2005 Roster

2005 Texas Aggie Baseball Preview Follow the Ags all season long at TAMABINPO Brought to you by: “Texas A&M & Baseball In No Particular Order” http://tamu-and-baseball.com http://tamu-and-baseball.com 2005 Roster Alphabetical: Player Pos Cl-L B/T Wt/Ht ============================================ 16. Baldwin, Andrew OF Sr-1 R/R 200/6.1 13. Bartek, Travis OF Sr-1 R/R 190/6.0 4. Boggs, Austin 3B So-1 B/R 185/5.10 2. Buenger, Jess INF Fr-H B/R 175/5.10 40. Carpenter, Will INF Fr-R R/R 195/6.1 38. Chambless, Jordan RHP Fr-H R/R 200/6.1 15. Cline, Jon Michael LHP Sr-1 L/L 180/6.0 23. Corgan, Chance P/INF Fr-H R/R 170/6.2 6. Creps, Austin RHP So-1 R/R 180/6.2 1. Dalton, Parker INF So-1 R/R 180/6.0 27. Donaldson, Dan LHP Jr-2 L/L 200/6.4 39. Frame, Doug LHP So-1 L/L 225/6.0 37. Gerald, Evan RHP Fr-H R/R 220/6.3 24. Glover, Brandon OF Fr-H L/L 190/6.1 8. Harughty, Lee C Fr-R R/R 180/6.0 42. Hering, Hart RHP Jr-T R/R 235/6.3 9. Hill, Ryan INF Jr-T R/R 210/6.3 33. Hohman, Tyler INF Fr-H R/R 190/6.0 44. Howes, Andy INF So-T R/R 220/6.5 17. Infante, John OF Jr-2 R/R 190/6.0 22. Jones, Chris P/OF Fr-H R/R 230/6.2 34. Marlatt, Kyle RHP Sr-1 R/R 215/6.3 12. Mavroulis, Coby 1B/OF Jr-2 L/L 205/6.3 11. Meyer, Jason LHP So-1 L/L 180/5.10 18. Nicholson, Kyle P/INF So-1 R/R 185/5.11 36. Paulson, Erik RHP Fr-H R/R 205/6.1 5. Pennington, Cliff SS/P Jr-2 B/R 175/5.11 28. Pouk, Justin C Sr-2 R/R 200/6.1 20. Rampy, Blake RHP So-1 R/R 170/6.2 14. Ray, Robert RHP Jr-2 R/R 190/6.4 32. Sebek, Todd INF/OF Fr-H R/R 175/6.0 30. Soeder, Tyler LHP So-S L/L 160/6.1 35. Sokol, Justin RHP Jr-T R/R 215/6.5 31. Stein, Keith INF/OF Fr-H L/R 165/5.10 29. Stinson, Craig C Jr-2 R/R 205/6.3 3. Stouffer, Blake INF Fr-H R/R 175/6.0 10. Turner, Clayton RHP Sr-T R/R 200/5.10 21. Whelan, Kevin P/C Jr-2 R/R 195/6.0 Numerical: # Player ==================== 1. Dalton, Parker 2. Beunger, Jess 3. Stouffer, Blake 4. Boggs, Austin 5. Pennington, Cliff 6. Creps, Austin 8. Harughty, Lee 9. Hill, Ryan 10. Turner, Clayton 11. Meyer, Jason 12. Mavroulis, Coby 13. Bartek, Travis 14. Ray, Robert 15. Cline, Jon Michael 16. Baldwin, Andrew 17. Infante, John 18. Nicholson, Kyle 20. Rampy, Blake 21. Whelan, Kevin 22. Jones, Chris 23. Corgan, Chance 24. Glover, Brandon 27. Donaldson, Dan 28. Pouk, Justin 29. Stinson, Craig 30. Soeder, Tyler 31. Stein, Keith 32. Sebek, Todd 33. Hohman, Tyler 34. Marlatt, Kyle 35. Sokol, Justin 36. Paulson, Erik 37. Gerald, Evan 38. Chambless, Jordan 39. Frame, Doug 40. Carpenter, Will 42. Hering, Hart 44. Howes, Andy Returning Lettermen (19): A.Baldwin (Bryan, Tx; Bryan/San Jacinto JC), T.Bartek (Sparks, NV; Reed/Feather River JC), A.Boggs (Pflugerville, Tx; Connally), J.Cline (Palestine, Tx; Elkhart/Tyler JC), A.Creps (Spring, Tx; Klein), P.Dalton (Houston, Tx; Memorial), D.Donaldson (Houston, Tx; Memorial), D.Frame (Tomball, Tx; Tomball), J.Infante (Coppell, Tx; Coppell), K.Marlatt (Enid, OK; Enid/San Jacinto JC), C.Mavroulis (Abilene, Tx; Cooper), J.Meyer(Abilene, Tx; Cooper), K.Nicholson (College Station, Tx; A&M Consolidated), C.Pennington (Corpus Christi, Tx; Carroll), J.Pouk Streator, IL (Streator/Wabash Valley JC), B.Rampy (Tomball, Tx; Tomball), R.Ray (Lufkin, Tx; Lufkin), C.Stinson (Cranston, RI; Bishop Hendricken), K.Whelan (Kerrville, Tx; Tivy) Transfers (4): L.Harvell (Richmond CC), H.Hering (Weatherford JC), R.Hill (St.Mary's U), A.Howes (Chandler-Gilbert CC), J.Sokol (Iowa Central CC), C.Turner (Northwestern State) Freshmen (13): J.Buenger (Bellville, Tx; Bellville), W.Carpenter (Sugar Land, Tx; Elkins), J.Chambless (Corpus Christi, Tx; Calallen), C.Corgan (Plano, Tx; Forney), E.Gerald (Amarillo, Tx; Tascosa), B.Glover (McKinney, Tx; McKinney), L.Harughty+ (Spring, Tx; Spring), T.Hohman (Tomball, Tx; Tomball), C.Jones (San Clemente, Ca; Mission Viejo), E.Paulson (Midland, Tx; Midland), T.Sebek (Kerrville, Tx; Tivy), K.Stein (College Station, Tx; A&M Consolidated), B.Stouffer (San Antonio, TX; Alamo Heights) Players Lost (6): M.Alexander*, W.Blackmon+, B.J. Boening, B.Bowe*, S.Holdren (UT-SA), B.Jackson, Z.Jackson$, J.Moore*, C.Patton*$, J.Ruggiano*$, E.Scheidt*, E.Schindewolf*$, B.Steinocher+ (SFA), T.Stroud, J.Turner+ +Redshirt, *Graduated Senior, $Drafted Oops....sorry about listing weight/height instead of the typical height/weight. I have confidence that you can adjust quickly and avoid any major confusion. A few other small notes. 1.) There is no "i" in the spelling of Jordan Chambless. 2.) Parker Dalton is not the same guy as Dalton Parker or even Parker Daulton. 3.) There is only one "r" in Hart Hering's last name. Just wanted to throw that out there before confusion ensued. http://tamu-and-baseball.com Player Stats Returning Aggie Lettermen (ranked by ABs or IP from 2004) Hitters: Player Year G-GS AB R H RBI HR XBH SO/BB SB/A BA OPS A.Boggs 2004 64-64 260 42 86 52 5 19 29/18 5/5 .331 .830 C.Pennington 2004 63-63 257 60 87 35 5 17 18/33 12/15 .339 .865 2003 63-61 241 54 82 41 2 18 27/22 12/14 .340 .832 C.Mavroulis 2004 63-59 234 51 75 47 3 19 36/24 5/7 .321 .826 2003 11-6 26 5 6 1 0 2 4/4 0/1 .231 .718 2002 45-40 139 22 35 19 0 9 33/23 3/5 .252 .618 J.Infante 2004 57-56 204 39 56 32 3 16 28/18 11/17 .275 .739 2003 44-16 69 15 17 9 3 10 11/7 1/3 .246 .803 C.Stinson 2004 56-55 195 29 56 37 3 16 33/25 0/1 .287 .789 2003 22-18 62 10 17 8 1 2 13/9 2/3 .274 .714 A.Baldwin 2004 40-39 135 22 38 19 2 8 16/15 2/5 .281 .714 T.Bartek 2004 41-31 115 26 33 18 1 8 17/12 4/5 .287 .740 K.Whelan 2004 16-9 43 9 10 4 1 2 7/3 0/0 .233 .618 2003 26-13 49 4 12 6 1 3 10/4 2/3 .245 .675 T.Stroud 2004 13-5 24 4 3 4 0 2 10/7 1/2 .125 .594 P.Dalton 2004 5-2 8 4 3 2 0 2 2/2 0/0 .375 1.170 2003 16-2 13 6 3 1 0 2 3/0 0/0 .231 .718 J.Pouk 2004 <-----------------Redshirted--------------------> 2003 49-47 160 33 52 27 5 15 22/14 3/5 .325 .920 2002 47-46 158 26 53 24 1 10 24/7 2/6 .335 .783 Pitchers: Player J.Meyer K.Marlatt R.Ray Cl-L So-1 Sr-1 Jr-2 R/L LHP RHP RHP Year 2004 2004 2004 2003 2004 2003 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004 2004 2003 2004 2004 2003 G GS W-L-S IP H ER HR SO/BB ERA AGs 24 12 8-2-3 106.0 88 34 3 111/41 2.87 57 17 8 5-1-0 53.0 52 34 4 35/17 5.77 47 15 7 2-2-1 44.2 61 26 4 54/15 5.24 51 12 3 4-0-0 37.0 34 9 1 42/12 2.19 n/a 15 4 1-1-1 34.0 30 18 3 22/23 4.76 43 14 1 1-3-1 37.0 37 14 2 25/13 3.41 n/a 21 0 3-0-0 37.0 40 21 3 19/18 5.11 3 1 2-0-0 6.2 3 2 0 2/3 2.70 64 13 0 2-0-1 27.0 27 12 0 23/8 4.00 59 20 0 2-2-4 29.0 17 7 0 24/12 1.55 18 3 2-1-0 25.2 30 12 1 35/16 4.21 55 10 0 0-2-0 8.2 7 4 0 11/4 4.15 <-------------------DNP-------------------> 4 1 0-0-0 6.0 8 8 1 4/4 12.00 29 6 0 0-1-2 4.1 3 1 0 3/3 2.08 <-------------------DNP-------------------> D.Donaldson Jr-2 LHP K.Nicholson J.Cline A.Creps B.Rampy D.Frame K.Whelan So-1 Sr-1 So-1 So-1 So-1 Jr-2 RHP LHP RHP RHP LHP RHP T.Soeder So-1 LHP C.Pennington Jr-2 RHP JUCO Transfers (listed alphabetically ) Hitters: Player Cl-L G-GS AB R H RBI HR XBH SO/BB SB/A BA OPS =================================================================== L.Harvell Jr-T 54 27 2 16 .325 .892 R.Hill Jr-T 58-58 199 58 74 50 9 24 21/32 8/9 .372 1.045 A.Howes So-T 31-29 108 26 41 28 2 13 20/22 2/4 .380 .978 Pitchers: Player Cl-L R/L Year G GS W-L IP H ER HR SO/BB ERA OBA =================================================================== H.Hering Jr-T RHP 2004 <-------------------n/a-------------------> J.Sokol Jr-T RHP 2004 15 15 12-1 97.1 100 28 9 63/13 2.59 .266 C.Turner Sr-T RHP 2004 16 14 10-3 100.1 87 39 6 103/42 3.50 .238 Freshmen Pitchers Freshmen Pitchers: Player Hometown (School) R/L ================================================= J.Chambless Corpus Christi, Tx (Calallen) RHP C.Corgan Plano, Tx (Forney) RHP E.Gerald Amarillo, Tx (Tascosa) RHP C.Jones San Clemente, Ca (Mission Viejo) RHP E.Paulson Midland, Tx (Midland) RHP http://tamu-and-baseball.com Summer League Stats This past summer 22 of our returning players went off and played ball somewhere (although two ended up not playing). This huge number (we only had 13 play the previous summer) is due largely in part to the Texas Collegiate League's inagural season which helped keep players close to home in a competitive league. We had 7 players catch on up in the Cape Cod league, historically the most prestigious summer league in the land. Pennington, Whelan & Ray were all named to the Cape Cod All-Star team (and were Baseball America's #9, 10, & 11 Cape Cod Prospects, respectively) while Pennington & Whelan were also named to Baseball America's Summer All-American team and were awarded the league's Russ Ford Outstanding Relief Pitcher honor (to Whelan) and the Manny Robellow Award ("10th Player" to Pennington). In the Texas Collegiate League Parker Dalton, Jon Michael Cline, Austin Boggs, & Ryan Hill were named to their respective All-Star roster for the July 12th game (Boggs HRed) while Austin Creps, Blake Rampy, Hart Hering, Boggs & Hill were named to play in the league's Futures Game which was a showcase for top talent at the end of the season. Pitchers: Player League G GS W-L S IP H R ER HR SO/BB ERA ============================================================== D.Donaldson CapeCod 12 0 1-0-2 23.0 22 6 5 3 14/8 1.96 R.Ray CapeCod 15 2 2-1-0 32.2 21 10 7 1 57/18 1.93 K.Whelan CapeCod 18 0 2-2-11 21.2 9 4 1 0 31/6 0.42 C.Mavroulis CapeCod 1 0 0-0-0 1.0 0 0 0 0 2/0 0.00 K.Marlatt CapeCod 9 8 2-3-0 43.0 53 30 23 4 25/11 4.81 C.Pennington CapeCod 1 0 0-0-1 1.0 0 0 0 0 1/0 0.00 B.Rampy TCL 11 0 0-0-0 14.0 10 2 2 0 13/14 1.29 A.Creps TCL 12 2 3-0-1 21.1 20 4 4 0 24/5 1.69 H.Hering TCL 17 1 1-1-6 28.1 21 7 5 0 33/8 1.91 T.Soeder TCL 15 3 3-2-0 48.1 46 22 17 5 25/20 3.17 J.Cline TCL 8 7 1-5-0 40.2 46 25 19 2 30/15 4.20 K.Nicholson TCL 4 1 1-0-0 12.2 15 7 6 0 17/9 4.26 Hitters: Player Year League G AB R H RBI HR XBH SO/BB BA OPS ====================================================================== C.Stinson 2004 Cape Cod 19 62 2 11 5 1 4 17/6 .177 .575 C.Pennington 2004 Cape Cod 39 148 26 41 20 3 12 23/21 .277 .773 21 SB K.Whelan 2004 Cape Cod 22 14 2 1 2 0 1 7/3 .071 .378 C.Mavroulis 2004 Cape Cod 22 63 4 10 3 0 2 13/4 .159 .399 D.Donaldson 2004 Cape Cod 12 1 0 0 0 0 0 0/0 .000 .000 A.Baldwin 2004 Northwoods 29 90 5 24 7 1 7 13/4 .267 .691 K.Nicholson 2004 TexasColl 2 2 0 1 1 0 1 0/0 .500 1.50 R.Hill 2004 TexasColl 51 192 29 61 29 5 16 19/19 .318 .837 P.Dalton 2004 TexasColl 50 189 25 55 17 5 13 36/11 .291 .766 A.Boggs 2004 TexasColl 22 86 17 25 27 5 12 18/9 .291 .912 L.Harughty 2004 TexasColl 31 66 3 16 11 2 6 19/6 .242 .714 A.Howes 2004 TexasColl 38 112 12 26 21 6 8 37/19 .232 .762 J.Infante 2004 TexasColl 42 132 16 26 15 1 5 29/13 .197 .532 B.Rampy 2004 TexasColl 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1/0 .000 .000 I went ahead and highlighted some of the numbers that jumped off the page at me....good and bad. Up in the Cape Donaldson, Ray, & Whelan were all lights out on the mound which could mean bad news come draft day for the Ags but Pennington's summer could cause us just as much pain on that same day. Marlatt & Donaldson's HRs allowed concern me somewhat since they both gave up several last spring. In the Texas League I was concerned with Rampy's K/BB ratio since that was something that was starting to see in the last month of this past spring. Austin Creps has very impressive numbers across the board as does JUCO transfer Hart Hering. I think that the one stat that I was most pleasantly surprised with is Jon Michael Cline's K/9IP of 6.63 during the summer after seeing his 2.68 in the spring. In the backs of our minds we should take those pitching numbers with a grain of salt because they were playing in wood bat leagues which will hinder the hitters....I know...that is no fun....but it's true [An extreme example from last summer is Robert Ray who was spectacular (21 IP, 29K, 0.86 ERA) but it didn't carry over into the spring]. That said we should praise our hitters who did so well with the wooden sticks. http://tamu-and-baseball.com There were some of our starters who struggled with wood (Stinson, Mavroulis & Infante) but there were just as many who excelled. Austin Boggs hit just under .300 and had an even better OPS of .912 while JUCO transfer, Ryan Hill, hit well over .300 and showed great bat control drawing as many walks as strike outs. I doubt that anyone would have bet anything other than Monopoly money that Parker Dalton would have hit 5 HRs. Down the line I was a bit discouraged by the high number of strikeouts but I think that had more to do with the adjustment to the wooden bats than the talent. Aggies Taken in 2004 Draft Here's a look at the guys who were on our roster last year and the incoming freshmen who were taken in the 2004 MLB Player Draft: # Name YR POS TEAM Sign? Bonus ======================================================= 32 Zach Jackson Jr LHP Toronto Yes $1,017,500 177 Cory Patton Sr OF Toronto Yes unknown 347 Jordan Chambless HS RHP Cleveland No n/a 748 Justin Ruggiano Sr OF Los Angeles Yes unknown 776 Erik Schindewolf Sr 2B Arizona Yes unknown 817 Clayton Turner Jr RHP Milwaukee No n/a 1419 Brandon Glover HS OF Milwaukee No n/a Look at Pitching We have 12 returning pitchers, losing only 2 lettermen from 2004, which is like night and day from last year when we brought back only 3 pitchers. NCWBA named both Jason Meyer and Clayton Turner to their Preseason All-American team. I'm looking for Turner, drafted by Billy Beane's Oakland A's last year, to step into the Saturday starter's role with either Robert Ray or Kyle Marlatt as the Sunday starter. If Ray isn't our Sunday guy it's not the end of the world because he has had excellent success out of the bullpen during his college career. That leaves the other of those two, Dan Donaldson and Doug Frame to start on the weekdays and pitch out of the pen in long relief on the weekend if needed. For whatever reason I'm just not a big Kyle Marlatt guy. I don't have anything against him what-so-ever but I suppose I just can't think of a time when I have been WOWed by him. I think that some Ags simply remember his first appearance at Olsen Field, coincidentally his best start during his time here (an 8 inning Tournament ending shutout against New Mexico), and have embedded that performance into their minds as what he is capable of. Marlatt.... ....Overall in 2004: 53.0 IP, 52 H, 5.94 K/9, 2.89 BB/9, 5.77 ERA ....Big XII in 2004: 27.1 IP, 33 H, 14K/15BB, 4.61 K/9, 4.94 BB/9, 8.89 ERA ....Summer League (Cape Cod): 43.0 IP, 53 H, 5.23 K/9, 2.30 BB/9, 4.81 ERA [The entire LEAGUE average ERA in the Cape Cod was 2.74 & Kyle had the highest ERA of any ERA Crown qualifier (35.0 IP min)] I think that Marlatt would be an excellent weekday starter for us where he can eat up innings and save our bullpen for the weekend as opposed to a mediocre Sunday starter where we’ll need the bullpen help out a lot more. We just need someone to step into the Sunday role to make that happen. Doug Frame, on the other hand, I think has the stuff to become a great arm for us. He has a filthy slider and a good fastball and his K/9 is simply insane. Last year he just threw too many pitches to each guy he faced (~4.43 pitches per batter faced) and couldn't get himself deep into a game before his pitch count got out of control. I'm excited to see if there is any progress with him this year. http://tamu-and-baseball.com Pitcher BF P/BF ================== Pennington 20 4.95 Whelan 20 4.53 Frame 124 4.43 Patton 20 4.25 Cline 28 4.21 Rampy 114 4.17 Soeder 30 3.97 Meyer 441 3.96 Ray 219 3.87 Donaldson 152 3.86 Nicholson 174 3.83 Creps 122 3.73 Boening 17 3.71 Jackson 515 3.68 Marlatt 225 3.63 Moore 782 3.46 *note: numbers are approximate due to incomplete pitch counts If the hype surrounding freshman Jordan Chambless is legit he could work his way into the starting rotation (this guy just looks like a beast) but I imagine he'll start the season out of the pen similar to what Jason Meyer did last year, especially since he did not practice with the team in the fall. In high school he was named All-State as a Jr and a Sr and earned 3rd team All-State as a So. He threw 7 no-hitters, 15 shutouts, and struck out >425 batters in his 4 varsity seasons at Calallen HS. I could only find a few of his numbers from his Jr and Sr seasons but they're impressive. 2003 Junior Year ================ Pitching: 12-3, 1.31 ERA, 170 SO, 46 BB, 6 one-hitters, 2 no-hitters Hitting: .346 BA, 4 HR, 30 RBI, 45 R 2004 Senior Year ================ Pitching: 15 starts, 13-1, 0.46 ERA, 182 SO, 92.0 IP, 13 CG, 9 SHO, 4 No-hitters, 1 perfect game Hitting: .450 BA, 10 2bls, 4 3bls, 6 HRs, 49 R, 42 RBI He was drafted by the Indians in the 12th round of the draft but that was many rounds later than some anticipated because teams were afraid he wouldn't sign because he was recruited heavily by the A&M football team as a QB where he red-shirted this past season. His scholarship is charged against the football team which is great for Coach Johnson. Also watch for freshmen Chance Corgan and Chris Jones to make an impact on the mound if they don't red-shirt. Jones was Baseball America's 68th top prospect in the nation his senior year (the only Aggie recruit to make the list). I wanted to show you a quick comparison to Clayton Turner's numbers and Zach Jackson's numbers from prior to arriving in Aggieland (Zach came from Louisville and Turner from Northwestern State)... Player Cl-L Year G GS W-L IP H ER HR SO/BB ERA ========================================================== C.Turner Sr-T 2004 16 14 10-3 100.1 87 39 6 103/42 3.50 Z.Jackson Jr-T 2003 21 19 7-6 112.2 121 54 12 75/29 4.31 2002 17 14 10-3 83.0 80 44 8 46/24 4.77 I think we're going to be in a very good position to win a lot of the games he starts. With regards to the end of the game I think we're going to be in pretty good shape. Blake Rampy had a great season for us last year and I see him moving up an inning or two in order to set-up for Kevin Whelan. Whelan was simply insane in the Cape Cod and throws a hard, but some times straight, fastball. Even if Whelan doesn't fit the bill for us Rampy earned my trust last year as a closer. I never sat down and calculated our pitcher's home/away splits from last season so I thought I'd do that quickly and then calculate the splits between starting and relieving.... http://tamu-and-baseball.com Home v. Away Pitcher IPh ERAh ERAa IPa ==================================== J.Cline 1.2 10.80 0.00 5.0 A.Creps 19.2 4.58 2.45 7.1 D.Donaldson 24.1 4.01 6.52 9.2 D.Frame 20.1 3.98 5.06 5.1 B.Jackson 0.0 0.00 13.50 2.0 Z.Jackson 67.1 3.74 3.38 53.1 K.Marlatt 29.1 3.68 8.37 23.2 J.Meyer 44.1 0.81 4.38 61.2 J.Moore 27.1 6.26 3.52 23.0 K.Nicholson 23.1 5.01 5.92 13.2 C.Pennington 2.0 4.50 0.00 2.1 B.Rampy 13.0 0.69 2.25 16.0 R.Ray 33.0 3.82 9.26 9.2 T.Soeder 5.2 12.71 0.00 0.1 K.Whelan 5.0 7.20 0.00 3.2 ==================================== Totals 309.2 3.95 4.45 238.2 Not on 2005 team I think it's extremely interesting to see how much pitching at home helps out. The most noteable differences are with the 3 guys returning who threw the most innings pitched (which also provides a much better sample size)....Meyer, Marlatt, & Ray. Its as if they are Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde. Dan Donaldson and Blake Rampy also had a lot of help from the home crowd as well. Start v. Relief We have 8 returning pitchers who appeared in games as both a starter and as a reliever in 2004. I should point out that SO/BB is the pitcher's actual number of strikeouts and walks while the K/BB is the ratio of strikeouts to walks J.Cline IP H R ER SO/BB K/BB K/9 ERA OBA ================================================== Start..... 5.0 1 0 0 0/1 0.00 0.0 0.00 .067 Relief.... 1.2 2 2 2 2/2 1.00 10.8 10.80 .286 A.Creps IP H R ER SO/BB K/BB K/9 ERA OBA ================================================= Start..... 3.0 1 0 0 2/0 INF 6.0 0.00 .100 Relief.... 24.0 26 15 12 21/8 2.65 7.9 4.50 .277 D.Donaldson IP H R ER SO/BB K/BB K/9 ERA OBA ================================================= Start..... 13.0 17 8 8 9/8 1.13 6.2 5.54 .327 Relief.... 21.0 13 12 10 13/15 0.87 5.6 4.29 .167 D.Frame IP H R ER SO/BB K/BB K/9 ERA OBA ================================================= Start..... 11.0 11 5 3 18/6 3.00 14.7 2.45 .262 Relief.... 14.2 19 9 9 17/10 1.70 10.4 5.52 .311 K.Marlatt IP H R ER SO/BB K/BB K/9 ERA OBA ================================================= Start..... 42.0 37 27 25 25/15 1.67 3.2 5.36 .236 Relief.... 11.0 15 9 9 10/2 5.00 8.2 7.36 .341 J.Meyer IP H R ER SO/BB K/BB K/9 ERA OBA ================================================== Start..... 81.0 73 34 31 80/33 2.42 8.9 3.44 .253 Relief.... 25.0 15 3 3 31/8 3.88 11.2 1.08 .176 R.Ray IP H R ER SO/BB K/BB K/9 ERA OBA ================================================== Start..... 32.2 41 19 17 37/10 3.70 10.2 4.68 .301 Relief.... 12.0 20 9 9 17/5 3.40 12.8 6.75 .357 T.Soeder IP H R ER SO/BB K/BB K/9 ERA OBA ================================================== Start..... 4.0 7 5 5 2/1 2.00 4.5 11.25 .389 Relief.... 2.0 1 3 3 2/3 0.67 9.0 13.50 .143 http://tamu-and-baseball.com The reason I bolded Jason Meyer's K/9 and his ERA is because those are the two numbers that really jump out at me and kind of scare me. His numbers aren't nearly as good when you break him down into starting v. relieving. He still has good numbers as a starter but they're not the All-American numbers that his relief appearances made them look like. I strongly believe that there was some effect of his heavy use last season which led to some inflated starting numbers at the end of the season (his ERA over his last 7 starts of last season was 5.35). Thankfully, he decided to sit out summer ball to rest his arm. Our Schedule/Opponents Schedule Here is a pretty quick and easy breakdown of our opponents. I bolded the games that I was most excited about. Our season opener is February 11th versus Tennessee at Minute Maid Park and our home opener is against #8 Washington on February 25th. The rankings are Baseball America's pre-season rankings (I always use BA for simplicity's sake) and the team's 2004 record is listed as well.... Opponent (alphabetically) Scheduled Meetings =============================================== #11 Baylor (29-31) +: May 13-15 (A-H-H) Evansville (28-32): Feb 26 (H) & 28 (H) Houston (30-29): Feb 13 (N), Mar 22 (A), & May 10 (H) Jacksonville (25-31): Feb 18 (N) Kansas (31-31-1) +: Apr 1-3 (H) Kansas State (26-30) +: Apr 22-24 (A) Lamar (41-16): Mar 29 (H) Missouri (38-23-1) +: Apr 8-10 (A) H:Olsen Field #50 Nebraska (36-23) +: Apr 15-17 (H) A: Opponent’s Field #20 Notre Dame (51-12): Mar 5 (N) N: Neutral Field Oklahoma (38-24) +: Mar 24-25 (A) +: Big XII Opponent #23 Oklahoma State (38-24) +: Apr 29-May 1 (H) #18 Rice (46-14): Feb 12 (N), Apr 12 (A) Sam Houston (19-30-1): Feb 15 (A), Apr 5 (H) #48 San Diego (35-21): Feb 26-27 (H) South Alabama (30-28): Feb 19 (A) #34 Tennessee (38-24): Feb 11 (N) #4 texas (58-15) +: May 20-22 (H-A-A) Texas State (32-26): Mar 6 & 15 (N), Apr 19 (H) texas tech (40-21) +: Mar 18-20 (A) UCLA (32-26): Mar 11-13 (H) #30 USC (24-32): Mar 4 (N) UT-Arlington (35-29): Mar 8 (H) UT-San Antonio (27-31): Feb 22 (A), Apr 26 (H) Wake Forest (17-33) Feb 20 (N) #8 Washington (39-20-1): Feb 25 & 27 (H) As you can tell from all the bolded font above I'm excited about quite a few non-conference games, especially the Washington, USC, & Notre Dame games. It's fun to have some big name schools on your schedule that you don't normally play. Park Factors Something that I didn't do last year was show you guys (and gals) the Park Factors for all the stadiums that we're going to play in. Park Factors show if a park is more of a pitcher's park (<100) or a hitter's park (>100) with a score of 100 being completely neutral. I listed them in the order that we play in them and then bolded the high and the low for ya.... Park Factors 2001-2004 Location PF Olsen Field 98 =================== Minute Maid 102 Sam Houston 98 South Alabama 91 UTSA 88 Round Rock 103 texas tech 98 Houston 90 OU 101 Mizzou 113 Rice 98 Kansas State 96 Baylor 89 texas 94 MMP & RR’s Park factors were taken from Baseball Prospectus (see link on web version) & the rest were provided by Boyd’s World (with permission) http://tamu-and-baseball.com Opponents I thought that this would be the easiest way to get some of the names of our opponent's players out there to yall. The talent we're going to be facing is incredible, 7 future opponents played on Team USA this past summer and one other was invited to tryouts. Below I have created a chart of every player on our schedule who was named to some sort of All-American team in 2004 or to a Preseason AllAmerican team for this year. Each number represents the team that the player was named to on that publication's list (1st team, 2nd team or 3rd team). Player Jordan Abruzzo Cameron Blair Jeff Clement Craig Cooper J.Brent Cox Ryan Doherty Michael Gardener Alex Gordon Derrick Gordon Michael Griffin Luke Hochevar Carson Kainer Ian Kennedy Sam LeCure Brent Lillibridge Tim Lincecum Eric Lis Mark McCormick Kyle McCulloch Kyle Parker Jeff Samardzija Matt Spencer Drew Stubbs Taylor Teagarden Pat Tumilty A.J. VanSlyke JP Walters Po School 04BAAA 1 04BAFAA 1 1 1 04BASAA 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 05BAPAA 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 2 04NCBWAAA 3 1 3 05NCBWAPAA 2 3 3 3 1 3 1 2 1 3 2 04CBAA 3 1 1 2 04CBFAA 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 05CB03 04 PAA TeamUSA TeamUSA 3 1 1 3 1 3 2 2 3 1 3 2 2 3 USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA usa USA USA - C/DH San Diego SS C OF RP RP SP 3B SP 2B SP OF SP SP SS SP 1B Sp SP SP SP OF OF C DH OF SP texas tech USC Notre Dame texas Notre Dame UTArlington Nebraska Lamar Baylor Tennessee texas USC texas Washington Washington Evansville Baylor texas Washington Notre Dame texas texas texas Evansville Kansas South Alabama This should be pretty self explanatory....but here's a quick key for ya listed in the order that they appear above.... http://tamu-and-baseball.com 2004 Baseball America All-American 2004 Baseball America Freshman All-American 2004 Baseball America Summer All-American 2005 Baseball America Pre-Season All-American 2004 NCBWA All-American 2005 NCBWA Pre-Season All-American 2004 Collegiate Baseball "Louisville Slugger's" All-American 2004 Collegiate Baseball "Louisville Slugger's" Freshman All-American 2005 Collegiate Baseball "Louisville Slugger's" Pre-Season All-American 03USA-2003 Team USA member (I couldn't find Tryout Invitees for '03) 04USA-2004 Team USA member usa-2004 Team USA Tryout Invitee We have the opportunity to see some of the elite players in the nation square off against our boys and most of those showdowns will be home games or games close to home (Houston or Round Rock). It is so odd not to see a single Rice player on that list, isn't it? College Baseball guru, Will Kimmey of Baseball America, thinks that Tennessee's Luke Hochevar (Jr; #19; RHP) will make a very strong push to be the first pitcher taken in the 2005 draft coming off of a couple of freak injuries in '04. He was one of Team USA's best starters this past summer where he was able to showcase his 4 pitches to scouts and opponents alike. BA did a feature article on Luke during their South Region Preview a couple of weeks ago for those of you interested in reading up on our Opening Day starter opponent (see web version for link). If you don't already know Nebraska's third baseman, Alex Gordon (Jr; #4), then you haven't paid much attention to the Big XII or to NCAA baseball, for that matter. Gordon was the 2004 Big XII Player of the Year as well as a unanimous All-American and his success is expected to continue as he has been named the Preseason National Player of the Year by both Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America. He is also the favorite to be the #1 player taken in the upcoming draft. Gordon was also the topic of a feature article from Baseball America during their Midwest Region Preview (see web version for link). Just wanted to mention that Ryan Doherty is not only an All-American closer but he is 85 inches of All-American closer. You do the math. It is huge for Notre Dame to have such a lights out stopper because up they play a lot of 7-inning double headers during conference play (scheduled because of the unpredictable weather) and a great closer shortens those games even more. #8 Washington is ranked the highest they've ever been and they bring two solid sophomore starters, Tim Lincecum (So; #14; RHP; Pac-10 Freshman of the Year & Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year), & Kyle Parker (So; #8; RHP; BA Summer All-American), to the table as well as last year starter turned closer, Richie Lentz (So; #6; RHP; BA's New England Collegiate League Top Prospect). Lincecum is simply a strikeout machine. He K'ed 161 hitters in only 112.1 innings for a K/9 of 12.9 (second in the nation to only Jered Weaver). Let’s put it this way....He struck out 32.5% of the batters that even stepped into the batter's box (that's total batters faced not just official at-bats against) as opponents hit a paltry .207 against him. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to a rowdy Olsen Field crowd (if he's the Friday starter, which he should be, he'll get our home opener). He only pitched in front of +1,000 people 5 times last year and only twice were those crowds larger than 2K. On top of that he has a tendency to walk people so get ready for "Ball 5! Ball 6!...". I'm really glad that we're getting a couple of the Pac-10's better teams on our schedule this year to strengthen our schedule and RPI. Speaking of Pac-10, 12-time National Champion, Southern California is on our schedule for the first time in 11 years. They are led by All-American and two-time Team USA catcher Jeff Clement (Jr; #24) who BA featured in an article during their West Region Preview (see web version for link). The Trojans also have one of last years top freshman pitchers, Ian Kennedy (So; #31; RHP), to toe the rubber for them. http://tamu-and-baseball.com