Diamond Notes: Aggies pile up wins, reasons for optimism in opening series

Click above to listen to Gabe's interview with A&M baseball associate head coach Will Bolt this morning on TexAgs Radio. Notes from the interview are below the story.

How sweet it is to have college baseball back in action! A great flock of Aggie baseball fans packed Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park on opening weekend to watch Texas A&M sweep a solid Fordham team that finished second in the A-10 a season ago. In the three wins, the Aggies outscored the Rams 26-7. We’ve got a lot to review, so here is this week’s report, which I’ll publish each Monday afternoon throughout the season.

Hitter of the Week

2B Bryce Blaum | 6-for-12 (.500); 1 double; 2 BB; 6 runs scored

The Ole Miss transfer had an incredible first weekend suiting up for the Aggies, hitting an even .500 and providing a real spark at the top of the lineup. Blaum did exactly what you want your leadoff man to do: get on base and score runs. He reached safely eight times and scored six runs. That’s almost unheard of, and credit the hitters behind him for bringing him around to score at such an efficient clip. Through three games, Blaum’s OPS is a robust 1.154 (.571 on-base percentage and a team-leading .583 slugging percentage). Great start for the sophomore from Houston.

Tarah Cochran, TexAgs

Veteran starter Doxakis was masterful on opening night.

Pitcher of the Week

LHP John Doxakis | 7.0 IP, 1 H; 0 R; 0 BB; 12 K

The junior and projected top two-rounder in the MLB Draft started out the 2019 campaign with a bang. Dox was unhittable throughout his masterful seven-inning start and utilized his full four-pitch arsenal to overwhelm Fordham’s lineup. Doxakis threw a lot of off-speed pitches on first pitch, and that kept the Rams off balance. He was in the low-90s with his fastball but utilized his plus-plus changeup and slider to finish off hitters. The slider was barely touched all night against right-handed hitters; they were completely lost all night. Dox is one of the three best starting pitchers in the SEC, and he certainly pitched like it in the opener.

Who’s Hot?

OF Cam Blake hit .571 (4-for-7) with four RBI, a walk and a stolen base. The junior didn’t start on Opening Day but made the most of his opportunities on Saturday and Sunday. He went 3-for-5 with three RBI while hitting in the seven-hole in game two. That warranted a move to the two-hole on Sunday, where he went 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI on a sacrifice fly to center field to tie the game at 1-1 in the fifth. Look for Blake to typically hit in the lower-third of the order and emerge as a reliable lefty bat who can hit lefties and right-handed pitching at a relatively equal clip, and someone who just gets on base and makes things happen.

C Mikey Hoehner - The junior hit .429 (3-for-7) with a double, three walks and one RBI in his first series at Texas A&M. The JUCO transfer hit in the four-hole on Friday and Saturday and looked very comfortable in that role, even though he’s an unorthodox cleanup man and not a big, overwhelming presence at the plate. He’s just a grinder who gets the job done. On Saturday, Hoehner went 2-for-3 with three walks, an RBI and three runs scored and also threw out a base stealer. He limited Fordham, which led the NCAA in stolen bases in 2018, to just one stolen base against him in two starts behind the plate. Hoehner’s catch-and-throw ability and acumen in working with pitchers makes him an invaluable piece to the puzzle this season.

1B Aaron Walters - The sophomore hit .444 (4-for-9) with an RBI on opening weekend. Walters came off the bench in Friday’s game but drew the start at first base in games two and three. He barreled up a ton of balls while hitting in the eight-hole on Saturday and the six-hole on Sunday. The thing that needs to come next for Walters is the power production. His swing is so advanced, but he’s really been just a singles hitters throughout the early part of his A&M career. But the reputation coming to college is that he would hit the long ball and pepper the gaps for a ton of doubles. That part of it is still a work in progress, and all four of his hits this weekend were singles. Look for that element of his game to come around as he gets more and more comfortable. A significant weapon in the lower half of the lineup, hitting from the left side.

LHP Asa Lacy - The sophomore drew the Saturday start as he takes on unofficial title of “co-ace” on the A&M pitching staff, and he did not disappoint. Lacy followed Doxakis’ 12-strikeout, no-walk performance by allowing one run on three hits over five frames, fanning 11 Fordham hitters and walking just one. On a chilly afternoon in mid-February, Lacy had the flame-thrower out in force, working the fastball up to the mid-90s. He topped out at 96 on the fun-gun and had the off-speed assortment working well.

LHP Jonathan Childress - The freshman got the Sunday start after a tremendous preseason battle that featured close to a half-dozen freshman and sophomore arms, and he lived up to advanced billing. Childress worked 4.2 innings before giving way to a dynamite Christian Roa, allowing a run on three hits. He didn’t walk a man and struck out three. Childress was low-90s with the fastball and showed solid pitchability and a mound presence beyond his years. The kid is going to be special as time goes on, and it was great to see him get off to a nice start for the Aggies.

RHP Christian Roa - The sophomore came on with two outs in the fifth inning for Childress on Sunday and dazzled over his 3.1-inning relief stint. Roa got a strikeout to end the fifth and strand a runner at second base after Fordham had just taken a 1-0 lead against Childress. He proceeded to retire all 10 batters he faced between the fifth and eighth innings. Roa is a guy with plus stuff who could start, close or work in a middle relief/setup role. It appears Rob Childress would prefer to utilize Roa as “first right-hander out of the pen” and chase a lefty starter with him at the first sign of trouble. He’s the kind of arm you can hand the ball in the fifth and watch cruise along and close out a tight game for you if you need it. Sort of that Andrew Vinson/Kaylor Chafin type of role for this team.

Angelina Alcantar, TexAgs

Shewmake was on point in the field but is still adjusting his approach at the plate.

Who’s Cold?

SS Braden Shewmake - The junior hit .143 (1-for-7) on opening weekend. That’s frigid by his ultra high standards. However, Shewmake did some really nice things offensively while also playing a very solid shortstop all weekend. He walked three times without punching out. He scored four runs. He also stole two bases in two attempts, which led the team on the weekend (A&M went 5-for-5 on stolen base attempts). The three walks is very encouraging as Shewmake tries out his more patient new approach at the plate in an effort to work more hitter-friendly counts and get more pitches that he can crush. The hope is that his power numbers will come back to the form he showed as a freshman. We didn’t see it against Fordham, but this thing is just getting started in ’19.

CF Zach DeLoach - The sophomore hit just .111 (1-for-9) with three strikeouts and a .273 OBP against Rams pitching while hitting in the nine-hole in each game. I’d call it a polar opposite start versus what we saw from him in the opening series last year. Hitting leadoff at the time, DeLoach enjoyed a white hot 7-for-15 weekend againstRhode Island in his first three college games. After jumping on the scene as a freshman, DeLoach was up and down as 2018 wore on. And with the arrival of Blaum in the one-hole, Childress, Bolt and Co. believe Zach is better served hitting in the lower-third. And when he gets it going with the bat, he’ll be a dangerous weapon in the nine-hole with his power potential from the left side and ability to turn over the lineup to what will likely be back-to-back right-handers in Blaum and Foster at the top.

LHP Chris Weber - The freshman came on in the ninth inning of a 19-2 blowout on Saturday and struggled in his first college action. Weber allowed four runs on three hits in an inning of work. He walked two batters on top of the three hits – all singles – allowed and struck out one. Childress thinks a ton of Weber and the kid didn’t allow a run all fall. Look for him to get another call in very short order to try and erase the poor outing and get him on track. He could grow into a weekend starter-type but will certainly be asked to get important outs from the left side out of the bullpen as a freshman.

Other thoughts and notes:

• How about the strike throwing ability of the starting pitching? The combination of lefties Doxakis, Lacy and Childress – the first all-lefty weekend rotation since the vaunted trio of Granger, Moore and Wunsch for that CWS team in ’93 – combined for 26 strikeouts and just one walk in a combined 16.2 innings on the mound. That’s impressive no matter who you’re facing. They also gave up just seven hits – no extra-base hits – and two runs combined.

• We’re getting a little taste of what the bullpen might look like in the early going in ’19. Lefty Chandler Jozwiak closed out the Friday win with two shutout innings, striking out four with a walk. He’ll likely serve as the “Chafin” on this pitching staff, with the aforementioned Roa being utilized as the “Vinson” from the right side. Who’s the “Hoffman” you might ask? Well, nobody will do it with nearly the same level of fire and showmanship on the mound, but Blinn transfer Kasey Kalich got the first save of the season with one clean inning on Sunday. He’s been magnificent out of the pen dating back to the fall and is the odds-on favorite to get the bulk of the ninth inning duty when games are tight. We also got to see lefties Dustin Saenz and Chris Weber and right-handers Jake Nelson and Brandon Birdsell. But quite a few key arms didn’t get the chance to get into the game vs. Fordham, namely righties Bryce Miller and Mason Cole and lefties Joseph “Moo” Menefee and Kyle Richardson.

• Will Frizzell, Logan Foster and Jonathan Ducoff didn’t put up gaudy numbers on opening weekend, but I liked what I saw from all three of them. Frizzell got just two hits versus Fordham but drove in six runs, thanks in part to a pair of SAC flies. He produced and he drove the ball to all fields. Foster collected just three hits on the weekend but one of them was a towering home run – the only bomb of the weekend for the Aggies – that went over and just to the right of the scoreboard in deep left center. I got word from Brauny that it traveled an estimated 403 feet and had an exit velocity of about 105 MPH. What I liked most about Logan’s weekend is that he didn’t have a lot of swing and miss. He struck out just once and consistently put the ball in play, many times with loud outs hit on a line. Ducoff had just two hits but both were doubles, and he drove in four runs. Great kid, great story as a cancer survivor and he’s off to a nice start.

• Color me quite intrigued to see how this season shakes out for veteran catcher-first baseman Hunter Coleman. The junior went hitless in three weekend at bats. He started at first base on Friday but was pulled went the Fordham lefty went out of the game in favor of Walters. He didn’t play on Saturday but started behind the plate on Sunday and left at about the midway point of the game for the more plus defensive catcher (and middle-of-the-order bat) Mikey Hoehner. Coleman has been a mainstay in the middle of A&M’s lineup, but clearly that’s no longer how this coaching staff sees him. He hit in the eight-hole in both of his starts and is in a real battle for at bats and opportunities on the dirt. And the hot starts by Hoehner and Walters certainly don’t help his cause. But in his career, Coleman has produced enough that we all know it’s inside of him. I’m very interested to watch this storyline play out between now and the start of SEC play.

• A&M is off to a very nice start defensively, having only committed two errors through the first three games (.981 fielding percentage). Both of those errors came in the first half of the first game. There have been a couple of other misplays and mental mistakes that haven’t been ruled errors, but by and large, those were limited on opening weekend. Couple that with the pitching staff allowing just four walks and you couldn’t ask for more in terms of limiting free base runners. Add to all of that the throwing ability of Hoehner behind the plate and I get the feeling that A&M will be a very good defensive baseball team this season. You saw it on paper to open the year and it played out as such in the Fordham series.

• A five-game week coming up for the Aggies, with SFA coming to Olsen Field on Tuesday, Prairie View A&M on Wednesday – both 6:30 first pitches – and then Illinois-Chicago coming to Aggieland for a three game series. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see Childress go with two more left-handed starters for the midweek games, likely Saenz and Jozwiak. Has there ever been a college baseball program start five different lefties in a row to open the season? I highly doubt it. And every last one of them has got some real juice and goes right at hitters with a bulldog mentality and great command and pitchability. Pretty fun to watch.

• Finally, after watching the team through three games, here is my lineup for the here and now:

1. Blaum - 2B (R)
2. Foster - RF (R)
3. Shewmake - SS (L)
4. Hoehner - C (R)
5. Frizzell - DH (L)
6. Walters - 1B (L)
7. Ducoff - 3B (R)
8. Blake - LF (L)
9. DeLoach - CF (L)

Would you differ from that at all? If so, how? Also, hit me with any of your thoughts on the team after the first weekend. What did you see that I might have missed? Can’t wait to talk ball with you guys throughout the remainder of the ’19 campaign.
 

Key notes from Will Bolt interview:

• Fordham maybe doesn’t have the name recognition for casual baseball fans, but we were very impressed. Their pitchers and pitching staff were fantastic. I thought we were very good attacking at the plate with two strikes. Also, we only had two errors over the whole weekend.
   
• The recipe to winning is limiting free base runners. Our pitchers were outstanding at attacking the zone and limited walks for Fordam. We left a couple plays out there defensively on Sunday. But limiting the free bases will let us have success over the course of the whole season. Hitting comes and goes, but defense can be sustained. 
   
• The start Jonathan Childress got on Sunday will helps him a ton. I was proud of Jon on Sunday after he got off to a slow start. He didn’t buckle under pressure, he settled in and looked good. His breaking ball was sharp. Christian Roa looked so much better than last year. He came out with real presence and looked like a different guy with his demeanor and poise. 
   
• John Doxakis was outstanding on Friday. Our starters gave us a lot of good innings, so we didn’t even use a lot of our guys this weekend.
   
• On Friday, Fordham’s lefty gave us a lot of problems with his speed. We hit a few too many fly balls and didn’t put up a ton of runs. Saturday’s game the bats started choppy, but from the third inning on we were solid. Fordham helped a bit with a few defensive mistakes. 
   
• Sunday we got it going in the third and fourth. We punched back after they took the lead, and they brought their closer in. When the wind is as bad as it was, runs come at a premium.
   
• Bryce Blaum was great. This entire spring he’s shown his ability to hit all over the park, he doesn’t chase pitches, and he’s super competitive. 
   
• Braden Shewmake needs to stay within himself and use the whole field. He’s gonna work his tail off to correct some mistakes. He chased a bit more than he needed to in some run-scoring spots. He’ll be fine, he knows what he needs to do and will work hard to fix it.