When we look back at the 2014 season, with Jordan Stephens going down, Lemond stepping in as Friday night ace only to be sidelined for a few weeks and coming back to his previous bullpen duty, and McCanna being called on in early April to take on the Friday slot, we'll realize how much Kevin has contributed to keeping the Owls ready to make a full charge in the tournament. Since he moved into the Friday role against Tulane, the improvement in his stats is quite impressive:

(before/after)
IP 38.2/47.2
H 43/45
R 18/12
ER 17/10
BB 14/7
SO 24/36
ERA 3.96/1.89
WHIP 1/47/1.09

Great call by the OG to put him in the pre-eminent slot and kudos to McCanna for stepping up to the task.

Keep up the good work.

Kudos indeed.

Good point. Improvement in K/BB ratio is very impressive, and 5:1 ratio since taking Friday slot is fantastic at any level of baseball.

(05-28-2014 04:55 PM)ColOwl Wrote:  When we look back at the 2014 season, with Jordan Stephens going down, Lemond stepping in as Friday night ace only to be sidelined for a few weeks and coming back to his previous bullpen duty, and McCanna being called on in early April to take on the Friday slot, we'll realize how much Kevin has contributed to keeping the Owls ready to make a full charge in the tournament. Since he moved into the Friday role against Tulane, the improvement in his stats is quite impressive:

(before/after)
IP 38.2/47.2
H 43/45
R 18/12
ER 17/10
BB 14/7
SO 24/36
ERA 3.96/1.89
WHIP 1/47/1.09

Great call by the OG to put him in the pre-eminent slot and kudos to McCanna for stepping up to the task.

Keep up the good work.

Nice improvement. I had no idea the split was that dramatic. Props to both McCanna for producing such a nice improvement and yourself for doing the work to show the improvement.

Once he was the Friday night guy he pitched like THE Friday night guy. A great accomplishment. Kudos to him --- and to Wayne for giving him the chance to be great.

Our pitching staff is going to be absurd next year. Stephens, McCanna and Duplantier...not to mention any contention from other guys on the staff.

(05-29-2014 01:53 AM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote:  Our pitching staff is going to be absurd next year. Stephens, McCanna and Duplantier...not to mention any contention from other guys on the staff.

am I missing something -- wouldn't Blake Fox be back, too? Or is he a draft-eligible sophomore?

(05-29-2014 05:46 AM)wheredidmypantsgo Wrote:  

(05-29-2014 01:53 AM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote:  Our pitching staff is going to be absurd next year. Stephens, McCanna and Duplantier...not to mention any contention from other guys on the staff.

am I missing something -- wouldn't Blake Fox be back, too? Or is he a draft-eligible sophomore?

It is my understanding that he is a draft-eligible sophomore. Or in other words,"He is old for his age".

Tekyl would be eligible for the draft too. But I'm sure we'll have plenty of arms returning, one way or the other.

I'd be more curious in general what our hitting lineup looks like next year and whether we return any players who hit a home run at all this year. But I'm also more focused on this weekend. Let's worry about the draft and next year after this year is over.

(05-29-2014 05:46 AM)wheredidmypantsgo Wrote:  

(05-29-2014 01:53 AM)westsidewolf1989 Wrote:  Our pitching staff is going to be absurd next year. Stephens, McCanna and Duplantier...not to mention any contention from other guys on the staff.

am I missing something -- wouldn't Blake Fox be back, too? Or is he a draft-eligible sophomore?

Yes, he's a draft eligible Soph, but given his Rice pedegree (3rd generation), I'd be shocked if he's not back. Also, despite his exceptional record and great performances, the scouting community is not in love with his "stuff". Having said that, any southpaw pitcher who knows how to pitch is going to be attractive to the pros.

As for next year's staff-- if Stephens can come back and regain his form and stuff (and the "feel" for the breaking stuff sometimes is the last to return after TJS), our pitching should, indeed, be ridiculous; especially if Ditman (a draft risk from what I've heard) and Teykl return. Fox and McCanna took the big step up this year, and I expect the same from Duplantier next year...and he's got, by far, the best stuff of the trio. I could envision Jon showing similar improvement his Soph year as Townsend did in 2003. Evan Rutter will be back and healthy, as well as both McCarthy and Orewiler with a year of D-I experience under their belts. And let's not forget about our outstanding incoming recruiting class, which features a couple very highly regarded pitchers (led by Ricardo Salinas). Heck, there's even the possibility than Petitte's son will peitition the NCAA for a transfer availability waiver (since he NEVER pitched for Baylor due to injury) and be eligible to pitch for us next season.