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Live from the bullpen

Kansas baseball team adding new pitchers

By Shawn Shroyer

Thursday, February 21, 2008

By the end of last season, Kansas had only three reliable arms out of the bullpen. That shouldn’t be an issue in 2008.

There are as many as six pitchers Price plans to call out of the bullpen, not counting the boost the bullpen will receive from the pitchers who don’t make the starting rotation.

“Depth-wise, it’s the best we’ve been in the six years I’ve been here,” Price said. “We’ve obviously continued to up the amount of scholarship money that we spend on pitching.”

Kansas’ shortlist of relievers includes junior right-handed closer Paul Smyth, senior right-hander Hiarali Garcia and junior left-hander Daniel Manos. Beyond those three are a collection of promising underclassmen: sophomore right-handers Thomas Marcin and Brett Bollman and freshman right-hander T.J. Walz. In addition, whoever winds up starting mid-week for Kansas should also be at Price’s disposal in relief during weekend series.

Smyth was Kansas’ saves leader last season with seven, but perhaps even more importantly, he proved he could be called upon as a work-horse to finish games. As a sophomore, he threw just 12.2 fewer innings than former Jayhawk Don Czyz did the season he set Kansas’ single season saves record.

Despite the solid season, Smyth said he still had room to improve. While he had a miniscule 1.60 ERA last season, he felt he let too many inherited runners score — or at least his teammates did.

“Something that the starters push you around about is, ‘You gave up my run this day,’ and ‘You gave up my run that day,’ so the ideal thing is to keep a low ERA and keep the runs that you allow as close as possible to the earned runs you allow,” Smyth said. “That way you’re not cashing other guys’ runs in.”

The rubber arm Smyth exhibited last season may be especially valuable this season, considering the Jayhawks have five games in eight weeks. Smyth may be summoned from the bullpen even more often, with less recovery time between games.

“If they have me throw a lot of outings, they’ll have to limit the innings,” said Smyth, “but I’m more than willing to throw Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, Saturday, Sunday, as well.”

However, with the group of pitchers joining Smyth in the bullpen, his workload shouldn’t be nearly that rigorous.

Although he missed part of the season with a muscle strain in his back, Garcia proved to be one of Kansas’ top setup men. Only Smyth made more appearances out of the bullpen than Garcia and he was especially dependable down the stretch. In his last five appearances, Garcia allowed only one run.

Kansas’ left-handed specialist will likely be Manos, a transfer from Santa Ana College where he showed impeccable control. In 23.1 innings, Manos struck out 22 and walked just four.

One of Kansas’ best pitchers at the beginning of 2007 was Marcin. After the first seven innings of his collegiate career, he had yet to allow a run. But, as if a switch had been flipped, Marcin struggled mightily with his command toward the end of the season.

In his final two appearances, against Kansas Wesleyan and Chicago State respectively, he pitched 2.2 innings, allowing five runs on four hits, three walks and one wild pitch, and he hit three batters.

However, Price said Marcin was on his way to putting his control problems behind him and could soon fulfill the promise he showed early last year.

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Sophomore Wally Marciel, junior Nick Czyz and, when he returns, junior Andy Marks are the favorites to claim spots in the weekend rotation. If they do, other candidates for starting jobs — senior Andres Esquibel, junior Sam Freeman and sophomore Shaeffer Hall — would be moved to the midweek and also would be available to pitch out of the bullpen on weekends. Splitting time as a reliever last season, Esquibel compiled a team-best seven victories.

“Thomas Marcin has an outstanding fastball and, if he continues to improve his command, can be as good as anybody on our staff,” Price said. “His bullpens have been better. His command still needs to improve, but he’s been significantly better.”

Bollman took a redshirt last season, but most recently he pitched for the Duluth Huskies during the summer of 2006. With the Huskies, Bollman went 7-1 with a 1.99 ERA, one save, and 36 strikeouts to 10 walks in 49.2 innings.

Walz is the youngest pitcher who could make an impact out of the bullpen for Kansas. As a senior at Skutt Catholic High School in Omaha, Neb., Walz led the state of Nebraska with 136 strikeouts, which were a fine complement to his 11-1 record and 1.81 ERA. For a youngster, Walz also has an impressive curveball.

“He has a true curveball, which is almost unseen anymore in this day and age, but he has the overhand, 12-6 breaking ball,” Price said.

While these six relievers will battle for innings out of the bullpen, there’s no question as to who will be collecting the saves again this season. The only question is how many saves Smyth will rack up this time around.

“I don’t want to pick a number, but however many they give me, that’s how many I’d like to take,” Smyth said. “I don’t want to blow any this year.”

—Edited by Madeline Hyden

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