Everything Jim Schlossnagle said ahead of No. 5 Texas versus No. 3 Georgia

Today was the first time the media has been able to sit down with Jim Schlossnagle since the unfortunate injuries to Rylan Galvan, Adrian Rodriguez, and star outfielder Max Belyeu. With a small crowd of reporters, Inside Texas was able to pick Schloss’ mind on a few topics, most importantly the injuries.

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Injury Update

Schloss didn’t say anything new about Belyeu’s injury—he’s going to be out for a while.

Rodriguez is still very questionable for this weekend. Schlossnagle believes he could be used in many roles, whether in the outfield, infield, or even as a pinch runner, but his swing is not 100% there yet after a HBP suffered against Missouri.

Galvan spoke with the media and said his hand was feeling good. He struggled to throw the ball on Tuesday, but Inside Texas is fairly confident he will play this weekend. Maybe expect more reps from Cole Chamberlain than usual, though.

Georgia Matchup

“(Georgia is) super talented,” Schlossnagle said. “Very, very, very physical. When they swing, they hit the ball. When they hit it, they hit it super hard and super far.”

“They’re literally built around power, which a lot of our teams in this league are, but they’re really, really good at it. Their starting pitching hasn’t been awesome, but the bullpen has been amazing, and they flipped some guys from the bullpen into the rotation.”

Everything Schloss said was pretty accurate. Georgia has the best offense in the nation—a true bomb squad—but they don’t have elite rotation guys that will scare you. Should be a high-scoring one in Austin.

Potential Pitchers

Kade Bing will not pitch this weekend, Schlossnagle said. A bit of a surprise, as Bing has thrown 15 innings of three-run baseball in his last three appearances, all on Tuesdays. He was projected to be in the bullpen this weekend, but it sounds like Schloss only sees him as a starting pitcher this year.

Jason Flores will be available. Schloss liked what he got from both players on Tuesday.

The rotation will be Jared Spencer on Friday, Luke Harrison on Saturday, and TBD on Sunday.

“I’d love to be able to keep Ruger (Riojas) right where he is,” Schlossnagle said. “I know we’re trying to win championships for sure, but at the same time, we’re also trying to get 15-16 wins in this conference, which normally puts you in a postseason,” Schloss said about the use of RHP Ruger Riojas. “So with our injuries and different things that have happened, you have to take everything into account when you’re trying to get to that win mark and playing some of these teams that are super teams, like Georgia, so we’ll just see how they go game to game.”

Replacing Belyeu

Schlossnagle mostly liked what he saw from Duplantier on Tuesday in left field. Farmer will 100% stay in right.

“Left field will just kind of be determined by what the matchups are.”

Seems to be leaning toward the use of Jayden Duplantier because he likes the speed he brings to the lineup. He doesn’t think Belyeu’s power is replaceable. “We have to find a way to play a different kind of offense down in those spots,” Schlossnagle said.

Easton Winfield was never mentioned.

Lefties in the Lineup

We asked about how losing Belyeu will impact the choices of adding lefties to the lineup, as he is Texas’ only true starting lefty bat.

“I definitely overthink it to a point,” Schlossnagle said. “Our goal—and hopefully you’ll look up here next year or the year after—is to have a team full of lefties, switch hitters, and right-handed hitters, where we can have really good balance and make it tough on the other team. But right now, it is what it is. Our roster is our roster.”

The only current lefties you may see this weekend are:

• Jaquae Stewart – DH, .639 OPS in conference play
• Cole Chamberlain – C, .322 OPS in 11 conference ABs
• Winfield – LF, benched/injured (?) just 5 ABs in conference play

Not a great group.

“I can’t remember the last time I wrote a lineup that had, like, five, six right-handed hitters in a row,” Schlossnagle said. “But that’s what our team is. And so if you don’t have a choice, you don’t have a problem.”

Schloss continued to praise Stewart for his ability to work good at-bats and get on base but knows his limitations as a runner and fielder. He also mentioned that he only had one lefty on the roster when he got into town in Belyeu.

Roster Building

Schlossnagle talked a bit about some plans for the future and past evaluations.

He loves the amount of data available that he can use to identify key guys to grab from the portal. Ethan Mendoza told us that Schloss made a lot of good adjustments to his swing and his approach.

“He didn’t swing and miss, he just swung a lot,” Schloss said about evaluating Mendoza. “So we can get him stronger, so when he does hit the ball, he hits it with a little more impact. And if we can get him to swing less and get his pitch, then he might turn into a way better offensive player, which is exactly what’s happened.”

Schloss will work this offseason to add more lefty batters. He would prefer to get as close to 50-50 as possible. Guys like Rodriguez, Chamberlain, Stewart, and Winfield will help with that, but he knows he needs more.

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Based on what we’ve learned from Schlossnagle, Inside Texas predicts that the starting lineup will be identical to what we saw on Tuesday, just with Jared Spencer on the mound.

All three games versus the Bulldogs will be aired on SEC Network+. Friday’s first pitch is at 6:30 p.m., Saturday’s game begins at 2 p.m., and the series finale on Sunday starts at 1 p.m. at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.