**Big12 Baseball Tournament Thread**

[Baron]

That happens to every pitcher. Our starter made it interesting a couple of times. He threw at least 5 pitches that were not even near the plate. It’s baseball. 
 

Agree, but he did go 7 innings deep with just over 100 pitches before an injury (which we should all worry about), the bullpen equaled his bad output in one and a third innings?

 

[Wayne]

Agree, but he did go 7 innings deep with just over 100 pitches before an injury (which we should all worry about), the bullpen equaled his bad output in one and a third innings?

Tristan pitched fine except for one pitch. His injury was a cramp. He should be fine. Needs to hydrate a bit better. 

 

[joeywa]

Some bullpen facts:

2 ER in 2 Tournament games, against two of the top 3 teams in the conference.

Outside of 3 games, Texas has led the conference in ERA

Texas is tied with 4 other teams in D1 at #24 in ERA with 4.07 through yesterday’s game vs Ok St. 

While the bullpen has shown holes and ups/downs, the net result has been serviceable, even though not optimal. 

 

[joeywa]

Also, this year is not your normal Texas Baseball team. This is the best offensive lineup in likely two decades, certainly a lineup with power from top to bottom. Defensively this team is also something pretty special. 
We are used to seeing Texas teams with fair power, solid defense, lots of speed and a shutdown pitching staff. This season is quite different. If Texas was winning 1-0 games all year, folks would be fussing about why the coaches don’t recruit big hitters. I firmly believe that Pierce & Co have recruited well, and the youth in the pen will be fine long-term (into next year.)  The struggles this season will make for success next season. And Texas is still looking pretty good for a hosting spot in the post season. Let’s enjoy it and see what they can do with the pieces in place. 

 

[Eastexhorn]

Great offence great defence great starting pitching ( 98%) of the time. Bull pen leaves a lot to be desired. W 

 

[BWilk55]

Also, this year is not your normal Texas Baseball team. This is the best offensive lineup in likely two decades, certainly a lineup with power from top to bottom. Defensively this team is also something pretty special. 
We are used to seeing Texas teams with fair power, solid defense, lots of speed and a shutdown pitching staff. This season is quite different. If Texas was winning 1-0 games all year, folks would be fussing about why the coaches don’t recruit big hitters. I firmly believe that Pierce & Co have recruited well, and the youth in the pen will be fine long-term (into next year.)  The struggles this season will make for success next season. And Texas is still looking pretty good for a hosting spot in the post season. Let’s enjoy it and see what they can do with the pieces in place. 

More fun to whine, haha.

I think the difficult thing this year is the pre-season expectations compared to where we are now. The Witt injury of course was good reason for a readjustment of expectations but I still can't understand what happened to Stevens, Nixon, Duplantier this season. Nixon and Duplantier aren't even very useful arms at this point. Stevens has been servicable out of the pen but not lights out. With the high expectations of the pitching, had you told me we would be scoring 8 runs a game, I would assume we would be undefeated. 

I'll be rooting and enjoying for the rest of this season but really would like to gain some understanding about the pitching failures at some point.

 

[BWilk55]

RPI up to #9. Chance for several more quality wins this weekend. Finish 2-0 or 2-1 and I think we host, 1-2 and things get shaky. 

 

[joeywa]

BWilk, it’s an easy explanation. 
Normally with 3 established weekend starters, you’re looking for 8-10 frames from your pen in a weekend series. Lose a starter, (Witt) & your Tuesday guy (Gordon) slides in. No prob. 
You then hope for one of your pen guys to step in as your Tuesday guy. That didn’t happen. Now you’re using arms in midweek games more than you were before. 
Should any of your updated weekend starters struggle, (see Stevens where he didn’t make it out of the 2nd) you’re now asking for 14+ frames from your bullpen. 
On top of that, you had more than a couple of midweek games that were more than just a Tuesday. That’s adding more innings to eat up. 
Finally, your “closer” has had issues and a guy you expected to contribute after surgery last year hasn’t progressed as fast. You’re now leaning on your unproven youth. 
 

It has been an imperfect perfect storm this year. Yet take a look at the stats above. That’s incredibly impressive given the circumstances. 

 

[Eastexhorn]

Tuesday pitchers are unable to pitch on weekends?

 

[joeywa]

Yes. Please reread what I wrote. 
You are extending them when you have to use them too much in midweeks and when weekend starters falter. 

 

[BWilk55]

BWilk, it’s an easy explanation. 
Normally with 3 established weekend starters, you’re looking for 8-10 frames from your pen in a weekend series. Lose a starter, (Witt) & your Tuesday guy (Gordon) slides in. No prob. 
You then hope for one of your pen guys to step in as your Tuesday guy. That didn’t happen. Now you’re using arms in midweek games more than you were before. 
Should any of your updated weekend starters struggle, (see Stevens where he didn’t make it out of the 2nd) you’re now asking for 14+ frames from your bullpen. 
On top of that, you had more than a couple of midweek games that were more than just a Tuesday. That’s adding more innings to eat up. 
Finally, your “closer” has had issues and a guy you expected to contribute after surgery last year hasn’t progressed as fast. You’re now leaning on your unproven youth. 
 

It has been an imperfect perfect storm this year. Yet take a look at the stats above. That’s incredibly impressive given the circumstances. 

I hear that and understand the domino effect that losing Witt had. Still very confused by Stevens and Nixon faltering so much. We basically lost Witt to injury and those two to ineffectiveness. 

 

[joeywa]

Stevens had a couple of rough starts, but he asked Pierce if he could provide help to the bullpen since that’s where he had spent a lot of time early in his career. The Nixon thing is a weird one. While some will point to the walkoff steal of home vs Tech, he was not himself prior to that. At least not what we saw last season. He appeared to lose confidence in his fastball. For a closer, you cannot be out there without all of your weapons. He got to the point for a while where he was almost solely off-speed stuff. I think he’s starting to find his FB control again, but if it were me, he’d be limited to middle relief for no more than one inning. Pierce & Allen have given him every opportunity to figure it out and it still is a crap shoot, at least from my vantage point. 

 

[Eastexhorn]

Yes. Please reread what I wrote. 
You are extending them when you have to use them too much in midweeks and when weekend starters falter. 

First thanks for the great job you do. Proably a labor of love.

I read your post thatswhy the comment.There is proablemswith the relifers, what who knows. Out of shape, mental. or others.

If a pitcher is in shape there is no reasonif he pitches 1 or2 innings on Tuesday he can not pitch again Sat. if his head is right.

Then what do I know only played some and coached a little.

 

[tejasrulz]

That was not a balk.

I didn't think so either.

The ump was a tad bit touchy there. Blew two things on one call. Saarlos shouldn’t have been tossed 

All so true. Hated to get a run like that however I think Texas was going to score the man on 3rd anyway with Melendez at bat.

Very good win. So @joeywa, who do you predict will be the starter on Saturday? 

 

[tejasrulz]

The Nixon thing is a weird one. While some will point to the walkoff steal of home vs Tech, he was not himself prior to that. At least not what we saw last season. He appeared to lose confidence in his fastball.

NIxon's issues may not have started with that steal of home but that play was the final nail in the coffin. Hope his old self returns next year.

 

[BWilk55]

Stevens had a couple of rough starts, but he asked Pierce if he could provide help to the bullpen since that’s where he had spent a lot of time early in his career. The Nixon thing is a weird one. While some will point to the walkoff steal of home vs Tech, he was not himself prior to that. At least not what we saw last season. He appeared to lose confidence in his fastball. For a closer, you cannot be out there without all of your weapons. He got to the point for a while where he was almost solely off-speed stuff. I think he’s starting to find his FB control again, but if it were me, he’d be limited to middle relief for no more than one inning. Pierce & Allen have given him every opportunity to figure it out and it still is a crap shoot, at least from my vantage point. 

On Nixon, he did not make an appearance in either of the big 12 championship games. He's probably the 3rd or 4th choice out of the bullpen right now. Crazy to think he was looking to be a top reliever in the nation to start the season. 

They do seem content to throw Stevens for extended innings back to back games so at least we are getting some good value there. 

I like this team a lot, I'm hoping the pitching can do enough going forward to allow the offense to carry us deep in this post-season.

 

[Wayne]

More fun to whine, haha.

I think the difficult thing this year is the pre-season expectations compared to where we are now. The Witt injury of course was good reason for a readjustment of expectations but I still can't understand what happened to Stevens, Nixon, Duplantier this season. Nixon and Duplantier aren't even very useful arms at this point. Stevens has been servicable out of the pen but not lights out. With the high expectations of the pitching, had you told me we would be scoring 8 runs a game, I would assume we would be undefeated. 

I'll be rooting and enjoying for the rest of this season but really would like to gain some understanding about the pitching failures at some point.

Duplantier had UCL surgery on his elbow and missed all of 2021 as a result. Coming back from that injury takes time and can be a bit problematic in the first year back. I’ve seen that in a few MLB pitchers. They usually take a couple of years from the surgery to get back to normal. 

 

[joeywa]

All so true. Hated to get a run like that however I think Texas was going to score the man on 3rd anyway with Melendez at bat.

Very good win. So @joeywa, who do you predict will be the starter on Saturday? 

Yes, not the best way to get a run, but Casey Moser has hosed Texas plenty of times in the past, so to get one back doesn’t really hurt my feelings all that much. Slept like a baby last night, in case you’re wondering. Haha

Saturday starter prediction: Morehouse. 

 

[joeywa]

First thanks for the great job you do. Proably a labor of love.

I read your post thatswhy the comment.There is proablemswith the relifers, what who knows. Out of shape, mental. or others.

If a pitcher is in shape there is no reasonif he pitches 1 or2 innings on Tuesday he can not pitch again Sat. if his head is right.

Then what do I know only played some and coached a little.

This was not a shot at your knowledge of the game. Appreciate the banter and dealing with knowledgeable folks. I don’t disagree with the premise on the surface. I don’t think it’s just one thing.  It’s like you said, probably a combination. I do know that when you have multiple midweeks and no sure-fire Tuesday stater to give you 5-6 every Tuesday, you put your bullpen in a hole and that carries over to the weekends. 

 

[TB14]

Best guess on Saturday's starting pitcher?