Cole Green, Tant Shepherd To Return To Longhorn Baseball

by Scipio Tex on Aug 17, 2010 10:53 AM CDT in Texas Longhorns and Other Baseball

As expected, we lost Chance Ruffin and Brandon Workman , but the return of Cole Green and Tant Shepherd is salve on the departure wounds.

Shepherd hit .337 last year to lead the team in batting average and he'll be a strong stabilizing force for next year's young offense.

Cole Green, the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, was 11-1 with a 2.74 ERA and should team with Taylor Jungmann to provide a strong nucleus for the Longhorn pitching staff.

Throw in Brandon Loy at SS, and the Longhorns should once again thrive on pitching and defense.

The 2011 season beta probably rests on the hitting of Shepherd, Walla, and Walsh, one or two newcomers breaking out, shoring up some pitching depth, and the improvement of Jordan Etier and ~~the Lusson brothers~~ (actually, just Kevin Lusson). I'd expect the offense to start the year moribund and improve over the course of the year.

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Sorry to see they didn’t get what they were asking, but damn glad to have them back!

by New Braunfels Horn on Aug 17, 2010 11:20 AM CDT reply actions

What kind of name is Tant? Is he British? I would like a tant of sugar in my tea, if you don’t mind.

by dedfischer on Aug 17, 2010 11:31 AM CDT reply actions

the only thing that saved tant from being a goth kid was being a good athlete. tant the ass tant the nut.

by Savage Henry on Aug 17, 2010 11:52 AM CDT reply actions

This is huge news. We now have three high-quality candidates to fill in the final weekend spot: Milner, Dicharry, and Stafford. Find a closer and the staff is settled.

No idea if he is under consideration, but Stafford could be an intriguing candidate for closer. Although he is wild at times, he gives up very few hits and gets a lot of Ks.

by AugieBall on Aug 17, 2010 11:53 AM CDT reply actions

Thanks for the update, Scipio. This is great news for the 2011 season. Now our rotation is 2/3 set and we have an experienced, reliable bat in the lineup.
Hmm, the offense starting out putrid and then slowly building momentum as the season progresses…where have we seen that one before? Oh yeah, 2010, 2009, etc. Thankfully our pitching and D are normally so good we can survive the early-season batting droughts.

by burnt orange outrage on Aug 17, 2010 11:59 AM CDT reply actions

Milner has a lot of upside. He was a bean pole last year. Look forward to seeing some more muscle on him.

by texoz on Aug 17, 2010 12:12 PM CDT reply actions

Nobody epitomized being a bean pole like Cohl Walla. He will be a terror in years to come.

by AugieBall on Aug 17, 2010 12:56 PM CDT reply actions

Whose going to inherit the closer spot?

by anonymous on Aug 17, 2010 1:18 PM CDT reply actions

Kyle Lusson was a senior last year, right?

Stafford is probably best suited for the closer role, although I sure would like to see him in the weekend rotation.

by nordberg on Aug 17, 2010 1:31 PM CDT reply actions

Milner looked pretty good in relief last year. He seems like a probably candidate for the closer spot as well.

by alma on Aug 17, 2010 1:47 PM CDT reply actions

nordberg -

My bad. We return the Lusson with power, however.

by Scipio Tex on Aug 17, 2010 1:53 PM CDT reply actions

Are you certain that you simply have the details straight? I have read a variety of articles that contradict what you mentioned here, so I don’t know what to believe.

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