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College  | Story  | 3/8/2017

College Spotlight: Texas Tech

Jheremy Brown     
Photo: Texas Tech Athletics/Michael Strong
 


Perfect Game College Player Database
Weekly Spotlights: Week 1 | Week 2 | Frisco Classic | Dodgertown Classic
Shriners Classic Spotlights: LSU | Baylor



Every week during the 2017 college baseball season we will be pulling at least one report, and corresponding video when available, of a player entered into the College Player Database. This week will be a little different given Perfect Game's presence at three major college baseball tournaments, including the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic held at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas. Below we will share two detailed reports of players from each of the six participating teams (Baylor, LSU, Ole Miss, TCU, Texas A&M, Texas Tech) continuing with Texas Tech. All of the reports entered into the database can be found in one, easy-to-find place as linked above, and can also be accessed off of the individual PG player profile pages.

To access all of the reports you will need a College Baseball Ticket (CBT) subscription. To learn more about the CBT and to sign up today please visit this link.


It’s pretty much been business as usual in the early juncture of the 2017 season for Coach Tim Tadlock and his team as they have appeared to pick up right where they left off last spring despite facing enough turnover throughout the lineup. With a 2-1 record at the Shriners Classic the Red Raiders improved to 11-2 on the season before picking up a big midweek victory over Arizona to jump to 12-2.

Vaulting themselves up to No. 8 in Perfect Game’s most recent rankings, Texas Tech hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down and offer one of the better three-man rotations in the entire Big-12. Davis Martin, Steven Gingery and Ryan Shetter (all three have been entered into the College Player Database) have swing-and-miss type stuff that can be carried deep into a game before passing the ball off to one of several power arms, including freshman John McMillon, who was up to 99 mph in Houston.

Senior Hunter Hargrove has taken charge of the offense as he’s hitting .379-3-17 over the team’s first 14 games while slick-fielding shortstop Orlando Garcia continues to play his advanced defense up the middle. Expectations were high for freshman third baseman Josh jung and he’s responded well so far this spring with a fluid righthanded stroke and quality actions at the hot corner. 




Steven Gingery, LHP

He may not have the imposing stature of the mid-90s fastball that others have shown in the Shriners Classic, but Texas Tech sophomore lefthander Steven Gingery doesn’t need to and he’s proved it time and time again just as he did with his most recent outing against the Ole Miss Rebels. Listed at a strongly built and durable 6-foot-2, 210-pounds, the lefthander was masterful in his Saturday afternoon start though that’s become the norm around Lubbock whenever he takes the mound. 

With a simple and very repeatable delivery Gingery was able to pound the strike zone with a legitimate three-pitch mix and throughout his eight innings of one-run ball proved he wasn’t afraid to double or triple up on any particular pitch. His arm action is clean and full through the back side working to an extended three-quarters slot which in turn helped generate nice angle to his fastball which lived in the 87-91 mph range over all eight innings, still touching 91 in the 7th and bumped upwards of 92 mph early. Though his fastball is relatively true in terms of life he’s able to command the pitch to either side of the plate and get ahead in counts with it, unlocking either of his secondaries. 

Of the changeup and curveball it was the changeup that proved to be the most difficult on the Rebel hitters as Gingery consistently had them out on their front foot and used the pitch more than once to elicit an empty third strike swing. Thrown anywhere in the 77-81 mph range Gingery did a nice job of replicating his release point on the pitch and was able to generate solid fading life to the lower quadrants of the zone. His curveball was a quality third pitch in the mid- to upper-70s with 1-to-7 shape and like his other two pitches, mixed it in regularly with confidence and conviction while improving to 3-0 on the young 2017 season.




Orlando Garcia, SS
There’s a lot to like in the Texas Tech lineup as they have a nice mix of young and experienced talent along with athletic, twitchy types and grinders who understand the subtle nuances of the game. One player in the center of everything is shortstop Orlando Garcia, the team’s starting junior shortstop who showed off some of the purest and smoothest defensive actions throughout the Houston Classic. 

After a hot start in which he belted three home runs in the first two weeks of the year, Garcia didn’t run any balls out of the yard this past weekend and had a rather modest tournament offensively with just one base hit, a double, in Tech’s thrilling 5-4 victory over LSU. The double was a nice piece of hitting from Garcia though as he went with an outer half pitch and lined it into the right-center field gap, turning around first base in 4.35 seconds. Though there is some swing-and-miss to the profile it’s a very relaxed and easy swing with looseness to his hands and natural leverage to the swing path which helps to generate some of that loft he showed early in the season.

Through 12 games this spring the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Garcia has yet to make an error and shows the type of defensive prowess that helps make the difficult play up the middle look like second nature. Like his hands offensively, Garcia’s overall actions were as smooth as anybody’s throughout the tournament showing plenty of confidence and fluidity one every ball hit his way, regardless if it forced to his backhand or to range up the middle. On plays that required him to charge in and make the off-balance throw to second base it was more of the same as he shows no reason he won’t stick there at the next level. 

Having Garcia and his defensive acumen is definitely a big asset for Coach Tim Tadlock and should he continue to make strides with his offensive game then there’s a good chance his draft stock will continue to trend up this spring.


Other Texas Tech players added to College Player Database:

• Michael Davis
• Josh Jung
• Caleb Kilian
• Davis Martin
• John McMillon
• Parker Mushinski
• Jacob Patterson
• Jose Quezada
• Ryan Shetter
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