terms of portal usage. We were very much in the race for Skenes and Montgomery, so it’s not for lack of trying. So while we haven’t quite gotten our top target, it’s far from a reluctant approach. Fine but having almost the same closure rate. Braden Montgomery going to aggy was a huge kick in nuts. My understanding from someone close to the program is we weren't even close to competing for him. That has to change and stops at the top 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmk4pres Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 We honestly have no business being ranked right now 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry K Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 51 minutes ago, cmk4pres said: Fine but having almost the same closure rate. Braden Montgomery going to aggy was a huge kick in nuts. My understanding from someone close to the program is we weren't even close to competing for him. That has to change and stops at the top NIL played a role on some level in these top portal targets in my opinion. I think this is an area Texas fell behind in on the baseball side. The timing and dates for baseball between the draft and portal window makes it tough. Coach Pierce has admitted that. Other coaches are obviously figuring it out. Hopefully he’s got a solid plan for this year’s portal window and good NIL backing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperDave0805 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Texas was terrible in Houston last year and ended up almost making it to Omaha so I will wait until the season plays out before calling for change, But saying that there is zero excuses for Texas baseball to ever be out of the top 25 especially in the era of the NIL and the portal 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horns96 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Problems with roster management in year 8 is inexcusable. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmk4pres Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 1 hour ago, horns96 said: Problems with roster management in year 8 is inexcusable. One million percent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmk4pres Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 3 hours ago, Jerry K said: NIL played a role on some level in these top portal targets in my opinion. I think this is an area Texas fell behind in on the baseball side. The timing and dates for baseball between the draft and portal window makes it tough. Coach Pierce has admitted that. Other coaches are obviously figuring it out. Hopefully he’s got a solid plan for this year’s portal window and good NIL backing. Pretty lame when others can figure it out. He gets paid to figure it out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Class of 04 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 6 hours ago, Red Five said: So, just need improvement pitching, hitting, and catching. Don't forget about our error prone fielding as well...😬 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClubWhatever Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 5 hours ago, GoHorns1 said: Blake, what’s Texas record against SEC teams under David Pierce? Not Blake, but I believe the answer is 20-27. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasMDcoach Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 If this group needed a wake up call, they had it screamed at them this past week. Need to improve in every phase of the game or they will find themselves bottom half of the conference. There is plenty of talent though to right the ship and there is precedent for this on previous Pierce-coached teams. The light must turn on for players like Witt and others who have ceilings that have not been realized. It can happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookem1 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 5 hours ago, cmk4pres said: Fine but having almost the same closure rate. Braden Montgomery going to aggy was a huge kick in nuts. My understanding from someone close to the program is we weren't even close to competing for him. That has to change and stops at the top It was down to A&M or Texas. But as others have mentioned we were slower to the NIL game for baseball unlike our other sports, which I think one can attribute the close portal misses to. Definitely can improve in that, and have to if we want to keep up in the arms race. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookem1 Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 I think one thing that will force us to kickstart getting a better NIL push will be the very real possibility of losing 5 of 9 position players and 1-2 starting pitchers after the year. Although the 2024 signing class was fantastic, it’s not like football where we know they’re all going to sign. So it will be more important to bring in some proven commodities. But as for this season, I don’t think we looked as hopeless as we felt this past weekend. Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t pretty AT ALL, but we’ve seen this story before and Pierce’s teams have typically gotten better throughout the year. Hoping for a steady climb the rest of the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmk4pres Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 12 minutes ago, hookem1 said: It was down to A&M or Texas. But as others have mentioned we were slower to the NIL game for baseball unlike our other sports, which I think one can attribute the close portal misses to. Definitely can improve in that, and have to if we want to keep up in the arms race. Again it wasn't close in the end, had to do with NIL and also aggy made him top priority Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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