Greetings from Omaha. The Longhorns stayed alive, and I’m still here. Let’s talk about that and much more in a different style of Wednesday column:
Photo: @TexasBaseball
--- I was struggling with the idea of how to potentially describe the 2021 Texas Baseball team if it went 0-2, again, in Omaha. It would have been a truly disappointing end to a remarkable and excellent regular season. And it would have been an unfair end because I truly believed the 2021 Longhorns were capable of winning games at the College World Series and much different than the 2018 bunch that was completely outclassed.
Fortunately, I won’t have to. Yesterday was a huge moment for David Pierce and the future of the program. The Longhorns showed they truly belonged in Omaha and could go toe-to-toe with the game’s best, most talented teams. Make no mistake, eliminating Tennessee, and especially the way the game played out, showed the program has undoubtedly made major progress since 2018 and is poised to make return trips with an ability to compete for a title in the future.
--- Good for Pierce. Imagine the conversation right now if Texas lost yesterday. Fair or not, much of it would have focused on Pierce’s 0-4 record in Omaha as the head coach of the Longhorns and not the two Omaha trips and Big 12 titles in the four full seasons he’s been at Texas. Think about that again for a moment. That’s an impressive stretch for a coach coming from Tulane and following the legendary Augie Garrido at a time when the program was down.
--- Speaking of the program being down, I think we can officially bury whatever the hell the second half of the 2019 season was. I think one of the true marks of good coaching is being able to quickly identify program issues and immediately correct them and change the trajectory of the program. Since the end of the 2019 season, the Longhorns are 62-19.
--- Watching Tanner Witt as a starting pitcher the next two years is going to be a treat. Early this season, Witt primarily pitched with his fastball and curveball, which was more than enough coming out of the bullpen considering his heater has some explosive life in the low to mid-90’s and his curve is routinely a plus pitch with excellent spin. Now, Witt has full confidence in throwing a changeup to lefties, which looks like a future above-average offering and he was even sinking his fastball some against lefties yesterday; whether that was intentional or unintentional I’m not sure.
He’s averaging 11.8 K/9, batters are hitting just .195 against him and he lowered his ERA to 2.75 yesterday, which was an excellent example of how smooth his transition should be to a starting pitcher because he has the athleticism to repeat his delivery and full arsenal of pitches to work through lineups multiple times. If he takes the path I believe he will, it's possible and maybe even likely he'll be discussed as a top five overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft.
--- Looking ahead to the matchup against Virginia on Thursday (6:00 p.m. on ESPN2), I have a tough time imagining Virginia being able to recover from losing to Mississippi State the way it did last night. Virginia carried a no-hitter and 4-0 lead into the eighth inning and ended up losing 6-5. That’s demoralizing.
I would expect either right-handed reliever/rare starter Matt Wyatt or lefty Nate Savino to start against Texas. Wyatt tossed 3.0 shutout innings to close Sunday’s win against Tennessee and Savino threw an inning last night in relief. Wyatt has better stuff, and had success in the postseason in long, good outings with 5.2 innings against both DBU and South Carolina. But it’s asking a lot of him to throw deep into a game.
The Virginia lineup is very competitive and puts the ball in play at a high rate, but it’s not very threatening beyond the first four hitters.
--- As for Texas, I’d be surprised if Pete Hansen doesn’t start, especially with Cole Quintanilla and Aaron Nixon fully rested behind him. Unfortunately for the Longhorns, I felt their best path to the championship series was facing Mississippi State on Thursday and then Virginia. A fully rested and ready Mississippi State waiting Friday for Virginia or Texas is going to be a very, very tough task to beat twice. If Mississippi State played Thursday and had to use its third starter, I think the Longhorns would have sent it packing. Now, I think Texas beats Virginia but beating Mississippi State twice is too tough of an ask.
--- For those of you who hear about things like pitcher shape and spin and wonder why it’s important and what it does Mississippi State starter Will Bednar was a perfect example. Although Bednar was throwing 92-96 MPH, hitters were seeing a pitch that acted like it was a few MPH harder because of the efficient and high spin of the pitch. Texas hitters were also facing a very unique spinning fastball because deep in the hitting zone, it had rising and cutting movement, a highly unusual combo to see from a true four-seamer.
When a future first-round pick has the command of that, with the help of a massive strike zone, and his slider working, it can be a disaster for hitters to adjust to. It’s also why Witt’s curveball is such a weapon - it’s an extremely high spin pitch, allowing him to throw the pitch like a fastball but spin it so much that it can sometimes buckle hitters with its depth in the 74-78 MPH range.
--- Speaking of the strike zone, it’s time for me to complain about two things in Omaha. First, I’m beyond tired of college baseball refusing to hold umpires accountable for being bad at their jobs. Since I first started covering the sport, the strike zones have always been terrible, inconsistent and often too large. Always. It has never improved. And nobody in charge cares because it’s the same guys showing up in Omaha to umpire the games every year. There is zero accountability.
Yesterday, the crew umpiring the Texas and Tennessee game decided to make it about them the entire game. A third-base umpire should never walk across the field and eject an assistant coach in the opposite dugout. If whatever is happening over there is that bad, the home plate umpire will take care of it. The strike zone was horrendous and the home plate umpire was more concerned about telling on-deck hitters and hitters waiting for a pitching change to back up away from the plate rather than fix his terrible zone. He also got on to Texas for celebrating a three-run homer… in the College World Series… and barely anyone came out of the dugout initially.
The sport deserves better than refusing to hold any of these guys accountable and allowing them to suck repeatedly on the game’s biggest stage.
--- Secondly, the limited access for media here in Omaha also sucks. All year, I totally understood the Zoom interviews and COVID-19 protocols. But here in Omaha, the only people kept in this bizarre “bubble” are the media. We have zero in-person access to players or coaches. Meanwhile, players after the game hug fans and family in the stands; take photos with fans; go to the team hotel and shake hands, mingle with fans, or go out on the town for a meal or to do what college kids do; and coaches have the ability to do whatever the heck they want and hang out with whoever they want.
So, what the hell is the point of the media having no in-person access to ask a few questions? The NCAA is again being stupid and lazy. And for those of you saying you can ask all your questions over Zoom, it’s not the same, especially when you’re one of only three people covering the event in-person and share a Zoom call with 15 other people who barely covered the team at all and suddenly want to ask a bunch of questions.
--- It didn’t take a week for Major League Baseball’s in-game pitcher checks for sticky stuff to be abused by an opposing manager and quickly devolve into a mess and a distraction. On a day when the game’s unquestioned No. 1 overall prospect made his debut and homered, every headline about MLB was about the sticky stuff checks.
I suppose being in Philadelphia has broken Joe Girardi. Already this season, he’s declared he won’t disclose injury information because it’s a competitive advantage for someone else. Keep in mind there are advance scouts who know every little detail about every opponent better than a media member ever could. Now, Girardi is asking Scherzer to be checked three times for sticky stuff. Lame. Pathetic. Clown show.
--- As a Rockets fan, I can’t complain about last night’s NBA Draft Lottery considering there was nearly a 50% chance the Rockets fell out of the lottery completely. Houston securing the No. 2 pick is a huge deal even if it means the Cade Cunningham dream is likely over. C’mon, Detroit. Pull another Darko.
While Houston’s main options are all great - Evan Mobley, Jalen Green, Jalen Suggs - it’s a tough decision to make. Does Mobley fit alongside Christian Wood? Once upon a time, there was a real debate whether Green was the top recruit in the country and not Cunningham and he seems like the best roster fit considering he’s a true combo guard wired to score. Suggs was fantastic at Gonzaga, but would he fit alongside John Wall? Good questions to have, certainly. Many evaluators believed Cunningham and Green would have been selected No. 1 overall in last year’s draft if eligible.
---
Good for Jericho Sims. I’m glad he’s turning heads at the NBA Draft Combine and showing more than just his elite testing and measurement numbers, which were about as good as it gets. Sims still possesses some offensive ability that hasn’t truly been tapped into or shown consistently. Regardless, he’s helping himself become an appealing second-round option for NBA teams.
--- The first road trip away from the little man and family is a tough adjustment. I miss Jack and there’s a feeling of guilt because I know my wife is tackling so many tasks and I’m in Omaha watching baseball. Such is life, though. Thank goodness for FaceTime.
--- The best thing I read this week… is from The Guardian: Inside the Mind of a Murderer
Photo: @TexasBaseball
--- I was struggling with the idea of how to potentially describe the 2021 Texas Baseball team if it went 0-2, again, in Omaha. It would have been a truly disappointing end to a remarkable and excellent regular season. And it would have been an unfair end because I truly believed the 2021 Longhorns were capable of winning games at the College World Series and much different than the 2018 bunch that was completely outclassed.
Fortunately, I won’t have to. Yesterday was a huge moment for David Pierce and the future of the program. The Longhorns showed they truly belonged in Omaha and could go toe-to-toe with the game’s best, most talented teams. Make no mistake, eliminating Tennessee, and especially the way the game played out, showed the program has undoubtedly made major progress since 2018 and is poised to make return trips with an ability to compete for a title in the future.
--- Good for Pierce. Imagine the conversation right now if Texas lost yesterday. Fair or not, much of it would have focused on Pierce’s 0-4 record in Omaha as the head coach of the Longhorns and not the two Omaha trips and Big 12 titles in the four full seasons he’s been at Texas. Think about that again for a moment. That’s an impressive stretch for a coach coming from Tulane and following the legendary Augie Garrido at a time when the program was down.
--- Speaking of the program being down, I think we can officially bury whatever the hell the second half of the 2019 season was. I think one of the true marks of good coaching is being able to quickly identify program issues and immediately correct them and change the trajectory of the program. Since the end of the 2019 season, the Longhorns are 62-19.
--- Watching Tanner Witt as a starting pitcher the next two years is going to be a treat. Early this season, Witt primarily pitched with his fastball and curveball, which was more than enough coming out of the bullpen considering his heater has some explosive life in the low to mid-90’s and his curve is routinely a plus pitch with excellent spin. Now, Witt has full confidence in throwing a changeup to lefties, which looks like a future above-average offering and he was even sinking his fastball some against lefties yesterday; whether that was intentional or unintentional I’m not sure.
He’s averaging 11.8 K/9, batters are hitting just .195 against him and he lowered his ERA to 2.75 yesterday, which was an excellent example of how smooth his transition should be to a starting pitcher because he has the athleticism to repeat his delivery and full arsenal of pitches to work through lineups multiple times. If he takes the path I believe he will, it's possible and maybe even likely he'll be discussed as a top five overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft.
--- Looking ahead to the matchup against Virginia on Thursday (6:00 p.m. on ESPN2), I have a tough time imagining Virginia being able to recover from losing to Mississippi State the way it did last night. Virginia carried a no-hitter and 4-0 lead into the eighth inning and ended up losing 6-5. That’s demoralizing.
I would expect either right-handed reliever/rare starter Matt Wyatt or lefty Nate Savino to start against Texas. Wyatt tossed 3.0 shutout innings to close Sunday’s win against Tennessee and Savino threw an inning last night in relief. Wyatt has better stuff, and had success in the postseason in long, good outings with 5.2 innings against both DBU and South Carolina. But it’s asking a lot of him to throw deep into a game.
The Virginia lineup is very competitive and puts the ball in play at a high rate, but it’s not very threatening beyond the first four hitters.
--- As for Texas, I’d be surprised if Pete Hansen doesn’t start, especially with Cole Quintanilla and Aaron Nixon fully rested behind him. Unfortunately for the Longhorns, I felt their best path to the championship series was facing Mississippi State on Thursday and then Virginia. A fully rested and ready Mississippi State waiting Friday for Virginia or Texas is going to be a very, very tough task to beat twice. If Mississippi State played Thursday and had to use its third starter, I think the Longhorns would have sent it packing. Now, I think Texas beats Virginia but beating Mississippi State twice is too tough of an ask.
--- For those of you who hear about things like pitcher shape and spin and wonder why it’s important and what it does Mississippi State starter Will Bednar was a perfect example. Although Bednar was throwing 92-96 MPH, hitters were seeing a pitch that acted like it was a few MPH harder because of the efficient and high spin of the pitch. Texas hitters were also facing a very unique spinning fastball because deep in the hitting zone, it had rising and cutting movement, a highly unusual combo to see from a true four-seamer.
When a future first-round pick has the command of that, with the help of a massive strike zone, and his slider working, it can be a disaster for hitters to adjust to. It’s also why Witt’s curveball is such a weapon - it’s an extremely high spin pitch, allowing him to throw the pitch like a fastball but spin it so much that it can sometimes buckle hitters with its depth in the 74-78 MPH range.
--- Speaking of the strike zone, it’s time for me to complain about two things in Omaha. First, I’m beyond tired of college baseball refusing to hold umpires accountable for being bad at their jobs. Since I first started covering the sport, the strike zones have always been terrible, inconsistent and often too large. Always. It has never improved. And nobody in charge cares because it’s the same guys showing up in Omaha to umpire the games every year. There is zero accountability.
Yesterday, the crew umpiring the Texas and Tennessee game decided to make it about them the entire game. A third-base umpire should never walk across the field and eject an assistant coach in the opposite dugout. If whatever is happening over there is that bad, the home plate umpire will take care of it. The strike zone was horrendous and the home plate umpire was more concerned about telling on-deck hitters and hitters waiting for a pitching change to back up away from the plate rather than fix his terrible zone. He also got on to Texas for celebrating a three-run homer… in the College World Series… and barely anyone came out of the dugout initially.
The sport deserves better than refusing to hold any of these guys accountable and allowing them to suck repeatedly on the game’s biggest stage.
--- Secondly, the limited access for media here in Omaha also sucks. All year, I totally understood the Zoom interviews and COVID-19 protocols. But here in Omaha, the only people kept in this bizarre “bubble” are the media. We have zero in-person access to players or coaches. Meanwhile, players after the game hug fans and family in the stands; take photos with fans; go to the team hotel and shake hands, mingle with fans, or go out on the town for a meal or to do what college kids do; and coaches have the ability to do whatever the heck they want and hang out with whoever they want.
So, what the hell is the point of the media having no in-person access to ask a few questions? The NCAA is again being stupid and lazy. And for those of you saying you can ask all your questions over Zoom, it’s not the same, especially when you’re one of only three people covering the event in-person and share a Zoom call with 15 other people who barely covered the team at all and suddenly want to ask a bunch of questions.
--- It didn’t take a week for Major League Baseball’s in-game pitcher checks for sticky stuff to be abused by an opposing manager and quickly devolve into a mess and a distraction. On a day when the game’s unquestioned No. 1 overall prospect made his debut and homered, every headline about MLB was about the sticky stuff checks.
I suppose being in Philadelphia has broken Joe Girardi. Already this season, he’s declared he won’t disclose injury information because it’s a competitive advantage for someone else. Keep in mind there are advance scouts who know every little detail about every opponent better than a media member ever could. Now, Girardi is asking Scherzer to be checked three times for sticky stuff. Lame. Pathetic. Clown show.
--- As a Rockets fan, I can’t complain about last night’s NBA Draft Lottery considering there was nearly a 50% chance the Rockets fell out of the lottery completely. Houston securing the No. 2 pick is a huge deal even if it means the Cade Cunningham dream is likely over. C’mon, Detroit. Pull another Darko.
While Houston’s main options are all great - Evan Mobley, Jalen Green, Jalen Suggs - it’s a tough decision to make. Does Mobley fit alongside Christian Wood? Once upon a time, there was a real debate whether Green was the top recruit in the country and not Cunningham and he seems like the best roster fit considering he’s a true combo guard wired to score. Suggs was fantastic at Gonzaga, but would he fit alongside John Wall? Good questions to have, certainly. Many evaluators believed Cunningham and Green would have been selected No. 1 overall in last year’s draft if eligible.
---
Good for Jericho Sims. I’m glad he’s turning heads at the NBA Draft Combine and showing more than just his elite testing and measurement numbers, which were about as good as it gets. Sims still possesses some offensive ability that hasn’t truly been tapped into or shown consistently. Regardless, he’s helping himself become an appealing second-round option for NBA teams.
--- The first road trip away from the little man and family is a tough adjustment. I miss Jack and there’s a feeling of guilt because I know my wife is tackling so many tasks and I’m in Omaha watching baseball. Such is life, though. Thank goodness for FaceTime.
--- The best thing I read this week… is from The Guardian: Inside the Mind of a Murderer
