Needing cleanup hitter, TCU turns to RBI-producing second baseman

When it came to finding a new cleanup hitter, TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle didn’t have many options.

Evan Skoug is an ideal 3-hole hitter. Josh Watson and Elliott Barzilli haven’t repeated their power numbers of last year. Connor Wanhanen has not homered this year. Nolan Brown and Ryan Merrill don’t quite fit. Austen Wade is a premier leadoff hitter.

Of course, no one was going to be a new Luken Baker.

But somebody had to hit fourth in the lineup with Baker’s season officially over.

The job fell to second baseman Cam Warner.

“He kind of leaves some big shoes to fill,” Warner said. “I’m not trying to live up to his style of play. I’m just trying to play my style of baseball and help the team as I can.”

Warner is a career .292 hitter with 11 home runs, 26 doubles, a .411 slugging percentage and 91 RBIs in 124 games at TCU heading into the start of the Fort Worth Regional on Friday.

“He’s been a good RBI guy. He’ll hit some doubles. He hit a home run at Cal,” Schlossnagle said. “But his game is more about run production. He’ll put the ball in play with a runner at third base and less than two out. He can use the whole field to hit. He’s the best available option.”

Warner was the Horned Frogs’ RBI leader this season until Evan Skoug began a home-run tear at the start of May. But the senior from Canberra, Australia, by way of Hill College remains second in hits and runs batted in.

He’s missed only one game in a TCU career. He’s a veteran who Schlossnagle believed could adjust to the move easily.

“He’s not freaked out about it,” Schlossnagle said. “He’s a very low-key guy. I didn’t have to have some conversation with him to let him know not to be a different guy. Cam’s going to be the same guy no matter where you play him or hit him. He’s hit second. He’s hit seventh. He can hit a lot of different places in the lineup.”

Warner said he never hit cleanup in two years at Hill College, and he noticed very early he is pitched to differently hitting fourth than hitting second (27 games this year), fifth (nine) or seventh (11).

“You get a lot more fastballs, trying to get ahead in the count,” he said. “It’s a little different with Skoug hitting in front of you. It’s more RBI situations that I’ve been in.”

Warner has homered and doubled and driven in six runs in 11 games since replacing Baker. But he’s only hit .162 in that stretch, and he was out for early batting practice Wednesday as the Frogs prepared for their NCAA tournament opener against Central Connecticut State.

TCU is 6-5 without Baker, averaging 5.8 runs.

“In any lineup, that’s a big blow,” Warner said. “But I think the guys are ready for the task, to step up, maybe manufacture runs a little bit different. I think everyone’s excited. Obviously, it hurts not to have him in there. But I think we’re up to the task.”

This story was originally published May 31, 2017 at 5:28 PM with the headline "Needing cleanup hitter, TCU turns to RBI-producing second baseman."