Quick Take: Texas Tech

Photo: Texas Tech Athletics

Perfect Game College Player Database | Quick Take: Kentucky

During the season Perfect Game scouts will be traveling to some of the top series to watch the very best players in college baseball. Those observations, captured with both written notes and video, will be shared in the College Player Database as linked above, notes that can also be accessed on the players' individual PG profile pages. Throughout the season select reports will be shared in feature format to promote the players, the teams and college baseball as a whole.

Texas Tech Red Raiders

What Happened: Texas Tech dropped their series with Kentucky, only winning one of three games, in what was potentially the preeminent matchup in college baseball thus far in 2018. This was a close series to be fair, with lengthy games that had a fair bit of back-and-forth. Texas Tech certainly missed injured ace Steven Gingery in this one, as none of their starting pitchers were overwhelmingly effective vs. the potent Kentucky offense.

Carrying Tool: Youth offense. With three underclassmen currently among Tech's top hitters in Josh Jung, Grant Little and Gabe Holt, the Red Raider offense is humming on all cylinders as they're hitting .313 as a club with a team-wide OPS of .939. That will certainly help them continue to win ballgames as the pitching staff figures itself out, they just happened to run into even more of a juggernaut offense in Kentucky this past weekend. Regardless, this offense shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Concerns: Starting pitching. With Steven Gingery being out for the season, head coach Tim Tadlock has turned to Davis Martin on Friday nights, and while the righthander is very solid, having that bona fide ace in Gingery would really have set the rotation up in a different way. Now with John McMillon, who has power stuff but is likely better served in the bullpen, starting on Saturdays, the hunt is on for a reliable Sunday starter. The bullpen has solid pieces but the Red Raiders are going to need more out of their rotation.

Best Player on the Field: Josh Jung. The sophomore third baseman and middle-of-the-order bat has been impactful for Texas Tech so far this season, both with the stick and with the glove. He's very physical and that strength plays in a big way from a power perspective, and he's also got big-time hitting ability to go along with that power. He's very squarely on radars from a way-too-early 2019 first rounder perspective, and if he keeps hitting and hitting for power, he can make all the difference in the world to this Tech ballclub.

Fearless Forecast: Arms step up. Texas Tech has enough talented pitchers on their roster that coach Tadlock will eventually find the right combination of rotation pieces. Some interesting candidates currently in the bullpen are Caleb Freeman, Caleb Kilian and Dylan Dusek, while Ryan Shetter has been getting good innings in the mid-week for the last couple of outings. It may take a couple weeks to really sort things out, but the Red Raiders have a boatload of talent from which to eventually find the right combination.

Database Player Reports (7):

• Caleb Freeman
• Gabe Holt
• Josh Jung
• Caleb Kilian
• Grant Little
• John McMillon
• Ryan Sublette

Prospect Spotlight: Josh Jung, 3B

Texas Tech's third baseman and No. 3 hitter, Jung has continued to blossom into one of college baseball's premier bats after a loud freshman campaign, and as such is squarely on the first round radar looking ahead to the 2019 draft. As of this writing, Jung is slashing .384/.477/.658 with 12 extra-base hits and team-leading 20 RBI.

Jung is a very physical and strong 6-foot-2, 215-pounds with a good combination of athleticism and strength throughout his frame. He profiles quite well at third base, where he currently plays, with good quick-twitch reactions and plenty of arm strength for the position. He's an average runner to potentially a tick above right now, but is likely to settle into that solid average range as he continues maturing.

The calling card for Jung is the bat, where the righthanded hitter shows both hitterish tendencies and big-time raw power that is showing up more and more in games. There's lots of bat speed from the right side of the plate, with the ability to move the barrel around the zone and cover the plate well. He's ahead of his class in terms of diagnosing spin, and is good at laying off borderline pitches of any type. There is some swing-and-miss to his game but it's not a big red flag at this juncture.

There is a great deal to like about Jung at this point in his career/developmental path. He's somewhat similar to Wake Forest third baseman John Aiello, though with less swing-and-miss. He's got a chance to be a first rounder in the 2019 draft as a power hitting third baseman who can stick at the hot corner while hitting both for average and power, and it will be fun to watch him continue to develop over the next year-plus leading up to the 2019 draft.

PERFECTGAME.TV

Give us your feedback

College Player, Pitcher of the Week
Hagen Smith was dominant once again for Arkansas, claiming the Pitcher of the Week for the second time this year while Jacob Jenkins-Cowart was scorching hot at the plate for the Pirates of East Carolina.

College Top 25: May 20
The last week of the regular season was anything but uneventful, with teams making profound statements within their league and improving their status on the national level.

Final Week Preview Pick 'Em
With the season winding down, every win is crucial for Vin and Cozy as Vin currently holds a 3 game lead.

DII/DIII/NAIA Rankings Update: May 15
The postseason tournaments for each of the three small school divisions have been announced and seeded, and play is already underway in the NAIA to determine who is headed to its division’s national finals. As a result, these are the penultimate Perfect Game rankings with the final release set to be made on the Wednesday following the crowning of the NCAA DIII champion.

PERFECTGAME.TV