AZ Longhorn

Yes. But to those who would panic in response: again, "2026 portal rankings" are not "overall 2027 roster rankings." If you lose your whole team or they all sucked, then you need to go heavy in the portal (and have money to do so). When you return a bunch of production, you don't need to go as heavy in the portal (and don't have as much money to do so anyway). Does Texas still have needs to fill? Absolutely. But we shouldn't conflate "portal rankings" with "how good we will be in 2027"

Jim gave him every opportunity to prove he could hit lefties, but it was just as suspected, he's not a starter against lefties (on a championship-contending roster, at least). And it's hard to pay much for a platoon guy. Best of luck to him that he gets to be an everyday starter somewhere and figures out how to hit lefties.

As others have said, there's no decision involved regarding eligibility to be drafted. So, for a different interpretation of the date to "make a decision" regarding the draft, the signing deadline is August 1.

Good point, thanks. After the trauma of last year, they may be less likely to save money for competing against professional offers, even it if lowers our ceiling. "One in the hand is better than two in the brush" The other piece of context I'm fascinated by is the likelihood of an MLB/MLBPA lockout and work stoppage. Does that looming possibility send more HS draft picks to college this year than otherwise?

o/u at 11.5 or 12.5 conference wins?

... and on how much of the committed high school class makes it to campus. Some of those guys are real dudes. We're golden at the top, our needs are with the roles after our aces. For the spots around Walls/Winter/Crossland/McKernan, if possible I'd prefer high upside freshmen (who eventually turn into Volantis'es and Cozarts at the top of your rotation) over mercenary portal pickups. Let's save any pitching cash to put together good offers to the high school class and see who we can get to campus. If we do worse than expected there, we can throw cash at some portal guys in late July or early August (remember Leffew, for example, was a post-Cape commit last year—those guys exist).

The writing has been on the wall for all of these guys so far (With the possible exception of Courville—I really hoped we'd give him a chance and spend that cash elsewhere, but that was just wish-casting, given what we know about Jim and catchers.) The biggest surprise to me is how long it's taken them to enter. I'm impatient for the churn! But for some reason, the baseball portal is just much slower overall. Remembering from last year: Leffew and Larsen were post-Cape additions, and Pendergrass was a spring enrollee. All were contributors this year. Not that I want us to repeat that per se, and be left scrambling after the draft in a month, but it does add some perspective.

Yes. Humiliating.

Great stuff from Burns + Flores in the pen. 5 IP, 1 run (that shouldn't have been a run — that's on Borba) is a great performance against this Vandy offense. Gave us a chance to win, unfortunately the offense didn't do its part

3 IP from Burns, with just one baserunner off a 64 exit velo cheapie, is a great sign

Embarrassing to get blanked by this Vandy staff through 6 innings. There's still time, but gotta find something we haven't yet

Great stuff from Thomas! Would be bigtime for him to become a trusted option in the thin pen

Burns faces the minimum. Nice work! When he's throwing strikes he's a beast

Man we're lucky Stillman isn't stretched out. Hopefully we can break out against some other guys

Pack has got to catch that.

Two almost-HRs from Robbins and Tinney (plus a barrel from Pack) — 0 runs for the horns Two almost-HRs from Vandy — 1 run, no outs, runner on third 😮‍💨 ...and then a real HR to bring em all in. Fck

to be fair to the original question, I think you're dodging the real question here. It seems the reasons you give here are secondary reasons: given that these players were leaving Texas, why they chose the specific transfer destinations they did (although reporting is that Lee did not actually go for the biggest bag, but that's a different storyline quibble). As nosy fans, we (I) want to know the real story on what happened in Nashville, and how it was/not handled and why, and the fallout that could have affect two shots at a championship with Madi (this year and now next year). That is the real ask. Realistically, we understand we likely won't be told, because we don't have inside sources like the one that told you in confidence, and because folks who do know are cooperating with keeping the real story buried. But that was the ask — not, for example, why Crump chose Duke against the field of other suitors but why she jumped into the transfer market in the first place. "End of story" is not just patently wrong but is giving "please stop looking at this, nothing to see here, we promise!" The silence from many different parties has been deafening (including lack of reporting), the vibes stink, and it's frustrating as a fan.

Need A-Rod and Doza to be the guys they're supposed to be here

Wow, what a weekend of run prevention. 2, 1, 2 runs given up. That'll play!

Good outing from Crossland. Jim seemed unhappy as he pulled him yesterday after the walk. Don't love the 2 out walk today either, but a nice inning and hopefully he's back on track!

More than you can ask of Harrison. Gutsy against those top lefties. That run should be unearned — it doesn't score without Robbins' base error — right?

aaand he's gone. Well done. We get 11 outs against their weakass bullpen, gotta like our odds.

Wow! Harrison had more traffic than I'd expected against this Bama lineup, but he made the RIGHT pitches! Just like timely hitting, he came up big at the most critical times!

Second straight day our offense gets blanked by their starter through at least 5. But just like yesterday, the pitch count is high enough that guy won't make it past the 6th. One more inning max, then the light at the end of the tunnel (their weak bullpen). People like to complain about us taking pitches, but leading the country in pitches/AB does pay off in later innings and against opponents who have top-heavy staffs

Pack is a good base stealer who doesn't need to gamble like that against upchurch-neal. You wanna guess, ok, but if he doesn't go after your step and a half, shut it down and live another pitch