New Sooner Softball Transfer - Riley Ludlam - Catcher

[OUBeliever56A]

Riley Ludlam, Catcher from Furman



Career Stats: https://stats.ncaa.org/player/game_by_g ... eq=2308802

Ludlam is a career .309 BA hitter with 25 career HRs.

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From the congratulations posts on her account it looks like she was a teammate of Shannon Saile on the Slice in the Florida Gulf Coast League a few summers ago.

Sometimes, you never know who you might meet and then come back sometime in the future to say hello.

She is a grad transfer it looks like.

This signing solves one of the remaining pieces of the puzzle for the Sooners!

Welcome to the Sooners Riley Ludlam!

[OUBeliever56A]

It does not look like she has thrown out a great deal of runners trying to steal by her % of successful steals against her. My quick math shows she threw out 20 of 161 attempted steals against her. Suffice it to say that she may not be Kinsey Koeltzow as a much needed backup catcher in 2019 to Lynnsie Elam.

It also looks like she played a little SS. I would guess she played SS due to having good hands which translates to playing catcher as well. Maybe she needs help on her throwing technique at catcher which OU should be able to help. One would think she has a decent arm if she played SS as well.

She did have a big Senior year with the bat. Hopefully she can hit a bit as a backup. She should be able to provide some rest to Hansen but I doubt she she starts too much.

[TN Sooner]

I would also expect her to have far fewer base runners to worry about at Oklahoma than at Furman.

I like it - I trust Patty to find someone that will do what she wants to do.

[Bixby_Sooner]

Glad to have her - WELCOME to the family Riley!

Sadly, that all but ends my hope that Jocelyn will jump out of the Portal and land in a Sooner uniform for next season.

[JSULL60]

I wander if Torres still woll get somr time at catcher

[OUBeliever56A]

I wonder if Torres still will get some time at catcher

I wonder that as well. I would think that if Torres wants to catch and can catch well, she would be a better option than Ludlam. Ludlam could be the 3rd catcher/utility player as the last player off the bench if needed. On the news last night, they said she played 7 positions at Furman.

[MontOUfan]

I have to think that Ludlam will definitely be the #2 catcher next year. She brings a pretty good bat and being a grad transfer, hopefully she will provide some maturity as a backup.
Torres has not caught a single game in college I believe. She was the starting shortstop for Arizona State from game one in 2020. Stolen bases are a partial reflection on the catcher, but you also have the number of base runners to consider, the pitcher and pitch selection, and the quality of your infielder making the play on the other end. For example, Furman had 14 stolen bases against them in 1st and 3rd situations last year. OU only had 13 stolen base attempts against them all year (according to how I read the stat sheet).

[TropicalSooner]

I wander if Torres still woll get somr time at catcher

I wouldn't be surprised at all if Torres gets to pull some innings at catcher....at the very least early on in the season....just to knock some rust off. You just never know when the injury bug will hit and for how long. It's comforting to have her as a backup....but she hasn't done this in years and with only two catchers, I hope she gets some time in some early games just to get the 'feel' back---just in case she's needed later on.

[OUBeliever56A]

Right now I expect Torres and Ludlum to catch alot in fall ball.

[Sooner Cal]

I have to think that Ludlam will definitely be the #2 catcher next year. She brings a pretty good bat and being a grad transfer, hopefully she will provide some maturity as a backup.
Torres has not caught a single game in college I believe. She was the starting shortstop for Arizona State from game one in 2020. Stolen bases are a partial reflection on the catcher, but you also have the number of base runners to consider, the pitcher and pitch selection, and the quality of your infielder making the play on the other end. For example, Furman had 14 stolen bases against them in 1st and 3rd situations last year. OU only had 13 stolen base attempts against them all year (according to how I read the stat sheet).

Runners on 1st & 3rd are pretty simple steals. Goodness, trying to read these statistics is simply silly without knowing the situation in each play. Then try say Torres would be better when you've never seen her catch or even know if she wants to seems odd. Some folks seem to think Patty doesn't know what she's doing saying someone she brought in would make a nice #3 as one other poster wrote.

[OUBeliever56A]

I have to think that Ludlam will definitely be the #2 catcher next year. She brings a pretty good bat and being a grad transfer, hopefully she will provide some maturity as a backup.
Torres has not caught a single game in college I believe. She was the starting shortstop for Arizona State from game one in 2020. Stolen bases are a partial reflection on the catcher, but you also have the number of base runners to consider, the pitcher and pitch selection, and the quality of your infielder making the play on the other end. For example, Furman had 14 stolen bases against them in 1st and 3rd situations last year. OU only had 13 stolen base attempts against them all year (according to how I read the stat sheet).

Runners on 1st & 3rd are pretty simple steals. Goodness, trying to read these statistics is simply silly without knowing the situation in each play. Then try say Torres would be better when you've never seen her catch or even know if she wants to seems odd. Some folks seem to think Patty doesn't know what she's doing saying someone she brought in would make a nice #3 as one other poster wrote.

I do hear what you are saying. If I look at the stats presented above. If you take away 14 steals in a 1st and 3rd base situation, Ludlam still only threw out 20 of 147 stolen bases attempted against her in her career. She has thrown out less than 1 of 7 base stealers attempting to steal in her career. I do not how to interpret that stats but to say something has to be improved for her to catch very much at OU. Am I wrong about that? If so, please help me see where I am mis-reading something.

As for my comment about Torres and her catching. I did not know that Torres had ever caught until about 2 weeks ago. I very trusted poster on another board informed me of this fact. If that poster says she can catch and that back in the day that Torres was a very strong catcher, I take him at his word. If the poster is talking about it, something is probably happening behind the scenes. Everything the poster has told me has been spot on over that time. Yes, there will be rust and yes, it will take some work on Torres part. I understand that you really have no reason to trust the poster or me on this. But we will see I guess.

While I like the pickup of Ludlum generally, I see her as insurance against sending 'pick a player that has never caught before in a game' out to catch with the gear on. While she had a great final year at Fordham, She was not that kind of a hitter for the three years prior to that. It would not be too difficult for Torres to throw out runners better than Ludlum and not too difficult for Torres to hit better than Ludlum based upon Torres' hitting over her career vs Ludlam's career numbers.