Texas Longhorns
Overall Rank: #33
Conference Rank: #6 Big 12
Texas will be looking for a bit of redemption in 2020 as they missed the NCAA Tournament in 2019 and ended up with a .500 overall record at 27-27. There is too much history with the Longhorns baseball program to stay down for long so expect and increased sense of urgency from head coach David Pearce and his staff this spring. However, if that doesn’t happen then Coach Pearce will be on the hot seat as the fans in Austin have little patience for sustained mediocrity in their baseball program.
2019: 27-27, 7-16
2019 Postseason: NCAA
Coach: David Pearce
Key Departed Players:
Ryan Reynolds, INF, .272 BA, 4 HR, 32 RBI
Masen Hibbeler, INF, .239 BA, 3 HR, 18 RBI
Matteo Bocchi, P, 2.45 ERA, 2-2 W/L, 33.0 IP, 8 BB, 24 SO
Blair Henley, P, 3.54 ERA, 6-4 W/L, 73.2 IP, 34 BB, 62 SO
Key Returning Players:
Eric Kennedy, OF, .310 BA, 2 HR, 28 RBI, 9 SB
Duke Ellis, OF, .266 BA, 1 HR, 15 RBI, 17 SB
Austin Todd, OF, .256 BA, 3 HR, 38 RBI, 7 SB
Lance Ford, INF, .255 BA, 2 HR, 19 RBI
Zach Zubia, INF, .252 BA, 5 HR, 35 RBI
Bryce Elder, P, 2.93 ERA, 2-4 W/L, 83.0 IP, 33 BB, 86 SO
Cole Quintanilla, P, 4.05 ERA, 2-1 W/L, 33.1 IP, 9 BB, 44 SO, 5 SV
Coy Cobb, P, 3.45 ERA, 1-3 W/L, 44.1 IP, 21 BB, 23 SO
Ty Madden, P, 3.40 ERA, 4-1 W/L, 42.1 IP, 24 BB, 37 SO
Kamron Fields, P, 4.26 ERA, 1-2 W/L, 25.1 IP, 16 BB, 36 SO
Projection:
The 2019 season did have a couple of great moments as Texas did sweep LSU at home in early March as the Longhorns outscored the Tigers 23-11. They also took two of three against Texas Tech to kick off Big 12 Conference play. Texas was 24-15 at one point and then things really fell apart as the Longhorns went 3-12 the rest of the way. Increasing their productivity at the plate will help Texas get back to the postseason in 2020. The Longhorns did not even score 300 runs last year, finishing with 287 runs scored. Eric Kennedy and Duke Ellis will set the tone for this lineup as they combined for 26 stolen bases and 53 runs batted in. Auston Todd and Zach Zubia are solid run producers and have some pop with their bat as they combined for eight homeruns and 73 runs batted in last season. Bryce Elder, Coy Cobb and Ty Madden will be in the mix for the weekend rotation and the key for those guys will be to pitch aggressively and not worry about making a mistake due to a struggling offense. Look for Texas to bounce back with around 35 wins and return to the NCAA Tournament.
Projected Postseason: NCAA Baseball Tournament
