2006 Aggie Baseball Season Preview
TAMABINPO's 2006 Aggie Baseball Preview
It's a new era in Aggie baseball.
It's been a long off-season and even more so as a result of a lackluster football season. I've been able to survive knowing that we have lots of new things coming to us on the horizon....an almost completely new coaching staff, new turf at Olsen Field, lots of new players, new jerseys....
Just about the only thing that will be the same is the number of incredibly supportive Aggie fans going through the turnstiles at Olsen.
Last year was a very disappointing season for A&M as we were coming off of a Super Regional appearance with a big portion of our team returning. We had a rough schedule but we just flat out couldn't hit. In 13 of our 25 losses we scored one run or fewer (including 5 shutouts). 5 of those games were decided by 1 run.
This isn't 2005 anymore and I'm done thinking about it. We have a good group of pitchers returning as well as a few strong arms we picked up along the way. The offense is going to be better and not by default either. We probably won't set any records but we're going to be a better team at the plate.
Here's the Table of Contents....
Roster
The New Coaching Staff
Returning Lettermen Stats
Who Are These Guys? (Transfers)
Summer League Recap
Old Ags In the Pros
Breakdown By Position
Schedule/Opponents
Printable Version of Season Preview (later today)Friday:
Northwestern State Preview2005 Roster
Alphabetical: Numerical:
Player Pos Cl-L B/T Wt/Ht # Player
============================================ ====================
46. Luke Anders LHP Fr-H L/L 6.6/210 1. Dalton, Parker
4. Boggs, Austin INF Jr-2 B/R 5.10/185 2. Buenger, Jess
34. Ben Brockman RHP Sr-T R/R 6.3/225 3. Stouffer, Blake
2. Buenger, Jess INF Fr-R B/R 5.10/175 4. Boggs, Austin
22. Chambless, Jordan RHP So-1 R/R 6.1/200 9. Hill, Ryan
12. Colligan, Kyle OF Fr-H R/R 5.11/180 11. Meyer, Jason
23. Corgan, Chance RHP So-1 R/R 6.2/180 12. Colligan, Kyle
25. Creps, Austin RHP Jr-2 R/R 6.2/180 13. Salazar, Jose
1. Dalton, Parker INF Jr-2 R/R 6.0/180 14. Stinson, Josh
37. Gerald, Evan RHP Fr-R R/R 6.3/220 17. Infante, John
24. Glover, Brandon OF So-1 L/L 6.1/190 18. Nicholson, Kyle
27. Hale, Adam P/OF Jr-T L/R 6.4/205 19. Stinson, Craig
42. Hering, Hart RHP Sr-S R/R 6.3/235 20. Rampy, Blake
30. Hicks, Scooter LHP Fr-H L/L 5.10/175 22. Chambless, Jordan
9. Hill, Ryan INF Sr-1 R/R 6.3/210 23. Corgan, Chance
17. Infante, John OF Sr-3 R/L 6.0/190 24. Glover, Brandon
48. Jackson, Spencer INF So-T R/R 6.1/220 25. Creps, Austin
11. Meyer, Jason LHP Jr-2 L/L 5.10/180 27. Hale, Adam
50. Newmann, David LHP Jr-T L/L 6.2/195 30. Hicks, Scooter
18. Nicholson, Kyle RHP Jr-2 R/R 5.11/185 31. Stein, Keith
20. Rampy, Blake RHP Jr-1 R/R 6.2/170 32. Sebek, Todd
13. Salazar, Jose INF Sr-T L/R 5.10/170 34. Brockman, Ben
32. Sebek, Todd OF So-1 R/R 6.0/175 35. Vasquez, Jake
36. Simon, Max RHP So-T R/R 6.4/210 36. Simon, Max
41. Starling, Travis RHP Fr-H R/R 5.10/170 37. Gerald, Evan
31. Stein, Keith OF So-1 L/R 5.10/165 38. Thebeau, Kyle
29. Stinson, Craig C Jr-2 R/R 6.3/205 39. Ueckert, Matt
14. Stinson, Josh C Jr-T B/R 6.2/205 41. Starling, Travis
3. Stouffer, Blake INF/OF So-S R/R 6.0/175 42. Hering, Hart
38. Thebeau, Kyle RHP Fr-H R/R 5.11/170 45. Vasquez, Anthony
39. Ueckert, Matt P/INF Jr-T L/L 6.5/240 46. Anders, Luke
45. Vasquez, Anthony P/OF Fr-H L/L 6.0/175 48. Jackson, Spencer
35. Vasquez, Jake C Jr-T R/R 6.1/200 50. Newmann, David
Returning Lettermen (14): A.Boggs (Pflugerville, Tx; Connally), J.Chambless (Corpus Christi,
Tx; Calallen), C.Corgan (Plano, Tx; Forney), A.Creps (Spring, Tx; Klein), P.Dalton
(Houston, Tx; Memorial), B.Glover, (McKinney, Tx; McKinney), R.Hill (San Antonio, Tx;
Reagan/St.Mary's), J.Infante (Coppell, Tx; Coppell), J.Meyer(Abilene, Tx; Cooper),
K.Nicholson (College Station, Tx; A&M Consolidated), B.Rampy (Tomball, Tx; Tomball),
T.Sebek (Kerrville, Tx; Tivy), K.Stein (College Station, Tx; A&M Consolidated),
C.Stinson (Cranston, RI; Bishop Hendricken),
Transfers (8): B.Brockman (Katy/Abilene Christian), A.Hale (Bellaire/Rice), S.Jackson
(Elkins/TCU), D.Newmann (Clear Creek/San Jacinto JC), J.Salazar (White/Sam Houston),
M.Simon (Clarendon CC), J.Stinson (Port Neches-Groves/Oklahoma/San Jacinto JC),
M.Ueckert (Bellaire/Rice), J.Vasquez (Diamond Bar, CA/Santa Ana CC)
Freshmen (8): L.Anders (College Station, Tx; A&M Consolidated), J.Buenger (Bellville, Tx;
Bellville), K.Colligan (Fort Bend, Tx; Dulles), E.Gerald (Amarillo, Tx; Tascosa),
S.Hicks (Jersey Village, Tx; Houston Christian), T.Starling (Yoakum, Tx; Yoakum),
K.Thebeau (Corpus Christi, Tx; Carroll), A.Vasquez (San Antonio, Tx; Reagan)
Squadsmen (2): H.Hering (Waco, Tx; Waco/Weatherford JC), B.Stouffer (San Antonio, Tx;
Alamo Heights)
Players Lost (19): A.Baldwin+, T.Bartek+, W.Carpenter, J.Cline+, D.Donaldson (TxSt), D.Frame
(SanJaqJC), L.Harughty, T.Hohman, A.Howes, C.Jones (CalSt-Fullerton), K.Marlatt+,
C.Mavroulis$, E.Paulson, C.Pennington$, J.Pouk+, R.Ray$, T.Soeder, J.Sokol, C.Turner+,
K.Whelan$
+-graduated $-drafted uniform # changeA few other small notes. 1.) There is no "i" in the spelling of Jordan Chambless. 2.) Parker Dalton is not the same guy as Dalton Parker or even Parker Daulton. 3.) There is only 1 "r" in Hart Hering's last name. 4.) Craig and Josh Stinson are not related and yes they both play the same position. 5.) Anthony and Jake Vaszquez are not related. Just wanted to throw that out there before confusion ensued.
The New Coaching Staff
from 12th Man MagazineFor the first time in most underclassmen's lifetime there will a new man leading the Fightin' Texas Aggie baseball team. Head coach Rob Childress (who will wear #29) certainly has some large shoes to fill but he comes to A&M with an incredible resume, highlighted with his stint with Nebraska as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. I wrote about Coach Childress just following his hiring, but I wanted to reiterate the things that WOWed me.
He has recruited/coached 5 Freshman All-American pitchers in the last 6 years with one more soon to be named for this season (Johnny Dorn) which would put that at 6 in the last 7 years. Wow. Asides from pitching, as the recruiting coordinator you know he had something to do with recruiting 4 of the last 5 Big XII Players of the Year (2000-Shane Komine, 2002-Jed Morris, 2003-Matt Hopper, 2004 & 2005-Alex Gordon). That's incredible.That is still incredible. To be completely honest, if I could have hand picked any single coach to replace Coach Johnson it would have been a 3 man list. The other two coaches have won the big sparkly rings in the last two years and the third is pictured above. I have absolutely no doubt that we're in very good hands under Childress's watch.
Our new assistant coach is Matt Deggs (#15) who was brought in from Arkansas to be the hitting coach and the recruiting coordinator. Deggs coached with Childress on Dave VanHorn's staff before VanHorn went to Nebraska and he moved to Arkansas to rejoin VanHorn before the 2003 season.
Arkansas Hitting Before & After Arrival of Deggs....
Year G AB R H HR XBH SO/BB SB/% BA OBP SLG
================================================================
Before 2002 63 2187 399 608 51 170 462/241 63/67 .278 .370 .409
-----------------------------------------------------------------
After 2003 57 1994 337 574 53 192 370/206 43/70 .288 .378 .444
2004 69 2402 446 697 53 190 451/304 112/84 .290 .381 .418
2005 61 2119 400 643 53 196 386/214 108/81 .303 .382 .451
No. of Players (50+ ABs) Hitting Higher Than....
.300 .320 .350 .370 .400
========================================
Before 2002 6 0 0 0 0
----------------------------------------
After 2003 5 2 0 0 0
2004 5 1 0 0 0
2005 9 6 4 3 2That's a significant difference in a short amount of time, especially considering it was done with an SEC team that has to go out and face incredible talent weekend after weekend. The thing that really excites me is the agressive base running, especially since the percentage leap up significantly.
The rest of the staff will be made up of Jermey Talbot (#5), Will Bolt (#6), and the lone holdover from the previous staff, Jason Hutchins (#26).
Will Bolt's name should sound familiar to you. As an infielder, he was a four year starter at Nebraska from 1999 to 2002 and holds the distinction of playing in the most games in school history.
Returning Lettermen Stats
Returning Aggie Lettermen (ranked by ABs from 2005):
Hitters:
Player Year G-GS AB R H RBI HR XBH SO/BB SB/A BA OBP SLG
=======================================================================
P.Dalton 2005 56-56 224 28 58 21 2 15 34/5 6/8 .259 .288 .353
2004 5-2 8 4 3 2 0 2 2/2 0/0 .375 .545 .625
2003 16-2 13 6 3 1 0 2 3/0 0/0 .231 .333 .385
R.Hill 2005 56-56 208 35 66 24 3 11 24/21 2/5 .317 .386 .399
A.Boggs 2005 52-51 187 20 45 29 4 13 27/15 1/1 .241 .294 .358
2004 64-64 260 42 86 52 5 19 29/18 5/5 .331 .376 .454
J.Infante 2005 42-40 135 25 35 17 1 9 23/14 10/12 .259 .327 .341
2004 57-56 204 39 56 32 3 16 28/18 11/17 .275 .342 .397
2003 44-16 69 15 17 9 3 10 11/7 1/3 .246 .325 .478
K.Stein 2005 41-35 125 19 33 23 0 5 23/16 2/3 .264 .352 .312
T.Sebek 2005 35-27 111 13 27 19 1 8 21/8 5/6 .243 .292 .351
B.Glover 2005 35-23 90 12 26 13 0 5 18/11 3/6 .289 .366 .367
B.Stouffer 2005 5-1 6 0 1 0 0 0 2/0 0/1 .167 .167 .167
C.Stinson 2005 1-1 2 0 0 0 0 0 2/1 0/0 .000 .333 .000
2004 56-55 195 29 56 37 3 16 33/25 0/1 .287 .374 .415
2003 22-18 62 10 17 8 1 2 13/9 2/3 .274 .375 .339
Note: Craig Stinson was granted an injury red shirt for his 2005 season as
was Dalton for his 2004 seasons....Stouffer took a non-medical red
shirt for 2005
2005 Big XII Only:
Player AB BA/OBP/SLG
==========================
Hill 106 .245/.314/.283
Dalton 104 .202/.224/.288
Boggs 95 .263/.297/.442
Infante 55 .255/.349/.309
Stein 55 .218/.305/.255
Sebek 49 .184/.245/.265
Glover 38 .263/.333/.315
Pitchers: See Pitchers section of Position Breakdown SectionWho Are These Guys?
The Bellaire Boys, Adam Hale (27) & Matt Ueckert (22)Very similar to 2003 there are going to be lots of confused faces on opening day from fans who don't recognize a good portion of the lineup. Well, I'm here to help you out so you can be the guy (or gal) to straighten out your fellow fans.
I'll talk about the pitchers first.
We've got five new faces that could see the mound.
Year G/GS W-L-S IP H ER HR SO/BB ERA BAA
===============================================================
B.Brockman 2003 15/ 1-3-0 53.2 64 28 48/24 3.70
2004 14/13 6-5-0 93.0 97 31 2 99/17 3.00 .266
2005 17/15 10-3-1 85.0 92 39 5 66/20 4.13 .284
A.Hale 2004 11/0 1-3-1 13.2 11 7 3 13/6 4.61 .216
2005 9/0 0-0-1 11.2 12 9 1 6/5 6.94 .267
D.Newmann 2004 6-3-3 2.58
2005 <-----------------Redshirted---------------->
M.Simon 2005
M.Ueckert 2003 12/0 0-1-0 14.0 21 8 0 11/9 3.86 .368
2004 11/6 3-0-0 35.1 24 12 1 33/10 3.06 .192
2005 3/3 0-1-0 11.1 19 8 0 6/3 6.35 .380In my opinion, Ben Brockman is the most intriguing of the group simply because he is kind of a mystery to me. The senior transfer from Abilene Christian was outstanding in '04 but his numbers dropped in '05, especially his SO/BB. I'm curious if an injury is the cause of that but I couldn't find any information on it. The most interesting thing I noticed about his stats was that his flyball/groundball ratio over the last 2 seasons has been .58 (123/211) which is very good. I'll be curious to see what he throws to get that many groundballs and if Coach Childress can pull something remotely similar to what he did with Joba Chamberlain up at Nebraska.
Adam Hale and Matt Ueckert go hand-in-hand in my mind simply because they're both from Bellaire HS and they are both transferring from Rice. They will likely throw out of the bullpen and will get some playing time in the field as two-way players. Ueckert took a medical redshirt for last season after having some problems with his arm.
David Newmann, a transfer from San Jacinto JC, had Tommy John surgery late last spring and his status this year is unknown so he may or may not pitch for us this year and just start up in '07.
I don't know a thing about Max Simon (Clarendon CC)....he was added to the roster over the weekend and I can't find any information on him anywhere. At 6'4" and 220 lbs. he's a big kid though and that can't hurt any.
G/GS AB R H RBI HR XBH SO/BB SB/A BA OBP SLG
====================================================================
S.Jackson 2005 45-23 89 21 25 12 1 6 22/20 0/2 .281 .418 .371
A.Hale 2005 52-45 157 29 38 40 9 19 47/35 1/5 .242 .387 .478
2004 49-34 141 21 37 25 5 15 28/12 1/2 .262 .323 .454
M.Ueckert 2005 <--------------------Redshirted-------------------->
2004 48-39 150 25 44 28 2 9 23/14 0/0 .293 .355 .380
2003 32-13 43 2 12 8 0 0 7/6 0/0 .279 .367 .279
J.Salazar 2005 55-55 213 42 64 41 9 19 31/38 1/5 .300 .406 .474
J.Stinson 2005 28 7 .350
2004 52-37 129 18 32 17 3 10 24/21 0/1 .248 .372 .380
J.Vasquez 2005 45-45 174 42 70 49 12 27 21/31 3/6 .402 .509 .701
2004 36- 141 40 56 56 8 20 2/3 .404 .488 .660Spencer Jackson is a sophomore transfer from TCU where he started as a freshman at first base. The Bellaire/Rice boys both hit a little....Hale's 9 HRs in 2005 would have led the 2005 Aggie squad and his SLG would have put him 3rd. Both of them can play 1B or OF.
Jose Salazar was Sam Houston's starting SS last year and was almost an on-base machine. Coach Childress said that if he hits he's going to play every day.
Josh Stinson & Jake Vasquez are both catchers and both should improve the offense. Stinson will split time behind the plate with Craig Stinson and will get a significant amount of at-bats.
Summer League Recap
McKinney Marshall's Austin Creps (l) & Brandon Glover (r)It's really interesting to watch the Texas Collegiate League from the sense that there are a heckuva lot of guys who stay home and play there as opposed to traveling across the country to play ball. We only had 2 players playing up in the Cape Cod League this summer, Austin Boggs & Josh Stinson, as opposed to 7 from last summer.
As far as I could tell, everyone else who played this summer did in fact stay close to home and played in the TCL. We were well represented in the league as 8 Ags were named to their respective All-Star rosters for the annual mid-July game with 3 of them in the starting lineup (Jackson, Dalton, Buenger, Hering, Infante, Stein, Salazar, & Corgan). Then we had 7 representatives in the league's Futures Game at the end of the season, which was a showcase for top talent (Dalton, Jackson, Corgan, Glover, Nicholson, Infante, & Creps).
Austin Creps was phenomenal all summer earning the TCL Pitcher of the Year Award as well as a spot on Baseball America's All-American Summer team (1st team). Brandon Glover, & Jose Salazar helped Creps take the McKinney Marshalls to the league's championship series where they fell to Denton.
Hitters:
Player Lea Tm G AB R H RBI HR XBH SO/BB SB BA OBP SLG
=======================================================================
A.Boggs CCL WAR 40 144 11 27 13 2 11 43/9 .188 .232 .299
J.Stinson CCL BOU 33 96 8 22 9 0 2 18/11 .229 .312 .250
J.Buenger TCL GRM 35 115 14 34 14 1 6 16/13 1 .296
P.Dalton TCL MWS 45 183 23 52 28 4 13 32/10 11 .284
B.Glover TCL MCK 46 161 31 46 19 1 10 28/22 12 .286
A.Hale TCL WEA 28 68 8 18 10 2 4 17/12 0 .265
R.Hill TCL HPK 37 135 19 39 25 4 12 20/11 1 .289
J.Infante TCL COP 47 177 33 45 26 4 13 39/27 11 .254
S.Jackson TCL WEA 36 141 29 48 18 5 13 36/18 2 .340
J.Salazar TCL MCK 50 185 33 45 24 3 10 25/28 10 .243
T.Sebek TCL MWS 47 199 34 53 27 5 15 45/20 31 .266
K.Stein TCL EUL 27 90 18 28 15 3 10 12/12 3 .311
B.Stouffer TCL MWS 46 179 32 45 11 0 8 46/36 27 .251
Pitchers:
Player Lea Tm G GS W-L S IP H R ER SO/BB ERA
==========================================================
A.Creps TCL MCK 11 10 5-2-1 56.2 49 17 11 69/22 1.76
C.Corgan TCL EUL 11 9 3-1-0 53.2 38 16 14 56/ 2.37
H.Hering TCL WEA 21 0 1-1-3 24.0 29 15 12 32/ 4.50
K.Nicholson TCL WEA 23 0 1-4-3 48.2 41 16 12 33/ 2.24For whatever reason the TCL didn't provide a few of the pretty essential stats on their website so I had to leave those blank if I couldn't find them elsewhere.
Neither of our boys up in the Cape hit too well which really isn't too concerning because of the change to wooden bats and the level of pitching they faced. I will say though, Boggs's SO/BB numbers were really off from his regular season numbers.
In the TCL it looks like some good things happened. Spencer Jackson tore the cover off the ball finishing 2nd in the league in BA while both Todd Sebek and Blake Stouffer lit the base paths up finishing 2nd and 3rd in the league, respectively, in stolen bases. Keith Stein also had a nice summer hitting .311 and had a SO/BB ratio of 1.
On the mound our pitchers had good numbers, partially because of the wooden bats, but I think that we had some good arms up there.
Old Ags
Here is a pretty comprehensive list of recent Ags who have moved on to the professional ranks. Here are the guys who played with us last season....Cliff Pennington ('03, '04, '05) Drafted: 2005 1st Round (#21; OAK)
Year Team Cl Org G AB R H RBI HR XBH SO/BB BA OPS
2005 Kane County A Oak 69 290 49 80 29 3 18 47/39 .276 .723
Kevin Whelan ('03, '04, '05) Drafted: 2005 4th Rnd (#120; DET)
Year Team Cl Org W-L-S G GS IP H R ER HR SO/BB ERA AVG
2005 Oneonta SS Det 1-1-4 11 0 12.0 2 4 3 1 19/6 2.25 .051
W.Michigan A Det 0-0-11 14 0 12.1 4 1 1 0 22/2 0.73 .098
Robert Ray ('03, '04, '05) Drafted: 2005 7th Rnd (#206; TOR)
Year Team Cl Org W-L-S G GS IP H R ER HR SO/BB ERA AVG
2005 Auburn SS Tor 4-3-0 15 13 61.2 46 22 19 4 58/20 2.77 .204
Kyle Marlatt ('04, '05) Drafted: 2005 11th Rnd (#366; FLA)
Did not sign
Coby Mavroulis ('02, '03, '04, '05) Drafted: 2005 21st Rnd (#624; WAS)
Year Team Cl Org W-L-S G GS IP H R ER HR SO/BB ERA AVG
2005 GCLNationals R Was 2-3-0 9 3 25.0 30 16 14 3 29/12 5.04 .300I wish all our former players the best of luck in whatever they go on to persue.
Breakdown By Position
Now let’s take a look at each position (2005 starter)....Catcher
Player Cl-L B/T Year G-GS AB R H RBI HR XBH SO/BB SB/A BA OBP SLGCraig Stinson took a medical red-shirt for the 2005 season after having shoulder problems and he comes back as a nice little addition to the lineup (he was All-Big XII in '04). It will be likely that the Stinsons will rotate out behind the plate. Coach Childress has said that they are the best 1-2 combination behind the plate in the nation.
=============================================================================
C.Stinson Jr-2 R/R 2005 1-1 2 0 0 0 0 0 2/1 0/0 .000 .333 .000
2004 56-55 195 29 56 37 3 16 33/25 0/1 .287 .374 .415
2003 22-18 62 10 17 8 1 2 13/9 2/3 .274 .375 .339
J.Stinson Jr-T B/R 2005 28 7 .350
2004 52-37 129 18 32 17 3 10 24/21 0/1 .248 .372 .380
J.Vasquez Jr-T R/R 2005 45-45 174 42 70 49 12 27 21/31 3/6 .402 .509 .701
2004 36- 141 40 56 56 8 20 2/3 .404 .488 .660
Josh Stinson's 2004 stats come from Oklahoma & his 2005 stats come from San Jacinto JC
Jake Vasquez's stats come from Santa Ana JC1st Base
Ryan Hill
Player Cl-L B/T Year G-GS AB R H RBI HR XBH SO/BB SB/A BA OBP SLG
==============================================================================
R.Hill Sr-1 R/R 2005 56-56 208 35 66 24 3 11 24/21 2/5 .317 .386 .399
S.Jackson So-T R/R 2005 45-23 89 21 25 12 1 6 22/20 0/2 .281 .418 .371
A.Hale Jr-T L/R 2005 52-45 157 29 38 40 9 19 47/35 1/5 .242 .387 .478
2004 49-34 141 21 37 25 5 15 28/12 1/2 .262 .323 .454
M.Ueckert Jr-T L/L 2005 <--------------------Redshirted-------------------->
2004 48-39 150 25 44 28 2 9 23/14 0/0 .293 .355 .380
2003 32-13 43 2 12 8 0 0 7/6 0/0 .279 .367 .279
J.Stinson Jr-T B/R 2005 28 7 .350
2004 52-37 129 18 32 17 3 10 24/21 0/1 .248 .372 .380
J.Vasquez Jr-T R/R 2005 45-45 174 42 70 49 12 27 21/31 3/6 .402 .509 .701
2004 36- 141 40 56 56 8 20 2/3 .404 .488 .660
Josh Stinson's 2004 stats come from Oklahoma & his 2005 stats come from San Jacinto JC
Adam Hale & Matt Ueckert's stats come from Rice
Spencer Jackson's stats come from TCU
Jake Vasquez's stats come from Santa Ana JCWe will likely use first base as a position to get offense from. Ryan Hill will likely start the season there but I really think that any one of the guys listed above could play there so we can shift the lineup around and get the most offensive production out of the lineup. With so many transfers (and freshmen--at other positions) on the roster this year it's very difficult to hammer things out before the season gets underway.
2nd Base
Player Cl-L B/T Year G-GS AB R H RBI HR XBH SO/BB SB/A BA OBP SLG
==============================================================================
J.Buenger Fr-R B/R 2005 <--------------------Redshirted-------------------->
J.Salazar Sr-T L/R 2005 55-55 213 42 64 41 9 19 31/38 1/5 .300 .406 .474
P.Dalton Jr-2 R/R 2005 56-56 224 28 58 21 2 15 34/5 6/8 .259 .288 .353
2004 5-2 8 4 3 2 0 2 2/2 0/0 .375 .545 .625
2003 16-2 13 6 3 1 0 2 3/0 0/0 .231 .333 .385
A.Boggs Jr-2 B/R 2005 52-51 187 20 45 29 4 13 27/15 1/1 .241 .294 .358
2004 64-64 260 42 86 52 5 19 29/18 5/5 .331 .376 .454
B.Stouffer So-1 R/R 2005 5-1 6 0 1 0 0 0 2/0 0/1 .167 .167 .167
Jose Salazar's stats are from Sam HoustonLike first base, second base is going to be a position that might be shuffled around a bit in order to maximize offense....it's just a different group of guys. Red-shirt freshman Jess Buenger will likely get the first shot at the position but if Jose Salazar hits he could very well take it.
I remember watching Buenger take infield last season and he was very smooth with the glove, which is something I always enjoy watching. Childress has said that if we really need to bolster the offense he could move Boggs to 2nd and put Ryan Hill at 3rd opening up a spot at 1st for another bat.
Short Stop
Parker Dalton
Player Cl-L B/T Year G-GS AB R H RBI HR XBH SO/BB SB/A BA OBP SLG
==============================================================================
J.Salazar Sr-T L/R 2005 55-55 213 42 64 41 9 19 31/38 1/5 .300 .406 .474
P.Dalton Jr-2 R/R 2005 56-56 224 28 58 21 2 15 34/5 6/8 .259 .288 .353
2004 5-2 8 4 3 2 0 2 2/2 0/0 .375 .545 .625
2003 16-2 13 6 3 1 0 2 3/0 0/0 .231 .333 .385Parker Dalton will be filling some monster shoes this season as he slides over a spot to SS after Cliff Pennington wisely cashed in as a first round draft pick (Oakland). Parker has a very consistent glove and proved last season when Penny was hurt that he could handle SS and really the only knock against him is his bat. He hit .259 last year (.202 in conference play) and only walked 5 times in 224 ABs. I mentioned above that if Salazar hit he could take Buenger's starting spot but I think it might be more likely that if he hits he would plays SS and Parker and Buenger would battle it out at second.
As you can tell, things are totally up in the air all around the diamond.
3rd Base
Austin Boggs
Player Cl-L B/T Year G-GS AB R H RBI HR XBH SO/BB SB/A BA OBP SLG
==============================================================================
A.Boggs Jr-2 B/R 2005 52-51 187 20 45 29 4 13 27/15 1/1 .241 .294 .358
2004 64-64 260 42 86 52 5 19 29/18 5/5 .331 .376 .454
R.Hill Sr-1 R/R 2005 56-56 208 35 66 24 3 11 24/21 2/5 .317 .386 .399
B.Stouffer So-1 R/R 2005 5-1 6 0 1 0 0 0 2/0 0/1 .167 .167 .167Third base is the most nailed down of the infield positions with Austin Boggs returning for his third year at the hot corner. I really hope that Boggs returns to his freshman form because we need some upperclassman leadership at the plate. He actually started to turn things around significantly in the second half of the season which shows when you compare his non-conference stats to his conference stats....
Boggs 2005 Conference v. Non-Conference Stats
AB R H RBI HR XBH SO/BB BA OBP SLG
Conf 95 8 25 14 4 9 7/5 .263 .297 .442
NCon 92 12 20 15 0 4 20/10 .217 .291 .272
Boggs 2004 Conference v. 2005 Conference Stats
AB R H RBI HR XBH SO/BB BA OBP SLG
2004 109 17 28 15 3 9 7/8 .257 .314 .413
2005 95 8 25 14 4 9 7/5 .263 .297 .442As you can see the only difference between Boggs '04 & Boggs '05 was his non-conference hitting which should be significantly higher than the conference hitting (which it was in '04) because of the strength of the pitching in the Big 12.
I think we're going to see some good things from No. 4 this year.
Outfield
Player Cl-L B/T Year G-GS AB R H RBI HR XBH SO/BB SB/A BA OBP SLG
==============================================================================
J.Infante Sr-3 R/L 2005 42-40 135 25 35 17 1 9 23/14 10/12 .259 .327 .341
2004 57-56 204 39 56 32 3 16 28/18 11/17 .275 .342 .397
2003 44-16 69 15 17 9 3 10 11/7 1/3 .246 .325 .478
K.Stein So-1 L/R 2005 41-35 125 19 33 23 0 5 23/16 2/3 .264 .352 .312
T.Sebek So-1 R/R 2005 35-27 111 13 27 19 1 8 21/8 5/6 .243 .292 .351
B.Glover So-1 L/L 2005 35-23 90 12 26 13 0 5 18/11 3/6 .289 .366 .367
B.Stouffer So-1 R/R 2005 5-1 6 0 1 0 0 0 2/0 0/1 .167 .167 .167
S.Jackson So-T R/R 2005 45-23 89 21 25 12 1 6 22/20 0/2 .281 .418 .371
A.Hale Jr-T L/R 2005 52-45 157 29 38 40 9 19 47/35 1/5 .242 .387 .478
2004 49-34 141 21 37 25 5 15 28/12 1/2 .262 .323 .454
Todd SebekI think it's fair to say that with an abundance of youth, the future of our outfield is going to be good, however this season things aren't as cut and dry. Neither Sebek nor Stein hit well during conference play in their first season while Glover didn't fair too poorly. Sebek had a good summer league and I've read that he might fit in as our leadoff hitter this year.
Brandon GloverI really like Glover but he is coming off of surgery on his hand (hammate bone removed just before finals) so I don't know what to expect from him this year. Typically, hand injuries take quite some time to fully recover from and can zap one's power. I certainly hope for a best case scenario in G-Love's case and I will be following that situation closely.
From what I've read, Coach Childress is pretty high on Stouffer, saying in the January edition of 12th Man Magazine, "If we started tomorrow, we would look to him [Stouffer] in right. He needs to be in the lineup every day." Seems like he could make that happen.
Then there is John Infante who was a trooper last season handling his platoon situation quite well. I really want Johnny to play well because I've enjoyed watching him throughout his career.
Honestly, I think that Adam Hale will be an every day guy before the season ends. Where he fits in isn't quite clear but I just have a good feeling about him.
It's a crowded outfield, isn't it?
Pitchers
Pitching is the golden ticket to a successful college baseball program so I like to spend a good deal of time analyzing the pitching situation.
Returning Aggie Lettermen:
Player Cl-L R/L Year G GS W-L-S IP H ER HR SO/BB ERA BAA AGs
===========================================================================
C.Corgan So-1 RHP 2005 20 10 4-3-1 58.2 56 29 5 50/28 4.45 .251 48
J.Chambless So-1 RHP 2005 22 0 1-2-2 32.0 24 8 0 42/19 2.25 .209 -
A.Creps Jr-2 RHP 2004 13 0 2-0-1 27.0 27 12 0 23/8 4.00 .260 59
2005 11 7 2-1-0 40.0 42 19 2 28/14 4.28 .263 47
H.Hering Sr-S RHP 2005 2 0 0-0-0 2.0 3 1 0 1/1 4.50 .375 -
J.Meyer Jr-2 LHP 2004 24 12 8-2-3 106.0 88 34 3 111/41 2.87 .235 57
2005 17 14 5-5-1 77.0 62 26 6 48/41 3.04 .230 53
K.Nicholson Jr-2 RHP 2004 21 0 3-0-0 37.0 40 21 3 19/18 5.11 .270 -
2005 20 1 3-1-0 40.1 38 15 3 31/8 3.35 .253 40
B.Rampy Jr-1 RHP 2004 20 0 2-2-4 29.0 17 7 0 24/12 1.55 .172 -
2005 8 0 0-0-0 14.0 17 8 0 12/3 5.14 .327 -
2005 Big XII Only:
Player IP ERA BAA
=========================
Corgan 37.1 6.03 .293
Chambless 9.1 4.82 .212
Creps 14.2 4.30 .271
Hering 0.0 0.00 .000
Meyer 42.2 3.59 .273
Nicholson 20.2 3.05 .213
Rampy 3.0 12.00 .533
Transfers:
Player Cl-L R/L Year G/GS W-L-S IP H ER HR SO/BB ERA OBA
======================================================================
B.Brockman Sr-T RHP 2003 15/ 1-3-0 53.2 64 28 48/24 3.70
2004 14/13 6-5-0 93.0 97 31 2 99/17 3.00 .266
2005 17/15 10-3-1 85.0 92 39 5 66/20 4.13 .284
A.Hale Jr-T RHP 2004 11/0 1-3-1 13.2 11 7 3 13/6 4.61 .216
2005 9/0 0-0-1 11.2 12 9 1 6/5 6.94 .267
D.Newmann Jr-T LHP 2004 6-3-3 2.58
2005 <-----------------Redshirted---------------->
M.Simon So-T RHP 2005
M.Ueckert Jr-T LHP 2003 12/0 0-1-0 14.0 21 8 0 11/9 3.86 .368
2004 11/6 3-0-0 35.1 24 12 1 33/10 3.06 .192
2005 3/3 0-1-0 11.1 19 8 0 6/3 6.35 .380
Freshmen:
Luke Anders LHP Travis Starling RHP
Kyle Colligan RHP Kyle Thebeau RHP
Scooter Hicks LHP Anthony Vasquez LHPThis season is different than either of the last two regarding pitching. In 2004 we returned only two pitchers and then in 2005 we returned all but three pitchers. This year we have a nice mix of veterans and newcomers with 6 returning lettermen and several transfers & freshmen.
We will need to replace Robert Ray (drafted), Kyle Marlatt (graduated), Clayton Turner (graduated), & Kevin Whelan (drafted) who combined for just under 50% of our innings pitched.
The thing I really like about the staff that Childress has put together is the depth we now have from both sides of the rubber. Last season Jason Meyer was one of two lefties to log a single inning and the only to throw more than 10 innings.
2006
RHP LHP
================ ==============
B.Brockman Sr-T L.Anders Fr-H
C.Corgan So-1 S.Hicks Fr-H
J.Chambless So-1 J.Meyer Jr-2
K.Colligan Fr-H D.Newmann Jr-T
A.Creps Jr-2 M.Ueckert Jr-T
A.Hale Jr-T A.Vasquez Fr-H
H.Hering Sr-S
K.Nicholson Jr-2
B.Rampy Jr-1
M.Simon So-T
T.Starling Fr-H
K.Thebeau Fr-HIt's certainly not an overwhelming improvement but it should certainly give us some better match-ups against "the book".
Putting aside the additional expertise Coach Childress brings to the squad, I am still excited and interested in some guys.
Kyle NicholsonKyle Nicholson is one guy that I'm excited about. He really improved last season and was simply lights out after April 9th giving up only 3 ERs over his last 10 appearances (19 innings) for a 1.42 ERA.
P/BF BF Pit P/BF
==========================
K.Nicholson 169 602 3.56
J.Meyer 324 1181 3.65
A.Creps 180 659 3.66
C.Corgan 258 1000 3.89
J.Chambless 140 574 4.10
B.Rampy 58 239 4.12
H.Hering 10 42 4.20Nicholson was also the most efficient arm we have returning. I'm reading around the web that Kyle will get the nod for opening day on Friday.
Austin Creps started last season on the shelf and didn't toe the rubber until mid-March. It will be nice to get a full season out of him. As a starter he had a couple excellent starts, a couple of solid starts, and a couple not so solid starts....basically it was a mixed bag. However, he followed the season with an incredible summer, as I mentioned earlier, and I truly think he is going to blossom this season either as a late weekend starter or one of the first guys out of the bullpen. I think the most interesting thing about Creps last year was how much better he pitched away from Olsen Field
Home v. Away HOME AWAY
IP ERA BAA IP ERA BAA
=============================================
J.Chambless 14.1 1.88 .184 17.2 2.54 .227
C.Corgan 27.0 4.33 .260 31.2 4.54 .244
A.Creps 18.2 6.27 .333 21.1 2.53 .190
H.Hering 1.0 9.00 .600 1.0 0.00 .000
J.Meyer 33.1 3.24 .230 43.2 2.89 .231
K.Nicholson 22.1 3.22 .253 18.0 4.00 .254
B.Rampy 7.0 2.57 .286 8.0 6.75 .355Isn't that odd?
Jordan ChamblessJordan Chambless will be returning for his sophomore campaign, which could be his last season in Maroon & White because he is a draft eligible sophomore. If you turn 21 years old before the draft (in June) you are eligible and Jordan will turn 21 on March 7th. That said, Jordan will miss the beginning of the season following ACL surgery he had on his right knee after a football injury. I read somewhere, and I couldn't find the article to double check it, that he ought to be ready in early March.
We will have Jordan all to ourselves this spring as he will not have to split time with football, as he did last year. Spring football ran from March 4th-April 9th last year and there was a visible difference in his numbers on the baseball diamond.
G IP H R ER SO/BB HR AB OBA ERA
Before & After 14 17.0 15 6 3 24/8 0 63 .238 1.59
During Football 8 15.0 9 5 5 18/11 0 52 .173 3.00Those aren't the sole factors in the change in the numbers (we started Big XII play during that time) but I thought you'd just want to look at it. I also learned that right before the OU series Jordan dislocated a finger on his throwing hand on the football field and pitched through it. I don't know how long it was a factor but here are the five appearances that it would appear to have factored:
IP H R ER SO/BB HR AB BF G/F PC Dec
===============================================
03/25 2.1 0 2 2 2/3 0 7 11 4/1 55 L
04/01 0.2 0 0 0 1/2 0 2 4 0/1 17
04/03 0.0 1 1 1 0/0 0 1 1 0/1 13
04/12 2.0 3 3 0 3/0 0 9 11 2/1 39* L
04/19 2.0 4 2 2 4/2 0 10 12 1/1 52*That stretch accounts for 5 of his 8 ERs. In his 6 appearances following April 19th he didn't allow a run and gave up only 3 hits.
This season's Jordan Chambless certainly appears to be freshman Kyle Thebeau, who like Chambless is from Corpus Christi, although he attended Carroll HS as opposed to Calallen HS. He even took Chambless's jersey number from last year (38; Jordan moved to #22). And yes, Carroll is Cliff Pennington's alma mata as well. Thebeau is penciled in as a weekend starter (for this weekend I'm reading it'll be Saturday). Baseball America has him listed as one of the top newcomers to the Big 12 as he was one of the more highly recruited pitchers in the nation....Aggiebaseball.net reports he was recruited by Stanford, LSU, Rice, texas, & us. I'm looking forward to seeing Kyle out on the bump.
Chance CorganChance Corgan is one of my favorite guys to watch pitch. I think he will be a tremendous arm for us this year coming off of an impressive freshman campaign. Chance hit a little bump right towards the end of last season that really threw off his overall stats but things like that are to be expected from freshmen. Chance has a bulldog mentality, a good deal of intensity and a filthy breaking ball which he throws as his out pitch. I think Chance has the stuff to move into the Friday or Saturday rotation slot as the season progresses.
Finally, I want to talk about Jason Meyer. I mentioned the bulldog mentality when I was talking about Corgan and he is going to have to share that description with Meyer. Jason throws a great changeup and actually pitches off of that, as opposed to pitching off his fastball like most guys do. Many feel that Jason had somewhat of a down year last year, even though he led the team in ERA but the big difference was that he started 14 of his 17 appearances as opposed to his freshman season when he pitched heavily out of the bullpen for the first half of the year.
2004 IP H R ER SO/BB K/BB K/9 ERA BAA
==================================================
Start.... 81.0 73 34 31 80/33 2.42 8.9 3.44 .253
Relief... 25.0 15 3 3 31/8 3.88 11.2 1.08 .176
2005 IP H R ER SO/BB K/BB K/9 ERA BAA
==================================================
Start.... 75.2 62 34 26 48/40 1.20 5.71 3.09 .234
Relief... 1.1 0 0 0 1/1 1.00 6.75 0.00 .000Really, he threw better as a starter last season than he did in 2004 but his overall numbers his freshman season were helped tremendously by those bullpen innings when he didn't have to pace himself at all.
I would love to be in a situation where we could move Jason back into the bullpen and not give up much in terms of starting pitching. If you threw him, and his changeup, as a 2 inning setup man and followed with Chambless and his fastball it would be tough to hit. They would compliment each other very well.
Regardless of what happens I put all my trust in Coach Childress....he's earned that right in my books.
Opponents
Here is a pretty quick and easy breakdown of our opponents but you can click HERE for a complete season schedule. Over at BoydsWorld.com, Boyd has our schedule ranked the 19th most difficult in the nation in his "Annual Strength of Schedule List". Baylor (10th most difficult) & texas (12th) were the only other Big XII team in the Top 20.Here is our schedule in alphabetical order. I bolded the games that I am most excited about. The rankings are Baseball America's preseason rankings (I always use BA for simplicity's sake) and the team's 2005 record is listed as well....
Opponent (alphabetically) Scheduled Meetings
===============================================
Baylor (46-24) +: Apr 21-23 (H-A-A)
Dallas Baptist (32-23): May 5-6 (H)
#3 Florida (48-23): Mar 3-5 (A)
Houston (29-30): Mar 21 (A) & Apr 18 (H)
Illinios (33-23-1): Mar 13 (N)
Kansas (36-28) +: May 19-21
Kansas State (30-25) +: May 12-14 (H)
La-Lafayette (48-19): Mar 11 (N)
Lamar (38-23): Mar 28 (A)
#10 Missouri (40-23) +: Mar 17-19 (H)
Missouri State (26-29): Feb 26 (H)
Nebraska (57-15) +: Apr 13-15 (A)
NC Greensboro (31-22): Feb 24 & 27 (H)
Northern Colorado (22-34): Feb 17-19 (H)
Northwestern St (41-20): Feb 10-12 (H)
Notre Dame (38-24-1): Mar 10 (N)
Oklahoma (35-26) +: Apr 7-9 (H)
Oklahoma State (34-25) +: Mar 31-Apr 2 (A)
#7 Rice (45-19): Apr 4 (H)
Sam Houston (24-29-2): Feb 14 (A) & May 2 (H)
#1 texas (56-16) +: Apr 28-30 (A-H-H)
Texas-Arlington (26-32): Feb 21 (A)
Texas-San Antonio (27-34): Mar 12 (N) & Apr 25 (H)
Texas State (32-26): Mar 7 (N) & Apr 11 (H)
texas tech (34-25) +: Mar 24-26 (H)
Utah (19-36): Feb 25 (H)
===================================================
Big 12 Tournament: May 24-28 (N)
H: Olsen Field, A: Opponent's field, N: Neutral field, +: Big 12 OpponentI don't know the entire national schedule but the weekend we go down to Gainsville for the Florida series should be on TV if ESPN is doing their coverage....however, the baseball coverage didn't really pick up until after March Madness. If it's not on TV it's going to be really frustrating to have to just listen to such a big series on the radio, although I certainly will. The Mizzou series should be fun to watch, especially the Friday night game which should feature their All-American, Max Scherzer. It's always a big game when we face off with Rice, however, we haven't knocked off the Owls in a weeknight game since the 90s....it's gonna be an important one. Finally, the texas series is huge. It's always huge. The best part is that they moved up on the schedule and the game will be played while school is still in session (the first time since '01).
Also of note, the Big 12 Tournament has changed up it's format....check out what Boyd's World had to say about it.
Here's a quick look at our big opponents. For the rest of the Big 12 check out the article I did for Baseball Analysts.
#1 t.u.
Preseason All-Americans: Adrian Aleniz-SP (CB-2, NCBWA-1), Jordan Danks-OF (BA-3) Kenn Kasparek-SP (CB-3), Kyle McCulloch-SP (BA-2, CB-1, NCBWA-1), Drew Stubbs-OF (BA-1, CB-1, NCBWA-1)
Player ERA W-L G/GS SHO/CBO SV IP H R ER BB SO HR BAA
24 Herrera, Bryan... 0.00 0-0 3/0 0/2 0 3.1 2 0 0 1 0 0 .18244 Cox, J. Brent.... 1.73 8-3 42/0 0/6 19 78.0 57 18 15 25 87 1 .207
30 Kasparek, Kenn... 2.10 8-0 15/12 0/2 0 73.0 53 21 17 31 46 3 .214
3 Alaniz, Adrian... 2.67 8-3 23/16 1/0 0 108.0 93 39 32 39 94 5 .235
5 Street, Jordon... 2.87 0-1 9/0 0/2 0 15.2 10 5 5 4 4 1 .185
23 McCulloch, Kyle.. 2.92 12-4 26/23 1/5 0 138.2 137 58 45 45 99 6 .26747 Stewart, Clayton. 3.04 9-0 41/0 0/5 1 68.0 47 27 23 24 58 1 .197
36 Boone, Randy..... 3.46 7-4 25/18 1/2 0 109.1 103 48 42 38 95 4 .24846 Cody, Buck....... 3.81 4-1 34/3 0/4 1 52.0 46 29 22 30 38 3 .240As you can see from the chart above, texas is only losing 3 arms from a pitching staff that was one of the elite in the nation last season. They're returning a weekend rotation of McCulloch, Alaniz, & Kasparek which is just scary. They only had 3 pitchers with ERAs over 3.00 and two of them aren't returning. As an Aggie, it hurts me to type that out.
Offensively, they're only returning 6 of 14 players with >10 ABs from last season (Wheeless, Kainer, Stubbs, Peoples, VanHook, & Gilfillan) but this wasn't a team that relied on hitting the tar out of the ball. They're also bringing in OFer Jordan Danks who is one of 9 true freshmen to be named to Baseball America's Preseason All-American team since 1983 (which was 3 years before Danks was even born).
Drew Stubbs is getting the most preseason hype but he got the same thing last preseason. He really reminds me of Vince Young heading into this past football season....a freak of an athlete with a huge upside who has had a couple pretty good seasons but has yet to put it all together and earn his All-American hype. Head coach Augie Garrido has it right when he says that Stubbs is the best athlete he's ever coached but won't say he's the best baseball player he's ever coached. Stubbs hit .301/.372/.474 as a freshman & .311/.384/.527 as a sophomore with 8 & 11 HRs, respectively, in his career. Like I said, good but not Golden Spikes good.
One thing that always impresses me is that texas has no problem scheduling strong opponents in non-conference play. They start the season in the Astros College Classic with games against Houston, Rice, & Tulane. They have 3 game series with both Stanford and Long Beach State plus 2 more weeknight games with Rice and a single game against Arizona State.
Garrido is one of the greatest collegiate baseball coaches in the history of the game and his recruiting certainly hasn't dropped off any coming off of the CWS victory. The horns will continue to restock with talent and win with great fundamentals and great coaching.
I still hope they stink.
#2 Florida
Preseason All-Americans: Matt LaPorta-1B (BA-1, CB-1, NCBWA-1), Adam Davis-2B (BA-1, NCBWA-3)
This is an incredible series for us simply because it's so awesome to play top national non-conference opponents....plus it should help our RPI.
The Gators are coming off of an incredible 2005 season that matched them up against texas in the CWS Championship.
It will likely be our biggest challenge this season....more-so than Nebraska, texas, Mizzou, or Rice simply because we have no familiarity with them. It doesn't help any that they return 7 of their position starters, including All-Americans Matt LaPorta (.328/.438/.698 with nation high 26 HRs) & Adam Davis (.306/.395/.485 with 12 HRs & 24 SBs) as well as Team USA catcher, Brian Jeroloman (.298/.432/.440 with 8 HRs).
On top of their returning offense they bring back a sizable portion of their pitching staff. Bryan Ball (101.2 IP/3.45 ERA/.250 BAA will return to the weekend rotation along with Darren O'Day (69.0/2.87/.222) who should be their stopper. They lost starter Stephen Locke (64.2/4.04/.283) this past fall when he had to go under the knife.
I'm really looking forward to this big Big 12/SEC match-up....but I'm actually looking more forward to when Florida returns the favor and visits Olsen Field in 2007.
Nebraska
Preseason All-Americans: Joba Chamberlain-SP (BA-2, CB-1, NCBWA-2), Johnny Dorn-SP (CB-2, NCBWA-2), Brett Jensen-RP (CB-1, NCBWA-2)
Chamberlain, Jensen, Dorn (l to r)Player ERA W-L G/GS CG SHO/CBO SV IP H R ER BB SO HR BAA
Dorn, Johnny........ 2.16 12-2 20/13 1 0/0 1 104.0 75 33 25 21 76 5 .199Kroenke, Zach....... 2.78 7-2 20/16 4 1/0 1 97.0 80 37 30 28 88 4 .229
Chamberlain, Joba... 2.81 10-2 18/18 1 0/1 0 118.2 91 44 37 33 130 7 .218Duensing, Brian..... 3.00 8-0 23/10 1 1/1 0 84.0 69 28 28 28 52 5 .228
--------------
Klausing, Jon....... 0.00 0-0 2/0 0 0/0 0 2.2 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000
Jensen, Brett....... 1.96 3-5 33/0 0 0/1 16 46.0 36 17 10 9 46 3 .207Timm, Dustin........ 2.13 4-1 19/0 0 0/0 1 38.0 30 13 9 9 23 1 .219Becker, Jeremy...... 2.57 1-0 10/0 0 0/0 0 7.0 8 2 2 0 5 2 .286
Foust, Matt......... 2.57 0-0 5/0 0 0/1 1 7.0 6 2 2 3 5 1 .261
Bohanan, Ryan....... 2.79 1-1 21/1 0 0/1 1 29.0 25 11 9 10 22 1 .231
Watson, Tony........ 2.82 6-1 23/5 0 0/0 1 44.2 41 20 14 26 39 5 .246
Harmelink, Mike..... 3.00 0-0 5/0 0 0/0 0 6.0 5 2 2 4 8 0 .238Shirek, Phil........ 3.32 4-1 14/7 0 0/2 1 40.2 42 17 15 10 26 2 .278
Wertz, Luke......... 4.42 1-0 10/2 0 0/0 0 18.1 22 9 9 5 18 2 .306I can't believe that Baseball America doesn't have Nebraska in their Top 25....they're ranked 4th by Collegiate Baseball & 5th by NCBWA. I think they're somewhere inbetween, like 12-13ish. The Huskers are going to field a good ball club even after losing the 3/4 of their infield in Alex Gordon (2005 Golden Spikes winner), Joe Simokitis, & Curtis Ledbedder as well as OFer Daniel Bruce (OF). Those 4 made up all of Nebraska's offensive 1st or 2nd team All-Conference players. They do return 2Bman, Ryan Wehrle (.275/.377/.329), who was named All-Big XII Honorable Mention last season as a freshman.
Their pitching staff was phenomenal in 2005 and they're returning 9 of their 11 pitchers with 10+ IP led by their All-Americans Joba Chamberlain, Johnny Dorn & Brett Jensen. Of the 9, only two had an ERA over 3.00 and only one was higher than 3.35. That's sickening.
In the end, pitching takes you to the postseason and this team certainly has that. On a side note, it will be interesting to keep an eye on their pitching staff after losing pitching coach Rob Childress who took over the head coach job for my Texas A&M Aggies.
#7 Rice
Preseason All-Americans: Joe Savery-UTL (BA-1, CB-1, NCBWA-1), Josh Rodriguez-SS (BA-3, CB-2, NCBWA-1)
Joe SaveryThe Owls were supposed to be rebuilding in 2005 after losing an entire staff of All-Americans. Hopefully the Ags will "rebuild" like the Owls did and end up one game away from advancing to Omaha.
This will be the Owls first season in C-USA after leaving the WAC following 9 consecutive championships (every year they were in the conference). They will now have to fight off Tulane, Southern Miss & Houston for the conference title. This certainly isn't the WAC.
It definitely helps that the Owls return All-World pitcher/1Bman, Joe Savery (.382/.471/.559 & 118.1 IP/2.43 ERA/.235 BAA with 129 SOs and only 37 BBs), who WOWed the college baseball scene last year as a true freshman.
The Owls did lose senior Josh Geer who transferred in for his senior year but Eddie Degerman (98.2/3.28/.206) will rejoin Savery again as a key cog of their weekend rotation.
Savery's help offensively will mostly come from shortstop, Josh Rodriguez (.345/.411/.555 with 11 HRs).
Rice has a pretty exciting schedule for their fans that is filled with College World Series regulars and hopefuls....
Opponents #G Dates
========================================
texas 3 2/11, 3/07, 3/22
Tulane 3 3/31, 4/01, 4/02
Cal State Fullerton 3 3/03, 3/04, 3/05
Houston 3 5/12, 5/13, 5/14
TCU 2 2/12, 3/10
Oklahoma 2 2/17, 4/18
Long Beach St 1 2/18
LSU 1 5/16
Arizona State 1 3/11
A&M 1 4/04
Baylor 1 4/11
Nebraska 1 2/25
San Diego 1 3/14
St. John's 1 2/24
Home Games (including MMP College Classic games)
Away Games
Others are neutralThey face the longhorns this Saturday night (7pm) as part of the annual Minute Maid College Classic Tournament. Joe Savery will take the hill against one of texas's 3 Preseason All-American starters in what very well could be the best match-up in all of college ball this year.
#10 Missouri
Preseason All-Americans: Max Scherzer-SP (BA-1, CB-1, NCBWA-1), Hunter Mense-OF (BA-3, NCBWA-2)
All-World Max Scherzer
It was unfortunate that Mizzou had to travel to Cal-State Fullerton for Regionals in '05 because they had a pretty good little team last year. The Tigers are returning All-American Max Scherzer (106.1 IP, 1.86 ERA, .163 BAA, 131 SO, 41 BB) as their Friday starter as well as 3 other 1st or 2nd team All-Conference players -- OF-Hunter Mense (.327/.440/.473), SP-Nathan Culp (92.2/3.50/.287/63/31), & RP-Taylor Parker (50.0/2.88/.193/42/23).
On the offensive side of the ball, they're returning 10 of their 13 offensive players with 50 or more ABs but did lose their hands-down top offensive player, James Boone, who led the team in BA, RBIs, OBP, SLG, & SB. While the Tigers return Scherzer, Culp and Parker they only return two other arms from their 13 pitchers from last season. Regardless, starting pitching is king in college baseball and Scherzer/Culp should carry them through conference play and into the postseason. If another arm or two step forward this could be another great season for Tiger fans.
#n/r Baylor
Preseason All-Americans: n/a
Even coming off of an exciting College World Series season I would be surprised to see Baylor make it through the Regionals in 2006. The Bears lost 2 of their top 3 hitters (Michael Griffin & Josh Ford) from a lineup that was, to put it quite simply, bad. The Bears hit .269/.341/.398 as a team in 2005. They do return All-Big XII DH, Zach Dillon (.304/.379/.417), who will probably suit up behind the plate fulltime now that Ford is gone.
In 2005 the Bears got by on their good pitching, even more than texas did, but only Cory VanAllen (107.1 IP, 4.02 ERA, .286 BAA, 68 SO, 38 BB) will return to their starting rotation along with relievers Ryan LaMotta (79.2/.221/27/23), & Jeff Mandel (66.0/1.91/.221/27/23). But man, they lost so much pitching....Abe Woody, Mark McCormick, Tyler Bullock, & Trey Taylor accounted for 49% of the team's innings and had the staff's 3rd, 4th, 5th, & 6th lowest ERAs, respectively (only relievers LaMotta & Mandel were better). They're all gone.
#n/r Oklahoma
Preseason All-Americans: n/a
New head coach, Sunny Golloway, emerges as one of two new head coaches in the Big XII this season. Golloway was promoted from within after a messy "resignation" from head coach Larry Cochell and a confusing soap opera with Wichita State's longtime head man, Gene Stephenson (funny). Golloway takes over an incredibly experienced roster as the Sooners are returning 10 of their 13 players who had 20+ ABs and 7 of their 9 pitchers who threw more than 10 innings in 2005.
Their top returning offensive players are 3Bman, Ryan Rohlinger (.345/.449/.563) who led last year's squad with 11 HRs & 53 RBIs and Freshman All-American OFer, Kody Kaiser (.305/.376/.520) who was the only other Sooner to reach double digit HR numbers with 10....the next closest was 6.
Out on the bump they do return a very sizable portion of their pitching staff but it isn't a great staff. Of the 7 returning arms mentioned the lowest ERA of the bunch came from Will Savage (97.1 IP, 3.98 ERA, .292 BAA, 53 SO, 19 BB), who threw mostly out of the bullpen. Their most experienced starters are Brad Burns (66.0/4.50/.288/48/37) & Steven Guerra (85.2/5.91/.298/53/24).
Their non-conference schedule has some big names on it with the biggie being a 3 game set at Arizona State. They also play two against Rice & TCU (spread out through the season) and have single games scheduled with Long Beach State, Notre Dame, and Wichita State (which should be an interesting game given the whole Stephenson ordeal).
Others
NOTRE DAME went 38-24-1 in 2005 enroute to their 4th consecutive Big East Tournament Championship and a Regional berth falling at the hands of national runner-up Florida. The Fightin' Irish return 10 of their top 11 hitters (losing only their top hitter, Matt Edwards), including their corner infielders Craig Cooper (.325/.446/.502), and Brett Lilley (.355/.502/.379). On the mound they return six of their top eight pitchers, including their entire starting rotation--most famous of the group being All-American wide out, Jeff Samardzija (3.89/78.2/.272/56/30). It'd be fun if we matched up against Smardzija in our game against them, wouldn't it? Things should certainly be looking up for the Golden Domers in 2006.Houston....you can read about them here.
Other notable players we will face....
Preseason All-Americans
Player Po. School Publication
===============================================
Brad Lincoln RHP Houston BA-2
Michael Ambort C Lamar CB-3, NCBWA-1
Adam Carr 1B Oklahoma St NCBWA-2
Jared Goedert 1B Kansas St BA-Summer-1
Ryan Rogowski OF Illinois BA-Summer-2
Other Summer Accolades:
===========================================
Brad Lincoln, RHP/DH, Houston
#6 Prospect in Cape Cod League
Aaron Brown, RHP, Houston
#1 Prospect in Texas Collegiate League
Miles Morgan, RHP, texas tech
#1 Prospect in Central Illinois LeaguePark Factors
Something that added to the preview last year is the Park Factors for all the stadiums that we're going to play in. Park Factors show if a park is more of a pitcher's park (<100)>100) with a score of 100 being completely neutral. I listed them in the order that we play in them and then bolded the high and the low for ya....Park Factors 2001-2004
Location PF
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Olsen Field 98
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Sam Houston 98
UT-Arlington 78
Florida 97
Dell Diamond 103
UT-SA 88
Houston 90
Lamar 89
Oklahoma State 106
Nebraska 96
Baylor 89
texas 94
Kansas 119Dell Diamond's Park Factors were taken from BP and the rest were from Boyd's World (with permission).
Overview
It should be another fun filled season out at Olsen Field this spring, and hopefully summer. We have a lot of position battles that will be settled and we've got some great arms trotting out to the mound.
Hope you enjoyed the Season Preview and make sure you check back tomorrow for a preview of our first opponent, Northwestern State. I'll be keeping tabs on our boys all year long....hopefully documenting another historical season.
Spring is here! I'll see ya'll at the yard!
Gig'em Aggies and Long Live the Rally Rooster!
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posted by AgRyan04 at 10:09 PM
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