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Has Ruger Riojas locked up the Sunday starter slot?

by:Justin Nash•03/30/25
Ruger Riojas
Ruger Riojas Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Lately, UTSA transfer Ruger Riojas has started games instead of entering for his usual stopper role against threatening offenses. He has excelled in this new position, facing legitimate competition rather than just weaker teams. Is this something we can expect to see more of in the future?

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Looking at the beginning of SEC play, only four Longhorns have taken the mound to start a game.

When looking at the statistics, Riojas is the clear No. 1 among this group. His ability to dominate the strike zone is clear when looking at K/9 and strikes thrown. It is that ability that has allowed him to look like a potentially dominant force as a SEC starter.

Riojas saw his first SEC start vs. LSU and looked downright fantastic. He started the outing going 5.1 innings without allowing a run on 5 hits surrendered. In the SEC when playing a top 5 team, that is invaluable.

His next outing is the one fresh on everyone’s minds, the one that has people wondering if Jim Schlossnagle has found the Sunday starter. Granted, it was against a weak Missouri team, but going on the road and flat out dominating is something that shouldn’t be overlooked. Riojas only allowed 2 base runners for Missouri all night, that’s elite stuff regardless of opponent.

Now him becoming a Sunday starter wouldn’t come without a cost, you have to rob Peter to pay Paul… and “Peter” is a group of high leverage pitchers. Namely Max Grubbs, Dylan Volantis, Thomas Burns and Riojas himself. This is where it gets tricky moving him away, he has been a fantastic option to come in and slam the door shut on opposing threats.

How he become a starter? He entered versus his former team UTSA in exactly that role and due to all the pitchers UT used… he wound up sitting there as a potential starter on Sunday in a rubber match versus LSU. UT couldn’t throw him on Friday as it was too soon for how long he went against UTSA, and Sunday Texas held a comfortable lead allowing us to save his arm.

The most likely answer to the opening question is yes. This staff, while they have said that there are no defined roles for really anyone outside of Jared Spencer and Luke Harrison.. .will potentially save his arm to try and give Texas the best opportunity to walk away with at least 1 win in a given SEC series.

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That doesn’t mean he won’t have a chance at being used in his former role. We could very well not see him on the mound for another Friday game for a long while. The thought process here is that if a game is close on Saturday… forget about the Sunday start and win that game. If we don’t see trouble on Saturday, just pitch him normally on Sunday.

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