Schlossnagle identifies Frogs’ best traits: experience, savvy, presence

TCU may not necessarily stack up in stats or athleticism with the rest of the teams at the College World Series, but that’s not what has gotten the team to Omaha, coach Jim Schlossnagle said.

“If you look at our team across the board, we don’t have a great batting average or awesome ERA or fielding percentage, but we have experience and savvy and presence,” Schlossnagle said at a press conference Friday. “We have a couple of guys that have been in four straight College World Series, four Super Regionals. When you play that level of baseball, you don’t panic in any situation. That’s our best trait.”

Pitchers Brian Howard and Mitchell Traver have both been part of four CWS teams at TCU.

Catcher Evan Skoug, first baseman Connor Wanhanen, third baseman Elliott Barzilli, center fielder Nolan Brown, right fielder Austen Wade, pitcher Jared Janczak and backup outfielder Evan Williams have been part of three.

Left fielder Josh Watson, shortstop Ryan Merrill and second baseman Cam Warner have been to two College World Series, along with closer Durbin Feltman and relievers Sean Wymer, Dalton Brown and Dalton Horton.

Designated hitter Zach Humphreys will play in his first CWS but was exposed to the atmosphere when he watched older brother Alec Humphreys play for Texas Tech’s 2014 College World Series team.

“It’ll be different on the other side of the fence,” he said. “My first at-bat, I’ll probably be kind of iffy. But I’ve got plenty of guys to look up to and ask questions about how to handle stuff and all the coaches who have taught us what we need to know.”

TCU ranks 147th in batting average, 78th in fielding percentage and 63rd in earned-run average. Those numbers rank fourth, seventh and eighth among the CWS teams.

Skoug is 10th in home runs nationally with 20. Feltman leads the country in saves with 17. Brown is 11th in stolen bases with 26. Howard is third in victories with 11.

“I’m not trying to downplay the ability of our players, because we do have good players,” Schlossnagle said. “In terms of just pure athleticism across the board, high-end draft pick-type players, that’s not the makeup of our team right now.”

This story was originally published June 17, 2017 at 3:26 PM with the headline "Schlossnagle identifies Frogs’ best traits: experience, savvy, presence."