Happy to say this week's column is again brought to you by The Timothy Center. The father-son duo of Doctors Jimmy and Josh Myers, both big Longhorn fans, are doing some great counseling work in the Austin area, especially during such a trying time mentally for many as we all are dealing with a global pandemic.
Drs. Jimmy & Josh Myers are the father/son owners of The Timothy Center here in Austin. Both are rabid UT fans, and both could use counseling themselves due to all the stress that this love of the Horns has generated.
The Timothy Center is unique in that it is the only Christian counseling facility in the Austin area that provides one-on-one counseling, couples therapy, an Intensive Outpatient programs for those teens and adults needing more concentrated help, medication management services, and one of the largest sexual addiction treatment programs in the central Texas area.
Another aspect of the Timothy Center is that all of these services are covered by most major insurance policies. Faith-based counseling, faith-based medication management, all covered by insurance is as rare in this area as an undefeated season by…well, you get the idea.
We have offices in south Austin, north near the outlet mall between Round Rock and Georgetown, and our main office about a mile north of the Arboretum on Jollyville Rd. Of course, right now, with the pandemic still raging, all of our adult services can be accessed in an online format.
If you should ever need our services, just give us a call at our main number 512-331-2700 or check out our website at www.timothycenter.com.
Alright, the writing...
1) Texas Baseball demands your attention…
If you’ve been here a while, you know my heart is laced with 108 stitches. Not literally, of course. That would be scary and extremely unusual. You get the point. I love the big three sports - football, basketball, and baseball. Clearly, I write about all three. But my heart beats with a special affection for baseball.
Undoubtedly, this website, message board and fan base are about football overwhelmingly more than anything else. Football is king on the Forty Acres, and it’s often king of our content. However, this Texas Baseball team doesn’t just deserve your attention. Texas demands it.
Since its embarrassing and frustrating opening weekend in Arlington, when it was smoked by three top-five teams after being unable to pick up a bat or ball all week because of the winter storm of the century, the No. 3 Longhorns are 26-5. They’ve yet to lose a weekend series in 2021. They’re on top of the Big 12 standings at 10-2, have won nine-straight games and are 18-2 at home.
“I think a lot of people would expect there to be like a panic button hit like, ‘Ah, shit we’re 0-3.’ And there was no feeling like that whatsoever. It was a lot of maturity that went with it. It was a lot of, you know, really taking a hard look in the mirror and saying, ‘What do we need to do to get better?’ And I was really proud to be a part of this team at that moment because that takes a lot of maturity,” said Zach Zubia ahead of the team’s series versus South Carolina. “It takes a lot of wisdom to be able to digest that without really panicking, without really having a freakout moment. And I think that was really beneficial for us. And I think it's shown. I think you said what, 8-2. Right? That's pretty good if you ask me, but I think that going forward we're just gonna have to keep on keeping that same mature mentality and approach towards winning and losing.”
Why are the Longhorns winning so much? In order to understand this Texas team, you have to appreciate and understand what’s going on between the ears and when games aren’t being played. That team approach and maturity coming out of the opening weekend hasn’t disappeared. Instead of the Longhorns responding to getting their butts kicked with one strong week, they’ve proven the 8-2 mark over those next 10 games wasn’t a fluke. This approach mentally is who they are.
“I've been involved with a lot of great teams, and a lot of great players. And I don't know if I've ever had a group of 15 to 17 hitters that are here when I'm here. When I get here early, when Tulo and coach Miller get here early, it's almost a guilt trip if you're not there just because they each put so much pressure on themselves to put their work in,” said David Pierce following a Saturday win versus Oklahoma. “When you have two coaches in there throwing two hours before regular batting practice and giving them everything they have, and you have everybody else preparing. It's just kind of the culture that we're building and what we want.
“We want guys to show up and then have to back them off more so than encouraging them and motivating them to prepare and they're buying into the work. If we put in the work, we will have success and I just want to see them continue and really grow and develop not only in their personal development but with each other. I mean, we talked today about... we were 1-0 in the series last night, and it was a pretty harsh meeting with the hitting coaches, with the team because they didn't feel like they were competing in the cage work today. And then we followed up with our team meeting of just centering our team and making sure that we stay ready to compete and don't get complacent.”
This isn’t just a team that works occasionally or when things are going poorly. The Longhorns consider showing up every single day to put in extra work who they are. No one tells them to show up early or stay late because it’s understood and the foundation of the program’s culture under Pierce and his coaching staff. And when a team has that collective bond, a deep belief in team success, best players that are the best workers and talent to go with it, special things can happen.
Special things are happening. And they’re happening because UT’s elite mental approach is so fantastically consistent. College baseball is a grind. Teams play 50-plus games. It’s easy to go through the motions during a midweek game, fall asleep versus a lesser opponent on the weekend or get a big head after an impressive win. After all, these guys aren’t professionals. They are young student-athletes and they’re also encountering a grind filled with COVID protocols too. But the Longhorns have managed to develop and treasure an identity built on competing and winning. And they don’t care how it looks, how it happens or who does it. Friday’s win versus Kansas State was a perfect example.
From talking to the Longhorns and hearing about their approach, you’d never know they’re the No. 3 team in the country. Good luck finding a hint of complacency or satisfaction in that clubhouse. And with upcoming Big 12 series at No. 13 Oklahoma State, versus No. 8 Texas Tech, at No. 12 TCU and versus West Virginia, the Longhorns’ mental approach and ability to win games in a variety of ways is going to be tested with a conference title on the line. They won’t survive that gauntlet unscathed. Expecting that is being unrealistic. But they’re going to be ready to compete each time they’re in a dugout. And that’s why this season could truly be a special one.
2) Another quote that explains a lot about this team and program…
Mike Antico’s struggles earlier in the season are well-chronicled and caught the attention of many Texas fans who wondered why he was in the lineup. The Longhorns, besides the occasional off day, didn’t flinch. Their belief in Antico’s ability, after a fantastic fall offseason and preseason and his long track record of hitting at a high level at St. John’s, didn't waver. And they were rewarded. However, they were rewarded because their coaches connected with the graduate transfer in a way that allowed him to take pressure off himself and just start playing like he has his entire career.
“But for me personally, I owe my life to these coaches, man. Coach Pierce giving me the opportunity every day to play center field. It's a special thing, you know. I'm coming from out of town, different school or whatever. He hasn't had to stick with me through and through and he has,” said Antico after Friday’s win against Kansas State. “So, I'm so thankful for him. You know, and then with that, I have coach Tulo and coach Miller. They kind of brought me in the other day and were like, ‘What do we have to do to get you [to be you]? We want you to be the best player that you can be.’ And obviously, up to this point so far, I haven't been playing up to my potential... they want the best for me. They think that I could do anything that I would like to do on a baseball field. So, they kind of brought me in and said, ‘Let's all get on the same page here. And what do we have to do?’ And it was just a couple small adjustments with the swing and besides that they were just like, be yourself. Be who you were when he showed up all through the fall, all through the early spring. Just just be yourself, man. Because you’ve been playing this game a long time and you have no reason to be thinking about anything.
“So to be honest with you, just today more than any day just tried to go in with a clear head. I was talking to some family this week, and they said, ‘Mike, you've been playing baseball since you could walk. What are you thinking about? Just go.’ So, I tried to play freely tonight and I think it worked very well for me. But like I started with, I owe it to these coaches, man. They're they really helped me and without them I wouldn't be sitting here with you guys tonight. And I wouldn't be in the position I am because they've helped me throughout this whole season this whole year.”
That’s candid, emotional, real stuff, man. What does a fantastic connection between player and coaching staff sound like? It sounds like that quote above. And it’s an excellent example of the work this coaching staff does to go beyond and connect with the mental side of players to forge relationships and bring out their true talent. By the way, Antico is now hitting .273/.370/.591 in Big 12 play with a team-high 17 RBI and as many walks (7) as strikeouts.
3) A couple examples of development happening…
Last week when asked about adjustments he made, Ivan Melendez mentioned his hand positioning and stance being adjusted recently, which has allowed him to barrel the baseball out in front more and make better contact. To the untrained eye, the adjustments probably wouldn’t be noticeable. They’re subtle (the LHN telecast last night did a great job of breaking them down) but have been highly impactful. Watch Melendez swing now and you’ll notice his lower half working in better harmony with his top half and his hand placement better allows him to get to the barrel to the baseball more consistently and on a better, well-timed path.
Because of some things he was feeling and what Troy Tulowitzki is seeing, Melendez was able to implement these changes to tap into his lower half strength and athleticism more; it takes a smart, willing hitter to pull this off in the middle of a busy season and he can’t do it without coaching. Such adjustments are typical during a pro season. But a college season? That doesn’t happen as often because the coaching is inconsistent across the sport.
On the mound last night, Tanner Witt fired his best fastball of the season following a shaky outing this past weekend. A plus-plus athlete with a gift for repeating his delivery despite his 6-6 frame, Witt threw with more conviction, better timing, and a better angle. Heck, he didn’t look like the same guy last night in a good way, and it wasn’t an accident. Texas wanted him to look like a different guy and tap into his athleticism more in an attacking method. That’s coaching and development.
4) What could stand in the way of Texas and a deep postseason run?
The Longhorns have all the ingredients to make a deep postseason run. They have a Friday ace and starting rotation performing well; they play good defense; top-to-bottom they have a solid, dynamic lineup capable of scoring runs in a variety of ways; they have leadership in coaching. Sounds like a great team, right?
Something I’ll be following closely moving ahead: how does Texas handle the grind of a full season? Keep in mind the following players have yet to complete a full college season at Texas:
Mitchell Daly
Trey Faltine
Tanner Witt
Aaron Nixon
Cam Williams
Mike Antico
Douglas Hodo
Ivan Melendez
Silas Ardoin
Pete Hansen
Palmer Wenzel
Lucas Gordon
And the list goes on…
And they’re going through a season filled with COVID-19 protocols and unusual challenges. Will they hit a wall at some point? We’ll see. Beyond that I’m still not totally in on this bullpen, but that could change if Pete Hansen joins it for weekends after tonight’s midweek start. Tristan Stevens has proved me wrong this season. Not because he’s excelling and his stuff is playing well. Rather, I wondered if he’d be able to handle a starter’s workload after being limited to a fireman-type role last season. I still kind of wonder if the Saturday and Sunday starting roles have some rocky moments, but I really like both players. Basically, I’m nitpicking.
5) So much going on in a single football clip…
I’ll admit because of how much has been going on with the basketball program and weekends filled with day trips to Duncanville for AAU events and long days at The Disch, Texas football has fallen almost entirely out of my already limited mental range recently. Perhaps it was the COVID pause or perhaps it’s the lack of actually seeing anything in person. I don’t know if it’s sad… actually, I do know. It is sad this play came across Twitter and excited me so much and created its own loud response throughout the Longhorn Twitterverse because it speaks to how limited access is to anything Longhorn football right now while the rest of the country, basically, operates differently. Bijan Robinson - with a surprising cameo from Brendan Schooler - screamed a reminder at me like, ‘Oh, yeah! Football! Yeah! It’s happening!’
(read that in Kool-Aid man voice. Oh yeah!)
Robinson’s vision and cutting ability remain ridiculously awesome. Check out Jake Majors grabbing some syrup for his pancake and then keep your eyes on how much ground Schooler covers before delivering a physical hit on Robinson as he’s about to casually go out of bounds. A lot of fun, exciting stuff happening on a single play, which included the pre-snap motion Sarkisian tortured defenses with at Alabama.
6) Chris Beard and company aren’t messing around…
When I first started outlining this column yesterday, I didn’t anticipate Chris Beard and Texas adding two of the top available transfers in a single day. I knew Texas had some players set to return, and I knew it was only a matter of time before the NCAA Transfer Portal delivered the first addition to the Longhorns. But like Clint Eastwood in a Western, Beard and his staff delivered two loud shots to win a shootout in what is very much the Wild Wild West of recruiting.
Kentucky transfer Devin Askew and Utah transfer Timmy Allen are both Longhorns. The former enrolled early to start at point guard as a freshman last season for Kentucky and the latter is a two-time All-Pac-12 selection. It’s a clear sign of things to come. This coaching staff doesn’t mess around. Whether it’s high school or Transfer Portal recruiting, it is going after the best and it’s going to get the job done. As long as this staff stays together, talent acquisition will never be a problem.
7) Scanning the rest of the sports globe....
--- Last night in seven innings against Trevor Bauer, the Rockies had a xBA of .033. Their only hit against the new Dodgers ace was a swinging bunt. If you play fantasy sports or gamble on baseball, you would earn a lot of money simply betting against the Rockies on the road and especially in the immediate series after they leave Coors Field. They flat out suck, have no hope and leaving altitude for another time zone makes them even worse.
---- So far this season, Shohei Ohtani has hit a ball 119.0 MPH (hardest in baseball), thrown a pitch 101.2 MPH and beat out a routine grounder to shortstop with a 29.5 ft/second sprint speed, which is elite. If the Angels allowed/wanted him to, he could play outfield at a high level too. We could be watching the player with the best tools to ever play baseball.
Make no mistake, I’m not saying Ohtani is the best player to play Major League Baseball. Obviously, he’s played just 277 career MLB games with 13 pitching starts. However, in terms of pure baseball tools and scouting grades for those tools, we’ve never seen anything like Ohtani. EVER. He can hit the ball as hard or harder than anyone in baseball, can throw the ball off the mound or from the outfield as hard or harder than anyone in baseball, and can run as fast or faster than anyone in baseball. Think about that for a moment. That’s amazing.
Hopefully, he stays healthy for a full season because at age 26, he’s just now entering his prime years and baseball is a lot more fun with Feats of Ohtani.
--- The Astros recently sent him to the Alternate Site - MLB needs a better name for that - because they didn’t need a fifth starter, but fans should still be very encouraged by Cristian Javier. His average fastball velocity is up from 92.2 MPH to 93.5 MPH and his slider is generating even more whiffs. I’ve always seen some relief profile in Javier because of the stuff, delivery and past walk rates. He’s only thrown 8.2 innings in two starts. But there could be something special there for the Astros, and they’ve done a good job of developing the starting pitchers they can keep healthy.
--- As a Pirates fan, seeing Tyler Glasnow, Gerrit Cole, and Joe Musgrove ranked Nos. 1, 2 and 4 on the current Fangraphs fWAR pitching leaderboard is… well, it’s not creating a bunch of warm fuzzies inside me. Tampa Bay’s development job with Glasnow remains one of the most impressive in recent professional baseball history. He looked like a lost cause because his unique 6-9 frame prevented him from consistently repeating his delivery and throwing strikes until he arrived in Tampa Bay and was matched with 6-8 pitching coach Kyle Snyder.
--- Considering Jose Mourinho is sucking the life out of my Tottenham experiences, I’m especially looking forward to the start of Austin FC’s season. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the city - my city - reacts to having a professional team. So far, it seems like there’s the potential for a fantastic bond between Austin and its first major professional team.
That said, as a proud season ticket holder do I get to act like the Longhorn boosters I hear about? When it is okay for me to suggest sacking the manager? Kidding. Kind of.
--- I don’t want any part of a NBA season with the Utah freaking Jazz in first place in the Western Conference until that season ends with the Jazz crashing and burning in the playoffs in spectacularly agonizing fashion. And then Vernon Maxwell tweets a bunch about.
8) Anything and everything…
--- Happy two weeks post-Moderna shot No. 2 to me. I didn’t wake up glowing or with superhero powers. But I did wake up with the urge to get 21-year-old drunk on 6th street and let out over a year’s worth of pandemic frustration by making a complete and total ass of myself.
What am I looking forward to most? Eating out again. I’ll have to adjust to being in charge of a one-year-old now, but we’ll figure it out. I’d be lying if I said I had time to watch television or movies the last couple months. But I’m going to a movie theater as soon as possible and I don’t care what’s on the screen. I just want to be there.
--- Told Jack he was taking a football team photo so he decided to look tough. Can’t smile when you’re a tough guy.
Ongoing negotiations about the Treaty of the Bone.
Jack is getting better at understanding how to pat Willie instead of grabbing his skin/hair. When he does it correctly, Willie licks him. I have no idea how he knows to do that, but he knows. And it’s awesome.
--- If you’re like me and appreciate a good hazy or juicy IPA, everything I’ve tried in that category from Untitled Art is liquid gold. I don’t see it in many places, but my Sunrise MiniMart/Bottle Shop - Sam is the best - always gets some.
---
9) The best thing I read this week is from… Bloomberg Businessweek: Bill Hwang Had $20 Billion, Then Lost It All in Two Days
Drs. Jimmy & Josh Myers are the father/son owners of The Timothy Center here in Austin. Both are rabid UT fans, and both could use counseling themselves due to all the stress that this love of the Horns has generated.
The Timothy Center is unique in that it is the only Christian counseling facility in the Austin area that provides one-on-one counseling, couples therapy, an Intensive Outpatient programs for those teens and adults needing more concentrated help, medication management services, and one of the largest sexual addiction treatment programs in the central Texas area.
Another aspect of the Timothy Center is that all of these services are covered by most major insurance policies. Faith-based counseling, faith-based medication management, all covered by insurance is as rare in this area as an undefeated season by…well, you get the idea.
We have offices in south Austin, north near the outlet mall between Round Rock and Georgetown, and our main office about a mile north of the Arboretum on Jollyville Rd. Of course, right now, with the pandemic still raging, all of our adult services can be accessed in an online format.
If you should ever need our services, just give us a call at our main number 512-331-2700 or check out our website at www.timothycenter.com.
Alright, the writing...
1) Texas Baseball demands your attention…
If you’ve been here a while, you know my heart is laced with 108 stitches. Not literally, of course. That would be scary and extremely unusual. You get the point. I love the big three sports - football, basketball, and baseball. Clearly, I write about all three. But my heart beats with a special affection for baseball.
Undoubtedly, this website, message board and fan base are about football overwhelmingly more than anything else. Football is king on the Forty Acres, and it’s often king of our content. However, this Texas Baseball team doesn’t just deserve your attention. Texas demands it.
Since its embarrassing and frustrating opening weekend in Arlington, when it was smoked by three top-five teams after being unable to pick up a bat or ball all week because of the winter storm of the century, the No. 3 Longhorns are 26-5. They’ve yet to lose a weekend series in 2021. They’re on top of the Big 12 standings at 10-2, have won nine-straight games and are 18-2 at home.
“I think a lot of people would expect there to be like a panic button hit like, ‘Ah, shit we’re 0-3.’ And there was no feeling like that whatsoever. It was a lot of maturity that went with it. It was a lot of, you know, really taking a hard look in the mirror and saying, ‘What do we need to do to get better?’ And I was really proud to be a part of this team at that moment because that takes a lot of maturity,” said Zach Zubia ahead of the team’s series versus South Carolina. “It takes a lot of wisdom to be able to digest that without really panicking, without really having a freakout moment. And I think that was really beneficial for us. And I think it's shown. I think you said what, 8-2. Right? That's pretty good if you ask me, but I think that going forward we're just gonna have to keep on keeping that same mature mentality and approach towards winning and losing.”
Why are the Longhorns winning so much? In order to understand this Texas team, you have to appreciate and understand what’s going on between the ears and when games aren’t being played. That team approach and maturity coming out of the opening weekend hasn’t disappeared. Instead of the Longhorns responding to getting their butts kicked with one strong week, they’ve proven the 8-2 mark over those next 10 games wasn’t a fluke. This approach mentally is who they are.
“I've been involved with a lot of great teams, and a lot of great players. And I don't know if I've ever had a group of 15 to 17 hitters that are here when I'm here. When I get here early, when Tulo and coach Miller get here early, it's almost a guilt trip if you're not there just because they each put so much pressure on themselves to put their work in,” said David Pierce following a Saturday win versus Oklahoma. “When you have two coaches in there throwing two hours before regular batting practice and giving them everything they have, and you have everybody else preparing. It's just kind of the culture that we're building and what we want.
“We want guys to show up and then have to back them off more so than encouraging them and motivating them to prepare and they're buying into the work. If we put in the work, we will have success and I just want to see them continue and really grow and develop not only in their personal development but with each other. I mean, we talked today about... we were 1-0 in the series last night, and it was a pretty harsh meeting with the hitting coaches, with the team because they didn't feel like they were competing in the cage work today. And then we followed up with our team meeting of just centering our team and making sure that we stay ready to compete and don't get complacent.”
This isn’t just a team that works occasionally or when things are going poorly. The Longhorns consider showing up every single day to put in extra work who they are. No one tells them to show up early or stay late because it’s understood and the foundation of the program’s culture under Pierce and his coaching staff. And when a team has that collective bond, a deep belief in team success, best players that are the best workers and talent to go with it, special things can happen.
Special things are happening. And they’re happening because UT’s elite mental approach is so fantastically consistent. College baseball is a grind. Teams play 50-plus games. It’s easy to go through the motions during a midweek game, fall asleep versus a lesser opponent on the weekend or get a big head after an impressive win. After all, these guys aren’t professionals. They are young student-athletes and they’re also encountering a grind filled with COVID protocols too. But the Longhorns have managed to develop and treasure an identity built on competing and winning. And they don’t care how it looks, how it happens or who does it. Friday’s win versus Kansas State was a perfect example.
From talking to the Longhorns and hearing about their approach, you’d never know they’re the No. 3 team in the country. Good luck finding a hint of complacency or satisfaction in that clubhouse. And with upcoming Big 12 series at No. 13 Oklahoma State, versus No. 8 Texas Tech, at No. 12 TCU and versus West Virginia, the Longhorns’ mental approach and ability to win games in a variety of ways is going to be tested with a conference title on the line. They won’t survive that gauntlet unscathed. Expecting that is being unrealistic. But they’re going to be ready to compete each time they’re in a dugout. And that’s why this season could truly be a special one.
2) Another quote that explains a lot about this team and program…
Mike Antico’s struggles earlier in the season are well-chronicled and caught the attention of many Texas fans who wondered why he was in the lineup. The Longhorns, besides the occasional off day, didn’t flinch. Their belief in Antico’s ability, after a fantastic fall offseason and preseason and his long track record of hitting at a high level at St. John’s, didn't waver. And they were rewarded. However, they were rewarded because their coaches connected with the graduate transfer in a way that allowed him to take pressure off himself and just start playing like he has his entire career.
“But for me personally, I owe my life to these coaches, man. Coach Pierce giving me the opportunity every day to play center field. It's a special thing, you know. I'm coming from out of town, different school or whatever. He hasn't had to stick with me through and through and he has,” said Antico after Friday’s win against Kansas State. “So, I'm so thankful for him. You know, and then with that, I have coach Tulo and coach Miller. They kind of brought me in the other day and were like, ‘What do we have to do to get you [to be you]? We want you to be the best player that you can be.’ And obviously, up to this point so far, I haven't been playing up to my potential... they want the best for me. They think that I could do anything that I would like to do on a baseball field. So, they kind of brought me in and said, ‘Let's all get on the same page here. And what do we have to do?’ And it was just a couple small adjustments with the swing and besides that they were just like, be yourself. Be who you were when he showed up all through the fall, all through the early spring. Just just be yourself, man. Because you’ve been playing this game a long time and you have no reason to be thinking about anything.
“So to be honest with you, just today more than any day just tried to go in with a clear head. I was talking to some family this week, and they said, ‘Mike, you've been playing baseball since you could walk. What are you thinking about? Just go.’ So, I tried to play freely tonight and I think it worked very well for me. But like I started with, I owe it to these coaches, man. They're they really helped me and without them I wouldn't be sitting here with you guys tonight. And I wouldn't be in the position I am because they've helped me throughout this whole season this whole year.”
That’s candid, emotional, real stuff, man. What does a fantastic connection between player and coaching staff sound like? It sounds like that quote above. And it’s an excellent example of the work this coaching staff does to go beyond and connect with the mental side of players to forge relationships and bring out their true talent. By the way, Antico is now hitting .273/.370/.591 in Big 12 play with a team-high 17 RBI and as many walks (7) as strikeouts.
3) A couple examples of development happening…
Last week when asked about adjustments he made, Ivan Melendez mentioned his hand positioning and stance being adjusted recently, which has allowed him to barrel the baseball out in front more and make better contact. To the untrained eye, the adjustments probably wouldn’t be noticeable. They’re subtle (the LHN telecast last night did a great job of breaking them down) but have been highly impactful. Watch Melendez swing now and you’ll notice his lower half working in better harmony with his top half and his hand placement better allows him to get to the barrel to the baseball more consistently and on a better, well-timed path.
Because of some things he was feeling and what Troy Tulowitzki is seeing, Melendez was able to implement these changes to tap into his lower half strength and athleticism more; it takes a smart, willing hitter to pull this off in the middle of a busy season and he can’t do it without coaching. Such adjustments are typical during a pro season. But a college season? That doesn’t happen as often because the coaching is inconsistent across the sport.
On the mound last night, Tanner Witt fired his best fastball of the season following a shaky outing this past weekend. A plus-plus athlete with a gift for repeating his delivery despite his 6-6 frame, Witt threw with more conviction, better timing, and a better angle. Heck, he didn’t look like the same guy last night in a good way, and it wasn’t an accident. Texas wanted him to look like a different guy and tap into his athleticism more in an attacking method. That’s coaching and development.
4) What could stand in the way of Texas and a deep postseason run?
The Longhorns have all the ingredients to make a deep postseason run. They have a Friday ace and starting rotation performing well; they play good defense; top-to-bottom they have a solid, dynamic lineup capable of scoring runs in a variety of ways; they have leadership in coaching. Sounds like a great team, right?
Something I’ll be following closely moving ahead: how does Texas handle the grind of a full season? Keep in mind the following players have yet to complete a full college season at Texas:
Mitchell Daly
Trey Faltine
Tanner Witt
Aaron Nixon
Cam Williams
Mike Antico
Douglas Hodo
Ivan Melendez
Silas Ardoin
Pete Hansen
Palmer Wenzel
Lucas Gordon
And the list goes on…
And they’re going through a season filled with COVID-19 protocols and unusual challenges. Will they hit a wall at some point? We’ll see. Beyond that I’m still not totally in on this bullpen, but that could change if Pete Hansen joins it for weekends after tonight’s midweek start. Tristan Stevens has proved me wrong this season. Not because he’s excelling and his stuff is playing well. Rather, I wondered if he’d be able to handle a starter’s workload after being limited to a fireman-type role last season. I still kind of wonder if the Saturday and Sunday starting roles have some rocky moments, but I really like both players. Basically, I’m nitpicking.
5) So much going on in a single football clip…
I’ll admit because of how much has been going on with the basketball program and weekends filled with day trips to Duncanville for AAU events and long days at The Disch, Texas football has fallen almost entirely out of my already limited mental range recently. Perhaps it was the COVID pause or perhaps it’s the lack of actually seeing anything in person. I don’t know if it’s sad… actually, I do know. It is sad this play came across Twitter and excited me so much and created its own loud response throughout the Longhorn Twitterverse because it speaks to how limited access is to anything Longhorn football right now while the rest of the country, basically, operates differently. Bijan Robinson - with a surprising cameo from Brendan Schooler - screamed a reminder at me like, ‘Oh, yeah! Football! Yeah! It’s happening!’
(read that in Kool-Aid man voice. Oh yeah!)
Robinson’s vision and cutting ability remain ridiculously awesome. Check out Jake Majors grabbing some syrup for his pancake and then keep your eyes on how much ground Schooler covers before delivering a physical hit on Robinson as he’s about to casually go out of bounds. A lot of fun, exciting stuff happening on a single play, which included the pre-snap motion Sarkisian tortured defenses with at Alabama.
6) Chris Beard and company aren’t messing around…
When I first started outlining this column yesterday, I didn’t anticipate Chris Beard and Texas adding two of the top available transfers in a single day. I knew Texas had some players set to return, and I knew it was only a matter of time before the NCAA Transfer Portal delivered the first addition to the Longhorns. But like Clint Eastwood in a Western, Beard and his staff delivered two loud shots to win a shootout in what is very much the Wild Wild West of recruiting.
Kentucky transfer Devin Askew and Utah transfer Timmy Allen are both Longhorns. The former enrolled early to start at point guard as a freshman last season for Kentucky and the latter is a two-time All-Pac-12 selection. It’s a clear sign of things to come. This coaching staff doesn’t mess around. Whether it’s high school or Transfer Portal recruiting, it is going after the best and it’s going to get the job done. As long as this staff stays together, talent acquisition will never be a problem.
7) Scanning the rest of the sports globe....
--- Last night in seven innings against Trevor Bauer, the Rockies had a xBA of .033. Their only hit against the new Dodgers ace was a swinging bunt. If you play fantasy sports or gamble on baseball, you would earn a lot of money simply betting against the Rockies on the road and especially in the immediate series after they leave Coors Field. They flat out suck, have no hope and leaving altitude for another time zone makes them even worse.
---- So far this season, Shohei Ohtani has hit a ball 119.0 MPH (hardest in baseball), thrown a pitch 101.2 MPH and beat out a routine grounder to shortstop with a 29.5 ft/second sprint speed, which is elite. If the Angels allowed/wanted him to, he could play outfield at a high level too. We could be watching the player with the best tools to ever play baseball.
Make no mistake, I’m not saying Ohtani is the best player to play Major League Baseball. Obviously, he’s played just 277 career MLB games with 13 pitching starts. However, in terms of pure baseball tools and scouting grades for those tools, we’ve never seen anything like Ohtani. EVER. He can hit the ball as hard or harder than anyone in baseball, can throw the ball off the mound or from the outfield as hard or harder than anyone in baseball, and can run as fast or faster than anyone in baseball. Think about that for a moment. That’s amazing.
Hopefully, he stays healthy for a full season because at age 26, he’s just now entering his prime years and baseball is a lot more fun with Feats of Ohtani.
--- The Astros recently sent him to the Alternate Site - MLB needs a better name for that - because they didn’t need a fifth starter, but fans should still be very encouraged by Cristian Javier. His average fastball velocity is up from 92.2 MPH to 93.5 MPH and his slider is generating even more whiffs. I’ve always seen some relief profile in Javier because of the stuff, delivery and past walk rates. He’s only thrown 8.2 innings in two starts. But there could be something special there for the Astros, and they’ve done a good job of developing the starting pitchers they can keep healthy.
--- As a Pirates fan, seeing Tyler Glasnow, Gerrit Cole, and Joe Musgrove ranked Nos. 1, 2 and 4 on the current Fangraphs fWAR pitching leaderboard is… well, it’s not creating a bunch of warm fuzzies inside me. Tampa Bay’s development job with Glasnow remains one of the most impressive in recent professional baseball history. He looked like a lost cause because his unique 6-9 frame prevented him from consistently repeating his delivery and throwing strikes until he arrived in Tampa Bay and was matched with 6-8 pitching coach Kyle Snyder.
--- Considering Jose Mourinho is sucking the life out of my Tottenham experiences, I’m especially looking forward to the start of Austin FC’s season. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the city - my city - reacts to having a professional team. So far, it seems like there’s the potential for a fantastic bond between Austin and its first major professional team.
That said, as a proud season ticket holder do I get to act like the Longhorn boosters I hear about? When it is okay for me to suggest sacking the manager? Kidding. Kind of.
--- I don’t want any part of a NBA season with the Utah freaking Jazz in first place in the Western Conference until that season ends with the Jazz crashing and burning in the playoffs in spectacularly agonizing fashion. And then Vernon Maxwell tweets a bunch about.
8) Anything and everything…
--- Happy two weeks post-Moderna shot No. 2 to me. I didn’t wake up glowing or with superhero powers. But I did wake up with the urge to get 21-year-old drunk on 6th street and let out over a year’s worth of pandemic frustration by making a complete and total ass of myself.
What am I looking forward to most? Eating out again. I’ll have to adjust to being in charge of a one-year-old now, but we’ll figure it out. I’d be lying if I said I had time to watch television or movies the last couple months. But I’m going to a movie theater as soon as possible and I don’t care what’s on the screen. I just want to be there.
--- Told Jack he was taking a football team photo so he decided to look tough. Can’t smile when you’re a tough guy.
Ongoing negotiations about the Treaty of the Bone.
Jack is getting better at understanding how to pat Willie instead of grabbing his skin/hair. When he does it correctly, Willie licks him. I have no idea how he knows to do that, but he knows. And it’s awesome.
--- If you’re like me and appreciate a good hazy or juicy IPA, everything I’ve tried in that category from Untitled Art is liquid gold. I don’t see it in many places, but my Sunrise MiniMart/Bottle Shop - Sam is the best - always gets some.
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9) The best thing I read this week is from… Bloomberg Businessweek: Bill Hwang Had $20 Billion, Then Lost It All in Two Days
