By the Numbers: Midseason turnaround continues with 3-1 week nine

I have to admit, I “nerded” out quite a bit on the numbers this week.

Probably close to double the stats this go-around, but these numbers sort of back up what we’ve been seeing with our eyes.

The Aggies started off this past series extremely well with Nathan Dettmer in the ace role, and while it has suddenly turned into a “hit and miss” behind him in the rotation, the bullpen has more than made up for it.

They’ve been nothing short of spectacular over the last eight games. Add that to continued solid play with the gloves and an offense that just gets better and better as the weeks go by and is hitting the baseball at an explosive rate that would rival what the 2016 group did in SEC play.

Pretty surprising, and really, really fun to watch.

Don’t look now, but Jim Schlossnagle has this team in a three-way tie for second in the SEC West at 8-7, and the team’s RPI has climbed all the way to No. 36 from the 70 range when SEC play began.

A&M has fought through so many injuries — some big and season-ending and others of the nagging variety — but here the Aggies sit in an excellent position in its quest to reach the NCAA Tournament for the 14th time in the last 15 seasons and the 17th time in the last 18 years as a head coach for Schlossnagle.

It really shouldn’t surprise us to see what is happening, considering that this is what Schlossnagle does. 

It’s just not acceptable to not win and win big when you play baseball under his watch.

However, with it being his first season, and with the roster looking like it’s not quite ready to compete in the SEC, and with all of the injuries early in the season, and with the rocky start to the season, and with the bullpen issues that plagued A&M for the first two months of the season — on and on and on —  it would have been perfectly understandable for the Aggies to sit at the bottom of the vaunted SEC West in year one.

But that’s not the way Schlossnagle operates.

Who knows what will happen from this point on as the Ags certainly face a challenging road in the back half of SEC play. Still, Aggie Baseball is fun again, and even brighter days are on the near horizon. I certainly won’t count out the 2022 squad to make even more noise before all is said and done.

Here’s a statistical look, By The Numbers, at A&M’s 3-1 week and series win over Georgia...

0.00 - Combined ERA for Will Johnston and Brad Rudis in SEC play this season. Rudis, only a freshman, has not allowed a run in five outings, eight conference innings and has punched out 10 hitters with just two walks. Johnston has been a little shakier —five walks and six Ks — but hasn’t given up an earned run of his own in six frames and five appearances.

.370 - Jordan Thompson’s batting average this season in conference play. The scarcely-used center fielder has come alive as of late and has absolutely made the most of his opportunity. Thompson hit .400 (4-for-10) with two doubles, five RBIs and seven runs scored in the series win at UGA.

He also walked twice, reached via a hit batsman three times and struck out just once from the nine-hole. Only Dylan Rock (.393) has a higher average in league games than Thompson (10-for-27), and his .514 on-base percentage in SEC play leads the team (14 points ahead of Rock).

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

The extremely selfless Austin Bost hit .563 in A&M’s four games last week and is currently hitting .341 on the year and .361 in SEC games.

.563 - Austin Bost’s batting average in four games last week. The junior went a ridiculous 9-for-16 while hitting mostly in the six-hole. He also walked four times and struck out just once (0 Ks vs. UGA). Bost has his average up to .341 on the season with an elevated .361 in league play.

#1 - A&M’s conference ranking in batting average in league games. The Aggies are currently hitting .297 through 15 games, leading Georgia by two points after overtaking the Dawgs in that category in a head-to-head competition this weekend.

The .297 average is 22 points higher than the Ags have hit in out-of-conference games this season (.275). It’s also 48 points above what A&M hit in SEC play in 2021 (.249). The Aggies have not hit over .255 in conference games since hitting .304 in 2016.

1 - Amount of runs allowed and walks allowed for Jacob Palisch in his last six outings. That dates back to the win over Texas in Austin three weeks ago and spans a total of 11 innings, during which the graduate transfer from Stanford has also racked up 17 strikeouts and lowered his ERA from 5.60 to 3.77. On the season, Palisch has 36 Ks and just five walks in 28.2 IP.

2nd - A&M’s spot in the SEC standings after 15 games. The Aggies are in a three-way tie for second at 8-7. Raise your hand if you would have predicted that heading into conference season five weeks ago.

2.70 - Nathan Dettmer’s ERA in five starts vs. SEC competition. The sophomore ace of the Aggie staff is 3-2 with a 3.54 ERA on the season, but that number is cut by nearly a full run against conference hitters. He’s seventh in the SEC in ERA and fifth in innings pitched (30). Dettmer was particularly brilliant on Thursday night in a win over Georgia, working eight innings and allowing just one unearned run on five hits with no walks and nine strikeouts.

3 - A&M hitters who rank among the top-nine RBI producers in SEC action. Dylan Rock is second in the league with 22 RBIs. Ryan Targac ranks fourth with 20 RBIs. Troy Claunch is tied for ninth with 16 RBIs. Claunch also ranks tied for fourth with 22 hits and is 15th in batting average (.338).

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

Trevor Werner started at third in Thursday night’s win at Georgia but was limited to a pinch-running appearance the rest of the weekend. His status this week is uncertain.

3 - Total at-bats for Trevor Werner since the first game in Frisco. The third-year infielder started at third base on Thursday night and went 1-for-3 with two walks in an 8-1 win but was not on the field for the last two games over the weekend. This lineup is already much improved, but it would be so much more dangerous with Werner sitting in the middle third of the lineup game in and game out. That just doesn’t appear as if it will happen at this point.

Here’s hoping for the best moving ahead for arguably A&M’s most talented offensive weapon.

3.15 - Combined bullpen ERA in four games last week. The ever-improving stable of Aggie relievers allowed a total of seven earned runs in 20 innings of work against A&M-Corpus Christi and UGA, and four of those came from Joseph Menefee in one inning of work in Athens.

Take that out and you’re looking at three earned runs in 19 IP (1.42 ERA). That group also struck out 21 hitters and walked just six (four of those coming from Menefee in two outings).

4th - Ryan Targac’s SEC ranking in RBIs in league games. The sophomore is hitting .304 in SEC play with five homers and 20 RBIs — just two runs batted in behind Rock for second in the league and three behind Ole Miss’ Tim Elko for first. Targac is four behind the league leader with five homers in conference games. He’s eighth in total bases (38), 11th in slugging percentage (.679) and 13th in on-base percentage (.426).

5 - As in the Five Factors, a stat that we’ve tracked for years in the old “Diamond Notes” feature and are continuing here. The five factors to success offensively and defensively on the mound: Hitting with two outs, with runners on, with runners in scoring position, getting the leadoff man on base, and two-out RBIs.

Here’s how A&M did on both offense and positionally in the three games in Athens...

Offensively:

- Two outs - .452 (14-for-31) ... Up 133 points from last week
- Runners on - .333 (23-for-69) ... Down five points from last week
- Runners in scoring position - .362 (17-for-47) ... Up 128 points from last week
- Leadoff OBP - .481 (13-for-27) ... Up 175 points from last week
- Two-out RBIs - 15 ... Up five RBIs from last week

Defensively:

- Two outs - .316 (12-for-38) ... Up (opponent improvement) 36 points from last week
- Runners on - .298 (17-for-57) ... Up 82 points from last week
- Runners in scoring position - .308 (8-for-26) ... Up 70 points from last week
- Leadoff OBP - .346 (9-for-26) ... Up 30 points from last week
- Two-out RBIs - 4 ... Down (A&M improvement) five RBIs from last week

6 - Wins for A&M in the last eight games. That includes series wins vs. Kentucky and Georgia.

7 - Wins for the Aggies in midweek games. A&M is 7-1 during the midweek this season, as it welcomes top-20 Dallas Baptist to Olsen Field this Tuesday. The Aggies have gotten it done despite losing their Tuesday starter — Khristian Curtis — for the rest of the season to an arm injury.

7th - Austin Bost’s league ranking in batting average in SEC games (.361). He’s also fourth in hits (22) and tied for second in sacrifice flies (3).

7.18 - Micah Dallas’ ERA in league games. The graduate transfer from Texas Tech has struggled as of late, allowing 13 earned runs in his last three outings and looking like a shell of himself since coming into the game in the ninth inning in that emotional win at Texas.

Command has been a bit of an issue in this recent downslide, as five of Dallas’ 11 walks on the season have come in his last three starts.

8 - RBIs for Dylan Rock in the Georgia series. The white-hot graduate transfer from UTSA went 4-for-11 (.364) in the past three games, and three of his four hits went for extra bases (a double and two home runs).

8 - A&M offensive starters that are currently hitting over .275 right now in SEC games. Every starter other than Logan Britt (.163) is above .275. For reference, compare that to 2018, when A&M had just two guys on the roster who hit over .275 against league competition. Only three guys (Will Frizzell, Austin Bost and Ray Alejo) did it last year.

Meredith Tabor, TexAgs

The SEC’s Player of the Week two weeks ago, Dylan Rock is making a strong case for SEC Offensive Player of the Year as his surge continues.

9 - Major offensive categories in which Dylan Rock currently ranks among the SEC’s top four hitters in league games, and he’s in the top two in eight of the nine areas.

Rock, who is making a push for consideration as the SEC’s offensive player of the year, is alone in first in slugging percentage (.885), OPS (1.385), runs scored (22), total bases (54), second in RBIs (23) and on-base percentage (.500), tied for second in hits (24), home runs (8) and is fourth in batting average (.393).

To this point, we have not seen an A&M hitter go on an extended tear like the one that Rock is on right now and rank this high in all of the major SEC offensive categories across the board at any point since the Aggies have been in the SEC.

Nobody has done this for this long. It’s just so impressive to watch the consistent run of dominance for Rock.

12 - Major offensive categories in which Texas A&M as a team ranks in the top-two in SEC play. The Aggies are currently first in the league in batting average (.297), on-base percentage (.391), hits (165), doubles (33), tied for first in RBIs (108), runs scored (115), walks (75) and second in slugging percentage (.483), OPS (.874), triples (5), total bases (268) and sacrifice flies (10).

+16 - A&M’s upward movement in the RPI in the last week, which is now up to No. 36 nationally. Now, that’s still only 10th among SEC teams but likely puts the Aggies squarely on the positive end of the NCAA Tournament bubble through the halfway point of league play.

The Aggies now have eight Quadrant I wins this season, and the strength of schedule is now ranked 18th.

28 - Innings after the fifth in the last two weeks — out of 29 total frames — in which the Aggies have held their opponents scoreless. That’s right, A&M has only allowed its opponents to cross home plate in just one inning after the fifth over a span of eight games.

A complete turnaround for this young but talented stable of relief arms and one of the real, emerging storylines in the Aggies’ mid-season turnaround.

BONUS NOTE: Ole Miss was ranked No. 1 in the nation just three weeks ago. The Rebels are now tied for dead last in the SEC standings (5-10), and their RPI has plummeted to No. 55. Mississippi State, the defending national champion, is just a game ahead of Ole Miss at 6-9 in SEC play. Vanderbilt is 7-8 in the league and unranked in most of the polls.

It can turn on a dime in this league in both directions. We’re seeing that in a big way right now for the two Mississippi schools, negatively, and for teams like A&M and Alabama in a positive way.

There you have it.

Jam-packed with all kinds of info and water cooler nuggets for you to share with your fellow Aggie Baseball fans.

A big Tuesday night test against DBU in the midweek and then three at home against No. 4 Arkansas Friday through Sunday.

Big, big test coming right up for the upstart Aggies. We’ll see you at the yard soon!