TCU looking at options for rotation, including top setup reliever

With postseason approaching, plus a chance to win a Big 12 championship, TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle is not waiting around on his starting pitching.

He said he is considering plugging setup reliever Sean Wymer into the rotation, if necessary.

“He’s a weapon in the bullpen, but he’s tempting to start,” Schlossnagle said. “I don’t want to give up on anybody, but there may come a time when we have to look at Sean in that role.”

Wymer leads TCU in appearances with 19, all in relief, and is 2-2 with a 1.62 ERA and one save as the primary bridge to closer Durbin Feltman. The sophomore right-hander from Flower Mound has struck out 43 in 33 innings.

“We can’t keep going the way we’ve been going too much longer,” Schlossnagle said. “We’ll have to look at it at some point if the others don’t start pitching better.”

TCU is scheduled to start Nick Lodolo, Brian Howard and Mitchell Traver in that order in a three-game series against Texas starting Friday. The Horned Frogs open the weekend with a one-game lead in the Big 12 with two series to go but are at a tiebreaker disadvantage against second-place Texas Tech.

To make a run at the conference title, and a national seed in the NCAA postseason, Schlossnagle figures the Frogs must shore up the weekend rotation.

Traver walked five and threw a wild pitch that allowed a run to score in 2.2 innings in his start last week. Howard walked three and hit two batters in 2.1 innings last week and has a 5.43 ERA through 12 starts.

Only Lodolo, coming off two brilliant starts against Baylor and Tech, is pitching at a high level with the start of the Big 12 tournament three weeks away and No. 1 starter Jared Janczak not expected back from a shoulder strain until then.

Wymer could get his chance to start either in the weekend rotation or in the lone remaining midweek game, May 16 against UT Arlington.

Freshmen relievers Jake Eissler and Charles King and sophomore reliever Dalton Horton have started five midweek games. But they are more likely to assume elevated roles in a Wymer-less bullpen. The Frogs lost a veteran bullpen arm in April when Ryan Burnett was dismissed for violating team rules.

“You have to build your team to win in a regional,” Schlossnagle said. “It’d be awesome to do it in three games, but you may have to do it in more than that. Right now, who’s the fourth starter? I don’t know. We need to develop somebody. And depending on how Janczak’s throwing program goes, he may not be ready to start games. He may be a better weapon like he was at the beginning of last year out of the bullpen.”

Schlossnagle said Janczak threw from 75 feet Wednesday and reported no problems.

This story was originally published May 4, 2017 at 1:23 PM with the headline "TCU looking at options for rotation, including top setup reliever."