TCU pitching has coach Schlossnagle looking for answers

TCU’s baseball team is not having what anyone would call a bad season.

The Horned Frogs are 30-12, sit third in the Big 12 standings, lead the conference in hitting and are second in ERA.

But coach Jim Schlossnagle does not like the feel of it.

“We have so much margin, I think, to be a better team,” he said last weekend after the only win in the series loss to Texas Tech. “Maybe I have too much faith in our guys. I don’t know. I really think we can be a better team. But we have a lot to get better at.”

Mainly, throwing strikes.

Schlossnagle was clearly displeased by 15 walks and four hit batters in the three-game series.

“Horrible, just horrible,” he said. “A total lack of respect for the pitching tradition in this program by our pitching staff. Everything we are about is pitching and throwing strikes, and this pitching staff refuses to commit to it.”

TCU knew it was breaking in a young pitching staff this season, with only six veterans, including one, starter Mitchell Traver, who has been sidelined by a back muscle strain. Only this week is Traver expected to see his first action.

But Schlossnagle has not always been able to count on his veterans.

“We’ve got guys who have been strike-throwers who have high numbers of strikeouts and low walk totals, and all of a sudden, it’s not that anymore,” Schlossnagle said.

He said the staff as a whole is not commanding the fastball. He said a home run given up in Game 2 against Texas Tech was an example — the pitch was called for away, and the ball went to the inner part of the plate against Tech’s leading home run hitter, Eric Gutierrez.

“I just don’t think there’s a lot of conviction, a lot of competitiveness,” Schlossnagle said. “And I hate to call out the competitiveness of the team. It’s not mechanics, it’s not swings, it’s not a lack of working on things, I don’t think. But from a pitching standpoint, it’s just conviction. Plain and simple.”

Still, TCU pitching has posted eight shutouts, which ranks fifth in the country, and has given up the fewest walks in the Big 12.

And the offense remains the best in the Big 12 with a .307 batting average.

“No team has seen us play our best yet,” right fielder Austen Wade said. “We’re getting to that point. It’s all going to click sooner or later. I trust every one of these guys. Sooner or later, it’s going to show up on a diamond.”

The potential return of Traver could help stabilize the pitching. The senior right-hander is the Horned Frogs’ most experienced pitcher, having thrown 76  1/3 innings last season, including a regional and College World Series start among three postseason appearances.

But Schlossnagle cautions that Traver would need time to get up to speed, and the Big 12 tournament — followed by a potential playoff bid — is only three weeks away.

“What we’ve been trying to get the whole season is what we haven’t had, consistent starting pitching,” Schlossnagle said the week before the Texas Tech series. “Honestly, I’m really pleased with our record right now relative to our pitching situation.”

This story was originally published May 3, 2016 at 4:17 PM with the headline "TCU pitching has coach Schlossnagle looking for answers."