‘We need to stay healthy.’ TCU baseball enters season confident, but fragile
TCU has already lost two pitchers for the season.
Russell Smith, a 6-foot-9 left-hander who started 11 games last season as a freshman, underwent Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery in the fall. Then, coming out of Christmas break, right-hander Caleb Sloan, who ranked third on the team with 20 relief appearances, required Tommy John surgery as well.
Those injuries are blows to what is expected to be a solid pitching staff for the Frogs.
“We need to stay healthy, especially on the mound,” coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “We can ill afford to lose another one to be honest with you. We can recover from it, but it’s definitely testing our depth.”
The depth will be put to the test this weekend as TCU opens its season in the MLB4 Tournament in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Frogs open the season against No. 18 Cal State Fullerton on Friday, and then face Virginia on Saturday and top-ranked Vanderbilt on Sunday.
They’ll make their home debut next Tuesday against Abilene Christian at Lupton Stadium.
But the MLB4 field is one of the most loaded for college baseball’s opening weekend.
“These are four teams that could easily be one whole side of a bracket in the College World Series,” Schlossnagle said. “We’re not going to make too much of it one way or the other.
“But we’ll find out real quick what kind of club we have and the areas that we need to improve upon. We try to play a good schedule early on to expose ourselves, I guess you could call it. It doesn’t mean if the weekend goes great, we’re going to have a great season. And if it doesn’t go the way we want, it doesn’t mean we’re going to have a bad season.
“We’ll know a heck of a lot more about our team Monday.”
Schlossnagle and the players are ready to get the season started. They’re tired of scrimmaging against each other, and they’re tired of thinking about last season.
TCU had made four consecutive trips to the College World Series before enduring an injury-plagued and disappointing season. The season saw the Frogs play without their best pitcher, Jared Janczak, and best position player, Luken Baker, for more than half the season.
They didn’t have their hard-throwing closer, Durbin Feltman, for a stretch.
TCU finished 33-23 overall, and didn’t get an invite into the NCAA Tournament. The Frogs had a chance to earn an automatic bid in the Big 12 championship against Baylor, but couldn’t close it out with a couple dropped fly balls.
“We were one out away from winning a conference championship in the tournament,” Schlossnagle said. “If we just catch one of two popups, then everybody may look back on the season with what a great job we did with the team that went through it. It shows you how the line between winning and losing is so thin. It’s fragile. It’s all dependent on decisions you make in recruiting and how healthy you stay.”
1-2 punch
The good news going into this season for TCU is that Janczak is healthy, and left-hander Nick Lodolo has a chance to emerge as one of college baseball’s aces. That is one of the better 1-2 punches if each perform up to their potential.
Janczak underwent surgery to repair Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, as well as shoulder surgery in the summer. But he is ready to go and looking to add more to his career win total (17) at TCU.
In 218 innings pitched over three seasons, Janczak has posted a 2.56 ERA and limited opponent’s batting average to .218.
“I see myself as a Greg Maddux-esque kind of pitcher, command the corners, throw multiple pitches for strikes, attack the zone and be relentless with every single pitch,” said Janczak, who returned for his senior season after being drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in the 32nd round last year.
“I can always throw harder, but at this level what I do does a pretty good job.”
Lodolo, meanwhile, is coming off a season in which he went 7-4 with a 4.32 ERA over 16 games, including 15 starts. The left-hander is hoping to take strides his third season with TCU.
Schlossnagle would love for him to become an “ace” for the Frogs the way that Matt Purke, Lance Broadway, Preston Morrison and Jake Arrieta have in the past.
Lodolo and assistant coach Kirk Saarloos have tweaked a few things with his delivery to try and get better command of his fastball, as well as a tighter breaking pitch.
“Nick’s answered the bell every time we’ve needed him to pitch,” Schlossnagle said. “He’s had great moments and he’s had average ones. It’s time for him to be that elite No. 1 starter that every great team has that we’ve had here in the past.
“I’m banking on us seeing that this year.”
TCU’s iron man
Left fielder Josh Watson has started in 191 consecutive games for the Frogs. The Arlington Martin product has been an iron man and as dependable as they come.
And he’s been productive. He’s a solid defender and is coming off a season in which he posted a career-best .305 batting average with 10 doubles, eight home runs and 32 RBIs.
Watson could have turned professional after last season -- the Milwaukee Brewers drafted him in the 35th round -- but he’s determined to end his college career on a high.
“Coming back was a pretty easy decision,” Watson said. “I knew I’d have to be in a leadership role this year with a bunch of new guys and show them how we do things here. But after last year, we’re looking to come out with something to prove every single day.
“And get back on track to what TCU baseball is all about.”
Having that sort of veteran presence in the clubhouse and on the field is something that Schlossnagle covets. Especially in today’s baseball era where most players bolt to MLB as soon as possible.
“Nothing speaks and plays like experience. Nothing,” Schlossnagle said. “Josh is talented and experienced. Having somebody you can anchor around, is a switch hitter, good outfielder, good base runner, good leader … it’s enormous.”
