Was at Sunday's game...
Jared Thomas is going to make some money playing CF this year. Tracked the ball well off the bat and glided around athletically. Lost one in the sun, but easily got into position near the wall.
Nik Sanders' bat speed is electric. He's going to mash fastballs. Will take him some time to adjust to quality spin and good LH changeups because he simply hasn't seen much of that ever. But it's a good RH swing with major bat speed.
Hudson Hamilton got knocked around and the fastball played down at 91-93 MPH. Probably a fastball shape thing - needs to either get more ride or more run and tighten up the command. But the slider spin was there - 81-83 MPH with spin up to 2700 RPM. Like pretty much all freshmen arms, it'll take time but the ingredients are there. Speaking of freshmen arms, Easton Tumis showed the future plus slider I saw when he was a prep at Friendswood. He sat 89-91 MPH with an easy delivery... at worst, I think he can help out of the bullpen because the slider is going to miss bats and I think the delivery should result in strikes.
If Grant Fontenot can land his breaking ball, he's going to be a big piece of the pitching puzzle. He was 94-95 MPH with a heavy fastball that got in on the hands of hitters and the slider was sharp 81-84 MPH. Scouts I was sitting with commented on how much stronger and in better shape he looked. Probably a bullpen guy but potentially an impact one.
Andre Dulplantier II looked like he's ditched a traditional fastball and is only throwing cutters now in addition to a sweeping slider. His cutter was 85-88 MPH. His mental makeup on the mound is going to help out of the bullpen but it would be nice for Texas if he could get into the 90s with the cutter or else he might depend more on weak contact than whiffs.
This isn't a balanced roster. Texas is really deep with interesting talented, athletic position players but with Porter Brown back, Jared Thomas in CF and Gasparino a big-time talent in RF, going to have a lot of guys struggling to find at-bats. Casey Cummings had a heck of a day and gave me some Connor Rowe vibes. But where does he play? Texas would have been wise to use a few of those transfer adds on arms and not position players. That said, I'd be surprised if Texas doesn't score runs at an impressive rate.
Catching... is going to be interesting. Galvan has arm strength and hitting tools, but the receiving has to improve. Schuessler is serviceable and you can tell his experience really helps. Texas fell into a bit of an issue with recruiting guys that were catchers in high school but might not profile there in college (Service) or don't want to play there in college (Sanders). I say "might" with Service because I didn't see him play there Sunday. He's a really good athlete - was 4.17 down the line from the RHH side and moves really impressively. Exciting player.
Pitching... also going to be interesting. If Tanner Witt isn't pre-injury Tanner Witt or even like 80% of that, Texas is going to be in trouble. And from what I've heard from the fall before he, like LBJ, was shut down because no more need to throw, the stuff and velocity hadn't returned.
Little Ardoin looks nothing like other brother and is really, really thin. But the bat-to-ball skill and barrel accuracy are real. I don't know how much he'll contribute this season, but I bet he's a guy this time next fall Texas is really excited about. Tommy Farmer was a really good recruiting find because he wasn't hyped as a prospect but he's got potential to be a starting player in CF down the road.
Thought Jalin Flores' swing looked a little better - more direct, better rhythm. But he also booted a routine ball... hoping he puts it all together because I was as high on him coming out of HS as anyone. I do think consistent reps are going to make a big difference.
Jared Thomas is going to make some money playing CF this year. Tracked the ball well off the bat and glided around athletically. Lost one in the sun, but easily got into position near the wall.
Nik Sanders' bat speed is electric. He's going to mash fastballs. Will take him some time to adjust to quality spin and good LH changeups because he simply hasn't seen much of that ever. But it's a good RH swing with major bat speed.
Hudson Hamilton got knocked around and the fastball played down at 91-93 MPH. Probably a fastball shape thing - needs to either get more ride or more run and tighten up the command. But the slider spin was there - 81-83 MPH with spin up to 2700 RPM. Like pretty much all freshmen arms, it'll take time but the ingredients are there. Speaking of freshmen arms, Easton Tumis showed the future plus slider I saw when he was a prep at Friendswood. He sat 89-91 MPH with an easy delivery... at worst, I think he can help out of the bullpen because the slider is going to miss bats and I think the delivery should result in strikes.
If Grant Fontenot can land his breaking ball, he's going to be a big piece of the pitching puzzle. He was 94-95 MPH with a heavy fastball that got in on the hands of hitters and the slider was sharp 81-84 MPH. Scouts I was sitting with commented on how much stronger and in better shape he looked. Probably a bullpen guy but potentially an impact one.
Andre Dulplantier II looked like he's ditched a traditional fastball and is only throwing cutters now in addition to a sweeping slider. His cutter was 85-88 MPH. His mental makeup on the mound is going to help out of the bullpen but it would be nice for Texas if he could get into the 90s with the cutter or else he might depend more on weak contact than whiffs.
This isn't a balanced roster. Texas is really deep with interesting talented, athletic position players but with Porter Brown back, Jared Thomas in CF and Gasparino a big-time talent in RF, going to have a lot of guys struggling to find at-bats. Casey Cummings had a heck of a day and gave me some Connor Rowe vibes. But where does he play? Texas would have been wise to use a few of those transfer adds on arms and not position players. That said, I'd be surprised if Texas doesn't score runs at an impressive rate.
Catching... is going to be interesting. Galvan has arm strength and hitting tools, but the receiving has to improve. Schuessler is serviceable and you can tell his experience really helps. Texas fell into a bit of an issue with recruiting guys that were catchers in high school but might not profile there in college (Service) or don't want to play there in college (Sanders). I say "might" with Service because I didn't see him play there Sunday. He's a really good athlete - was 4.17 down the line from the RHH side and moves really impressively. Exciting player.
Pitching... also going to be interesting. If Tanner Witt isn't pre-injury Tanner Witt or even like 80% of that, Texas is going to be in trouble. And from what I've heard from the fall before he, like LBJ, was shut down because no more need to throw, the stuff and velocity hadn't returned.
Little Ardoin looks nothing like other brother and is really, really thin. But the bat-to-ball skill and barrel accuracy are real. I don't know how much he'll contribute this season, but I bet he's a guy this time next fall Texas is really excited about. Tommy Farmer was a really good recruiting find because he wasn't hyped as a prospect but he's got potential to be a starting player in CF down the road.
Thought Jalin Flores' swing looked a little better - more direct, better rhythm. But he also booted a routine ball... hoping he puts it all together because I was as high on him coming out of HS as anyone. I do think consistent reps are going to make a big difference.
