Been out of the saddle the past few weeks with some work stuff, and personally just backing off of RRS a little bit, but wanted to do a writeup again for this weekend against the toads.
I'm gonna swap it up this week and just dive into who TTU really is thus far into the season.
- As a team, I just don't think they've found their identity yet. It just doesn't seem like they've played complimentary baseball on many nights. Offense is really good? Pitching implodes. Pitching throws really well? Offense can't seem to put big innings on the board. If they can get it going here, I still wouldn't like to see TTU in my regional.
- I'm not sure I can overstate the presence of Kevin Bazzell. He seems to be the leader and the anchor for a relatively young squad. Since returning on 3/15, TTU has gone on a little run here and I don't think it's a coincidence. His bat in the middle of the lineup is huge. He's consistent, doesn't strike out often, and seems to have a little fire to him. Maxcey being the backup when Bazzell can DH is huge going down the stretch here.
- Damian Bravo is damn good. He's been solid defensively and is still rocking a .452 average with 39 RBI and 87 total bases. I'm not sure his draft status, but his ability to hit the ball to all fields is certainly going to garner some serious attention from scouts. If you can keep him one more year.... lookout.
- Tracer has certainly helped shore up some defense from the SS position and brings a year of Big 12 experience. Wish he could get that bat going. I like Pompey playing 2nd simply to get his bat in the lineup, and I hope that (NOW) we stop seeing sooooo much shuffling in the lineup. We're too far into the year to still be tinkering IMO. Harrelson, to me, seems to be the odd man out.
- For the last few years I really wanted TTU to be more aggressive on the base paths, and I'm not saying we're running all day, but Tadlock has done a great job of picking his spots to move runners. We are 33-36 for the season in stolen base attempts.
- Death, Taxes, and losing really good pitchers...... Trombello - Out for the year. Parrish - Rumors of an arm issue. Zane Petty - ?. Just stinks to see us not be able to keep guys healthy. But, it's the world we live in. Spin rate and velocity dominate and it's affecting the game all the way up to the professional level. Tommy John is as popular as aspirin at this point. You're gonna have to have some younger guys eat up some innings coming up.
- Biggest surprise/disappointment to me is how poorly Fast/Bridges/Free have been just lit up like the fourth of July. Those guys were awesome last year. It's a bit of bad luck, bad execution, and guys just hitting them hard.
- Hutyra has been great. Sanders has such a weird delivery and has been dependable. After that you're kinda chasing matchups with Rhodes/Kaase/Huffling etc. Just a scuffling staff all around. Especially considering Jack Washburn has given up 22 runs in 27 innings as what was thought to be a rock steady weekend starter.
TCU
- After climbing to #7 in the national polls IIRC, TCU has absolutely imploded to a 5-10 Big 12 start. Swept by Cincinnati (Including a run rule), Swept by OU, and going 1-2 against KU and OSU. They've won one single Big 12 series in sweeping UH. I just can't get a pulse on these guys. Eerily similar to TTU. Are they good? I just don't know.
- TCU doesn't jump off the page offensively with a team BA of .271, and have only outscored their opponents 177-153 on the season. Team doesn't strikeout a ton and runs at about the same pace as the Red Raiders. Not sure the weather conditions in DFW this weekend, but I like the TTU offense over this group.
- TCU is a small ball club at this point. For reference, they do not have one starter above 1.000 OPS. Texas Tech has 5. Tech also has 55 HR to the frogs 25. Dan Law definitely has an effect here but I still think that Tech boasts significantly more pop.
- The main RBI guys for them are Byrne and Bowen with a combined 50 runs driven in. But their BA's are not great. Maxwell looks to be the table setter with a .354 batting average but doesn't slug much.
- From a pitching standpoint, opponents hit .252 against TCU and they have a team ERA of 5.01. Woooooof. Like TTU they only have two starters with more than 4 starts in Tolle and Kole Klecker.
- Ben Abeldt and Louis Rodriguez are both good arms out of their pen with 26 appearances and only 14 runs allowed in 28 innings. If TTU can chase Tolle on Friday and get into the frogs pen, I think Tech has a good shot of winning a series.
This sounds weird, but this is a very pivotal series for two teams trying to find an identity and some roles from a pitching standpoint. I think Tech is the better baseball team, if they can start having nights where Robinson/Heuer can give length and our offense puts up runs, I think we can get going. It's just been the inconsistency.
I will take Tech 2-1 this weekend on the road. I also HATE tcu with the fire of a thousand suns.
I'm gonna swap it up this week and just dive into who TTU really is thus far into the season.
- As a team, I just don't think they've found their identity yet. It just doesn't seem like they've played complimentary baseball on many nights. Offense is really good? Pitching implodes. Pitching throws really well? Offense can't seem to put big innings on the board. If they can get it going here, I still wouldn't like to see TTU in my regional.
- I'm not sure I can overstate the presence of Kevin Bazzell. He seems to be the leader and the anchor for a relatively young squad. Since returning on 3/15, TTU has gone on a little run here and I don't think it's a coincidence. His bat in the middle of the lineup is huge. He's consistent, doesn't strike out often, and seems to have a little fire to him. Maxcey being the backup when Bazzell can DH is huge going down the stretch here.
- Damian Bravo is damn good. He's been solid defensively and is still rocking a .452 average with 39 RBI and 87 total bases. I'm not sure his draft status, but his ability to hit the ball to all fields is certainly going to garner some serious attention from scouts. If you can keep him one more year.... lookout.
- Tracer has certainly helped shore up some defense from the SS position and brings a year of Big 12 experience. Wish he could get that bat going. I like Pompey playing 2nd simply to get his bat in the lineup, and I hope that (NOW) we stop seeing sooooo much shuffling in the lineup. We're too far into the year to still be tinkering IMO. Harrelson, to me, seems to be the odd man out.
- For the last few years I really wanted TTU to be more aggressive on the base paths, and I'm not saying we're running all day, but Tadlock has done a great job of picking his spots to move runners. We are 33-36 for the season in stolen base attempts.
- Death, Taxes, and losing really good pitchers...... Trombello - Out for the year. Parrish - Rumors of an arm issue. Zane Petty - ?. Just stinks to see us not be able to keep guys healthy. But, it's the world we live in. Spin rate and velocity dominate and it's affecting the game all the way up to the professional level. Tommy John is as popular as aspirin at this point. You're gonna have to have some younger guys eat up some innings coming up.
- Biggest surprise/disappointment to me is how poorly Fast/Bridges/Free have been just lit up like the fourth of July. Those guys were awesome last year. It's a bit of bad luck, bad execution, and guys just hitting them hard.
- Hutyra has been great. Sanders has such a weird delivery and has been dependable. After that you're kinda chasing matchups with Rhodes/Kaase/Huffling etc. Just a scuffling staff all around. Especially considering Jack Washburn has given up 22 runs in 27 innings as what was thought to be a rock steady weekend starter.
TCU
- After climbing to #7 in the national polls IIRC, TCU has absolutely imploded to a 5-10 Big 12 start. Swept by Cincinnati (Including a run rule), Swept by OU, and going 1-2 against KU and OSU. They've won one single Big 12 series in sweeping UH. I just can't get a pulse on these guys. Eerily similar to TTU. Are they good? I just don't know.
- TCU doesn't jump off the page offensively with a team BA of .271, and have only outscored their opponents 177-153 on the season. Team doesn't strikeout a ton and runs at about the same pace as the Red Raiders. Not sure the weather conditions in DFW this weekend, but I like the TTU offense over this group.
- TCU is a small ball club at this point. For reference, they do not have one starter above 1.000 OPS. Texas Tech has 5. Tech also has 55 HR to the frogs 25. Dan Law definitely has an effect here but I still think that Tech boasts significantly more pop.
- The main RBI guys for them are Byrne and Bowen with a combined 50 runs driven in. But their BA's are not great. Maxwell looks to be the table setter with a .354 batting average but doesn't slug much.
- From a pitching standpoint, opponents hit .252 against TCU and they have a team ERA of 5.01. Woooooof. Like TTU they only have two starters with more than 4 starts in Tolle and Kole Klecker.
- Ben Abeldt and Louis Rodriguez are both good arms out of their pen with 26 appearances and only 14 runs allowed in 28 innings. If TTU can chase Tolle on Friday and get into the frogs pen, I think Tech has a good shot of winning a series.
This sounds weird, but this is a very pivotal series for two teams trying to find an identity and some roles from a pitching standpoint. I think Tech is the better baseball team, if they can start having nights where Robinson/Heuer can give length and our offense puts up runs, I think we can get going. It's just been the inconsistency.
I will take Tech 2-1 this weekend on the road. I also HATE tcu with the fire of a thousand suns.
