Why the 2025 Longhorns inspire confidence despite a similar statistical start to the 2024 team

Last year’s 2024 team started out hot. Through seven games, the 2024 squad outperformed the start from the 2025 team when looking at runs, hits, RBIs, HRs, batting average, ERA, and strikeouts. A team leading in all these categories would typically be considered superior, so why do 93 percent of Texas Baseball fans believe the 2025 team is off to a better start?

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The answer to that is both simple and complicated. A large portion of the confidence comes from the pitching staff, even though the numbers on the surface suggest 2024 was the better beginning with both seasons being almost dead even. More importantly, last year’s team was off to a seemingly great start on the mound. So what happened, and what makes the 2025 staff different?

Texas’ opponents out of the gate in Louisville, Ole Miss and a ranked Oklahoma State in 2025 were tougher than any of the first seven opponents David Pierce’s club faced in 2024. So to achieve similar results is marginally more impressive.

It doesn’t end there.

What the box score stats aren’t telling you is that Texas was relying on few arms to get the Horns across 9 innings in 2024. This 2025 team is taking an entirely different approach. Not only that, you can see there is a big emphasis on throwing strikes and being more efficient overall on the mound.

To start the 2024 season, Texas starters accounted for 30.1 of the 65 innings from the staff (about 47%), with 44% of the pitches thrown by starters. The rest of the bullpen in those seven games had their names called 25 times, and only one of those pitchers saw more than 3.0 innings. Compare that to 2025 where 44% of pitches are being thrown by starters, but this time four of the 22 pitchers called out of the bullpen went for more than 3.0 innings.

(Small side note: the games versus Oklahoma State, a hodgepodge of arms with giant lead, and Ole Miss, a Luke Harrison near complete game, make the numbers appear similar. Remove those games and it’s 4 out of 13 relievers from the bullpen over with outings longer than 3.0 innings)

This is also by design. Gone are the days of Texas needing 7-9 innings from the starters to have a shot at winning games. The goal for Texas relief pitchers this year is to probably go 3-4 innings with a new-age MLB committee on the mound approach. This doesn’t mean that they will pull a dude if he’s on (Luke Harrison vs. Oklahoma State for example), it just means the Horns don’t intend to rely on 4-7 arms to get to Omaha.

It also appears that the pitchers are being showed a lot of faith from the staff, but it is probably more that the coaches trust their choices and aren’t second guess themselves. You can see it when it comes to the traditional lineup as well. Through seven games, only 11 Longhorns have set foot on the field of play. In 2024 at this point, 20 players had seen action in the field. This team already knows its identity as opposed to last year where Pierce was searching for an identity and starting lineup.

With guys like Will Gasparino, Jalin Flores, Kimble Schuessler, Rylan Galvan, and Easton Winfield all batting below .250 at the current moment, Texas has needed to rely on the arms to win ball games. That adds another layer to the complicated answer about how this team is doing better while having “worse” stats. This 2025 team is hitting at almost the same rate that the 2024 team was without the best hitters producing. When those guys start to connect, this team could explode in a great way.

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So to sum it up, the revamped bullpen has undoubtedly been the change that has given Texas fans confidence for the 2025 campaign. The velocity and movement of the pitches from the entire staff has remarkably improved from last year’s staff. That has led to more confidence in the field of play. 2025 is looking to be a great year and the newly revamped bullpen will be a massive part of that.