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When Texas baseball players execute their hitting drills as intended, discussion interrupts the thwack of the bat.
During mundane front-toss or batting cage sessions, coach Jim Schlossnagle wants the Longhorns to hold themselves accountable for their pitch selection. If a hitter swings a pitch outside of the strike zone, Schlossnagle wants someone to ask why.
"It starts on the very first day of the fall," Schlossnagle said Thursday. "Literally in every single underhand flip or work in the cage. ... Just the compounding effect of doing the same thing right every single day of the course of time usually gets us there."
Schlossnagle's desired destination is a state of controlled aggression. He wants to cultivate a team that swings at strikes and takes balls.
It's a simple objective that just about every skipper in the country shares. But it's central to Schlossnagle's identity as a coach — and results show few are more adept at teaching the art of plate discipline.
PIERCE: David Pierce finds a new job 9 months after ouster as Texas baseball coach
In three seasons at Texas A&M, Schlossnagle's teams ranked first, fifth and 15th in the country in walk percentage. His hitters saw more pitches per plate appearance over the last four full seasons than anyone in the country. The Longhorns enter a weekend series against LSU ranked 88th nationally in walk percentage after finishing 225th under David Pierce in 2024. Before Tuesday's loss to UTSA, only four teams in the country saw more pitches per at-bat than Texas.
Schlossnagle said some freshmen who join his program consider the approach passive. He doesn't see it that way.
"Each player is individual," he said. "There's nothing wrong necessarily with swinging at the first pitch, as long as it's your pitch. The difference is I don't want guys to ever hit out of panic because they're trying to avoid striking out or they're trying to avoid a certain pitch."
STREAK SNAPPED: Texas vs UTSA game score: Replay, highlights as Longhorns' 17-game winning streak ends
The approach is rooted in Schlossnagle's belief that college pitchers don't throw strikes reliably. But it's a malleable one, too.
For example, if the Longhorns have a runner on third base with one out, and there's a tough pitcher on the mound, Schlossnagle said he advocates for his hitters to be aggressive early in the count to bring the runner home. Likewise, Texas can shape its approach to fit its opponent. LSU's Friday and Saturday starters, Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson, boast microscopic walk rates of 7.3% and 5.4%, respectively.
"Depends how many strikes they throw," Schlossnagle said. "For example when we faced (Paul) Skenes at A&M, it's like, there ain't no use in taking, because he's not walking you. That's another stratosphere of stuff. To date, LSU pitchers don't walk very many people. So, this may be a team that we swing more against."
The Longhorns have technology that supports their efforts to hone this approach, too.
First baseman Kimble Schuessler said Texas' hitters spend plenty of time working on their iPitch machine, a high-tech pitching machine that allows them to pre-program pitch sequences. Put simply: It can throw two center-cut fastballs and follow with a slider in the dirt, much as a real pitcher would.
"We trust our swings," Schuessler said. "And we trust our coaches. ... So we know if we have to take a strike, we'll be better after in that at-bat because we'll have seen what he's got, and we're not afraid to hit with two strikes."
Reach Texas Insider David Eckert via email at [email protected]. Follow the American-Statesman on Facebook and X for more. Your subscription makes work like this possible. Get access to all of our best content with this tremendous offer.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas baseball: How Jim Schlossnagle shaped plate approach for the SEC
Continue reading...
During mundane front-toss or batting cage sessions, coach Jim Schlossnagle wants the Longhorns to hold themselves accountable for their pitch selection. If a hitter swings a pitch outside of the strike zone, Schlossnagle wants someone to ask why.
"It starts on the very first day of the fall," Schlossnagle said Thursday. "Literally in every single underhand flip or work in the cage. ... Just the compounding effect of doing the same thing right every single day of the course of time usually gets us there."
Schlossnagle's desired destination is a state of controlled aggression. He wants to cultivate a team that swings at strikes and takes balls.
It's a simple objective that just about every skipper in the country shares. But it's central to Schlossnagle's identity as a coach — and results show few are more adept at teaching the art of plate discipline.
PIERCE: David Pierce finds a new job 9 months after ouster as Texas baseball coach
In three seasons at Texas A&M, Schlossnagle's teams ranked first, fifth and 15th in the country in walk percentage. His hitters saw more pitches per plate appearance over the last four full seasons than anyone in the country. The Longhorns enter a weekend series against LSU ranked 88th nationally in walk percentage after finishing 225th under David Pierce in 2024. Before Tuesday's loss to UTSA, only four teams in the country saw more pitches per at-bat than Texas.
Schlossnagle said some freshmen who join his program consider the approach passive. He doesn't see it that way.
"Each player is individual," he said. "There's nothing wrong necessarily with swinging at the first pitch, as long as it's your pitch. The difference is I don't want guys to ever hit out of panic because they're trying to avoid striking out or they're trying to avoid a certain pitch."
STREAK SNAPPED: Texas vs UTSA game score: Replay, highlights as Longhorns' 17-game winning streak ends
The approach is rooted in Schlossnagle's belief that college pitchers don't throw strikes reliably. But it's a malleable one, too.
For example, if the Longhorns have a runner on third base with one out, and there's a tough pitcher on the mound, Schlossnagle said he advocates for his hitters to be aggressive early in the count to bring the runner home. Likewise, Texas can shape its approach to fit its opponent. LSU's Friday and Saturday starters, Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson, boast microscopic walk rates of 7.3% and 5.4%, respectively.
"Depends how many strikes they throw," Schlossnagle said. "For example when we faced (Paul) Skenes at A&M, it's like, there ain't no use in taking, because he's not walking you. That's another stratosphere of stuff. To date, LSU pitchers don't walk very many people. So, this may be a team that we swing more against."
The Longhorns have technology that supports their efforts to hone this approach, too.
First baseman Kimble Schuessler said Texas' hitters spend plenty of time working on their iPitch machine, a high-tech pitching machine that allows them to pre-program pitch sequences. Put simply: It can throw two center-cut fastballs and follow with a slider in the dirt, much as a real pitcher would.
"We trust our swings," Schuessler said. "And we trust our coaches. ... So we know if we have to take a strike, we'll be better after in that at-bat because we'll have seen what he's got, and we're not afraid to hit with two strikes."
Reach Texas Insider David Eckert via email at [email protected]. Follow the American-Statesman on Facebook and X for more. Your subscription makes work like this possible. Get access to all of our best content with this tremendous offer.
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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas baseball: How Jim Schlossnagle shaped plate approach for the SEC
Continue reading...
