Did that look familiar?
In the back of their minds, it must have felt that way to the TCU baseball team after rolling through Virginia 9-4 and No. 1 Vanderbilt 10-2 in the last two days of the MLB4 Tournament at Scottsdale, Ariz.
It’s closer to what the Horned Frogs are used to. They began the event getting shut out at the hands of Cal State Fullerton. Just as quickly, they rebounded to come home with a stronger dose of confidence heading into this week’s Lupton Stadium opener against Abilene Christian.
“No question. We felt like this offense has a chance to have some length to it, some versatility to it,” coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “We talked to the team after Friday about how we play offense. We made some poor decisions baserunning Friday. Once we understand everything about our offensive system and everything that comes with that, this offense has a lot of upside.”
How do the Frogs play offense?
They grind at-bats, walk, steal bases and leverage hitters’ counts into power. Last year, it wasn’t there.
“We were missing all of it last year,” Schlossnagle said.
Last year, the Frogs had their lowest average, fewest runs, fewest total bases and second-lowest slugging percentage since 2013, the season before Bill Mosiello became hitting coach.
The Fullerton game may have brought a shudder, with its 12 stranded runners and only one extra-base hit among nine safeties.
But in the next two games, the Frogs totaled 27 hits, including five doubles, and went 7-for-8 in stolen bases (and 8-for-9 for the weekend).
It did not go unnoticed nationally. D1Baseball.com co-managing editor Kendall Rogers tweeted: “It feels like @TCU_Baseball really found its groove offensively early against Virginia yesterday. #Frogs showing a very solid offensive approach today, leading Vandy 6-1 in the third inning. Don’t think this is going to be the same #TCU club offensively.”
The Frogs’ top hitter coming out of the weekend? Freshman leadoff hitter Porter Brown with a .583 average.
The two events are related.
Against Fullerton, the newcomer had a hit and three strikeouts, with a stolen base. He was one of the 12 stranded. Against Virginia, the turnaround began with four hits and a double, three runs scored and two stolen bases. Against Vandy came two more hits, two runs scored and two walks.
(Hmm … Brown? Leadoff hitter? Also sounds familiar.)
“Super reliable,” Schlossnagle said of the San Antonio product, who DH’d in all three games. “Showing some physical tools in terms of speed. Has some freakish power, although I don’t know that we’ll see it this year. He knows the strike zone. Knows his strengths. Adjusts quickly. Friday, he was the only guy that was different from practice to the game. Then he adjusted from Friday to Saturday.”
Brown has that reputation. In high school at state power Reagan, coaches and teammates said he was the smartest player on the team. Last year, during his school’s run to the state final four, Brown told the San Antonio Express-News, “That’s pretty much what baseball is — making adjustments before your opponent makes adjustments. It keeps you a step ahead.”
That thinking is valuable. Every game is different, and the season is long. Adjustments are constant. TCU will have plenty of occasions when the hits are plentiful but the runs are not.
“The key is that we don’t rely on hits to score,” Schlossnagle said. “We may have a game like Friday where we have just one more hit or just one fewer hit than the other team, but we have to have one more run.”
Sounds familiar.
