After a little less than two months into the 2023 baseball season, one thing has certainly emerged from the UT Arlington squad. After one of the worst seasons in program history, pretty much everything that is measurable needed to be improved. To paraphrase a popular manager, they couldn't hit, they couldn't pitch and fielding was suspect. Other than that, they were doing all right.
Before I get to this year, I want to look back at certain stats from last year. Discounting the COVID shortened year, the 15 wins earned last year was the lowest since 2007. Same for last year's 37 losses. The .289 winning percentage was the worst since .245 in 2007. Prior to that, you have to go back to 1977's 14-39 record with a .264 winning percentage to find the worst year.
The .248 batting average by the team actually looks good when compared against the .235 average in Sun Belt play, which only beat perennial doormat Arkansas State. It's the lowest cumulative average on UTAMavs.com, though that only goes back to 2018.
An ERA of 6.37 on the pitching end was not terribly far from double the opponents ERA, further illustrating the divide between offensive output and defensive capability. The Mavs were 9th out of 12 in SBC conference games. They were 7th in the SBC in fielding percentage during conference games.
UTA appeared in the top of only three of 14 conference offensive stats. Two of those were directly tenth and the highest was fourth in hit-by-pitch. The Mavs were not in the top half of any pitching category, save they were the best in not walking batters.
The good news, this team is vastly improved year-over-year. There are still glaring deficiencies, but there are good signs of a resurrection.
The team certainly hits and scores at a much faster rate. And it's incredibly noticeable. During a home broadcast against Abilene Christian, the great John Mocek noted how much more proficient the Mavs were with the extra base hits.
In 2022, the Mavs procured 74 doubles, four triples and 20 homeruns in 52 games. This year, through 29 games (to the end of the Seattle series), the team has swatted 65 doubles, eight triples and 32 home runs. That is a heck of an improvement year over year.
The top three guys contributing to the offensive renaissance are all new to the UTA team. Though note, Steven Saunders, Cade Sumbler, Matt Cavaughn and Tyler Rice are all returners who have made decent offensive numbers, but don't have the minimum of two plate appearances a game and have appeared in 75 percent of the team's games, for whatever reason.
Leading the charge is freshman Ryan Black. He leads the Mavericks in batting average, runs scored and runs batted in, tied for first in hits and second in home runs. He is competing for a second Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year after men's basketball's Chendall Weaver. The other two early candidates are Sacramento State's Wehiwa Aloy and Grand Canyon University's Zach Yorke, though Yorke has fallen down the stat sheet recently.
TCU transfer Garrison Berkley is hitting north of .350, is tied for the team lead in hits, second in doubles and is fourth in RBI.
Freshman Ben Lumsden has also brought a lot of punch. His batting average is hovering around .250. While that's a little on the low side, when he makes contact, it usually goes for extra bases. Of his 29 hits (fourth for the Mavs), six are doubles (tied for fourth), two are triples (first) and seven (first) are homers. Over half his hits go beyond singles. He's also the team leader with 20 walks, four ahead of Berkley and Tyler Rice.
Tyson Pointer, transfer from Odessa College, leads UTA with 12 doubles and is third in RBI with 24. Wilson Galvan is a few hits shy of a .300 average and is UTA's base stealing threat, swiping five on six attempts. Saunders and Cavaughn are hitting above .300, but have only played in 16 and 15 games respectively, out of 29.
Now, the glaring weak spot is pitching. In last year's bad performance, record-wise, the Mavs team ERA had a rough 6.37. This year, the team's ERA is an even worse 6.91. And that was after a two-run performance in a mid-week game against Lamar.
There has been one noticeable exception. Friday starter Gabe Starks is 3-0 on the year with a 2.52 ERA, good for 1st in the conference. He's given up only ten earned runs in 35 innings. However, the Junior transfer from Arkansas does have eight unearned runs and his walks-plus-hits-per-inning-pitched is a little high at 1.23.
Caden Noah has been the only other starter every weekend for UTA, and he's been inconsistently decent. The Junior Texas-Austin transfer is 2-1 with a 5.94 ERA. His last two outings have inflated that number, as he's given up 11 runs in 8.1 innings against Houston and Seattle.
Starks and Noah have made seven starts each. No other Maverick has made above four.
The bullpen has been a little more disappointing than I expected. Matt Novis had a 3.77 ERA last year, but is at 5.17 this year. Connery Peters throws very hard, but tends to get hit hard too. He's got six saves, but is 0-3 with an 8.72 ERA. The senior was used in the closers role to start the year, but has been starting in the weekend the last couple of weeks. Gray Bailey has improved mightily and is currently the best reliever statistically, 2-1 with a 4.02 ERA.
UTA is currently 14-16 on the year and 4-5 in WAC play. They have let three conference games, one each against Tarleton State, Abilene Christian and Seattle, get away where they had a lead late. One better pitch here and there and this is a conference leading team.
The current WAC standings:
- Sam Houston 10-2, 18-12
- Abilene Christian 7-2, 22-6
- Grand Canyon 8-4, 17-11
- Stephen F. Austin 7-5, 13-14
- California Baptist 7-5, 14-15
- UTRGV 6-6, 16-12
- UTA 4-5, 14-16
- Utah Valley 3-4, 15-12
- Seattle 5-7, 7-18
- Sacramento St. 3-6, 14-14
- Utah Tech 3-6, 8-20
- New Mexico St 3-9, 5-19
- Tarleton St. 1-6, 14-12
Factoring the one loss to Abilene Christian, they could be in second place. They have certainly improved over last year, where they wouldn't have been in those games to begin with in most cases.
Next up for the Mavericks is Utah Tech for an Easter weekend series. It will be a good opportunity to move up in the standings before the schedule gets a bit harder in late April and May.
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