Very nice job by Kendall, who spoke at length to The OG yesterday. Sounds like Wayne raved about Canterino, Gayle, Garcia, Moss, Jefferies and Acker. Very interesting tidbit on Sarchet at 1B and Aviles in LF (as opposed to the other way around). Personally, I see Chase more as a left-handed platoon player at 1B or LF against right-handed pitching only, as last year he was clearly overmatched against southpaw pitching. Also strange no mention of Andrew Dunlap.

Premium content-- if you're a non-premium member (it only cost $60/yr to join!) the link below will provide you with the top line first several paragraphs (which I've included below). Kendall has also given me the green light to include several other "nuggets", but not the full article...

https://d1baseball.com/fall-report/fall-report-rice-3/

Quote:Fall Report: Rice
FALL REPORT Kendall Rogers - December 13, 2017

Rice hopes to reestablish its Conference USA dominance after deviating from the norm last season.

The Owls narrowly finished above .500 after a rough start to the regular season. However, with their backs against the wall, they won the C-USA tournament to keep their NCAA postseason streak alive and well. They were that close to missing the tournament altogether, though, and Graham hopes to never experience that again.

Looking ahead, the Owls clearly have some important holes to fill. Glenn Otto and Dane Myers are gone from the pitching staff, while offensively, the Owls will miss Tristan Gray, who stepped up in a big way last season, and Darryn Sheppard, who blossomed into a consistent contributor as a grad transfer in 2017, has moved on from the program.

That’s the bad news. The good news? The Owls have a lot of options both on the mound and at the plate. For instance, Matt Canterino more than showed he has the potential to be a premier arm last season, while the rise of Garrett Gayle and Roel Garcia could prove huge at the back-end of games with Otto now in the professional ranks.

The Owls also have something to work with from a positional standpoint with heralded shortstop and prospect Ford Proctor leading the charge, while Dominic DiCaprio looks like a veteran ready to make a statement in his draft year.
“We have high hopes. Honestly, I think we’ve got the most upside than we’ve had in a long time here,” Rice coach Wayne Graham said. “We’ve got some guys back, and I think our guys have a great frame of mind around here. Everyone that played here last year and are back seem better, and we’ve got some new players who are leaving strong impressions, too. We’ve also had some guys really surprise us with their velocities on the mound.”
Without further ado, let’s take a deep dive into Rice’s fall.

Now, here's several selected "nuggets" from the article...

Quote:Before we dive into the weekend rotation, let’s talk about rising sophomore righthander Garrett Gayle. Gayle made just three appearances for the Owls last season, but had a strong summer and an even better fall. For now, Gayle is slated for that closer role for the Owls, and it’s easy to see why. The 6-foot-1, 180-pounder, averaged over 95 mph in his last three outings of the fall, all two-inning stints. He was up to 98 on several occasions throughout workouts and has worked on improving command of the spiked curveball. While the velocity increase from Gayle is impressive, the most promising development in his game is the better command. He could evolve into one of the better closers in college baseball if all the pieces come together.

Quote:The Owls have high hopes for several young arms, including headliner Dane Acker. Acker is a 6-foot-2, 195-pounder, who made a strong impression this fall. He was up to 92 with his fastball, but what made him such an intriguing arm was his ability to throw five, yes, five pitches for strikes. He walked six batters in 28 innings of work and led the team in ERA this fall. Though his role could evolve as the season progresses, he’s at least likely to be penciled into that midweek starter role to begin the season. Stay tuned.

“He throws five pitches for strikes and he’s got a split and change, along with a slider, curveball and two-seam fastball. He’s not overpowering, but boy, does he throw strikes,” he said. “He’s got enough stuff to warrant a hard look at the weekend rotation, but right now, he might sound more like a midweek guy."

Quote:One of the more interesting developments has been the improvement of catcher Dom DiCaprio. DiCaprio showed flashes of brilliance at times last season, but now appears to be ready to take the next step forward from a defensive standpoint. Graham said the Owls discovered that he wasn’t using his wrist properly when he was throwing the ball, leading to some issues. He said those issues have now been corrected and that DiCaprio had a solid fall.

re. the addition of Paul Janish--

Quote:“I feel like Janish has really, really helped our infield,” Graham said. “He’s been amazing. He knows the issues those kids have and he’s very understanding. And the kids relate to him very well, too. And obviously, he knows the infield.”

So it would appear the lineup and rotation will look something like this...

Chandler CF
Gneiting RF
Dunlap DH
DiCaprio C
Proctor SS
Comeaux 3B
Cruz 2B
Aviles 1B/LF
Sarchet LF/1B

Starting pitching:
Canterino
Salinas
Moss
Jefferies
Acker
Esquivel
Amador

Closers: Gayle, Garcia
Middle relief: Kravetz, Parthasarathy, Silber, Lewis, Bordwine + whomever is not starting

If Gayle falters I would expect Moss to return to the closer role.

Excellent writeup. I'm surprised there wasn't any mention of Esquivel or Amador. I would have thought both would be big contributors next season.

(12-13-2017 05:26 PM)wheredidmypantsgo Wrote:  Excellent writeup. I'm surprised there wasn't any mention of Esquivel or Amador. I would have thought both would be big contributors next season.

I think Wayne simply focused on those who participated in Fall Ball. Wily only threw bullpens, and Zach only threw a couple one-inning stints at the end of intrasquads. I'm pretty sure that's why Dunlap was left out, as well.

How is Josh Pettitte doing?

(12-14-2017 12:17 AM)OldOwl Wrote:  How is Josh Pettitte doing?

From his tweets, he's throwing bullpens, but I get the sense he's a bit behind Salinas. Ricky still hopes to be ready at some point during Spring intrasquads.

BTW, assuming the everyday lineup is as I projected above, we'd have two switch hitters (Cruz, Aviles), 3 right-handed batters (DiCaprio, Dunlap, Comeaux) and 4 left-handed batters (Proctor, Chandler, Gneiting, Sarchet). That's as good a balance as we've had in years.

Also, in Kendall's article, two other guys called out by The OG were true Freshmen, Justin Collins, who appears to be the leading candidate for back-up catcher, and speedy middle infielder, Kelby Weyler, who had TJS out of high school, but who impressed at the plate during Fall Ball. Perhaps, the right-handed platoon with Sarchet?

I'm optimistic about our team this year. Our pitching depth appears quite solid, and our lineup has many proven hitters. If we can get some production out of a few freshmen - both pitching and hitting (Cruz, Aviles in particular), we could have a really great year.

Looks like we'll be flying under the radar as the season open this year; certainly not Top 25. Someone asked Kendall how he sees Rice in the the CUSA race and vis-a-vis the other Texas teams. Here's his twitter response...

Quote:Kendall Rogers‏Verified account
@KendallRogersD1 I like the Owls potential, along with #USM and a couple of others. Right now, I would have the State of Texas in this order: 1) Texas Tech 2) TCU 3) Texas A&M, 4) Texas 5) SHSU/Houston/Rice. I think you could flip a coin on the last three.

Quote:Kendall Rogers‏Verified account
@KendallRogersD1
3h3 hours ago
More Kendall Rogers Retweeted Kendall Rogers
An addendum to that tweet, I see Tech/TCU/A&M as a step above the rest. I think Texas/SHSU have the most potential to be elite out of the remaining group. Big question mark for me re: #Horns is the bullpen. Love the rotation's potential.

I think our pitching staff has the potential to be elite, especially if Salinas returns healthy and back to form. My only concern with the offense is the relative lack of pop outside of Andrew and DiCaprio. (The departures of Myers, Gray, Shepperd and Wunderlich really hurts in this regard.)

The fact that we are tied for fifth in a prominent college baseball writer’s rankings of Texas teams tells you all you need to know about the state of Rice baseball.

(12-17-2017 11:32 PM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote:  The fact that we are tied for fifth in a prominent college baseball writer’s rankings of Texas teams tells you all you need to know about the state of Rice baseball.

Oh, good grief. You do realize all those teams, including SHS, UH and Rice will all be preseason Top 35. Tech and TCU will almost certainly be preseason Top 5 nationally. As for A&M and UT, as usual, I think Kendall is overrating them heading into the season. IMO, they have as many holes and question marks as the Owls, if not more.

(12-17-2017 11:32 PM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote:  The fact that we are tied for fifth in a prominent college baseball writer’s rankings of Texas teams tells you all you need to know about the state of Rice baseball.

Yup, was thinking the same thing.

(12-18-2017 08:11 AM)d1owls4life Wrote:  

(12-17-2017 11:32 PM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote:  The fact that we are tied for fifth in a prominent college baseball writer’s rankings of Texas teams tells you all you need to know about the state of Rice baseball.

Yup, was thinking the same thing.

I won't know all I need to know until the outcome of this season's games.

(12-18-2017 12:01 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(12-17-2017 11:32 PM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote:  The fact that we are tied for fifth in a prominent college baseball writer’s rankings of Texas teams tells you all you need to know about the state of Rice baseball.

Oh, good grief. You do realize all those teams, including SHS, UH and Rice will all be preseason Top 35. Tech and TCU will almost certainly be preseason Top 5 nationally. As for A&M and UT, as usual, I think Kendall is overrating them heading into the season. IMO, they have as many holes and question marks as the Owls, if not more.

For whatever decline Rice baseball has had in the past decade, it's a stone cold truth that the rest of Texas college baseball has improved greatly since our glory days in the 2000s. We wouldn't be all of a tizzy if we were being compared to Fullerton, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Cal, Long Beach State, and UCSB instead.