• The KillerFrogs

2021-2022 TCU Baseball Thread

TXTXFrog

Active Member
Fort Worth Star Telegram Article today:

Coaches in shirts and shorts. That’s probably the biggest difference you’d noticed watching a TCU baseball practice under first-year coach Kirk Saarloos compared to longtime head coach Jim Schlossnagle. “Coaches aren’t in full uniforms,” Saarloos said, smiling. “That’s more of a West Coast thing where coaches don’t wear full uniforms for practice. In terms of baseball stuff, baseball is still baseball.” And fall baseball is officially underway for TCU. The Horned Frogs started fall camp earlier this month and will take on the Texas Rangers’ instructional roster later this month at Lupton Stadium. Saarloos had a wide-ranging interview with the Star-Telegram recently on all things TCU baseball. The Frogs currently have 46 players on their fall roster, which will be trimmed to 40 players by Opening Day. What’s the mindset going into fall camp? “The big thing is everything is open. We lost in a regional last year. Do we have guys back who can do some stuff? Yeah. From a hitting standpoint, you have some pieces there and then you have additions from the junior college and the high school ranks and we’re excited about those battles. “On the mound, I’ve been really excited about Riley Cornelio and Cam Brown. Cam didn’t get his high school year due to COVID, then his freshman year he got about 12 innings. That’s two full years where a guy has thrown about 30 innings. Then Cornelio is the same thing. He hasn’t thrown a bunch but then threw about 45 innings in summer ball. He’s come back a completely different pitcher. And having Austin Krob back is huge. There will be about seven, eight guys who will compete for those four starting spots.” What other pitchers should fans keep an eye on? “Cornelio, Brown and Krob and then obviously grad transfers Brett Walker (Oregon) and Caleb Bolden (Arkansas). Caleb has been that Chuck King-type pitcher at Arkansas for the last four years — he can be a starter or reliever. Brett Walker was an All-American at Oregon and brings a lot of savvy and experience. Nothing is going to get him spinning out there. He brings a lot of experience even though it’s not at TCU. Another grad transfer, Tommy Vail, didn’t pitch at Notre Dame. He’s working his way back from an injury. The Source: Trust & Transparency in Your Local News We're answering your questions about local journalism and the newsroom at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. READ MORE “Then you have all of those guys coming back who are a year older — Storm Hierholzer, River Ridings, Luke Savage, Marcelo Perez, Garrett Wright, Drew Hill. There’s a lot of pieces down there. It’s going to come down to depth and keeping everybody healthy.” The offense returns a lot of experience too, right? “Yes. Our infield is pretty much back from last year with Brayden Taylor (3B), Tommy Sacco (SS) and Gray Rodgers (2B). Then you have Luke Boyers, Elijah Nunez and Porter Brown all back in the outfield. First base, DH and catcher are the holes we really have to fill.” Speaking of Brayden Taylor, he had a standout freshman season. How high is his ceiling? “There’s always room for everybody to grow. With Brayden, it’s continuing to be a complete hitter and continuing to be a complete baseball player. I think he would say he was disappointed with himself a little bit in terms of the defensive side. If he was going to be critical of himself, that’s probably what he would say. He’s going to become a better defender, better all-around hitter and then also run the bases. And he’s taking on a leadership role. “I told him before the year, you’re a sophomore and there’s nothing wrong with having sophomore leadership. People are always going to look at the best players and what are they doing, how are they acting, what are they like in the weight room. He’s always been a guy who’s done everything right.” Finally, what are your overall thoughts going into the 2022 season? “The big thing is everyone needs to keep taking that next step. You’d want all of your freshmen to be a year more seasoned and better this year. You’d want the Tommy Saccos and Gray Rodgers, everybody would take that next step. That’s what we’re doing right now. That’s fall practice. Working every single day. The other piece that is just as big is the camaraderie and cohesiveness of having 46 guys and having those guys enjoy being around each other and working together. So far they have.”

Read more at: https://www.star-telegram.com/article254813032.html#storylink=cpy
 

Moose Stuff

Active Member
Yep...always love seeing the Macko name pop up.

Spent a lot of time with his late dad Joe, who, as Moose can attest, easily had one of longest and most impressive careers in professional baseball ever. Great family.
Favorite story involving Joe….. So picture the locker room at the old stadium. Players’ lounge right when you walk in and then Macko’s office on the left just past that. I’m sitting in there with Joe doing who knows what when Dick Egan (bullpen coach) walks in and he is HOT about something. Dick immediately goes on an f bomb filled rant about how some [ mother farger ] parked in his spot again and how he’s gonna kick this dumb [ mother farger ]s ass if it happens again. This goes on and on and you can tell Joe is uncomfortable. He tries to stop Dick multiple times and Dick just keeps going as the look of being uncomfortable on Joe’s face slowly starts to turn into a bit of a smile. Dick finally reaches a stopping point and Joe says “you know Dick, I bet you run into this person sooner than you expect”. I’m thinking that it’s Joe who has parked in Dick’s spot when a head with a giant [ Finebaum ] eating grin on it that I know you can all picture pops out from around the corner of the players lounge and says “hey Dick, that was me, won’t happen again”……. then owner, soon to be governor, and later POTUS George Bush Jr. Look on Egan’s face was priceless and Macko is laughing so hard he can barely breathe. Glorious.
 
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