Texas slugger Max Belyeu could return to lineup at Oklahoma

[ad_1]

AUSTIN (KXAN) — If things work out how Texas head baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle wants them to, Max Belyeu will get some at-bats in the upcoming series against Oklahoma.

The Longhorns’ slugging right-fielder has been out since late March after he injured his thumb making a diving catch against Missouri. The injury required surgery to repair, but if Belyeu keeps progressing at his current rate, Schlossnagle said he could be back on the field against the Sooners. He was listed as probable on the Southeastern Conference’s injury report Wednesday night.

“He had a really good day yesterday. He’s still working through some things, but he’s super close,” Schlossnagle said. “The rate of progression he’s had this week has been faster than previous weeks. I’d like to get him in there. We need him to get at-bats. I don’t want his first at-bats to be in the regional, or even the SEC tournament.”

In 24 games before the injury, Belyeu was putting together another season like the one that earned him Big 12 Conference player of the year last year. He was hitting .358 with a 1.107 OPS, 34 hits and six home runs, and with his above-average throwing arm, he’s a factor on the defensive side. There’s no question that Texas is a better team with him in the lineup, but the team has done an admirable job plugging the holes in his absence.

Texas averages 7.9 runs per game when he’s in and 6.1 runs per game when he’s out.

Schlossnagle said the team will have three hitting sessions before the first game of the series, 6:30 p.m. Thursday at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman, Oklahoma. He’ll have a better idea of Belyeu’s status after those wrap up.

“As soon as we can get him out there, we’ll get him out there,” Schlossngale said. “He helps us defensively, too. He’s an outstanding outfielder.”

‘We need to try a few things’ with the pitching rotation

Texas is still tinkering with the back of its pitching rotation, and while Schlossnagle wasn’t ready to announce Saturday’s starting pitcher Wednesday morning, he expects to decide by the end of the day. Freshman Jason Flores has struggled in his last couple of outings, and while Schlossnagle hasn’t lost confidence in Flores, there could be a new look to how the Longhorns approach the last game of the series.

Ruger Riojas, the team’s top starting pitcher, didn’t get out of the first inning in an 8-2 loss to Florida, but Schlossnagle said that’s behind him.

“Ruger is in a really good spot, so is Luke (Harrison, the No. 2 starter),” he said. “We need to try a few things to prepare for the regional, so you may see some of that this weekend.”

Regardless of how the series goes against the Sooners, the Longhorns are guaranteed a top-two seed in the SEC tournament. That’s important because they won’t begin play until May 22 or 23 and could potentially have an off day before the semifinals if things work out. They’d like to win the SEC regular season championship and go into the tournament as the top seed because, well, being a winner is fun.

‘The look has been right at practice this week’

Texas struck out 13 times in the last game against Florida, and while that’s a high number itself, it’s even worse when nine of them were looking. Schlossnagle called that loss “his most disappointing of the season,” citing the caught-looking strikeouts as a big reason why.

First baseman Kimble Schuessler said that was addressed at practice all week, and the idea to fix it is fairly straightforward.

“We need to have a better two-strike approach,” Schuessler said. “Maybe widen out stances a little bit so we can put it in play and put pressure on defenses. We recognized that it was a problem and we’ve been working on it.”

Schlossnagle said a couple of players will make changes in the batter’s box, but for the most part, it was a vision issue. His hitters weren’t seeing Aidan King’s fastball on the outer half of the plate very well, and then not making adjustments to correct it magnified the issue. Oklahoma has top-end starters in brothers Kyson and Malachi Witherspoon, and Schlossnagle said he expects the Sooners to employ the same tactics the Gators did.

“We had really good workouts yesterday…and the game is a constant battle of adjustments,” he said. “We weren’t competitive with two strikes, and we have to be better than that since we’re facing really good pitching again.”

If the Longhorns want to put a notch on their belt with an SEC regular season title, they’ll have to do it on the road and against a bitter rival. Schuessler thinks the team is ready for the challenge.

“The look has been right at practice this week,” he said. “I know we’re going to bring that up to Norman.”

[ad_2]

Source link