Photo by Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Texas A&M Baseball
* You would be hard to find a one-two punch in college baseball better than Wacha and Stripling. Wacha can easily hit the mid 90’s and is a great ace for A&M. Stripling isn’t a guy who will throw 94 or 95 miles per hour, but he is a guy who will always do a job well done. Even on his worse day, Stripling will still only give up two or three runs. When you have a one-two punch like that, it’s pretty impressive, but when you add Rafael Pineda to that mix, there is no question that A&M will have one of the best 1-2-3 rotations in the country. The biggest question however, will be if the bullpen is able to step up or not. The Wacha-Stripling combo deserves to be called one of the best duos in A&M history.
* A&M has enough hitting to get back to Omaha this year, even though they will get a nonchalant performance every now and then. This team has talent and enough potential offensively to get to Omaha. There are not a lot of teams out there hitting .305, so it’s not like A&M is falling behind the field in that department. When you look at this A&M team, you have to look at Tyler Naquin as a guy ready to have a big postseason. Krey Bratsen needs to wake up and get the bat going, because he’s a guy with all the tools that can struggle with putting them all together at times.
* The biggest question in regards to this A&M team is the bullpen. Kyle Martin is a great story with the way he’s worked into the closer role. He questions however, after looking at other closers around the country, if Martin is the guy you want going against some of the best in the nation. Daniel Mengden can’t assume that role because he’s become more valuable as a number four starter. The questions at closer all go back to Jason Jester being ruled ineligible at the beginning of the season. If he was able to play, there wouldn’t be a question at all and Jester would be in that role.
* Kohl Stewart has a chance to make it on campus, even though he would have to turn down over a million dollars to go to college, according to some scouts. Right now, he’s still a high school junior that has been able to top out around 96 miles per hour. You have to look at his situation in a couple of different ways. Does he go to A&M and battle Kenny Hill for the starting quarterback job in a couple of years and also play baseball? Or, does he put his life in the fast lane and get his professional baseball career started? No one really knows what he should or shouldn’t do except for him, and he will have to make that decision next year.
* It’s hard to say any team that isn’t in the top few is a lock for a regional, but unless A&M gets swept this weekend and craters in the Big 12 Tournament, they’re in really good shape to host. If you look at their overall resume and the fact that they have done very well in conference, you’ll see that they have put together a decent RPI at 14. The big question right now, is whether or not A&M can wind up with a national seed. He thinks it’s a possibility, but there isn’t a great chance at this point. A&M has kind of surpassed Rice at this point in the pecking order, but he still has LSU and Stanford ahead of the Aggies in his latest projections. It won’t be an easy chore, but if A&M can find a way to get ahead of LSU and Stanford, they will have a much better shot at being a national seed.
* A couple of years ago, Oklahoma found themselves with a national seed, even though they had an RPI of 20. Therefore, for the NCAA to have a somewhat strange national seed is not unheard of. The big thing hurting A&M right now is their record against the RPI top-20 (1-6), while there are teams like Florida and UCLA that are 16-9 and 11-8 against the top competition. It’s tough to compare A&M to those teams when you look at it like that, and A&M won’t have many chances to improve that record in the Big 12 Tournament. At this point, A&M needs to take care of their business and hope the NCAA decides to throw them a little bit of a bone as well.
* A&M could see their RPI fall due to some of their top-50 RPI wins barely being inside of that top 50. What really helped A&M last week was Oklahoma’s sweep of Baylor which was able to negate getting swept by the Bears a little bit. The RPI is such a strange animal that A&M fans really need to root for their past opponents to do well.
* The three best teams that are built to win a national championship include the Florida Gators, the Florida State Seminoles and the South Carolina Gamecocks. The Gators are so talented even though they seem to take a weekend off every once in a while. There is no doubt they are a national championship type of team because they are loaded offensively and on the mound. Florida State is a team that has sewn up their pitching issues that A&M exposed last year in the super regional and also have the offense to go all the way as well. The newbie to the discussion is South Carolina, even though they are back-to-back reigning champions. Early in the year, the Gamecocks were written off by some people, but they are now a team to watch due to the arms of their pitching staff.
* A&M’s move to the SEC is a great one for the university. He knows plenty of burnt orange clad people that disagree with him, but he believes it has nothing to do with running away from Texas. The move makes perfect sense from A&M’s standpoint because you are joining the top league in the country, and a league that is infinitely more stable than the Big 12. The league has maximized its financial value and the notoriety of being the only Texas school in the conference will both benefit A&M immensely. When a conference like the SEC comes calling, you have to answer the bell and head there.
* Every team in the SEC will eventually have a down year, and expecting to get to Omaha every single year is a little much to ask. From a facilities standpoint, A&M is right up there with the best of the conference. He would put A&M at number two in facilities rankings in the conference behind South Carolina. Right now, there is no excuse for A&M to not win in the SEC and there is no reason why the Aggies shouldn’t be in the regional and super regional mix year in and year out.
* There is no question that both Wacha and Naquin will be first rounders. Wacha should go in the top-10 overall picks, while Naquin will fall somewhere towards the bottom of the round. His biggest knock is that he isn’t ultra-powerful, but his arm and his ability at the plate make up for that to some degree.
Baseball: Kendall Rogers talks RPI, A&M's national seed hopes
Notes from Kendall Rogers interview
* When he was a kid, he watched Jeff Granger fan Lubbock Christian University 21 times back in the mid 1990’s, which he still considers as one of the top A&M baseball moments he was present for. Even though he wasn’t at the game, Ross Stripling’s no-hitter over the weekend ranks up there as one of those moments as well. There have been other great games from the likes of Michael Wacha to Justin Ruggiano, in addition to the others mentioned.* You would be hard to find a one-two punch in college baseball better than Wacha and Stripling. Wacha can easily hit the mid 90’s and is a great ace for A&M. Stripling isn’t a guy who will throw 94 or 95 miles per hour, but he is a guy who will always do a job well done. Even on his worse day, Stripling will still only give up two or three runs. When you have a one-two punch like that, it’s pretty impressive, but when you add Rafael Pineda to that mix, there is no question that A&M will have one of the best 1-2-3 rotations in the country. The biggest question however, will be if the bullpen is able to step up or not. The Wacha-Stripling combo deserves to be called one of the best duos in A&M history.
* A&M has enough hitting to get back to Omaha this year, even though they will get a nonchalant performance every now and then. This team has talent and enough potential offensively to get to Omaha. There are not a lot of teams out there hitting .305, so it’s not like A&M is falling behind the field in that department. When you look at this A&M team, you have to look at Tyler Naquin as a guy ready to have a big postseason. Krey Bratsen needs to wake up and get the bat going, because he’s a guy with all the tools that can struggle with putting them all together at times.
* The biggest question in regards to this A&M team is the bullpen. Kyle Martin is a great story with the way he’s worked into the closer role. He questions however, after looking at other closers around the country, if Martin is the guy you want going against some of the best in the nation. Daniel Mengden can’t assume that role because he’s become more valuable as a number four starter. The questions at closer all go back to Jason Jester being ruled ineligible at the beginning of the season. If he was able to play, there wouldn’t be a question at all and Jester would be in that role.
* Kohl Stewart has a chance to make it on campus, even though he would have to turn down over a million dollars to go to college, according to some scouts. Right now, he’s still a high school junior that has been able to top out around 96 miles per hour. You have to look at his situation in a couple of different ways. Does he go to A&M and battle Kenny Hill for the starting quarterback job in a couple of years and also play baseball? Or, does he put his life in the fast lane and get his professional baseball career started? No one really knows what he should or shouldn’t do except for him, and he will have to make that decision next year.
* It’s hard to say any team that isn’t in the top few is a lock for a regional, but unless A&M gets swept this weekend and craters in the Big 12 Tournament, they’re in really good shape to host. If you look at their overall resume and the fact that they have done very well in conference, you’ll see that they have put together a decent RPI at 14. The big question right now, is whether or not A&M can wind up with a national seed. He thinks it’s a possibility, but there isn’t a great chance at this point. A&M has kind of surpassed Rice at this point in the pecking order, but he still has LSU and Stanford ahead of the Aggies in his latest projections. It won’t be an easy chore, but if A&M can find a way to get ahead of LSU and Stanford, they will have a much better shot at being a national seed.
* A couple of years ago, Oklahoma found themselves with a national seed, even though they had an RPI of 20. Therefore, for the NCAA to have a somewhat strange national seed is not unheard of. The big thing hurting A&M right now is their record against the RPI top-20 (1-6), while there are teams like Florida and UCLA that are 16-9 and 11-8 against the top competition. It’s tough to compare A&M to those teams when you look at it like that, and A&M won’t have many chances to improve that record in the Big 12 Tournament. At this point, A&M needs to take care of their business and hope the NCAA decides to throw them a little bit of a bone as well.
* A&M could see their RPI fall due to some of their top-50 RPI wins barely being inside of that top 50. What really helped A&M last week was Oklahoma’s sweep of Baylor which was able to negate getting swept by the Bears a little bit. The RPI is such a strange animal that A&M fans really need to root for their past opponents to do well.
* The three best teams that are built to win a national championship include the Florida Gators, the Florida State Seminoles and the South Carolina Gamecocks. The Gators are so talented even though they seem to take a weekend off every once in a while. There is no doubt they are a national championship type of team because they are loaded offensively and on the mound. Florida State is a team that has sewn up their pitching issues that A&M exposed last year in the super regional and also have the offense to go all the way as well. The newbie to the discussion is South Carolina, even though they are back-to-back reigning champions. Early in the year, the Gamecocks were written off by some people, but they are now a team to watch due to the arms of their pitching staff.
* A&M’s move to the SEC is a great one for the university. He knows plenty of burnt orange clad people that disagree with him, but he believes it has nothing to do with running away from Texas. The move makes perfect sense from A&M’s standpoint because you are joining the top league in the country, and a league that is infinitely more stable than the Big 12. The league has maximized its financial value and the notoriety of being the only Texas school in the conference will both benefit A&M immensely. When a conference like the SEC comes calling, you have to answer the bell and head there.
* Every team in the SEC will eventually have a down year, and expecting to get to Omaha every single year is a little much to ask. From a facilities standpoint, A&M is right up there with the best of the conference. He would put A&M at number two in facilities rankings in the conference behind South Carolina. Right now, there is no excuse for A&M to not win in the SEC and there is no reason why the Aggies shouldn’t be in the regional and super regional mix year in and year out.
* There is no question that both Wacha and Naquin will be first rounders. Wacha should go in the top-10 overall picks, while Naquin will fall somewhere towards the bottom of the round. His biggest knock is that he isn’t ultra-powerful, but his arm and his ability at the plate make up for that to some degree.
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