Know Your Foe: Texas Baseball Players to Watch
Key players from the Longhorns you will need to know when they take on the TCU Horned Frogs this weekend.
The TCU Horned Frogs take on the Texas Longhorns on April 19-21. Here are some key Texas baseball players that TCU fans should know before the series.
Likely Pitching Rotation:
Friday- #38 Max Grubbs
Sophomore Right-handed pitcher from Arlington, Texas
The 6'1'' right-handed sophomore pitcher has been solid this season for the Longhorns. He has taken his starting role better as the season has progressed. Grubbs doesn't tally a ton of strikeouts and doesn't throw all too fast. However, he does have a nice off-speed pitch, which is why he has held a 3.73 ERA. When Grubbs has his pitches working, he is a key piece for Texas because he has gone up to seven innings. He has struggled the past two games giving up quite a bit of runs. TCU must get to him early and be aggressive swinging on the first pitch. He doesn't walk a lot of batters, so it doesn't make sense for the Frogs to watch a lot of pitches go by before swinging. If the Frogs get to him early, I like their chances in this matchup.
Saturday- #28 Ace Whitehead
Junior left-handed pitcher from Lampasas, Texas
The 5'11'' left-hander has had a solid junior campaign this season. Whitehead holds a 3.86 ERA with 29 strikeouts and eleven walks over 37.1 innings pitched. He gives the Longhorns a decent amount of solid innings. He has also gone nine innings this season. If he can give them at least five solid innings, it makes things a lot tougher for TCU because this Texas offense is very powerful and aggressive. The Horned Frogs will look to get to him early, so he doesn't have time to settle in and go long in this game.
Sunday- #57 Lebarron Johnson Jr.
Redshirt Junior Right-handed pitcher from Jacksonville, Florida
The 6'4'' redshirt junior is by far the scariest and most impressive pitcher on this roster. Although he has struggled to have all his pitches spot on, he has still been dangerous because of his high 90s fastball. Johnson also has a very nasty splitter making him untouchable when he is on. TCU has struggled with fast pitchers, so they will have to work hard. However, Johnson has struggled leaving them in the zone. The Horned Frogs must take advantage of this if they want to win the Sunday matchup.
Potential Starting Lineup for The Longhorns
1B: Jared Thomas .381 BA, 41 R, 59 H
3B: Peyton Powell .321 BA, 28 R, 51 H
SS: Jalin Flores .358 BA, 40 R, 54 H
RF: Max Belyeu .328 BA, 33 R, 41 H
CF: Will Gasparino .266 BA, 45 R, 58 H
LF: Porter Brown .262 BA, 24R, 34 H
C: Rylan Galvan .317 BA, 26 R, 33 H
DH: Jack O'Dowd .189 BA, 9 R, 17 H
2B: Dee Kennedy .250 BA, 17 R, 22 H
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