How TCU’s two-catcher plan is working so far (spoiler: just fine)

The first week of the baseball season shows the potential of TCU’s two-catcher plan.

Junior All-American Evan Skoug and freshman Zach Humphreys have each started twice and made a difference hitting and catching.

Skoug homered to help the top-ranked Horned Frogs (4-0) win 7-2 at UT Arlington on Tuesday night, driving in his first runs of the season. Humphreys has four RBIs, with the help of two sacrifice flies and a hit-by-pitch.

Humphreys tagged out a runner at the plate Tuesday. Neither Penn State nor UTA attempted a stolen base on him or Skoug, and both remain error-free as the Frogs prepare to start a three-game series against Arizona State on Friday night at Lupton Stadium.

“The goal is obviously to get Humphreys experience and also take some pressure off Evan, at least in this pre-conference time,” coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “This time of year, I’m definitely going to play Humphreys once a weekend. We’ll re-evaluate it as we get into conference play, but certainly, we have full confidence in Humphreys. The pitchers love him. We knew we were getting a really good baseball player, and he’s shown it so far.”

With Skoug possibly headed to professional baseball next season, the Frogs want to get Humphreys involved now. Skoug has been the designated hitter when Humphreys has caught. But Skoug entered the season with 114 games caught at TCU, making his experience valuable for a staff with eight freshman pitchers.

So it surprised Humphreys to get two starts so early in the season.

“I would think I was going to get playing time just to give him a break, but I struggled through the fall,” Humphreys said. “At the beginning of the season, I was thinking, ‘There’s no way — they can’t afford to put me back there.’ But they gave me that shot, and apparently they feel comfortable with me back there, so I’m just going to take it and run with it.”

Schlossnagle called Humphreys a “throwback player,” the type who is better in games than it appears.

“It’s fun to watch guys do things in games that sometimes they don’t do in practice,” he said. “In coaching, sometimes you have a boatload of guys who can do it in practice and can’t do it in games. Humphreys is not that. He’s a baseball player.”

Last week, Schlossnagle praised Humphreys’ poise at the plate to twice bring in a runner from third with less than two out during the Penn State series and again on a hit-by-pitch.

Humphreys said he’ll take RBIs however they come.

“I’m perfectly fine getting the sac flies and going 0-for-3 with two RBIs,” he said. “I’d rather get a hit. But the RBIs go towards a win.”

This story was originally published February 23, 2017 at 3:48 PM with the headline "How TCU’s two-catcher plan is working so far (spoiler: just fine)."