So I got my second look at the Texas baseball team yesterday.
Sophomore starter Brandon Workman was fantastic. He was able to throw his curve for strikes, and when he does that he's dominating. Live fastball. Looked as good as I've ever seen him look. He's a big, strong kid who works quickly. He had some control problems last year, but if he's gotten them straightened out he's going to be great.
I'm not sure yet on Austin Wood as the closer. He has experience, but no one is going to confuse him with Street or Cox.
With the exception of Brandon Belt, yesterday's team was an exercise in offensive futility. Belt hit the ball hard his first three times at the plate, but two of them were right at the second baseman. He drove in the only run of the game with a double to right center in the 7th.
No one else did much at the plate. The Statesman said that of the 36 hits Texas had during the four game series, 32 of them were singles. This is looking like it's going to be a team that has to manufacture runs.
Defensively they were once again solid although I'm not sure if Cameron Rupp is going to be an asset defensively. I think the next baserunner he throws out will be the first. And I can't tell if Kevin Keyes idolizes Andruw Jones or if he's just not that fast. He made a couple of diving catches in right field yesterday that I thought your average right fielder would have made look fairly routine.
At this point I'm as excited as I can be about our starting pitching. If they can be consistent, we have four guys who can quality starters. Until guys like Keyes, Rupp and Tant Shepard find their strokes, we're going to be a small ball team on offense. We may be that even if/when they find their strokes.