Big 12 Conference Preview

Luken Baker (Photo by Andrew Woolley)

Baseball Members (First Year): Baylor (1997), Kansas (1997), Kansas State (1997), Oklahoma (1997), Oklahoma State (1997), Texas (1997), Texas Christian (2013), Texas Tech (1997), West Virginia (2013).

Checking out: None.

Team to Beat: Texas Christian The Horned Frogs are national title favorites thanks to their deep and talented lineup and pitching staff.

Player of the Year: Luken Baker, 1b, Texas Christian No longer pitching, Baker remains the anchor of TCU’s lineup thanks to his advanced feel for hitting to go with his light-tower power.

Pitcher of the Year: Tyler Buffett rhp, Oklahoma State Buffett starred in OSU’s run to Omaha last year and should move to the front of the rotation full-time as a senior this spring.

Freshman of the Year: Nick Lodolo lhp, Texas Christian The big-armed freshman has a chance to be TCU’s next pitching star and ought to make an immediate impact on the Frogs’ title chances.

Top 25 Teams: Texas Christian (1), Oklahoma State (18), Texas Tech (25)

BEST TOOLS

Best Pure Hitter: Luken Baker, TCU

Best Raw Power: Luken Baker, TCU

Best Strike-Zone Discipline: Luken Baker, TCU

Best Athlete: Darius Hill, West Virginia

Fastest Baserunner: Nolan Brown, TCU

Best Baserunner: Garrett McCain, Oklahoma State

Best Defensive Catcher: Evan Skoug, TCU

Catcher/Best Arm: Michael Cantu, Texas

Best Defensive 1B: Dustin Williams, Oklahoma State

Best Defensive 2B: Michael Davis, Texas Tech

Best Defensive 3B: Elliott Barzilli, TCU

Best Defensive SS: Orlando Garcia, Texas Tech

Infield/Best Arm: Ryan Merrill, TCU

Best Defensive Outfielder: Nolan Brown, TCU

Best Outfield Arm: Patrick Mathis, Texas

Best Fastball: Durbin Feltman, TCU

Best Breaking Ball: Morgan Cooper, Texas

Best Changeup: Jensen Elliott, Oklahoma State

Best Control: Tyler Buffett, Oklahoma State

Other Projected Regional Teams

Texas: A new era is underway in Austin, as former Tulane coach and Texas native David Pierce takes over the program after 20 years under Augie Garrido, college baseball’s all-time winningest coach. Pierce inherits a team that went 25-32 last season but should have the talent to compete in the postseason in 2017. The rotation will be the biggest strength, with a trio of prospects in Jr. RHPs Morgan Cooper, Kyle Johnston and Connor Mayes.

West Virginia: The Mountaineers played as well as any team in the conference down the stretch last season and came tantalizingly close to ending a 20-year NCAA tournament drought, losing in the Big 12 tournament title game and then being one of the last teams passed over for an at-large berth. Fifth-year head coach Randy Mazey has steadily built up the program, and his crew will look to take that next step this season.

Notable Storylines: If it’s possible for a conference to collectively have a chip on its shoulder, the Big 12 does after getting just three teams into last year’s NCAA tournament and then having all three reach Omaha. The league has considered increasing the number of conference games each team plays, which would necessitate some teams playing each other twice, in an effort to reduce the number of potentially RPI damaging non-conference games, but it will continue with its current 24-game league schedule in 2017. Coaches around the conference also acknowledge that, as is the case across most Big 12 sports, the league’s perception suffers when Oklahoma and Texas struggle as they have the last couple of seasons . . . Speaking of Oklahoma, the Sooners will look to rebound after floundering to a fifth-place finish in 2016, a season they entered as a Top 25 team. With their two biggest stars of the last three years, shortstop/righthander Sheldon Neuse and righthander Alec Hansen, off to pro ball, the Sooners will count on a core of sophomores—a group that was the 13th ranked recruiting class nationally going into their freshman seasons—like catcher Domenic DeRenzo and outfielder Steele Walker to anchor the lineup, while righthanders Jake Irvin and Dylan Grove need to turn their impressive stuff into results in the rotation . . . Baylor was frisky at times last year in coach Steve Rodriguez’s first season, including its taking a series from TCU. If the Bears are going to take another step in 2017, they’ll need power hitting catcher Shea Langeliers, an unsigned 34th-round pick in last year’s draft, to give a boost to what was the Big 12’s lowest scoring offense last season. Junior college transfer righthander Montana Parsons, an unsigned 30th-round pick himself, will try to do the same in the rotation, along with freshman righthander Jimmy Winston.

2017 Top 20 Prospects	2018 Top 10 Prospects	Top 10 Newcomers
1. Evan Skoug c, Texas Christian	1. Luken Baker 1b, Texas Christian	1. Nick Lodolo, lhp, Texas Christian
2. Morgan Cooper rhp, Texas	2. Davis Martin rhp, Texas Tech	2. Charles King, rhp, Texas Christian
3. Kyle Johnston rhp, Texas	3. Jensen Elliott rhp, Oklahoma State	3. David Hamilton, ss, Texas
4. Patrick Mathis of, Texas	4. Josh Watson of, Texas Christian	4. John McMillon, rhp/of, Texas Tech
5. Tyler Buffett rhp, Oklahoma State	5. Jonathan Heasley rhp, Oklahoma State	5. Jonathan Heasley, rhp, Oklahoma State
6. Tanner Gardner of, Texas Tech	6. Durbin Feltman rhp, Texas Christian	6. Trey Morris, rhp, Texas Christian
7. Bret Boswell 3b, Texas	7. Domenic DeRenzo c, Oklahoma	7. Alek Manoah, rhp, West Virginia
8. Trey Cobb rhp, Oklahoma State	8. Jake Irvin rhp, Oklahoma	8. Cade Cabbiness, of, Oklahoma State
9. Elliott Barzilli 3b, Texas Christian	9. Jacob Chappell ss, Oklahoma State	9. Blair Henley, rhp, Texas
10. Montana Parsons rhp, Baylor	10. Darius Hill of, West Virginia	10. Michael Neustifter, c, Oklahoma State
11. Mitchell Traver rhp, Texas Christian
12. B.J. Myers rhp, West Virginia
13. Brian Howard rhp, Texas Christian
14. Sean Rackoski rhp, Kansas
15. Jon Littell of, Oklahoma State
16. Austen Wade of, Texas Christian
17. Matt McLaughlin ss, Kansas
18. Kameron Ethay of, Baylor
19. Jackson Cramer 1b, West Virginia
20. Garrett Benge 3b, Oklahoma State