KillerFrogs writers JD, Carson, and Nate discuss the rest of the season outlook after the Horned Frogs get back on track with a series win over Texas Tech.
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00:00All right, hello and welcome into the Killer Frogs bullpen.
00:04We're back with our 17th episode.
00:06I'm joined once again by Carson and Nate.
00:08How are you guys?
00:09Doing well.
00:10How about you?
00:11Good.
00:12Hey, you know what?
00:13TCU got a series win this weekend, and we're going to talk about it.
00:16Heck yeah.
00:18Yeah, big weekend series win over Texas Tech this weekend at home, getting back on track.
00:24We said it was kind of a do or die weekend for the Frogs, and they got back in the win
00:27column.
00:28It wasn't pretty at times, but hey, a series win is a series win.
00:32Nate, walk me through your thoughts on the weekend as a whole.
00:36It was good to see the Frogs at least do things to a decent matter.
00:42We looked really proposed on our pitching, even though on Friday we gave up seven runs.
00:48A lot of those were just desperation shots, and we just kind of let things get out of
00:54hand a little bit.
00:55For the most part, it looked good.
00:56Totally threw 11 strikeouts, which was nice.
00:59Saturday was probably my favorite game.
01:03I feel like we took care of business and did it well.
01:05And then Sunday was a nail biter, but we got it done.
01:10I know Carson and I were on the edge of the seat.
01:12Yeah, Carson, what about you?
01:15Weekend thoughts?
01:16Yeah, that's a quality series win if I've ever seen it, especially for a team that has
01:21been struggling the past, you know, just through the first half of the season.
01:29That's really impressive to beat a hitting team like Tech back-to-back.
01:33Yeah, Nate mentioned we were kind of on the edge of our seat the entire Sunday game just
01:39because it was a back-and-forth game, but that was what TCU pitching should be like
01:47on the weekend, I feel.
01:49That's kind of what we expected coming into this season.
01:51Yeah, no, I think overall as a weekend it was a really good showing from the Frogs in
01:56every department, even the pitching department, regardless of Friday's result.
02:00When you're holding a team who in their last three games scored 40 runs in Tech and you
02:04hold them to 11 total on the weekend, or 12 total, sorry, 12 total on the weekend, that's
02:09a really good sign.
02:10We knew the pitching has been there.
02:12We had some questions about some bullpen pieces and maybe a Sunday starter, but overall, I
02:17mean, offense still struggles, but when you're pitching as well as you can and you're scoring
02:23more than one, two runs a game, you get the wins, and that's kind of what we've been asking
02:26for.
02:27Let's jump into it.
02:29Game one.
02:30TCU lost 7-1, fourth inning nightmare yet again for Peyton Tolley, which, I mean, wasn't
02:38really his fault.
02:39That's baseball.
02:40You can't stop a hitting team all weekend.
02:42We saw some players return to the lineup, right?
02:43Nate Chatagnier.
02:44He returned.
02:45Rudy Green returned.
02:46Yeah.
02:47Yeah.
02:48I mean, it was, it was a loss.
02:53Carson, when TCU lost that first game Friday night, how were you feeling about the rest
02:58of the weekend series?
03:00I was not feeling great because Tech had kind of displayed their power with Pompey going
03:08yard late in the game.
03:12And I mean, it was kind of, it was back to the bullpen issues, you know, Zach Morris
03:16and Andrew Moziello both give up two runs.
03:19That's kind of what sealed the deal while Peyton Tolley gave up three.
03:23TCU obviously is known for those late game comebacks.
03:27And I feel like you don't give up those runs late in the game.
03:31You probably have a shot at least in the ninth inning.
03:33Yeah.
03:34Nate, what, you know, we kind of saw the offense struggle.
03:38Was it, were you still feeling skeptical on the weekend as a whole or did you still
03:43think they had it in them to turn it around?
03:47I was definitely feeling skeptical.
03:48I was even saying that I wasn't going to go to Saturday's game.
03:53That turns out I went and then that made me want to go to Sunday.
03:56So yeah, I was skeptical for sure.
03:58And it was not a good sign for me on Friday when we were down by that much.
04:03But I feel like they did enough to get by.
04:08And I feel like there was pieces that made me want to go to that next game.
04:13Like the pitching looked okay.
04:15And I felt like the hitting would come.
04:17So I was, I think that's kind of my thoughts on that.
04:21Can we all agree that Friday's lineup was kind of the ideal lineup that we had talked
04:25about last episode or last Monday's episode of what we kind of been wanting to see from
04:31all of them?
04:32Yeah.
04:33I think it was, it was nice to see.
04:34And I think that's kind of what sparked a little bit of discourse going in the rest
04:38of the weekend.
04:39Right.
04:40We finally saw the lineup that we've been asking to see, and then the offense still
04:42doesn't produce.
04:43And then, I mean, it happens, right?
04:46Like it's baseball.
04:47Sometimes you're going to have bad games and TC was able to turn it around the rest of
04:50the weekend and score.
04:52There is one thing I want to talk about for this game before we kind of move on is bottom
04:57of the sixth inning.
04:59I'm I lead off double and next pitch.
05:05He steals third.
05:06At this point, it's a four one ball game, right?
05:10What are we doing there?
05:13I mean, I tweeted about it.
05:15I don't think there's whether it's whether it's just a freshman making a mistake or it's
05:22a base coach trying to be aggressive.
05:25There's no reason to take that base.
05:27Okay.
05:28You've got a runner on second, no outs.
05:31And while while Logan Maxwell did strike out on the following pitch, you still have one
05:38of your better hitters hitting for contact at the plate.
05:42I just I don't feel like there's any reason to try and press the issue.
05:45Yeah.
05:46Nate.
05:47Well, yeah, I I have no idea what we're doing on the base path.
05:53I Evan Scout basically got benched himself as the base coach.
05:58So I don't know what was going on there, but it didn't seem to turn around anywhere down
06:01the line.
06:02We'll talk about that later.
06:03But I really think it's just inexperienced young players along with inexperienced coaching.
06:13I'm not I'm not talking about anybody but the base coaches.
06:18And I feel like it's something that's going to need to change if we want to continue to
06:21make this run.
06:22I mean, we might as well just kind of like talk about it right now since we're on the
06:26topic.
06:28Like so yesterday's game, Ryder Robinson gets caught.
06:33He gets walked first base coach or maybe Ryder sends him to second.
06:39I love that.
06:41I love the aggressive base running, but Ryder didn't commit to it.
06:47And I think he stopped early.
06:48I think if he gets down, I think he's safe and that I'm like, I'm OK with aggressive
06:53base running if it because if it works.
06:57Say like 40 percent of the time, I mean, yeah, yeah, you just you look really, really smart.
07:03So I'm OK.
07:04I mean, I've been being aggressive.
07:06I mean, I don't have a problem with them being aggressive like that.
07:09But when you're this close of a game and a game that really matters when the Horned Frogs
07:14are struggling like this.
07:17Every run counts, and that could have been another run tagged on.
07:21I mean, we had one of our better, better hitters coming up.
07:24And what do we do?
07:26We get we get thrown out.
07:28So I don't mind that when it comes down to the stretch, when we need like a miracle to
07:33happen.
07:34But like it felt like he was just lost and he wasn't paying attention to my opinion.
07:39Well, OK.
07:40So Robinson gets walked, but then it was Chatagnier.
07:45Do you really think he's going to do the job right as he's hitting right now?
07:48Do you think that he's going to do the job?
07:51I mean, that's what I want to give a chance.
07:53That's what I wanted to talk about.
07:55And if we're already talking about, let's go to talk about it, because I wanted to talk
07:58about it for game three.
07:59OK, is that more you're trying to steal a run or is that the coaching staff saying,
08:03hey, we don't trust Peyton Chatagnier.
08:06Which one is it more?
08:07No, that's no, that's that's you trying to steal a run.
08:09That's because there might be that aggressive in that situation with runners on the corner
08:13and Peyton Chatagnier coming up to bat.
08:15Like to me, it felt like an indictment of because like when he walked, my initial thought
08:19was maybe they pinch hit for Peyton Chatagnier.
08:22Like, let me see Jack Basir get in.
08:24At least let me see something.
08:25And then when they tried that, I was like, is that are they trying to say maybe they
08:28don't trust him as much?
08:29Like I know like it's not even an indictment on Peyton Chatagnier as a player.
08:34He hasn't played in two weeks and he's coming back off injury.
08:37He hasn't been seeing the ball well.
08:38Like, hey, let's try something else, right?
08:42I don't I don't know if you can call it an indictment on on his play.
08:47I genuinely believe believe that's just aggressive base running gone wrong.
08:51I don't I don't think there's any like.
08:54And I'll be all from that play, you know, I think it's just two different situations,
08:58though, right, like.
09:01Had Friday, had Friday still happen to TCU was winning for four or three like they were
09:06on Sunday with that Ryder Robinson decision happened, I think you're looking at two
09:10different situations, but when you're down for one, the offense has been struggling and
09:14then you try and still third.
09:15That's what kind of stings a little bit.
09:17If you've been up for three heat leadoff double, it's still third.
09:20Hey, I'm all for it.
09:21You know what? He got thrown out, right?
09:23Yeah, I mean, we were doing aggressive base running all all this weekend.
09:26I mean, the suicide, but that was successful.
09:31It's impressive. But I feel like this was them.
09:35I agree with you, JD.
09:36I feel like it was them saying, I don't know about Chatagnier.
09:40We need more runs.
09:42Here we go. Yeah.
09:45I don't know. Let's not dwell on it too much.
09:47We still got two more games to talk about as a whole.
09:50Anything you guys.
09:51I OK, let me say something before I move on.
09:54We're going to turn to the lineup.
09:55He got hurt.
09:56He's going to be out for an extended period of time per coach.
09:59Sorry, Lewis.
10:00That's all I want to talk about.
10:01That's all I will say about it.
10:02And I'm moving on.
10:05Anything you guys want to talk about for game one?
10:08No, I'm not going to add insult to injury.
10:10Please don't.
10:11No, I'm a wounded man.
10:13Good. I'm good.
10:14No, I mean, I'm worried about our hamstrings.
10:16Not going to lie.
10:17Our legs.
10:20Logan Maxwell struggling, too.
10:21And you can tell that he got that triple hit.
10:24Well, that could have been a in the park homer.
10:27Yeah. Which we'll talk about Sunday.
10:29What do we talk about?
10:30Sunday's game because he didn't return the lineup.
10:32Game two. TCU won four to they at least even this series.
10:36Right. TCU played their brand of baseball that we used to sing
10:39and accustomed to seeing it won the game.
10:41Um, Louie had kind of got knocked around early, had a high pitch count, got taken out.
10:46We saw Ben Abel come in three innings.
10:48Pitch looked amazing.
10:50Uh, Cole Klecker is a closer now.
10:53Uh, let's talk about that.
10:54Nate, Cole Klecker, the closer.
10:56What are we, what are we thinking?
10:58I love it.
10:59Um, I think he's a great closer and I take, I think it took a lot of stress
11:05off of him to get through those long innings because Cole Klecker always does
11:09good for one to two innings.
11:11It's when he gets tired and goes that fifth, sixth inning, when he starts
11:14giving up that deep ball.
11:16And I think that Cole Klecker will continue to evolve into this role because
11:21he has a nasty slider along with a decent fastball, uh, that throws teams off.
11:28And I mean, he's got that, he's got that mentality of winning too.
11:33He knows what to do.
11:34He knows how to get ahead in the count.
11:36And I really like him in this position.
11:38If he can continue to maximize throwing strikes with his fastball and continue
11:44to get people to buy on that slider, he's going to be dangerous.
11:48Yeah.
11:49Carson pitching staff showed up, but they were spot on all day.
11:52Uh, even giving up two runs.
11:54I don't really care what happens, how you give up those two runs, right?
11:57Giving up two runs to lead the offense like that.
11:58It's impressive.
11:59Uh, which one, which one of those starts or which one of those players
12:02impressed you the most?
12:03Klecker coming in to close it, Abel's three innings or, uh, Louis starting.
12:07I think it's Abel.
12:08I feel like that's like, I mean, again, that's kind of, that's the Abel that we
12:14expected to see at the very beginning of the season, you know, the guy that can
12:17come in and then the entire morale of the other team just goes down just
12:22because he's on the mound, like that's how, that's how good he is.
12:27Um, by the way, eighth inning stare down was hard.
12:31That was so, that was awesome.
12:34I texted you guys.
12:35Cause I was watching it, right?
12:36On my phone.
12:37And I saw it and I was like, that just happened.
12:42No, but yeah, that's a few words with it too.
12:44I don't know what he said, but I couldn't tell if he was saying
12:47something, but I saw the stare down and I was like, Oh, this is
12:51the corner turning right here.
12:52He definitely mouthed something.
12:53I don't know what he said, but either way, I thought he was getting
12:56ejected because the up looks great at him.
13:00No, but, um, yeah, he was really, I can't talk.
13:06Um, he was really impressive.
13:07And then Quaker, I I'll go ahead and touch on him real quick, since he was
13:10kind of like the, kind of the star of the relief, just because it was very
13:16uncharacteristic to see him out there.
13:17He did really, really good.
13:19And I'm, so Sarlos mentioned the post game.
13:23He was like, yeah, we're just, I mean, we were just trying to get him
13:26some confidence back essentially.
13:28Uh, and that was, I mean, hopefully that did the job.
13:32Uh, I wouldn't mind seeing him and in a relief more.
13:36Just because I think he's more effective that way.
13:38Yeah.
13:39Uh, pitching stuff as a whole this weekend is really good and we'll talk
13:42about it more on Sunday too, but a number I want to point out is we talked
13:46about TCU striking out a little much and how tech doesn't strike out.
13:49I don't know if you guys see in the numbers, tech players struck out 37
13:52times and TC plays only struck out 16.
13:56I was a 2.5 times per, you know, difference between the two teams.
14:00And you kind of see what happens, right?
14:01Like TCU pitchers are going to strike you out.
14:03They're not going to really.
14:04If someone's making contact, it's more than likely to hit.
14:07And TC was limiting their, their, or making their bets better.
14:12And we saw a lot of that small ball.
14:13We saw the eighth inning suicide squeeze from Peyton Schatt that scored
14:16Silva, uh, which was good to see.
14:18Like that, that's what we come to expect.
14:22We know we're not Texas tech.
14:23We know we're not going to hit over 50 team home runs on the season.
14:26And I'm okay with that, but you got to commit to the small ball bit.
14:30And it feels like once they did and he saw it Saturday, Sunday,
14:33everything kind of changed, right?
14:35Well, I mean, I, I talked about this two weeks ago.
14:37Like TCU does not have a guy that could go hit a bomb every other event.
14:43Like, don't get me wrong.
14:44Luke Boyer's moonshot.
14:46He's going to run into one every few games just because he is a heavy
14:51pole hitter and he has the power, but TCU has to stick to the small ball approach.
14:56That's where like, you just, you suffocate teams that way.
15:00When they just move runners, like they become so dangerous.
15:05Yeah.
15:06I mean, she's here.
15:07It's 2017 home runs on the season, which is better than I
15:10expected looking at the number.
15:11But a lot of those came from like the first three weeks of the season.
15:15Right.
15:16I said, like Carson Bowen had a solo home run Friday night.
15:20Curtis Byrne, uh, did he have one Saturday?
15:23No, no.
15:24I thought he did.
15:25He had like a double, let me see.
15:28Oh, I think, I think.
15:29Was he the one that almost had one same with Luke Boyer's?
15:31Yes.
15:32Yeah.
15:32Yeah.
15:32I think it was both of them.
15:33That's what I was thinking of.
15:34They both hit one that went right to the track.
15:37Yeah.
15:37Um, which we saw a lot of that Friday too, for, from TCU, uh,
15:41Chattanooga hit one deep or deep center.
15:43There were a lot of times that TCU was, if they're not playing at TCU, I
15:46think those get out because of the stiff win, but I think this weekend, you
15:51know, we saw Saturday, they guys are putting up better at bats.
15:54It looked better.
15:56Yeah.
15:57Um, game three, frogs, one, four, three, uh, Mason Bixby.
16:02Hello.
16:02How you doing?
16:03Welcome to the team.
16:05Uh, touching a hundred on the gun.
16:07Ben Hampton.
16:08Great.
16:08Out of the pin.
16:09Zach Coyier was good out of the pin tool.
16:11He wasn't in the ninth inning, which, Hey, you know what?
16:13He's going to give it up at some point.
16:15Caveman Parker.
16:17Yeah.
16:18That's a stud showing right there.
16:19You need in that bottom of the night.
16:21And then there was the Luke Boyer show on offense.
16:23Three run home run in the first inning.
16:25Uh, putting up solid at bats pretty much every single time.
16:29Uh, Fisher Ingersoll, a DH spot.
16:33You looked good in there.
16:34I kind of like it.
16:35Uh, Carson, you were big on, you were big on Mason Bixby.
16:40You, why don't you tell us about it right now?
16:43I mean, it's just, it's gas.
16:45So I'm, I'm sitting there first base side.
16:49I'm sitting next to Nate and his dad.
16:51And I, I show the tweet by Jamie Plunkett.
16:55Shout out, Jamie.
16:56You're awesome.
16:57Um, I showed the tweet that Bixby had hit a hundred multiple times and I turned
17:03it in and I'm like, there's no way this is true.
17:05No, turns out I come on social media later.
17:08Yeah.
17:08He hit it like five or six times.
17:11The gun it lucked in is slow by like two or three miles an hour.
17:15So that's, I mean, his VLO is just extremely, extremely good.
17:21Um, but as he just makes it look so effortless too, it is effort.
17:25It's effortless gas.
17:27Um, I do think that he needs to kind of, I guess, limit the mistakes a little
17:35bit as far as like location stuff, because when, when you have that kind
17:40of VLO, you can, like Sarlo said, you can put your foot on people's necks pretty
17:46And that's kind of what those, you know, those star pitchers and the
17:51SEC, ACC, that's what they do.
17:54Yeah.
17:54It's what makes, it's what makes, you know, pitchers that throw gas like that,
17:58a little bit more susceptible to mistakes because you can get away
18:03with a little bit more, right.
18:04You can get away with a fastball.
18:06You leave that right down the middle, not belt high because you're throwing a
18:10hundred while someone like clicker is going to get shelved that they leave it
18:12there.
18:13Yeah.
18:13Um, and it just makes it a little bit different.
18:15Nate, uh, Cameron Parker, you've been big on him.
18:20Your guy came in runners on first and second shuts it down.
18:25You know, how, how nervous were you starting that?
18:29The second he came out of the pen second, I heard his walk-up song.
18:31I was like, okay, we got this.
18:34And I was, I knew that we had two guys on, uh, they had two guys on.
18:39Um, but I had faith in him.
18:42I mean, his velocity, I was, um, if the gun is off, he was throwing
18:48anywhere from 97 to 98.
18:50So he's got good below too.
18:52So, and I feel like his arms finally starting to settle in.
18:55He was coming off of Tommy John.
18:57Uh, so I feel like he's just going to continue to get better.
19:00And I think we're going to continue to use them as his
19:03arm continues to strengthen.
19:05So he's a name to watch for is another closing option alongside clicker.
19:11Uh, I feel like they're both good options.
19:14Yeah.
19:14I mean, we even saw Ben Hampton come in two innings, pitch, uh, two
19:18strikeouts gave up two hits, no walks.
19:19He looked good out the pen.
19:21That's a solid option for the frog.
19:22Zach Coyier, a 2.2 innings, pitch three hits, two walks, one strikeout.
19:27Like I know we've talked about Zach Coyier is let's not in a bad way, but
19:32we just wanted to see more options, but he looked really good.
19:35He looked really good on Sunday.
19:37When Zach Coyier has his control and has his curve ball, he's disgusting.
19:40He lights up the zone.
19:42Hey Nate, you got anything you want to say about Zach Coyier?
19:46I think, I think he proved that he can pitch a few innings.
19:51I think when his time's up though, I don't think he can go past two innings.
19:55However, I feel like, I feel like it's when his, his he's accurate.
20:00He's always been accurate.
20:02He throws it right down the center every time, but when he can place the ball,
20:06that's when he's dangerous.
20:07You don't feel like you, you don't feel like you owe him an apology or anything?
20:13Uh, I need another appearance, but I need another appearance from him.
20:18The past few had not been great and he still put on two guys
20:21and almost gave his game up.
20:23I'll put a pen in what you said.
20:27I won't say right now, but I'll put a pen in it.
20:28Hey, this sounds like a next Monday.
20:30We might be circling the wagons on that one real quick.
20:33We'll definitely circle it.
20:34Uh, yeah.
20:36So I mean, rocks are good, right?
20:39Luke Boyer's absolute Bob were bluffed in standards, uh, in the first inning,
20:44which was good to see, right?
20:46TCU needed to get out early and get on the board.
20:49Uh, you got it.
20:50You got to strike some fear in them, especially when you got a guy on the
20:53mountain throwing a hundred like that, that's hard to come back from.
20:56Uh, I think, I think makes it makes me, and I want to talk on him real quick is
21:01what, what he's done this year is great.
21:03Right.
21:04But I'm so excited for him to have a full off season, learning how to control
21:07some off speed pitches and develop some, he could be the integral part of this
21:12future teams to come for this program.
21:17Yeah, absolutely.
21:18Um, all right.
21:21Uh, anything you guys want to talk about on the weekend?
21:23Oh, before we go to questions, I do want to mention something.
21:25And I just thought about it every single game.
21:27TCU hit a tech pitcher.
21:29Like with a line drive or something, they hit a tech pitcher every single day.
21:32And I was like, I'm pretty sure we did that intentional.
21:37I'm pretty sure we did that in a few of our other like wins in
21:40the beginning of the season too.
21:41Yeah.
21:42So if TCU hits a pitcher, opposing pitcher, then go ahead and slam the odds.
21:46Yeah.
21:47Yeah.
21:47It's game over.
21:48Yeah.
21:48It's like a, it's like a seven Oh skunk.
21:50It's automatic.
21:51Yeah.
21:52Uh, all right.
21:54Let's move on to some questions.
21:55TCU won a series.
21:57They're back on track slightly.
21:58We said that after Houston too.
22:00So I will say it with some regards, Carson, how do you feel about
22:03the rest of the season now?
22:05Optimistic.
22:06I don't feel like overexcited really, but there are tools on this team that like,
22:17that are vaguely similar to last year's team, as far as the pitching
22:21Yeah.
22:21I'm, I'm optimistic of what this can come.
22:25Uh, I feel like we're more prepared for Texas now, so I'm excited and I feel
22:33like we can start hanging with people.
22:34If we can figure out our pitching rotation and if we can get our
22:38hitters somewhat healthy.
22:41Yeah.
22:42I feel like we can start hanging with people.
22:43If we can figure out our pitching rotation and if we can get our
22:47hitters somewhat healthy.
22:50Yeah.
22:50Yeah.
22:51I, I, yeah, I think my word would be cautious, right?
22:55Yes.
22:56Like my hopes are up right now.
22:58And then you go to Austin and you win a series against what people will see.
23:02You'd be like, Oh, they, they, they beat Texas in a series of swept Texas,
23:05which is the down Texas team.
23:07I gotta be cautious.
23:08I can't, can't fall for the trap.
23:10That's Cincinnati.
23:11It happened to lure us into, but I don't know.
23:15I feel good.
23:16Like, like, I mean, you sold them.
23:18You sold them when the way they should.
23:21Well, TCU historically plays pretty well in Austin.
23:24Yeah.
23:24I mean, that's, that's something to look at as well.
23:26Also TCU, whenever they travel like out of state, that's a
23:32completely different baseball team.
23:33Unless it's Arkansas in state.
23:36Well, yeah, unless, unless it's Arkansas.
23:38Um, but yeah, in state they've, I mean, they've played really, really well.
23:43So I'm, I'm curious to see if we're going to see the away team.
23:47That's, you know, that, that has shown themselves going out of state, or if
23:52we're going to see the same amped up TCU team as we saw this past weekend.
23:56Yeah.
23:56I think it's just like, it's cautious play, right?
24:00Because next week you got Texas tech or you got Texas.
24:03You just be Texas tech in a weekend series.
24:05You got Texas at Texas that Tuesday you have DBU.
24:08You're playing at home.
24:10A top 10 rake team.
24:10You're going to be playing at home.
24:11We've already beat them once, right?
24:12That's a good RPI booster.
24:14That's that game is massive.
24:16Yeah.
24:16And then the weekend after that, you have Kansas state like you got.
24:21Or not, Kansas state, uh, it's at the West Virginia series here.
24:25It's one of them.
24:25West West Virginia is here.
24:28Okay.
24:28Then I think it's actually, wait, I think both of them are.
24:31Both of them are here.
24:32It's Texas.
24:32It's Kansas state.
24:34Yeah.
24:34It's Kansas state.
24:35Cause I, I won't be here for that.
24:37So we played, we played both these teams, both those teams away.
24:40Oh, you get to see JJ weather hole this year.
24:43We'll talk about that when we get to the preview.
24:45Uh, but yeah, I think it's just like, it's a, I gotta be cautious.
24:49I can't let myself get too excited for what's about to happen.
24:52Uh, next question, Nate, do you see you won two games this weekend, but are
24:58we still worried about the offense?
25:00Not, not saying you feel the same way you felt going into the tech series
25:04with how down they played, but are you still worried about them in general?
25:09Um, no, I'm not really worried about them.
25:12Uh, I feel like we saw a lineup that was very poised and they were
25:19jumping early on the, uh, right pitches.
25:22And I really liked that.
25:24Uh, Luke Boyers took a few in for base hits and then that home run.
25:30Uh, that was very impressive.
25:32And I think he's going to continue to boost this lineup.
25:35And once Logan Maxwell gets healthy, I think we'll be in great shape.
25:40Um, I would love to see Ingersoll stay in that position of DH.
25:45I think he is a very, has a good hand-eye coordination and I think
25:50he's going to take counts deep and we saw that he hits the ball hard.
25:54So I think we have the perfect lineup.
25:57Uh, and I think our offense is going to continue to mold together now.
26:02Almost perfect.
26:02Some people are out with him.
26:03Almost perfect.
26:04Some people are out with injury.
26:06Uh, Carson, uh, so worried about the offense.
26:09How are you feeling?
26:11Yes, I am.
26:12And it's funny that you mentioned injury because that's kind
26:16of what I'm going to address here.
26:17So Logan Maxwell out, Brody Green out, Chatagnier coming back from injury,
26:22still kind of, I'm assuming getting to a hundred percent, but also because
26:28of the middle of the lineup, Anthony Silva, Curtis Byrne, and
26:33whoever's in that 6'5 spot have been very, very quiet the past few weeks.
26:40I'll be honest.
26:41And I think Anthony Silva probably worries me the most because it's, he's become.
26:51A non-factor.
26:53Right.
26:53I mean, it's, it's very weird to see that kind of drop off from a freshman
27:00year to a sophomore year in college baseball, college baseball.
27:04You don't normally see that kind of drop off.
27:07Um, which I mean, his swing doesn't look slower.
27:11It seems like it's just something with mechanics and I firmly
27:14believe that's what it is.
27:16But if they don't get that fixed, then this TCU team will not go anywhere.
27:22If they do get it fixed.
27:26Sky's the limit.
27:27I feel.
27:28I'm agreeing with both of you.
27:29And not, this isn't even to play devil's advocate.
27:32Yeah, this isn't even to play devil's advocate.
27:34He took the easy road.
27:36No, no.
27:36Both of you took words exactly out of my mouth.
27:39Um, I do think that the offense had a way better weekend, right?
27:44Striking out less, better at bats, taking counts deep.
27:47If they got a good pitch first, they were swinging at it.
27:49And I'm okay.
27:50If you swing at a first pitch fastball, that's belt high and
27:53you ground out where you fly out.
27:54Hey, you know what?
27:55That's baseball.
27:55You're not always going to hit it.
27:56Perfect.
27:57You have a 300 batting average.
27:58You're right in the MLB 400 in college.
28:02Like I think that they're showing improvement on being able to stay
28:06consistent and we were able to say, see a consistent lineup this weekend, which
28:11we haven't really seen in a while, but Anthony Silva does scare me.
28:17We've seen a lot of people get shuffled around in the lineup, except him.
28:20He's solidified at that five spot.
28:21Pretty much.
28:22He's gone from three to five, but he's staying in that middle range.
28:26Like maybe we need to swap him out to like the eight, you know, give
28:29him something like his swings there.
28:32He's making contact.
28:33He's not striking out.
28:34Sometimes he's getting, you know, the way baseball goes and a line
28:39drives getting caught or whatever.
28:40So he's, he's putting quality at bats together, but his average is below two 80.
28:45I mean, it's mostly, it's mostly fly balls with him.
28:48That's why, that's why I think it's something mechanically wrong.
28:51Yeah, I, I'm not, yeah, I, I don't, I don't, he, he just scares me because
28:57obviously you don't take him out of the lineup, right?
28:59That's, that's, that's not even a, that's, you don't have that conversation at all.
29:03I want, I want Anthony Silva in the lineup every day.
29:08Like what he does defensively wise, veteran wise, and even not striking out.
29:12I want that.
29:13Keep that in the lineup.
29:14Right.
29:14But we got to get him going.
29:16He gets going, this offense gets going.
29:18Like you, you got, you got weekend series that you can end strong with.
29:21If the offense gets hot, that you're looking at a two seat in a regional, right?
29:26Um, all right, Carson, I want to start this one with you, Mesa
29:31Bixby, a Sunday starter now.
29:34I hope I feel like the, the odds that he gets shut out of the lineup.
29:42I don't know.
29:43I don't know.
29:43I feel like the, the odds that he gets shelled are very low.
29:50Like sure.
29:52Texas tech kind of got to him a little bit with a few key hits, but that's, I
29:58feel like you can't take that VLO out of the starting role unless you use him as a
30:02closer, but I don't think he's that kind of pitcher.
30:05I would rather, I would rather have Cayman Parker, Cole
30:08Klecker, or Ben Abel be that guy.
30:10They basically becomes a Sunday starter.
30:14What do you think?
30:16I don't mind it.
30:17Uh, I do think he gave up.
30:20I want to see him develop a little more, especially off speed pitches.
30:25That's when he started getting shelled a little bit.
30:27He was giving up quite a bit of hits, but he minimized the
30:30damage to only a run per inning.
30:33So, I mean, he was, he did fine.
30:35And I think the more starts we give him, the better he's going to be.
30:40So I don't mind it, especially if we get ahead on the weekend.
30:46So if we get a winner too, sure.
30:49Let's do it.
30:51Yeah.
30:51Call me crazy.
30:53I got a Sunday starter in mind.
30:55I won't Ben Abel on the mound.
30:58He got stretched out.
30:59He got stressed out in the off season.
31:01He was already, he was already going through the off season as if he
31:06was going to be a starter, right?
31:07We've seen him go more than three innings, but our Sunday starters are only
31:12giving us three innings to begin with.
31:13Why not start the game with them?
31:14Let your offense get a, you know, a comfortable lead.
31:18Bring in Mason Bixby.
31:19He doesn't have the pressure of starting.
31:20He gets to come in and relief, right?
31:22You got Ben Hampton.
31:24Did he, did Abel start in the games last year?
31:27No, but he was getting all, all off season.
31:29He was getting stretched out so that way he could become a starter.
31:33Right?
31:33Like that was the plan.
31:34And I liked that plan a lot.
31:37Like you guys said, Cole Clacker's a closer now.
31:39Mason Bixby's still 100.
31:41He could be a closer.
31:42Why not get Ben Abel to start?
31:43See it.
31:44See what he can do.
31:45Why not switch it up again?
31:46Yeah.
31:47I mean, this Sunday, this Sunday spots a rotation spot at this point.
31:51Anyways, like what's the worst that happens?
31:55You just bring in, you just shift, you know, shuffle the order.
31:57And now Ben Hampton comes into the third inning instead of the fourth.
32:00Oh no.
32:01Like, I kind of like it.
32:04I think it's just.
32:05Cause it would definitely, it would be interesting for sure.
32:08I had, I don't know how he worked there.
32:10I really don't.
32:13I mean, we're only using a one day a weekend anyways, right?
32:16Why not make it a start?
32:18Well, I mean, I think the dream scenario is that you use him.
32:22So obviously you're not going to use him in the.
32:26The, uh, the Friday night game, unless it's like you're down by like one or two
32:30runs and your offense is like, looks good.
32:33Um, but I think the dream scenario with Abel is that you use him on Friday and
32:37Sunday for any, for any given series and you stretch him out maybe like two, two
32:44and a half innings each, you know, I think that's the, that's the dream scenario.
32:48So I don't know if he'll ever get a start.
32:51Um, it would definitely be fun to watch.
32:54That's for sure.
32:56I mean, I.
32:59Look, I, I'm spitballing here.
33:00Sorry.
33:01You know,
33:01you're fine.
33:02All right.
33:03Uh, Nate, who was your MVP of the weekend?
33:09Uh, Luke Boyers.
33:11Okay.
33:13Why you want to, or are you just, you just, Hey, look, he's, this is his, I
33:19believe it's his sixth multi-hit game.
33:23I feel like Luke has continued to show that he's our guy for right field.
33:28I mean, he's a defensive gym and he's, I mean, he made a stellar catch in the foul
33:34territory and he continued to hit the ball really well and he's hitting the ball hard.
33:39Even the ones that he didn't get on base, he was hitting it hard.
33:43He's seeing the ball well right now.
33:45And I'm really excited to see what he can do because he took it to, I mean,
33:50tech's not the best pitching team, but they had some good pitchers out there.
33:54They were throwing some high VLO and he was taking it right to him.
33:58Yeah.
33:58Carson, you're MVP.
34:01It's been a bell.
34:03I feel like to, to throw, to throw those innings against a really good hitting team.
34:08That's very difficult to do and to completely shut them down.
34:13That's even better.
34:14You just like to stare down, uh, fine.
34:17Okay.
34:18Before I announce my MVP of the week, I just want to say that I'm going to be
34:23before I announced my MVP.
34:25I do want to say we saw Hunter Hodges return.
34:27Uh, we did talk about that, but he did.
34:29We he's been out for over a month now.
34:31Right.
34:32And he finally returned.
34:33Uh, looks good in his outing too.
34:35Uh, my MVP chase Brunson, uh, three 33 batting average on the weekend.
34:41Only two strikeouts, one run still patrolling.
34:44He's played way better centerfield defense than he was at the
34:47beginning of the season, right?
34:48We're not seeing any errors.
34:50We're seeing them.
34:50We're basically watching him mature through our eyes.
34:52And the fact that he's been able to bat lead off consistency.
34:55Um, I really, really think what he did this weekend is, you know, we saw
34:59him take that step up a little bit.
35:02Uh, let's talk around the big 12 real quick.
35:05Let's go over the standings first.
35:08Uh, West Virginia and Oklahoma tied in first place at 11 and four
35:11Oklahoma state at 10 and five Texas.
35:15Nine and six, uh, Baylor is eight and seven Texas tech is nine and nine
35:20Kansas state, Kansas, Cincinnati, or seven and eight UCF is eight and 10 TCU
35:25seven, 11 BYU is six and 12 and Houston is five and 13.
35:30Uh, any of those standings stand out to you real quick before I talk
35:33about the weekend results, because there's a few that are surprising me.
35:37There are, there are two, um, Baylor, first of all, still don't understand.
35:46Um, like, I dunno, they, they went from submitting their roster on the Baylor
35:54baseball website, like a week before the season started, um, to eight and seven
36:00in the big 12 conference, which that's commendable, honestly, also UCF.
36:06What happened in West Virginia?
36:09What happened?
36:11Like you guys had all the momentum in the world.
36:15I mean, what happened?
36:18I feel like there's no reason you should get swept.
36:20Don't give your own playing in West Virginia is tough no matter what sport
36:24it is, no matter what time of the season that's tough, but to get
36:28swept, I didn't see that coming.
36:31Yeah.
36:32Uh, Nate, any of those shock you?
36:37I mean, I feel like the Baylor, uh, Baylor being that good is very
36:43shocking because I thought they're going to be terrible, um, starting out,
36:47but UCF getting swept is kind of shocking, but then I'll look back to last year on
36:54us, I mean, West Virginia did the same thing and we were at, or was that two
36:59years ago, but they do the same things.
37:02They do it all the time.
37:03Their sports are always there and they're always here to knock somebody off.
37:08So that's what they're looking to do.
37:11Yeah.
37:12Uh, Baylor one doesn't shock me.
37:15If we're being honest here, they legit haven't played anyone.
37:20They played BYU Cincinnati, Houston, Texas, and tech.
37:24They Cincinnati swept TCU.
37:27And Baylor beat Cincinnati, but Baylor also beat tech.
37:31So, and then Baylor also got swept by Houston.
37:35So they're just a weird team, right?
37:37Like they just also really haven't played anyone tough.
37:40Like they haven't played West Virginia.
37:41They haven't played OU.
37:41They haven't played Oklahoma state, TCU, Kansas state, Kansas, or UCF.
37:46Like, um, UCF does shock me considering the start they got out to, but yeah.
37:52Uh, it's baseball.
37:54What can you do?
37:55Uh, let's talk about some weekend results and TCU two out of three from tech, Texas,
38:00two out of three from Houston.
38:01Don't let that fool you.
38:03They need to ninth inning comebacks in both games to win.
38:06Uh, West Virginia, two out of three from UCF, Oklahoma state swept Cincinnati,
38:10Oklahoma swept Kansas state and Baylor swept BYU.
38:13Uh, which one shocked you the most, Nate?
38:17I, I would say, I would say, um, Hmm, that's a tough one, but I'm going to go
38:26Texas because I felt like they should have handled business, but it required
38:31some effort from the Longhorns there.
38:34And I think it's just a tell of their batting being pretty solid.
38:38Uh, but they scored eight runs in the ninth inning to win Sunday.
38:42Yeah.
38:43Yeah.
38:43It's impressive.
38:44Carson.
38:45They were down by seven.
38:47It scored eight in one inning in the top of the ninth and the top of the night.
38:53That is wow.
38:55Yeah.
38:56They were losing nine to two, I believe is what it was.
38:58So there's an asterisk on that series.
39:02Oh, and, and it's what you're saying.
39:04And Saturday night, they had to come down from two runs at the top of the night.
39:07I saw the Saturday one.
39:08I saw that one.
39:09I didn't, Sunday was way more impressive because it was a seven run deficit.
39:13I, I didn't know Kansas state was seven and eight in the big 12.
39:17I thought they were better and just got swept by Oklahoma.
39:20Well, that's kind of what I'm getting to.
39:22I like, I didn't see them getting swept by Oklahoma.
39:25Like I know Oklahoma is a really good hitting team, but I at least thought the
39:29Kansas state was going to make it competitive.
39:32Yeah.
39:33Uh, West Virginia one shocks me.
39:35They're quietly the best team in the big 12 right now.
39:38Yeah.
39:38And it's kind of not even close.
39:41Has West Virginia and Oklahoma state played?
39:43Not yet.
39:44I believe that is, is coming a weekend.
39:49That'll be a good series.
39:50I, but let me, let me just look at that real quick.
39:55Cause I know they do play each other.
39:57I just don't know what it is.
39:59Um, but yeah, West Virginia is quietly really, really good right now.
40:06And yeah, I kind of don't like it because they always give TCU trouble.
40:11I mean, Jay, when you have the potential number one, overall pick
40:15come back from injury and then hit, he's not even top five anymore.
40:19I mean, he hit three bombs on the weekend.
40:21I think West Virginia plays tech this weekend.
40:24So they got that going and then they get Baylor.
40:28Okay.
40:28So there's a, you know, and then they get Cincinnati.
40:32Maybe they don't play each other.
40:33My crazy.
40:36That's unfortunate if they don't.
40:38Yeah.
40:38They don't play each other.
40:40Man.
40:42Is West Virginia played anyone?
40:43Cause now I want to, I got some crap.
40:45Well, what is TCU scheduled this season?
40:48Well, I know West Virginia played Oklahoma and I think West Virginia.
40:53No, Oklahoma took that series.
40:54Oklahoma took the head to head.
40:56West Virginia has played BYU, UCF, Kansas, Oklahoma, and they
41:01already played Oklahoma state.
41:02They lost.
41:03Oh, they are.
41:03Oh, that was the weekend that JJ Witherholt got hurt.
41:07That's what it was.
41:09Yeah.
41:10Okay.
41:10Okay.
41:11Um, all right.
41:13TCU travels to Abilene Christian this Tuesday, plays them on the road.
41:17Uh, first midweek game in two weeks after last week's were canceled.
41:21Uh, Nate.
41:23Midweek games.
41:23They're hard to talk about, right?
41:24We don't know who's going to start.
41:25We don't know who's going to be in the lineup.
41:27What do you want to see?
41:28Who, who do you want to see either get some chance in the lineup or on the
41:31field, or who do you want to see on the mound?
41:35I want to see, uh, somebody different.
41:38I wouldn't even mind seeing somebody like Jax Traeger go out there and start.
41:42Don't steal my choice.
41:45Somebody who hasn't seen much action.
41:48Let's see what they got.
41:49Um, ACU is probably going to throw Rolando de la Cruz and he held them
41:55down for tech and they made it a pretty close game, nine, four, uh,
41:59back a couple of weeks ago.
42:01So ACU is nothing to play around with.
42:03So, but I don't think we should throw our best arm.
42:06I don't think we should throw Ben Hampton out there.
42:08Uh, so let's use somebody different.
42:12Yeah.
42:12Carson.
42:14What do you want to see out of the midweek game?
42:17Sorry.
42:17I'm looking at ACU's record real quick.
42:202115.
42:23Yeah, they're definitely better than last year.
42:25That's yeah.
42:26Oh yeah, for sure.
42:27Yeah, that was, that was hard to watch.
42:29Um, I want Brayden Sloan on the mound.
42:33Um, and I would like to see him get extended, but I would imagine we just
42:38see another bullpen game and I'm okay with it as for the lineup, flip the
42:43entire thing, flip the entire thing.
42:46Take out guys that start normally.
42:48Just give me nine guys that don't get it.
42:51That's just cause I want to see if there's like something.
42:54I want to see if there's a diamond in the rough that we're missing somewhere.
42:57See, but isn't, isn't that a catch 21, right?
43:00Like someone has a big first game, right?
43:02Baseball's a game of series, not one game.
43:05Like it's so hard to see.
43:07Uh, and you can't even say like, well, then you got to ride the hot hand.
43:09Like they don't play until Friday.
43:11I mean, still ACU has like good pitching.
43:15Yeah, they got dudes.
43:16They got dudes and they're probably going to throw them against TCU.
43:19You just want to see if someone can hit velocity.
43:24Fine.
43:26I do.
43:26I do.
43:27I want to see if we can hit velocity cause I'm still not sure.
43:30Yeah, that scares me.
43:31Uh, I want to see Chase Hoover get in.
43:35I would imagine he will.
43:37When's the last time we saw him?
43:39Like two weeks ago.
43:39Quite a while ago.
43:41We can, we can have to go, I think.
43:44Yeah.
43:44Um, I'll, I want to see Dallin Leach get back out there.
43:49That's what I want.
43:50That's what I want.
43:51Yes.
43:52The man has a lot of power.
43:54He's one for one.
43:55Yeah.
43:56He's batting a thousand.
43:57He's the best hitter on the team right now.
43:59Uh, and for Barry, I want to see Zach Wattis get out there.
44:03That's what I'm saying.
44:04Flip the entire lineup.
44:05Let's just see a bunch of other guys.
44:08Hey, start Cole Taylor.
44:10That's right.
44:11That's right.
44:11Yeah.
44:12What, what Nate said?
44:15All right.
44:16Uh, if you're listening, do it.
44:18Sorry, Liz.
44:19Do it.
44:20Um, yeah.
44:22Except Anthony Silva.
44:23Keep him in.
44:25I want, I want Anthony Silva still in the lineup.
44:27Yeah.
44:27I think that's the only one that sticks and Luke Boyers.
44:30Cause he's hot right now.
44:30And I want him to ride that hot streak.
44:32That's it.
44:33Uh, everyone else is back.
44:35You want to see it?
44:35I wouldn't mind.
44:38Ingersoll should stay too.
44:41Dude, Boyers has such a pretty swing that I am Boyers.
44:45Bombs are so good.
44:46It does.
44:47They're pretty.
44:47They're good.
44:49Yeah.
44:50Um, all right.
44:51Yeah.
44:51Anything else you guys want to talk about before we close this thing out?
44:55I don't think I'm good.
44:57Nothing here.
44:58Uh, Wednesday night, I meant to talk to you guys about this before Wednesday
45:03night is our plan for the preview.
45:05Cause Brett is supposed to finally be joining us, right?
45:09It's supposed to be here.
45:11It's no tech to talk about, but we're still going to talk crap to him about it.
45:15Um, and he'll be here for the Texas preview, which there's a lot to talk
45:20about with Texas, so, um, all right.
45:23Uh, thank you guys for joining us.
45:25We will see you on Wednesday.
45:26Uh, yeah, that'll do it.