With the Horns season now at an end its time to take stock and see where this program is at. 2015 and 2016 were both downright awful and with the exception of a magical weekend in Tulsa, they were both incredibly frustrating. Augie was and is a baseball legend but even legends' time eventually comes and his had. The coaching search was a red hot mess but somehow Texas lucked into a very good young coach who is hungry and motivated. This season was a lot of fits and starts and will be defined by the one run loss. It really shouldn't come as a surprise then that Texas ended year with two one run losses. I wrote in the regionals thread that just change about three of those one run losses during the regular season to wins and the Horns are hosting a regional instead of having to travel to California. As it is, this team really improved throughout the year and the fact they they were in a regional final when at times it didnt even look like they would be in the tournament is reason to be optimistic about the future. All year long I have felt that Pierce has them headed in the right direction and his commitment to recruiting (something Augie had long since given up on) along with the inherent advantages of being Texas baseball make the future very bright. Goodbye to Kacy Clemens and Zane Gurwitz. We also probably lose a couple of the pitchers to the draft but this team will be strong next year and should challenge TCU and Tech for the Big XII. Have a good summer and see you next February.
Pierce took a group that could not hit or field and accepted losses and turned them into a functional group that played hard to the last out. Yes one of the runs last night was the result of a brain fart, but those are going to happen in college ball. If the majority of the new people actually show up in September the team expectations for 2018 should be very high (actual expectations not hope).
I am very bullish on this team going forward. Everything Coach Pierce did I agree with except I don't get what he saw in Cantu over McCann. Having said that, the big problems going into the season that I saw were inconsistent bullpen and no hitting with RISP. Coach worked around #1 effectively but #2 is not something you can fix in one season and it got us beat in the regional. I felt all along that LBSU looked like the better team, even in the loss Sat night, so it was no surprise they won this on their field with homer umpires. Seriously, we probably should not have been this close to an SR when you look at our season - we just did not do well against good pitching all year long. Pierce is the real deal IMO.
Well, lessee here. . . One run games are KILLING us We need a left fielder who can actually catch AND hit We need a catcher who can actually run, hit, catch AND throw We will need a center fielder We will need a first baseman who can hit and dig out bad throws We need a third base coach who won't try to send a 240lb runner from first to home plate on a single We need a pitching coach who actually handles the pitching decisions We need someone who can actually teach hitters to hit We need a shortstop who can actually hit his weight (wonderful fielder - no hitter) We need a DH who can actually hit higher than his shirt number Well, that's just for starters - - there's probably more
What you're trying to say is that if Augie had actually earned his paycheck, you would have nothing to post?
Depending on your definition of being able to hit or run, how many catchers at the major league level fit this description? I can think of only 3 or 4 off hand that would fit my definition.
I would settle for someone who can catch and hit. I would be happy if we had someone who can catch, throw, and hit. If we had someone who could do those things AND run - we'd have something very rare.
Who on the college or pro level doesn't? Difficult physical position with a "don't dare go there" tag for baseball athletes.
This season review by Pierce himself was just published. It is really interesting to see how the head coach viewed the season and the 2017 Horns on the diamond. I myself remember what Wayne Graham (Pierce's mentor) said after that first 4-game series with Rice. He boldly said that his ex-assistant coach would take the Longhorns to the World Series. I thought at that time, "What did he see this early in that Longhorn team?" I now believe that he probably knew Pierce well and that was part of the Rice head coach's reasoning. If just a strategic few of those one-run losses this year had been reversed, Pierce might have gotten very close to the CWS. Given the chance next year, I will be looking very closely at the new recruits being brought in by Pierce. That will be the key to winning more of those single run losses.
Actually, IMHO, he did get them close to the CWS, got into and competed well in a regional. Of course that's kind of UT baseball minimal expectation. Pierce knows that and accepts that standard and I believe he won't settle for the minimum.
I was actually thinking of "close" being in the Super Regional series. It would have been the difference if they hosted the regionals. That would have made the difference in one of those last two 1-run losses against the Dirtbags. For some reason, playing at home made a difference in winning a 1-run game. By my quick count, the Horns were 5-6 at home and 3-11 away in those single run difference games. The fact that almost half of the games they played were won/lost by 1 run is significant in itself. That is how close Pierce came to making a top 16 ranking with a team that did not even break .500 the year before.
