Photo by Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Texas A&M Baseball
I want to remind you that Liere Insurance — an Aggie owned and operated company and the foremost independent insurance company in and around Aggieland — is giving away a Disney dream vacation for four to Walt Disney World Resort in beautiful Orlando, Florida! This vacation of a lifetime is for a seven-day, six-night stay, airfare and passes to the Disney theme parks … valued at $6,000!
For more information on becoming eligible for this amazing contest, simply take a moment and send a quick email to Braxton Sherrill '06 or Bryan Massey ‘02 at ags@myliere.com. They will let you know how to get a quote and, thus, get entered to the drawing. If you prefer to call, you can dial 888-98-LIERE.
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Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Childress' club finds itself in an eerily familiar position — clicking on nearly all cylinders heading into postseason play.
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The ability of Rob Childress' A&M clubs to right a ship led astray and work into prime condition just before the start of the postseason has become something of a deus ex machina each season. Suffer through an 0-4 week against two in-state teams competing at the time for regional host spots and national seeds? No matter, finish on a 13-2 streak. It comes out of nowhere and has no explanation.
So it is that the Aggies, seemingly dead in the national seed discussion and needing to prove their worth as a mere regional host, are suddenly one of the hot names in the fight to land one of the eight coveted spots that bring super regionals to town. A lock? Absolutely not. Making the title game is also not imperative.
But it would sure help.
One year ago this time, A&M finished right on the fringe of the national seed picture and waited quietly after a similar late-season surge, only to be disappointed when the selection committee awarded national seeds to Rice and Texas and blamed it partially on John Stilson's absence.
The Aggies have a lot going for themselves this year, between the dazzling newness of Blue Bell Park, the RPI boost (to No. 8) that the final weekend granted, a distinct lack of high-profile injuries, the lack of dominant teams with eye-popping records and, of course, their own level of play in the final few weeks of the season. This side of the bracket is there for the taking, with the Oklahoma schools out of the way, a dangerous Kansas State lineup becoming someone else's problem and three hole-filled teams A&M took regular-season series from waiting for another shot.
There's also more at play — this team, this one group of baseball players, is the one set of high-profile A&M athletes that began the 2011-12 sports year with high expectations and rose to meet them. Rob Childress' Ags began the year in the top 10, and that's where they finished the regular season. A month before the school's official entrance into the SEC, this team can do what its predecessors failed to: Take a Big 12 title with it out the door.
But the eyes always lie on the larger prize, and if A&M can play in this tournament to the level that it's established since the TCU game and get a little help, it should bring home a national seed.
Hammer that goal home and it will also say something about Rob Childress' program. The man came to Aggieland with a vision, and he's grafted it into reality piece by piece. He's established a consistent stream of star pitchers, made the postseason every year after his first, took a team to the College World Series last season and helped take the Ags' new ballpark from dream to blueprint to completion. To be acknowledged as one of the country's very best teams, with an inside track to make it back to Omaha this year, would be the final push to say 'Texas A&M baseball has arrived' if A&M rewards that faith.
Not a bad way to enter the SEC, hm? But the Big 12 is first up. With three conference tournament titles in six years, Childress' teams are in the Bricktown-winning business. And, Ags, business is a-boomin'.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
The golden arms of Michael Wacha (pictured) and Ross Stripling, with A&M's remaining staff, make the Aggies a favorite alongside Baylor.
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The Aggies roll into Oklahoma City on a streak almost as hot as the Texas summer, winners of seven consecutive games and 13 of their last 15. That's a total of two losses, one in extra innings and the other in the ninth, in all the games following the Rice and Baylor debacles.
A&M ended its regular season with an easy defeat of Texas State and a three-game sweep against Oklahoma State, two of which the Aggies entered the ninth inning trailing in. The timely hitting and recent power surge (A&M hit five home runs last week) settle in nicely with a typically-salty pitching staff and an improved defense expecting shortstop Mikey Reynolds back for the tournament.
The Aggies are not known for their ability to drive the ball deep, predicating themselves on team speed as a counter. Rob Childress' club (statistically) ranked among the nation's best on the basepaths and trots the same athletes out on the defensive end. The team's ultimate success, however, will lie on the conference's (and perhaps nation's) best rotation — the 1-2-3-4 combination of Michael Wacha, Ross Stripling, Rafael Pineda and Daniel Mengden — and a seasoned core group of relievers.
Texas A&M is the two-time defending champion in this competition and serves as the clear-cut challenger to No. 1 seed Baylor. The Aggies will open up with Kansas on Wednesday at 4 p.m. A&M took two of three games from each of the other three teams on its side of the bracket.
Team ERA: 2.78 (5th nationally)
Team WHIP: 1.11 (1st)
Team OBP: .375 (70th)
Team SLG: .393 (103rd)
Fielding %: .971 (T-71st)
Stolen Bases: 120 (4th)
Key players: RHP Kyle Martin, 3B/DH Matt Juengel & SS Mikey Reynolds
Aggie fans know Tyler Naquin, Wacha and Stripling as well as anyone, so let's focus on three names that will be important in their own way.
Martin's journey through the season since his elevation to the closer role has been a story of ups and downs. He's had rough times, most notably the blown save and loss in the Sunday game in Austin, but he's also powered through multiple multi-inning outings in tight games, tying Estevan Uriegas for most appearances on the team but throwing more than 2.5 times as many innings. The Aggies have relied on him while bullpen depth has ailed them all season, and he'll be the one asked to get some important outs.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
A&M's hot finish coincided with Juengel's improved play, including two game-winning hits in the final five games.
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As for Juengel, A&M has won this tournament each of the past two years ... both on walk-off home runs hit by seniors (Brodie Greene, then Andrew Collazo) in the Sunday championship game. Not to put that exact burden on him, but he is a senior and one known for closing the year out on hot hitting streaks.
Without his home run on Thursday night in Stillwater, it's hard to know if the Aggies would have pulled it out. He also hit the clutch double to win the Sunday game against San Diego State. If A&M can keep him in the two-hole in the order but slide him back to the DH spot, he's very capable of making a mark on this tournament.
Reynolds hasn't started in A&M's last six games due to injury, but he played late in all three OSU games. Putting him back on the field would allow Juengel to return to DH, Blake Allemand to move back to third and Tyler Naquin to drop from leadoff back to the third spot in the lineup. Reynolds is a prototypical leadoff hitter who leads the team in runs scored (51) and ranks second in on-base percentage (.426).
X-factor: RHP Daniel Mengden
Mengden was already a name to watch before he hit the game-winning home run in the top of the ninth inning on Saturday in Stillwater, then took the mound in the bottom of the frame to close it out for the Aggies. Those moments alone elevated him on a higher plane, but his stats as a starter speak for themselves: 2-0 in three starts with an ERA of 0.90, 11 strikeouts and no walks. He added another scoreless inning and three strikeouts on Saturday.
Now he's likely to start tomorrow's game against Kansas, one that could get the Aggies off on the right foot with a solid outing. Following that, and contingent of course open the nature of the start, Childress can use him in a variety of roles late in the tournament if it comes to it. Mengden came to A&M as a two-way player, also slotted to play catcher, and started the season as the team's closer. A very versatile piece and one that has been, and can continue to be, a series boon to an Aggie team with most of the other pieces intact.
It was quite an atypical season for Augie Garrido's Longhorns, who, barring a miracle or selection committee intervention, will not host a regional — not something we're used to. The Horns are much more offensively challenged than A&M and their pitching has fallen short of the standards imposed by recent staffs led by Taylor Jungmann and Cole Green. Without it, they floundered at inopportune moments in the non-conference schedule before managing to finish third in the Big 12.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Will the Aggies' and Longhorns' final meeting (for now) come in the winner's bracket on Thursday?
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Texas comes in with a 9-6 record in its last 15 games, but losses in its last three series — to bracketmates A&M and Missouri, and lastly to Baylor. The Horns' depth lies in their bullpen, which has masked the youth of the Texas staff for most of the year; despite the drop-off in starting pitching, most of the team's wins are in low-scoring affairs. They play a similar game to the Aggies', manufacturing runs at times with small ball.
Aside from that, Texas does a number of things at an adequate level and none exceptionally. The Horns have hit a low number of home runs and don't stroke it for power as a team, nor do they play particularly well in the field. But if they can get a lead, it's hard to retake in the later innings.
The Longhorns lost twice to Missouri, against whom they'll open tomorrow at 7:30, in the 2011 tournament to fall short of the final round. Texas last won the Big 12 Tournament in 2009.
Team ERA: 3.38 (51st)
Team WHIP: 1.23 (34th)
Team OBP: .353 (189th)
Team SLG: .377 (157th)
Fielding %: .966 (150th)
Stolen Bases: 56 (T-122nd)
Key players: 3B Erich Weiss, LHP Hoby Milner, OF Mark Payton
Weiss is likely Texas' best all-around position player. He started all 50 games for the Longhorns, batted .349, led the team in OPS and stole 10 bases in 12 attempts. His defense, however, can be quite erratic and deserves watching. He has the capability to affect the Longhorns' performance positively or, as he did with three errors in the Saturday game against A&M, detract from it. Still, he recorded four hits in that series and his single to lead off the ninth inning in the Sunday game began Texas' rally to come from behind and win 2-1.
Milner is another of the good arms in the Texas bullpen, a junior lefty scouts have been looking at who participated on Team USA in 2011 with Tyler Naquin and Michael Wacha. He's recorded three starts, three saves and a 7-4 record this season, but the stat that jumps out is the innings pitched — 70.1, second on the team, with 30 of his 33 appearances coming in relief. He's one of Garrido's very first calls out of the bullpen, especially if Corey Knebel is forced to start (more on that below), and with a mid-2's ERA, a hard one to overcome if Texas hands him a lead.
Though Jonathan Walsh led the team in home runs by one, Payton is the Longhorns' truest power hitter outside of Weiss. He batted .330, hit five home runs, recorded a .505 slugging percentage and led the team in walks. Contain he and Weiss and the Texas lineup struggles, with the remaining hitters collectively batting in the mid-.200s and none above .300. Weiss, Walsh and Payton hit 16 of the team's 21 home runs.
X-factor: RHP Corey Knebel
Knebel is one of the best relievers in this tournament, or anywhere. But will Texas use him as such? After throwing a complete game one-hitter in his first-ever start, just over a week ago against Texas Southern, and following it with a quality start in 6.2 innings against Baylor, he finds himself in a similar situation to A&M's Mengden.
Who will Texas throw tomorrow? It bears watching. Odds are, Knebel will be a starter going forward. But regardless of where he goes, Knebel has closer stuff and the stamina to endure an extended start. The sophomore threw five innings of one-run ball in the Sunday victory against the Aggies earlier this season. He's dangerous and capable of earning the Longhorns a win on his own.
At the same time, they took two of three from tournament No. 4 seed Oklahoma State, stole a game from A&M, swept Kansas State, took two of three from Texas and beat Missouri State, second place finisher in a strong Missouri Valley Conference. They'll enter the tournament with a 4-5 record against the other three teams on this side of the bracket.
Mizzou is a mediocre team in most areas, batting .268 as a collective with only one regular starter over the .300 mark, fielding at a low level and lacking a defining characteristic like A&M's speed and rotation or Texas' bullpen. The Tigers have hit more home runs than either of the aforementioned pair, recording 28 as a team behind 11 from Dane Opel and nine off Blake Brown's bat. A pair of second-year lefthanders lead a shaky pitching staff; Missouri counts on five to seven runs, which don't always come, to win most of its games.
A&M downed the Tigers in 10 innings in the 2011 championship game to take the Big 12 Tournament title; Missouri has never won it, despite making three title game appearances.
Team ERA: 4.16 (121st)
Team WHIP: 1.42 (119th)
Team OBP: .362 (133rd)
Team SLG: .368 (176th)
Fielding %: .969 (98th)
Stolen Bases: 56 (T-122nd)
Key players: LHP Rob Zastryzny, OF Blake Brown, RHP Dusty Ross
If Missouri is to make a run in the tournament, it will have to start with No. 1 starter Zastryzny. The sophomore made some quality starts for the Tigers this season, along with some rough ones. He allowed five earned runs in 5.2 IP against the Aggies, and another five in 7.2 innings against Texas, but shut out Texas Tech and only allowed one run in a complete game, 1-0 loss to Kansas. Zastyzny led the team in starts with 14 and gets little help from Blake Holovach, who was 5-0 with a 2.35 ERA after the Saturday victory against A&M but has sagged to 4.61, and Brett Graves (5.91), the team's two other most-used starters. If he opens the team's second game, it may well be in the loser's bracket in a do-or-die situation.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
The
Tigers, who scored a series victory over Wednesday opponent Texas,
played three hotly-contested games against A&M in College Station.
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Tigers, who scored a series victory over Wednesday opponent Texas,
played three hotly-contested games against A&M in College
Station.","MediaItemID":17039}
As mentioned above, Opel and Brown combined for 20 of the team's 28 home runs. Brown added to that 14 steals in 19 attempts and a .296/.374/.497 batting line. He's also a slick fielder and an upperclassman leader who tore the Aggies up in College Station. As a matter of fact, he serves the all-around role for Mizzou that Tyler Naquin does for A&M. Opel might be the more dangerous hitter, but Brown is the better one, and a better player.
Ross, along with Jeff Emens and lefthander Jake Walsh, is Mizzou's last line of defense. Both Ross and Walsh have had their struggles but have been the most dependable arms in the Tiger bullpen in the season's back half. While Emens is among the Tigers' best out of the 'pen, Ross took over the role of closer from Walsh and recorded a number of late-season decisions. All three have recorded saves for Mizzou, with Walsh leading with eight. Ross' ERA has dropped to 2.55 at season's end and his batting-average-against is the best of the three.
X-factor: SS Eric Garcia
The Tigers' lineup needs to get going for it to have a shot at getting through the tournament with little backing Zastryzny and the bullpen trio up. Garcia worked his way to middle-of-the-road overall batting stats (.252 average, .354 OBP) but finished the season as Mizzou's leadoff hitter, banging out seven hits in 19 at-bats, with three runs scored, in the team's final five games.
If his spot holds, it will fall on him to get the lineup off to a solid start and help prolong innings, setting the table for Brown and Opel. Garcia recorded four hits in the Texas series, including the game-winning, eighth-inning double in the Saturday contest against the Horns.
Included in those six wins are two against Missouri, against whom the Jayhawks took the final regular season series. Texas and A&M both won two of three. A strong, seven-inning start from No. 3 guy Thomas Taylor did prevent the Aggie sweep.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
The
Jayhawks struggled mightly in Big 12 play, and overall, but four of
their seven conference wins came against the three teams in their
bracket.
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Jayhawks struggled mightly in Big 12 play, and overall, but four of
their seven conference wins came against the three teams in their
bracket.","MediaItemID":6309}
KU does one thing well: Field the baseball. It plays significantly better defense, statistically speaking, than its three peers in the bracket, but no amount of slick plays could overcome the mediocre-to-occasionally-good pitching and complete lack of offense.
The Jayhawks do not play successful small ball, nor do they hit for power. They rely on a consistent, if not particularly great, rotation and low-scoring contests. Of the sixty-two steals they attempted, only 36 were successful (by comparison, A&M swiped 120 of its attempted 161 bases).
Kansas did not make the Big 12 Tournament in 2011 and last won it in 2006. It begins, as would be expected, as a long shot to make it out of the bracket.
Team ERA: 4.19 (124th)
Team WHIP: 1.39 (93rd)
Team OBP: .335 (259th)
Team SLG: .331 (268th)
Fielding %: .978 (13th)
Stolen Bases: 36 (T-229th)
Key players: RHP Frank Duncan, SS Kevin Kuntz, RHP Robert Kahana
Duncan is in a similar situation to Missouri's Zastryzny, serving as an undertalented team's unquestioned No. 1. He differs in that he's been a much more consistent pitcher, finishing with an ERA of 2.81 and a 6-7 record ... or, 27% of the entire team's win total. He outdueled Zastryzny in that 1-0 decision to begin the final series and threw a complete game to beat Texas in the Friday game against the Longhorns.
Kuntz was the only Jayhawk to start all 54 of the team's games. His .264 batting average isn't much to speak of, but it's nearly .020 higher than the team average. He boasts the second-highest OBP on the roster and serves as KU's only true speed threat, swiping 10 bases in 13 attempts. Kuntz occupies the two-hole in the lineup, presenting him with extra at-bats as a tablesetter.
Wes Benjamin, the normal No. 2 starter, threw four days ago against Missouri and may not get a shot to pitch in this tournament unless Kansas exceeds expectations. As such, Kahana might be relied on to make a difference for the Jayhawks. He's made four starts this season, filling in on Tuesdays and compiling a 3-1 record. Should he not start, he remains the team's most reliable reliever with a 3.34 ERA in 23 non-start appearances. No other Jayhawk with more than seven appearances has an ERA below 4.00.
X-factor: 3B Zac Elgie
On an incredibly offensively-challenged team, it's hard to find much. Elgie, batting in the five-hole in the Kansas lineup, led the team in slugging percentage and RBI and tied for the team lead in home runs with five. Should he get hot, in tandem with Kuntz, and the Jayhawks get some unexpectedly good starts, they could prolong their stay in OKC.
Bricktown Beginner: Big 12 Baseball Tournament primer
TexAgs Road Trip to OKC … presented by Liere Insurance
TexAgs.com's blowout coverage of the Big 12 Tournament is made possible by our good friends at Liere Insurance!I want to remind you that Liere Insurance — an Aggie owned and operated company and the foremost independent insurance company in and around Aggieland — is giving away a Disney dream vacation for four to Walt Disney World Resort in beautiful Orlando, Florida! This vacation of a lifetime is for a seven-day, six-night stay, airfare and passes to the Disney theme parks … valued at $6,000!
For more information on becoming eligible for this amazing contest, simply take a moment and send a quick email to Braxton Sherrill '06 or Bryan Massey ‘02 at ags@myliere.com. They will let you know how to get a quote and, thus, get entered to the drawing. If you prefer to call, you can dial 888-98-LIERE.
In addition, just by sending an e-mail or giving Liere Insurance a call, we will give you a FREE 30-day TexAgs Premium subscription. If you are not a subscriber, you will be able to use it to gain access to all that TexAgs has to offer for 30 days. If you are already a subscriber, you can pass the code onto a friend as a gift from you.
Liere Insurance is here to save you hundreds of dollars on your home and/or auto insurance. Take a quick moment to reach out to them and let them prove it to you!
*Note: No purchase necessary … certain restrictions apply … Disney Sweepstakes only available to Texas residents!
What the Big 12 Tournament means to the Aggies
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Childress' club finds itself in an eerily familiar position — clicking on nearly all cylinders heading into postseason play.
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So it is that the Aggies, seemingly dead in the national seed discussion and needing to prove their worth as a mere regional host, are suddenly one of the hot names in the fight to land one of the eight coveted spots that bring super regionals to town. A lock? Absolutely not. Making the title game is also not imperative.
But it would sure help.
One year ago this time, A&M finished right on the fringe of the national seed picture and waited quietly after a similar late-season surge, only to be disappointed when the selection committee awarded national seeds to Rice and Texas and blamed it partially on John Stilson's absence.
The Aggies have a lot going for themselves this year, between the dazzling newness of Blue Bell Park, the RPI boost (to No. 8) that the final weekend granted, a distinct lack of high-profile injuries, the lack of dominant teams with eye-popping records and, of course, their own level of play in the final few weeks of the season. This side of the bracket is there for the taking, with the Oklahoma schools out of the way, a dangerous Kansas State lineup becoming someone else's problem and three hole-filled teams A&M took regular-season series from waiting for another shot.
There's also more at play — this team, this one group of baseball players, is the one set of high-profile A&M athletes that began the 2011-12 sports year with high expectations and rose to meet them. Rob Childress' Ags began the year in the top 10, and that's where they finished the regular season. A month before the school's official entrance into the SEC, this team can do what its predecessors failed to: Take a Big 12 title with it out the door.
But the eyes always lie on the larger prize, and if A&M can play in this tournament to the level that it's established since the TCU game and get a little help, it should bring home a national seed.
Hammer that goal home and it will also say something about Rob Childress' program. The man came to Aggieland with a vision, and he's grafted it into reality piece by piece. He's established a consistent stream of star pitchers, made the postseason every year after his first, took a team to the College World Series last season and helped take the Ags' new ballpark from dream to blueprint to completion. To be acknowledged as one of the country's very best teams, with an inside track to make it back to Omaha this year, would be the final push to say 'Texas A&M baseball has arrived' if A&M rewards that faith.
Not a bad way to enter the SEC, hm? But the Big 12 is first up. With three conference tournament titles in six years, Childress' teams are in the Bricktown-winning business. And, Ags, business is a-boomin'.
No. 2 Texas A&M (41-14, 16-8)
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
The golden arms of Michael Wacha (pictured) and Ross Stripling, with A&M's remaining staff, make the Aggies a favorite alongside Baylor.
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A&M ended its regular season with an easy defeat of Texas State and a three-game sweep against Oklahoma State, two of which the Aggies entered the ninth inning trailing in. The timely hitting and recent power surge (A&M hit five home runs last week) settle in nicely with a typically-salty pitching staff and an improved defense expecting shortstop Mikey Reynolds back for the tournament.
The Aggies are not known for their ability to drive the ball deep, predicating themselves on team speed as a counter. Rob Childress' club (statistically) ranked among the nation's best on the basepaths and trots the same athletes out on the defensive end. The team's ultimate success, however, will lie on the conference's (and perhaps nation's) best rotation — the 1-2-3-4 combination of Michael Wacha, Ross Stripling, Rafael Pineda and Daniel Mengden — and a seasoned core group of relievers.
Texas A&M is the two-time defending champion in this competition and serves as the clear-cut challenger to No. 1 seed Baylor. The Aggies will open up with Kansas on Wednesday at 4 p.m. A&M took two of three games from each of the other three teams on its side of the bracket.
Team ERA: 2.78 (5th nationally)
Team WHIP: 1.11 (1st)
Team OBP: .375 (70th)
Team SLG: .393 (103rd)
Fielding %: .971 (T-71st)
Stolen Bases: 120 (4th)
Key players: RHP Kyle Martin, 3B/DH Matt Juengel & SS Mikey Reynolds
Aggie fans know Tyler Naquin, Wacha and Stripling as well as anyone, so let's focus on three names that will be important in their own way.
Martin's journey through the season since his elevation to the closer role has been a story of ups and downs. He's had rough times, most notably the blown save and loss in the Sunday game in Austin, but he's also powered through multiple multi-inning outings in tight games, tying Estevan Uriegas for most appearances on the team but throwing more than 2.5 times as many innings. The Aggies have relied on him while bullpen depth has ailed them all season, and he'll be the one asked to get some important outs.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
A&M's hot finish coincided with Juengel's improved play, including two game-winning hits in the final five games.
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Without his home run on Thursday night in Stillwater, it's hard to know if the Aggies would have pulled it out. He also hit the clutch double to win the Sunday game against San Diego State. If A&M can keep him in the two-hole in the order but slide him back to the DH spot, he's very capable of making a mark on this tournament.
Reynolds hasn't started in A&M's last six games due to injury, but he played late in all three OSU games. Putting him back on the field would allow Juengel to return to DH, Blake Allemand to move back to third and Tyler Naquin to drop from leadoff back to the third spot in the lineup. Reynolds is a prototypical leadoff hitter who leads the team in runs scored (51) and ranks second in on-base percentage (.426).
X-factor: RHP Daniel Mengden
Mengden was already a name to watch before he hit the game-winning home run in the top of the ninth inning on Saturday in Stillwater, then took the mound in the bottom of the frame to close it out for the Aggies. Those moments alone elevated him on a higher plane, but his stats as a starter speak for themselves: 2-0 in three starts with an ERA of 0.90, 11 strikeouts and no walks. He added another scoreless inning and three strikeouts on Saturday.
Now he's likely to start tomorrow's game against Kansas, one that could get the Aggies off on the right foot with a solid outing. Following that, and contingent of course open the nature of the start, Childress can use him in a variety of roles late in the tournament if it comes to it. Mengden came to A&M as a two-way player, also slotted to play catcher, and started the season as the team's closer. A very versatile piece and one that has been, and can continue to be, a series boon to an Aggie team with most of the other pieces intact.
No. 3 Texas (30-20, 14-10)
It was quite an atypical season for Augie Garrido's Longhorns, who, barring a miracle or selection committee intervention, will not host a regional — not something we're used to. The Horns are much more offensively challenged than A&M and their pitching has fallen short of the standards imposed by recent staffs led by Taylor Jungmann and Cole Green. Without it, they floundered at inopportune moments in the non-conference schedule before managing to finish third in the Big 12.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Will the Aggies' and Longhorns' final meeting (for now) come in the winner's bracket on Thursday?
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Aside from that, Texas does a number of things at an adequate level and none exceptionally. The Horns have hit a low number of home runs and don't stroke it for power as a team, nor do they play particularly well in the field. But if they can get a lead, it's hard to retake in the later innings.
The Longhorns lost twice to Missouri, against whom they'll open tomorrow at 7:30, in the 2011 tournament to fall short of the final round. Texas last won the Big 12 Tournament in 2009.
Team ERA: 3.38 (51st)
Team WHIP: 1.23 (34th)
Team OBP: .353 (189th)
Team SLG: .377 (157th)
Fielding %: .966 (150th)
Stolen Bases: 56 (T-122nd)
Key players: 3B Erich Weiss, LHP Hoby Milner, OF Mark Payton
Weiss is likely Texas' best all-around position player. He started all 50 games for the Longhorns, batted .349, led the team in OPS and stole 10 bases in 12 attempts. His defense, however, can be quite erratic and deserves watching. He has the capability to affect the Longhorns' performance positively or, as he did with three errors in the Saturday game against A&M, detract from it. Still, he recorded four hits in that series and his single to lead off the ninth inning in the Sunday game began Texas' rally to come from behind and win 2-1.
Milner is another of the good arms in the Texas bullpen, a junior lefty scouts have been looking at who participated on Team USA in 2011 with Tyler Naquin and Michael Wacha. He's recorded three starts, three saves and a 7-4 record this season, but the stat that jumps out is the innings pitched — 70.1, second on the team, with 30 of his 33 appearances coming in relief. He's one of Garrido's very first calls out of the bullpen, especially if Corey Knebel is forced to start (more on that below), and with a mid-2's ERA, a hard one to overcome if Texas hands him a lead.
Though Jonathan Walsh led the team in home runs by one, Payton is the Longhorns' truest power hitter outside of Weiss. He batted .330, hit five home runs, recorded a .505 slugging percentage and led the team in walks. Contain he and Weiss and the Texas lineup struggles, with the remaining hitters collectively batting in the mid-.200s and none above .300. Weiss, Walsh and Payton hit 16 of the team's 21 home runs.
X-factor: RHP Corey Knebel
Knebel is one of the best relievers in this tournament, or anywhere. But will Texas use him as such? After throwing a complete game one-hitter in his first-ever start, just over a week ago against Texas Southern, and following it with a quality start in 6.2 innings against Baylor, he finds himself in a similar situation to A&M's Mengden.
Regardless of where he goes, Knebel has true closer stuff and the stamina to endure an extended start. He's dangerous and capable of earning the Longhorns a win on his own.
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Only, perhaps, with more desperation attached. While A&M has a strong rotation around Mengden and can afford to use him in tight spots, Texas has little left where starters are concerned. Nathan Thornhill was thrust into the Friday spot as a sophomore with mixed results, battling inconsistency to a 4-5 record and ERA over 4.00; Parker French, a freshman with high potential and a sub-2.90 ERA, succumbed to a season-ending injury prior to the Texas Southern game and fellow freshman Ricky Jacquez was kicked off the team. Dillon Peters is the only other Longhorn with more than three starts this season.Who will Texas throw tomorrow? It bears watching. Odds are, Knebel will be a starter going forward. But regardless of where he goes, Knebel has closer stuff and the stamina to endure an extended start. The sophomore threw five innings of one-run ball in the Sunday victory against the Aggies earlier this season. He's dangerous and capable of earning the Longhorns a win on his own.
No. 6 Missouri (28-26, 10-14)
As it tends to do, Missouri languished in the middle of the pack all season but managed to put enough together to give most teams trouble. The Tigers remain a rough package to figure out — they stumbled to the finish line with nine losses in their last 15 games and have bad losses littered throughout the year, including a sweep at the hands of San Fransisco and series losses to Texas Tech, Kansas and Memphis.At the same time, they took two of three from tournament No. 4 seed Oklahoma State, stole a game from A&M, swept Kansas State, took two of three from Texas and beat Missouri State, second place finisher in a strong Missouri Valley Conference. They'll enter the tournament with a 4-5 record against the other three teams on this side of the bracket.
Mizzou is a mediocre team in most areas, batting .268 as a collective with only one regular starter over the .300 mark, fielding at a low level and lacking a defining characteristic like A&M's speed and rotation or Texas' bullpen. The Tigers have hit more home runs than either of the aforementioned pair, recording 28 as a team behind 11 from Dane Opel and nine off Blake Brown's bat. A pair of second-year lefthanders lead a shaky pitching staff; Missouri counts on five to seven runs, which don't always come, to win most of its games.
A&M downed the Tigers in 10 innings in the 2011 championship game to take the Big 12 Tournament title; Missouri has never won it, despite making three title game appearances.
Team ERA: 4.16 (121st)
Team WHIP: 1.42 (119th)
Team OBP: .362 (133rd)
Team SLG: .368 (176th)
Fielding %: .969 (98th)
Stolen Bases: 56 (T-122nd)
Key players: LHP Rob Zastryzny, OF Blake Brown, RHP Dusty Ross
If Missouri is to make a run in the tournament, it will have to start with No. 1 starter Zastryzny. The sophomore made some quality starts for the Tigers this season, along with some rough ones. He allowed five earned runs in 5.2 IP against the Aggies, and another five in 7.2 innings against Texas, but shut out Texas Tech and only allowed one run in a complete game, 1-0 loss to Kansas. Zastyzny led the team in starts with 14 and gets little help from Blake Holovach, who was 5-0 with a 2.35 ERA after the Saturday victory against A&M but has sagged to 4.61, and Brett Graves (5.91), the team's two other most-used starters. If he opens the team's second game, it may well be in the loser's bracket in a do-or-die situation.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
The
Tigers, who scored a series victory over Wednesday opponent Texas,
played three hotly-contested games against A&M in College Station.
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Tigers, who scored a series victory over Wednesday opponent Texas,
played three hotly-contested games against A&M in College
Station.","MediaItemID":17039}
Ross, along with Jeff Emens and lefthander Jake Walsh, is Mizzou's last line of defense. Both Ross and Walsh have had their struggles but have been the most dependable arms in the Tiger bullpen in the season's back half. While Emens is among the Tigers' best out of the 'pen, Ross took over the role of closer from Walsh and recorded a number of late-season decisions. All three have recorded saves for Mizzou, with Walsh leading with eight. Ross' ERA has dropped to 2.55 at season's end and his batting-average-against is the best of the three.
X-factor: SS Eric Garcia
The Tigers' lineup needs to get going for it to have a shot at getting through the tournament with little backing Zastryzny and the bullpen trio up. Garcia worked his way to middle-of-the-road overall batting stats (.252 average, .354 OBP) but finished the season as Mizzou's leadoff hitter, banging out seven hits in 19 at-bats, with three runs scored, in the team's final five games.
If his spot holds, it will fall on him to get the lineup off to a solid start and help prolong innings, setting the table for Brown and Opel. Garcia recorded four hits in the Texas series, including the game-winning, eighth-inning double in the Saturday contest against the Horns.
No. 7 Kansas (22-32, 7-16)
It's been a precipitous fall for the Jayhawks, who placed closer to the front of the pack in 2009 and 2010 before finishing in the bottom third of the conference each of the past two seasons. Kansas is another team stocked with youth after some high-profile graduations in those two relatively successful seasons. The 2012 edition comes into the conference tournament with a 6-9 record over its final 15 games.Included in those six wins are two against Missouri, against whom the Jayhawks took the final regular season series. Texas and A&M both won two of three. A strong, seven-inning start from No. 3 guy Thomas Taylor did prevent the Aggie sweep.
Matt Sachs, TexAgs
The
Jayhawks struggled mightly in Big 12 play, and overall, but four of
their seven conference wins came against the three teams in their
bracket.
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Jayhawks struggled mightly in Big 12 play, and overall, but four of
their seven conference wins came against the three teams in their
bracket.","MediaItemID":6309}
The Jayhawks do not play successful small ball, nor do they hit for power. They rely on a consistent, if not particularly great, rotation and low-scoring contests. Of the sixty-two steals they attempted, only 36 were successful (by comparison, A&M swiped 120 of its attempted 161 bases).
Kansas did not make the Big 12 Tournament in 2011 and last won it in 2006. It begins, as would be expected, as a long shot to make it out of the bracket.
Team ERA: 4.19 (124th)
Team WHIP: 1.39 (93rd)
Team OBP: .335 (259th)
Team SLG: .331 (268th)
Fielding %: .978 (13th)
Stolen Bases: 36 (T-229th)
Key players: RHP Frank Duncan, SS Kevin Kuntz, RHP Robert Kahana
Duncan is in a similar situation to Missouri's Zastryzny, serving as an undertalented team's unquestioned No. 1. He differs in that he's been a much more consistent pitcher, finishing with an ERA of 2.81 and a 6-7 record ... or, 27% of the entire team's win total. He outdueled Zastryzny in that 1-0 decision to begin the final series and threw a complete game to beat Texas in the Friday game against the Longhorns.
Kuntz was the only Jayhawk to start all 54 of the team's games. His .264 batting average isn't much to speak of, but it's nearly .020 higher than the team average. He boasts the second-highest OBP on the roster and serves as KU's only true speed threat, swiping 10 bases in 13 attempts. Kuntz occupies the two-hole in the lineup, presenting him with extra at-bats as a tablesetter.
Wes Benjamin, the normal No. 2 starter, threw four days ago against Missouri and may not get a shot to pitch in this tournament unless Kansas exceeds expectations. As such, Kahana might be relied on to make a difference for the Jayhawks. He's made four starts this season, filling in on Tuesdays and compiling a 3-1 record. Should he not start, he remains the team's most reliable reliever with a 3.34 ERA in 23 non-start appearances. No other Jayhawk with more than seven appearances has an ERA below 4.00.
X-factor: 3B Zac Elgie
On an incredibly offensively-challenged team, it's hard to find much. Elgie, batting in the five-hole in the Kansas lineup, led the team in slugging percentage and RBI and tied for the team lead in home runs with five. Should he get hot, in tandem with Kuntz, and the Jayhawks get some unexpectedly good starts, they could prolong their stay in OKC.
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