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torre

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  1. Excerpts from a lengthy article: Good to see Morgan Cooper is still in the game. Life in the minor leagues is hardly glamorous. Most players do not make a livable wage, and not all prospects received a sizable signing bonus. Paychecks don’t come during the offseason. It took until Thursday for MLB to pledge that its minor leaguers would be compensated through April 8. With limited financial resources, many minor leaguers are in the same boat. Booted from spring training, how do they stay in shape and prepare for the upcoming season? The Texas campus has been shuttered, so the ex-Longhorns don’t have access to UT’s new multi-million dollar development center. High schools and gyms across the nation have also been closed. Kingham has turned to home workouts; his girlfriend has stepped up as his throwing partner. Kansas City outfield prospect Travis Jones plans on using the old batting cage in his parents’ backyard in Humble. Ty Culbreth, a left-hander in Colorado’s farm system, is training alongside a few others and treating this time as if it were December or January. Morgan Cooper, who was a second-round pick in 2017, has been allowed to stay in Arizona at the Los Angeles Dodgers’ facility since he is rehabbing an injury. “Right now, my training is mainly outside, trying to find little things to do here and there to keep my body in shape and ready to go,” said Kyle Johnston, a pitcher in Toronto’s organization. A local option for UT’s minor leaguers — at least those who swing a bat — did open its doors last week. The Hitforth facility in South Austin has several ties to Texas. Owner Lowell Galindo is a Longhorn Network host who does play-by-play for baseball broadcasts. Former UT infielder Masen Hibbeler is a coach on the Hitforth staff. Hitforth is described by Jeff Leach, its director of hitting, as a “hitter’s heaven.” It’s also a haven for the technologically savvy. The facility uses HitTrax, Blast and Driveline to track data. The iPitch machines can be calibrated to imitate any type of pitcher. Hitforth is targeting clients who are both competitive and committed, whether they be 10-year-olds or in high school. (Hitforth does not yet instruct softball, but does have a pitching machine for that sport). In addition to lessons, the facility is designed so that hitting competitions can be staged. Fun and swag — bandanas, chains and arm sleeves — are also encouraged. “We want this to be a place that empowers athletes to realize their full potential as powerful, athletic hitters,” Galindo said. “(Ideally that would) bleed through into other areas of their life. … We want this to be the foundation of their confidence.” Membership is not cheap — $100 each month gets you unlimited hitting and data tracking, and an initiation fee and individual lessons are extra. Galindo, though, recently tweeted that Longhorns on a professional hiatus can use the facility for free. He’s heard from minor leaguers like Zane Gurwitz (Los Angeles Angels), Bret Boswell (Colorado) and Michael Cantu (San Diego). For Galindo, offering up his facility was a way to pay the Longhorns back for the time they’ve spent with him and young fans like his son, Mack. “To me it was a no-brainer that we would provide them with the opportunity to get all the swings in that they possibly need,” Galindo said. “It’s family, right?” https://www.hookem.com/story/as-the-coronavirus-puts-their-baseball-careers-on-hold-ex-longhorns-look-for-some-spring-training/ Former Texas player Masen Hibbeler instructs 17-year old Landon Pyles at the new Hitforth hitting facility in South Austin on March 20.
  2. No hope for Parker ? Suppose her lack of PT even in games decided was telling. Luv her mechanics at the plate and thought fielding was a matter of gaining confidence. Great academic, may not want to enter portal.
  3. Best to you in the future, Kaitlyn. Great season this year - most improved player on the team and always a great teammate. Super family, Mom is head coach at Liberty. Texas senior Kaitlyn Slack won’t return to the Longhorns’ infield in 2021. On Thursday, Slack announced that this spring will count as her senior season. Slack was the starting shortstop for a 24-3 Texas team that was ranked third in the NFCA poll. The rest of UT’s season was cancelled last week due to fears over the coronavirus outbreak. A NCAA committee recently suggested that athletes regain the eligibility that was lost this spring. No formal plans have been publicized, however, and it doesn’t appear that Slack will take the NCAA up on whatever it offers. The daughter of a softball coach, Slack chose Texas over Alabama and Houston. The Liberty native then became a 139-time starter and consistent defensive presence for the Longhorns. As a senior, Slack was hitting .324 with a key homer in a 3-2 win over Utah on Feb. 14. Two years ago, Slack’s RBI single was the difference in a regional upending of Minnesota. Slack, who is studying marketing, is one of six seniors on Texas’ roster. Classmate Miranda Elish has already said that she will pitch at Texas in 2021 if the NCAA allows it. The plans for outfielders Kaitlyn Washington, Reagan Hathaway and Tuesday DerMargosian and utility player Shannon Rhodes have not yet been revealed. https://www.hookem.com/2020/03/19/ncaa-proposal-notwithstanding-texas-ss-kaitlyn-slack-decides-to-end-her-softball-career/
  4. What a bummer for the draft eligible if it happens. AP Sources; MLB Could Skip Draft; Service Time Big Issue NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball is considering skipping its amateur draft this year and putting off the next international signing period as a way to preserve cash while games are affected by the new coronavirus, people familiar with the discussions told The Associated Press. Talks between management and the players' association are ongoing and include the contentious issue of major league service time, which determines eligibility for free agency and salary arbitration. MLB has proposed crediting full service for 130 games or more and proportional service for a shorter season, the people said on condition of anonymity because those details have not been made public. The union has taken the position that a full season of service should be credited even if no games are played, one of the people said. Scheduling has been left open since there is no way to determine when the season could start. Opening day has been pushed back from March 26 to mid-May at the earliest, and both sides are committed to playing as many games as possible. Some radical solutions, such as more doubleheaders and playing deep into autumn by using enclosed stadiums and warm-weather sites, have not been thoroughly discussed yet. With the prospect of expected cash not coming in from tickets, broadcast and sponsorship contracts, teams have told the commissioner's office they are fearful they may have to lay off administrative staff. Signing bonuses for amateur players total about $400 million annually. Baseball moved the first round of the draft to Omaha, Nebraska, ahead of the College World Series in June, but the CWS was canceled last week. The international signing period runs from July 2 to June 15. While bonus rules for the draft and international players are part of the collective bargaining agreement, management could attempt to cite the national emergency as reason to make unilateral changes. With a Republican administration in Washington, the union would have a difficult path with a legal challenge before the National Labor Relations Board. The sides also are discussing whether MLB would advance money to players, who get paid only during the regular season. The Uniform Player's Contract has a provision allowing the baseball commissioner to suspend the deal during any national emergency when Major League Baseball is not played. How much money would be advanced and which players the money would go to are also a part of the negotiation. Advances could go to the entire 40-man roster or a subset. Also under discussion is the union's desire to have players receive allowance money, even if they have returned home from spring training. Among the other issues are adjusting salaries, luxury tax rules, revenue sharing and performance bonuses thresholds in the event of a season of fewer than 162 games, and relaxing schedule and roster rules. Getting money to players with minor league contracts, who are not covered by the union, is likely to be decided later by MLB. The sides also are discussing a transaction freeze. https://www.journalreview.com/stories/ap-sources-mlb-could-skip-draft-service-time-big-issue,116175
  5. Probably would offer reimbursement/credit as they are for the Spring sports. Many of you, our valued and passionate Baseball and Softball season ticket holders and ticket purchasers, have asked about your options. We have a few ways you can manage the remaining balance of your ticket and parking purchases. You can gift the remaining value to the Longhorn Foundation, have your account credited for future purchases, or request a refund for your remaining balance by April 3 of this year. You should have received an email with detailed information, but please know you can always reach out to us directly at 512-471-3333. https://texassports.com/news/2020/3/17/forty-acres-insider-march-17.aspx
  6. If Miranda Elish has her way, the final memory that Texas fans have of the ace pitcher won’t be a perfect game. Elish took to Instagram on Sunday to announce that she plans on returning to Texas in 2021. Elish’s senior season was cut short last week due to fears over the spread of the coronavirus. On Thursday, the NCAA cancelled its spring championships. A day later, the Big 12 called off the rest of its springtime competitions. Elish’s plans are contingent on the NCAA giving her an additional year of eligibility. A NCAA committee recently proposed that athletes involved in spring sports be gifted back the year of eligibility they are losing in 2020. Such a plan has not yet been finalized. Additionally, the NCAA has not yet announced how it will handle logistics like the distribution of scholarships and roster sizes. https://www.hookem.com/2020/03/15/after-coronavirus-cancellations-cut-short-her-senior-year-miranda-elish-to-return-to-texas-in-2021/
  7. https://www.ticketreturn.com/prod2/BuyNew.asp?EventID=307013#.Xmo2YnOSm00 At present time, no fan restrictions. 972-731-9200 Should be a good game. UTA is solid this year (12-4)
  8. Any news on Sullivan ? Hasn't played since Boise St.
  9. Rant warning: The bleachers may be Plonskyesque, similar to the LF dilemma in baseball a few years ago. - The area is now mainly used for tailgaters, mainly player's parents, friends, and others who bring lawn chairs. The players often go there after games to eat with their parents and socialize with the fans. It is a great atmosphere for everyone. Perhaps there will be room, but their space is greatly reduced. - Note the $5 charge. A GA ticket is not much more if any with frequent specials. There are fans that watch the game for free there, like the LF wall. - As seen on TV, a large part of the fan base are young softball players and their families. They will not want to sit in the bleachers to miss the excitement of the stadium, tshirt/prize giveaways, and being on the videoboard. The scoreboard/videoboard can't be fully viewed, if at all, from the bleacher area even if they are on the cameras. Perhaps they will have giveways in the bleachers. - imo, Texas Softball is not yet at the point where bleacher seating is needed. Perhaps temporarily for a Regional or Super Regional or key games, but certainly not on a permanent basis. - May be wrong, we'll see. Maybe it is just a trial for Cat's ceremony. Just hate to see the environment for the parents and fans affected. Boosted by its first No. 1 ranking in 14 years, Texas Softball (20-3) is adding temporary bleacher seating behind the right field wall for the remainder of the season. The new stadium set-up is slated to begin with the Tuesday, March 25 game vs UT Arlington when Cat Osterman's #8 jersey will be retired in pre-game ceremonies. Less than 100 general admission tickets currently remain available for that game at TexasSports.com/Tickets. Once regular stadium seating is completely sold, general admission bleacher seating will become available atTexasSports.com/Tickets. The right field bleachers will have separate entrances, portable restrooms, and concessions available for fans. Tickets will cost just $5 per person and will not include access to the rest of the stadium. https://texassports.com/news/2020/3/5/softball-additional-bleacher-seating-being-added-to-red-charline-mccombs-field.aspx
  10. TAMPA — If George Steinbrenner were alive and still running the Yankees, they’d be looking for new trainers and team doctors -- even after a bunch of them were fired last winter. You can almost hear Steinbrenner bellowing: “Can anyone diagnose a (bleeping) injury around here?” Three of the Yankees biggest -- and highest-paid stars -- outfielder Aaron Judge and pitchers James Paxton and Luis Severino have been sidelined in spring training with injuries they suffered last season. Doctor J could’ve kept the Yankees healthier. Judge, the latest star sidelined in this massive screwup, has a stress fracture to his first right rib that he suffered while diving for a ball in September. The Yankees will reassess Judge after two weeks, they said Friday -- as if Judge, after failing to heal over the past six months will miraculous mend in two weeks. Opening Day is less than three weeks away. And think about what we just said: Judge had a broken bone in his body and Yankees doctors couldn’t find it -- even after Judge told team trainers he heard a “crack” and a “pop" last Sept. 18, when he tried to rob the Angels’ Albert Pujols of a single. After sitting one day, Judge was back in the lineup for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs, even though he needed multiple cortisone shots to deal with his pain. As far as we know, the Yankees didn’t run anymore tests, didn’t give Judge a strategy for the offseason, didn’t closely monitor his activities. So, Judge worked out like a maniac, hitting all winter, and throughout November, December and January, there was more shoulder and pec discomfort. “Me pissed about how the season ended last year and the changes I wanted to make, I went right back to it,” Judge said. “We’ve all been through pain, bumps and bruises. In my head, I felt like it was something that I could fight through, and I think that kind of cost me a little bit there.” Judge will begin the 2020 season on the injured list. Who knows when he might be ready to play? Given the way the Yankees have botched this, would it surprise anyone to hear Judge will have surgery and miss the entire season? According to verywellhealth.com, Judge’s injury takes three to six months to heal without surgery. He was told on Friday that he’s probably halfway through the healing process, so best-case scenario he’s six weeks to three months from being healed. https://www.nj.com/yankees/2020/03/it-wasnt-batting-practice-it-was-malpractice-yankees-are-to-blame-for-aaron-judges-botched-diagnosis.html
  11. ss, you gonna' start the baseball thread ? gettin' late 😊
  12. Thanks for the updates, ss. Liberty is pretty solid, wish I had gone to the game. They are 8-11 but have played all the SEC schools, Wash, Flt St, UCLA, split with Michigan, beat Ole Miss. http://www.liberty.edu/flames/index.cfm?PID=36961&teamID=2
  13. From the Fullerton site. Much respect for Coach Vanderhook. Played for Augie at Fullerton. Came from Cali to attend the memorial service at the Erwin Center. So emotional had difficulty in holding his head up. FULLERTON, Calif. – After an eight game homestand, the Titans head to Texas to take on the Longhorns beginning Friday afternoon with first pitch set for 4:30 p.m. PT. Saturday and Sunday will be an early start on the West Coast with first pitch scheduled for 12:00 p.m. PT and 11:30 p.m. PT. This weekend will be a remembrance of the great Augie Garrido, who led both Cal State Fullerton and Texas to national championships. Garrido won national titles in 1979, 1984 and 1995 while at Fullerton and in 2002 and 2005 with Texas. In 21 seasons under Garrido's guidance, the Titans won a total of 929 games. Garrido then led the Longhorns to 824 wins in 20 seasons to bring his career wins total to 1,975, the second-most all-time. With Garrido having led both programs it's not secret as to why Cal State Fullerton and Texas are among the top-10 winningest programs in college baseball history and are two of the seven programs with four or more national titles. The two teams will meet for the first time since 2004 in the College World Series when the Titans defeated the Garrido led Longhorns 3-2 to claim their fourth national championship. https://www.fullertontitans.com/sports/m-basebl/2019-20/releases/20200305twomuu
  14. Good point ! Fullerton was decimated by the draft in '18 (especially pitching) and hasn't recovered. Coach Vanderhook had to replace his two coaches at the end of last year. So this isn't the Fullerton of the past.
  15. Would hate to lose her. She has greatly improved Slack. (though work to be done 😉) And the chemistry between her and MW would be difficult to replace.
  16. This is an excellent observation ! Pierce needs to go out of his comfort zone and hire a proven, experienced pitching coach that has the respect and builds confidence in the pitchers. The talent is there. Pierce's postgame quotes. “It’s hard to pitch once every two weeks,” Pierce said. “That’s one of the things that we’re struggling with is just getting the right amount of innings for each guy to get in a groove. The reason why we’re still throwing that many guys is because we haven’t had enough guys separate themselves.” Said Pierce: “It’s as much our sophomores as our freshmen. We’re repeating a lot of the same things they did last year. We’re going to find the right mix for sure. We need about 10 to 12 of them and we’ll find them. If they want to pitch, they’re going to have to get better, it’s that simple.” https://www.hookem.com/story/arizona-8-texas-6-longhorn-pitchers-come-up-short-during-an-impromptu-midweek-audition/
  17. - Caston Peter is on the roster but may have an injury ? - Cam Constantine was recruited more as an athlete. Apparently, Peyton Powell is not ready though he has the better credentials of the two. He did start one game. - iirc, Gauntt was on the Fall roster but was cut. Does not have the power Pierce covets. - Dont know, but appears Pierce went "all in" with Ardoin to be the the primary backup and did not recruit a juco. Time will tell if that was a wise decision Pierce cut Gauntt and chose to roll with 4 freshmen and Petrinsky. Ardoin does have the credentials (bio below). Ardoin is from the Lake Charles area, may have been on Pierce's radar from Tulane. : - tl;dr: Have to be patient with Ardoin. Don't write him off yet. Hope he starts tonight to regain confidence. HIGH SCHOOL Louisiana’s first-ever high school Gold Glove winner, being named 2019 ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove winner at catcher…first team All-State and All-District…member of 5A State Finalist Sam Houston (La.) team under head coach Chad Hebert…team’s defensive player of the year…batted .440 with three home runs and 40 RBI as a senior…four-year letterman at Sam Houston…participated in Area Code Games and in the Future Star Series International Games in 2018…was named All-District catcher in both 2016 and 2017. Pierce on Ardoin: "Silas, along with other incoming catchers, will have a chance to compete for the starting catcher position as a freshman. His pedigree gives him an understanding of pitchers and of managing the game. He is known as a defensive catcher with a great skill set, but has a chance to be a very good gap-to-gap hitter as well." https://texassports.com/news/2018/11/14/baseball-inks-15-to-national-letters-of-intent.aspx
  18. https://ev3.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventList?groupCode=BS&linkID=txstate&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode= Tickets for the Texas St game, 24 Mar, 6PM go on sale 3 Mar, 0900. I find it best to call 512-245-2272. Normally a sellout, good road atmosphere, Texas St does a great job of hosting. Texas St is 8-4 so far, took 2/3 from Houston this past weekend. Always a good ballgame.
  19. The last photo in koopa's post above is Brooke Bolinger, UT grad and former pitcher. Nice to see her support.
  20. Think overuse is a valid concern - also, since she has been playing the OF. Plus, overcoming the traumatic injury and wearing the mask. Edit: Forgot to add, Fresno St is a good team.
  21. Please expound. Too many changes being a negative, changed their swing ? Thanks ! Steve Singleton, Texas Softball hitting coach and former MLB player (minors) and Minor League hitting instructor, does not use a "cookie cutter" approach to the swing. Instead, he respects each player's approach and individual swing and uses analytics like Blast and Rapsodo to refine. TwiceHorn has mentioned the importance of analytics. Too early to panic. That was a very well played college baseball game, especially in the month of February. We K'd 16 times which is concerning, but LSU K'd 12 times. LSU had 2 walks, we had 3. Pitching was dominant. Elder had one bad pitch and LSU had a strong relief guy in Hill. Hill was the Gatorade Player of the Year in Arkansas but LSU lured him to BR. From 1-15 (or how many) I think our overall pitching talent equals or is better than any in the country. We will see if the coaches can max their potential. Need someone to step up to lessen the pitches/innings of the 3 starters. Long time till June.
  22. Check Autotrader.com ( Can't get link to post correctly on phone.) Use Advanced Search
  23. https://pac-12.com/live/pac-12-plus https://uclabruins.com/sports/softball/schedule/2020 Not sure if the service is free, but per UCLA site will be streamed.
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