Diamond Notes: Pitching staff delivers again for A&M team struggling at the plate

Click above to listen to Gabe's interview with A&M baseball assistant coach Justin Seely this morning on TexAgs Radio. Notes from the interview are below the story.

Some Monday afternoon thoughts, observations and takeaways on Aggie Baseball coming off of a 4-1 week that moved the A&M season record to 7-1...

Hitter of the Week

C Mikey Hoehner | 5-for-19 (.263); 1 double; 2 RBI; 1 run scored

You know it was a rough week offensively when the best hitter got just five hits in five games and hit well under .300. Hoehner was hands down the best hitter in week two and seems to be the best fit for the two-hole at this point. He’s more of a table setter and contact guy - just three strikeouts in 26 at bats thus far - than a run producer and is a good piece to have in the lineup between Bryce Blaum and Braden Shewmake.

Angelina Alcantar, TexAgs

Mikey Hoehner was hands down the best hitter on the weekend for the Aggies. 

Hoehner caught all five games last week and hit in the two-hole in four of the five contests. When Hunter Coleman returns from a minor injury, look for Mikey to get one day off per week behind the plate. But with how rough the start has been for the Aggie bats, look for Hoehner to hit almost every day even on days that he doesn’t catch. It’s dangerous to start your best catcher at DH on the days he’s not behind the plate but A&M can’t afford to have Mikey’s bat out of the lineup right now.

Pitcher of the Week:

LHP John Doxakis | 6.0 IP; 3 H; 1 R; 0 ER; 2 BB; 8 K

It’s the second time in two weeks that Doxakis has won the pitching award. This one was tough because you could give it to Asa Lacy or Bryce Miller or Kasey Kalich. But Dox went out on Friday night without his “A Stuff” and still got outs and threw like the veteran that he is. The one run allowed was unearned and he allowed just three hits against Illinois-Chicago in his six-inning stint. Frankly, if you look back on the junior’s last four starts dating back to that huge win over Auburn in the “Casey Mize Game” in Hoover, you won’t find anyone in the country at the college level pitching better than he is right now. Here are his numbers over his last four starts, dating back to his postseason gems against War Eagle and Indiana…

4-0; 0.34 ERA

26.1 IP; 7 H; 3 R; 1 ER; 4 BB; 42 K

14.5 Ks per 9 IP and a near 11/1 K/BB ratio

Who’s Hot?

LHP Asa Lacy - The sophomore has held up his end of the bargain in A&M’s co-ace lefty situation at the top of the Aggie rotation. Lacy is 2-0 with a 0.82 ERA so far in 2019. He had exceptional stuff vs. UIC on Saturday but got himself into an early-game jam in the first inning due to a lack of command. But with the bases loaded and one out, the big-armed southpaw induced a flyout and got a big strikeout to get out unscathed.

Angelina Alcantar, TexAgs

Asa Lacy notched his second straight stellar outing on Saturday afternoon.  

After that, he was darn-near unhittable, allowing just two base knocks and punching out 10 with three walks and a pair of hit batsmen mixed into his outing. The stuff is as good as Doxakis and anyone going right now in college baseball. The one element that stands in the way of Lacy emerging as a top 10 MLB Draft pick in 2020 is improved command and pitchability. And we’re talking about a guy who currently has 21 Ks and just four walks in two starts. But he also has four hit batsmen and has a propensity to get behind in the count. That causes him to be prone to high-pitch innings, which can limit his ability to go deep in games. But the talent clearly displays that of a top five arms in the SEC RIGHT NOW.

RHP Kasey Kalich - A&M has done a great job under Rob Childress of finding big-time JUCO arms that come right in and start closing out ballgames. From Gary Campfield in ’07 to John Stilson in ’10 to Jason Jester in ’13 and ’14 to Nolan Hoffman in ’18 ... guys have come straight in from a two-year program and had immediate success getting outs 25-27 in maroon and white. It appears that Kasey Kalich is no different. The right-handed fireballer from Blinn is off to a tremendous start. He has three saves in three outings and hasn’t yet allowed a run or a walk in four innings thus far. The sophomore has given up just one hit and has struck out six. He made two mound appearances last week, tossing three total innings of scoreless relief with five strikeouts. To boot, Kalich wore short sleeves when he closed out Tuesday’s win over SFA in frigid conditions and made very quick and easy work of the Lumberjacks in his 1.1-inning stint. That puts him over the top in my book.

RHP Bryce Miller - The fellow Blinn transfer and sophomore right-hander also worked twice last week, tossing a total of 3.2 innings in of hitless and scoreless relief in wins over SFA and UIC. He

allowed two walks and struck out four. Miller is a guy that A&M head coach and pitching coach Rob Childress has compared to former strike pumper Andrew Vinson. I think we would all offer a collective and resounding, “We’ll take it!” if Miller turns out to be anything close to Vinnie. 


 

LHP Chris Weber - After a rough A&M debut on opening weekend, the freshman and future rocket scientist (literally) rebounded in a big way in his first career start … a win over Prairie View A&M. Weber tossed six scoreless frames, allowing five hits with no walks and six strikeouts. He threw 49 strikes on 76 pitches (64.5% strike rate) and looked much more comfortable on the mound in outing number two. He’ll get another start this Wednesday vs. Incarnate Word and has already gained the confidence of Childress. Look for Weber to be a key lefty out of the bullpen once the Aggies close out the double-midweek portion of their schedule here in a couple of weeks.

Who’s Cold?

Basically the entire A&M lineup falls into the “Who’s Cold?” category. Every hitter was under .300 for the week besides freshman Ty Coleman. He hit .333 (3-for-9) in three starts but got hurt and missed the Saturday and Sunday games. He’s listed as day-to-day, along with brother Hunter Coleman and A&M’s hottest hitter: outfielder Cam Blake. Here’s a list of what the bulk of the lineup did individually last week...

Bryce Blaum - 4-for-21 (.190); 1 HR; 3 RBI; 3 runs
Mikey Hoehner - 5-for-19 (.263); 1 double; 2 RBI; 1 run
Braden Shewmake - 4-for-20 (.200); 2 triples; 1 RBI; 3 runs
Logan Foster - 2-for-19 (.105); 1 RBI; 3 runs
Will Frizzell - 3-for-13 (.231); 2 doubles; 1 RBI
Aaron Walters - 2-for-13 (.154); 2 RBI; 3 runs
Jonathan Ducoff - 1-for-9 (.111); 2 RBI; 1 run
Allonte Wingate - 3-for-11 (.273); 1 RBI; 2 runs
Zach DeLoach - 2-for-11 (.182); 1 RBI; 2 runs

Other thoughts and notes:

•This is the best start I’ve seen from an A&M pitching staff in my 15 seasons covering the team.

It’s the most talented staff since the 2011 pitching stable that featured Big Leaguers Michael Wacha, Ross Stripling and Kyle Martin along with longtime minor leaguer and college phenom John Stilson. But this group has a chance to be just about as talented and quite a bit deeper and significantly more balanced. The numbers this group is putting together across the board is mind-boggling. Check out the statistics...

Team ERA = 2.00

48 hits allowed in 72 innings

96 strikeouts and 16 walks (6/1 K/BB ratio)

12 strikeouts per 9 innings

2 walks per 9 innings

10 extra-base hits allowed

Opponents average = .188

•If those numbers don’t impress you enough, consider that every single A&M pitcher that has allowed at least one walk (seven pitchers) has a better than 2/1 K/BB ratio. The breakdown looks like this...

Doxakis = 20 K; 2 BB (10/1)

Saenz = 6 K; 1 BB (6/1)

Lacy = 21 K; 4 BB (5.3/1)

Weber = 7 K; 2 BB (3.5/1)

Jozwiak = 8 K; 3 BB (2.7/1)

Cole = 5 K; 2 BB (2.5/1)

Miller = 4 K; 2 BB (2/1)

•There are seven arms that have not yet allowed a walk so far in 2019...

Roa = 8 K; 0 BB

Childress = 5 K; 0 BB

Kalich = 6 K; 0 BB

Nelson = 2 K; 0 BB

Richardson = 2 K; 0 BB

Menefee = 2 K; 0 BB

Birdsell = 0 K; 0 BB

•Just some raw data to lay out just how good this pitching unit has been from top to bottom thus far. Now, we’re about to learn a lot more about how good it truly is because Baylor and TCU are pretty salty teams and Houston is always scary ... especially in the Bayou City. The Aggies will jump into a different tax bracket in terms of opponent strength this weekend at the Shriner’s College Classic. I am convinced this group is ready to prove its value and will be highly motivated to do just that against a trio of old in-state rivals at Minute Maid Park.

•There’s not much you can really say about the offense. It’s been bad. For mid-major programs, the opposing pitching has been pretty talented but it’s still mid-major pitching. A&M is still walking more than it is striking out but it’s having a very tough time stringing together hits and producing big innings. When this lineup is able to barrel up baseballs, all too often the ball is finding gloves and hit right at people. That part will even out over time. A&M is hitting just .234 with a paltry .652 OPS (.336 OBP; .316 SLG) with just 13 extra-base hits on the season. The Aggies need to use the next two weeks to hone in on who their best 10-12 guys are and figure out ASAP how to fit the pieces together between now and SEC play. They’re rolling out a ton of different lineups and seeing who comes to life. I’m interested to see how the order shakes up this week and especially this weekend in Houston.

Kyle Steel

Moo Menefee has been stellar from the mound, but deserves a chance at the plate.

•There’s one man with very limited action positionally that I would love to see crack the lineup to see if he’s ready: Moo Menefee. The elite pitching prospect who is less than a year removed from Tommy John surgery is already making waves on the mound. He was really good in his short relief stint on Saturday, throwing 94-MPH heat and mixing in a mid-70s changeup and good breaking ball.

But Menefee is also a very good hitter and I would personally like to see Will Bolt and Co. offer him a midweek shot leading into the tournament in Houston to see what he’s got. It couldn’t hurt and the offense could really use a power boost. Moo is talented enough to provide just that.

•I was encouraged by Shewmake’s at bats on Saturday ... a walk and a pair of hard-hit triples to his pull side. Shew was very patient in game two vs. UIC and made the opposing arms challenge him with pitches in the zone, and he crushed everything on the inner half of the plate. It’s been a very slow start for the junior but he’s proving to be much more patient this season than he’s been at any point in his A&M career and that should pay off for him in short order. As I wrote on Saturday, it wasn’t until the 18th game that Shewmake drew walk number five on the season. He got there in the seventh game in ’19 and still has yet to strikeout in 27 at bats.

•I’ve got to imagine that Childress, Bolt and Justin Seely are chomping at the bit to get Ty Coleman back healthy and in the lineup. He has played a tremendous third base in the early going and his bat has shown up early on as a freshman. The Aggies are looking for offense and Coleman is a very confident baseball player that lives for the game. He’s a tremendous athlete and grinder who has taken advantage of his opportunities early on, and he’ll continue to get more chances to prove himself when he gets back to full strength.

•Guys like Logan Foster, Will Frizzell, Hunter Coleman and Aaron Walters were brought to Texas A&M to lead the Aggie offense and be run producers in the middle of the lineup.

We’ve seen flashes of greatness from each of these guys but the time is now for these guys. The team needs them to rise to the occasion and be more consistent than they’ve been to this point. We’ve also seen flashes of greatness from center fielder Zach DeLoach, and suddenly he finds himself in a real battle for his job in center field. The speedy Ty Condel started in center the last two games and his glove tool is elite. Very interesting to watch that battle shake out and to see if DeLoach can regain form as his sophomore year rolls along. 

Finally, here’s what I would do with the lineup this week, assuming everyone is fully healthy and ready to roll for the Shriner’s College Classic...

1. Blaum - 2B
2. Hoehner - C
3. Shewmake - SS
4. Foster - RF
5. Frizzell / Menefee - DH
6. Walters / H. Coleman - 1B
7. Blake - LF
8. T. Coleman - 3B
9. DeLoach - CF

I’m looking forward to this week. The Aggies have midweek games against HBU and Incarnate Word and will roll out lefties Chandler Jozwiak and Chris Weber before heading down to Houston to take on the Bears, Horned Frogs and Cougars. Another five game features an all-lefty pitching rotation. We’re eight games in and all eight games have been started by a left-hander on the mound. I’m excited to see how this team continues to mold and develop over the next few weeks.

Key notes from Justin Seely interview

We can’t feel sorry for ourselves for underperforming on Sunday. While our record this week is 4-1, I thought we only performed well in three of those games, We played well below par twice. 

The game on Sunday turned on a dime. Jonathan Childress was fantastic through 5 innings, and there was no reason to think he’d hit a wall in the 6th. You want him to overcome adversity and stay in there, but we needed to make a change. For the first 5 innings we hit the ball well, but the last 4 weren’t good enough. Saturday is the level we expect to play at. You’re not gonna get that every nights, but we need games like that more consistently.

We were really excited that coach Childress was able to get Kasey Kalich and Bryce Miller is in. Kalich is a guy we’ve know for a long time. Whether or not Kalich could spin the ball was the concern, but his slider has really come along. 

John Doxakis has been playing at such a high level throughout the season. I thought he was at a B- level on Friday, but he has learned to bring his A+ competitive mindset. It is what separates him from a lot of guys. What Lacy did on Saturday by getting into some jams with poor command reminded me a lot of what Doxakis had to go through last year. Having that mindset is what separates the great ones from the rest. 

Offensive, we’re barreling some balls, but not enough. We’re not striking out as much. We’re being competitive at bat but also being disciplined, which is leading to more walks. A big concern though, is we’re taking strikes when we have guys that clearly can hit the baseball. We’ll overcome it though. We have have too many guys that have enough ability and experience. It is the beginning of the season so this stuff gets magnified more at this point in the season. I believe whats inside these guys. I’m disappointed in the numbers, but not the players. They’re working really hard and the results will come in time. 

Braden Shewmake’s takes were his best on Saturday. He allowed the pitcher to come to him rather than chasing pitches. Sometimes, Braden will try to make more happen then could possibly happen, but he let the game come to him Saturday. Sunday he was trying to hard to make something happen, rather than letting pitches come to him. 

Ty Coleman, Hunter Coleman and Cam Blake are out at the moment, but we hope to have them back midweek. Blake’s situation is a little more fluid because it is a head injury. I'm excited to get these guys back. Ty was playing great at third base and driving the ball well. Hunter gives us much needed experience, and he can give Mikey Hoehner a break. Hoehner been awesome this season, but it’d be nice to be able rotate the lineup if need be.

We’re starting Chandler Jozwiak on Tuesday. Chris Weber on Wednesday. It’ll be another 5 man left-handed week. HBU is a very well-coached team. They always have guys that can drive the ball out of the park. Patrick Hallmark a great coach. He coached a Rice and Missouri for a few years. He knows a lot of under recruited guys in Houston. We have a long history with all the other opponents. The Shiners Classic is always a great event, and the proceeds are going towards a great cause. The ballpark is awesome because theres a retractable roof if it rains. If playing in a big league ball park against rival teams doesn’t get you excited, nothing else will.