The Longhorns official fall offseason on the diamond is complete. Unlike recent offseasons, the Longhorns didn’t play exhibition games against local JUCO powerhouses and didn’t conclude the fall with the Orange-White Fall World Series. Simply, the goal was to maximize the available time as best as possible, which meant adhering to strict COVID-19 protocols. How strict? Even MLB scouts weren’t allowed at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Goal achieved.
“We didn’t lose a single day. You have a 45-day window in to get in whatever your allotted number is… We didn’t miss one single day,” said David Pierce. “We had a couple setbacks. We had a total of four COVID cases, and we had some contact tracing that affected a player here, a player there. But luckily, we never lost a group of players… Hard to be 18-22-year-old player in Austin and just sit in your dorm, take class online, go to practice… says a lot about their character."
Pierce praised the character of his players, who were understandably frustrated by being held back from summer baseball, and ardently highlighted the work of his support staff, medical group, and UT for setting protocols and guiding the program through the fall. But the praise didn’t end there.
While college baseball’s roster expectations, because of the shortened 2020 season, excited many because so many veteran players across the country returned to programs, it also meant scholarship headaches for coaches. Programs juggling and projecting the use of 11.7 baseball scholarships is difficult enough on its own. Throw in a shortened MLB draft, extra year of eligibility, and seniors given a chance to return, and the numbers, even with some laxed restrictions from the NCAA, become a mathematical mess.
When looking at its scholarship and roster situation in the summer, Texas wanted to ensure it did one thing: honor its commitment to its incoming freshmen. With the help of current players and families, the Longhorns were able to achieve that. An unintentional byproduct of a collective sacrifice led to a stronger bond between incoming players and current Longhorns.
“Back in the summer… dealing with the pandemic my ultimate goal was make sure we honored all our incoming freshmen because we committed to them and they hadn’t been on campus. We just felt like it was best we honored them. That was an accomplishment but that was also possible and a credit from our other players, existing families. They were able to give up five, 10% to make that happen,” said Pierce, referencing adjusted scholarships. “I thought that was critical… to have that connection with the incoming and current kids because of the uncomfortable position to ask parents to help out and commit because of the scholarships helped bring them together.”
Pierce and the program welcomed seniors DJ Petrinsky, Austin Todd and Zach Zubia (redshirted as a freshman, but technically a senior). During conversations after the season once Texas knew seniors wouldn’t count towards the scholarship limit, Pierce quickly understood the returning veterans had a great mindset and were returning for the right reasons.
“We get the experience back, their bats; experience of being in Omaha, being in the program, knowing the expressions and knowing they’d come back with the right frame of mind… I never felt like we were really logjammed because we had a very workable number of seniors."
The old veterans receive another chance to chase a trip to Omaha, but they’ll have to deal with some jokes at their expense.
“I just enjoy those two kids (Todd and Petrinsky) and Zubia so much. It’s kind of like there are jokes everyday about their age. One is pops and one is the old guy… it’s cool having them around. The coaches love them… they’re good leaders in their own way. Todd more verbal than you think, and he’s very good with young players. Dalton Porter is blessed to be around Austin everyday… fun to watch an 18-year-old incoming player dealing with a 22, 23-year old. It’s fun.”
A player who didn’t return was Duke Ellis. The center fielder surprised many when he signed a free agent deal with the Chicago White Sox after going undrafted.
“When Duke signed it was a little pop for us. We felt we really wanted and needed him back. Duke was awesome for us,” Pierce said. “I think everyone was a little frustrated he signed because the free agency and concern for him and us… what are you going to do until the minor league system starts? What’s your plan? On the flip side, we were still pretty comfortable because Doug Hodo was our fourth outfielder at the time.”
Texas was and still is comfortable in Hodo, who played significantly last season and will again compete for playing time in 2021. However, Ellis’s departure opened the door for Texas to strike gold in the graduate transfer market.
“The grad transfer became prevalent,” said Pierce referencing the amount of returning senior players who otherwise wouldn’t have come back to school.
A very intriguing, accomplished outfielder with a great track record of success at St. John’s entered the transfer portal. Through UT’s networking, it soon figured out the two could be a perfect match. Now, Mike Antico, a career .346/.462/.544 hitter who led UT in hitting this fall, could give the Longhorns an upgrade in center field, a rare find so late in the offseason cycle; a find that would have never happened had MLB kept its original draft length.
“He’s a godsend,” Pierce said matter-of-factly. “When we got Mike… when you look at the experience, the fast twitch, speed, power, the guy is incredible. Talking about a kid you pick up that’s potentially better than what we lost. I say potentially because he hasn’t played in the Big 12 and this caliber. Not that St. John’s is not a good program, but to face the type of arms he’s going to face day in and day out [will be a new test.]
“I called him and said basically we’re not bringing you in to ease you into this. You have every opportunity to step in and be the center fielder I want you to act like a leader versus someone trying to fit in. You can bring a lot to our players and younger players immediately. He’s been great.”
Speaking of great, Pierce couldn’t be more pleased with the competition created throughout the fall offseason. Texas wanted to, as best it could, create as many authentic-like games as possible.
“I enjoyed the competition we went through every single day… not talking about spirit type of tug-of-war events. I’m talking about the true competition of team one of playing team two and getting it as close to a spring game as we could,” the Texas head coach stated. “I think the pandemic helped create the schedule we ended up with… we played a three-game series every Friday through Sunday or Thursday through Saturday depending on an early football game. And we divided the two teams up evenly. But in the past, we had a tendency not to put the pitchers on a team. We teamed them up. It’s fun to watch pitchers root for their own hitters and vice versa.”
Coming out of the fall, Pierce is most excited and pleased about the response he saw from his team in those competitive environments.
“The competition of team versus team was as good as you could duplicate in a fall and it wasn’t phony. We put something on the line every single game. They get pissed about it. They played to win,” he said. “It was like a Friday night ball game and Sunday came down to sweep, survival, or series win. We promoted that and they bought in. Then we played every Wednesday and we tried to duplicate a midweek game because everyone could tell there was somewhat of a projected lineup and it was the other guys playing this projected lineup. You could see the intensity of that game. It happened every week throughout the fall. That level of competition and having fun in the grind in competing… it was great.”
The older players, granted an unexpected opportunity to come back and pick up where a 14-3 team left off in 2020, agreed.
“I got a text from Zubia yesterday morning, and he said in my five years here that’s the best fall we’ve ever had… there is some sincerity in that. He’s not just saying that. That’s a tribute to the program,” said David Pierce. “It’s a tribute to our support staff for making it happen. Tribute to our coaches for making it a good environment to learn and develop and grow and become a team and create this chemistry we’re all searching for all the time. So that thrills me.”
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