More pitching questions?

[OU_Tom]

• So does everyone see Bahl being the go to pitcher like Paige Parker was her freshman year. I think that I do. How is % of time split between May, Bahl, Trautwein and the others?
• What kind of hitter was Bahl in HS? Was she Keilani good? With hitting depth, I will be pleasantly surprised to see her bat more than a handful of times

More questions from Tom

[OUBeliever56A]

• So does everyone see Bahl being the go to pitcher like Paige Parker was her freshman year. I think that I do. How is % of time split between May, Bahl, Trautwein and the others?
• What kind of hitter was Bahl in HS? Was she Keilani good? With hitting depth, I will be pleasantly surprised to see her bat more than a handful of times

More questions from Tom

I will share my thoughts on the pitching for OU on the 24th of January.

[AustinTXSooner]

Will Bahl be the go-to pitcher? Yes, based on what I saw in Fall ball. She absolutely destroyed hitters. Was it the second game before someone even fouled one off? Will she pitch most of the time? No, I don't think so. I think Patty will use 3 starting pitchers as long as they are effective. I might go so far as to say that Bahl might not pitch against teams that Patty thinks we might face in the postseason.

Is Bahl a hitter like Ricketts? Maybe. Her high school career stats are .504 avg, .536 obp, 1.093 slg, 58 hr. She only had 30 walks, but also had only 29 strikeouts in her career. All in 434 plate appearances. That would indicate that she makes great contact and puts the ball in play, with a lot of hits. 98 of her 195 hits were for extra bases (26/14/58). She provides the flexibility to get more players involved.

I think Patty might use Bahl in the field for spot innings early in the season to help get her comfortable in the college environment. When she pitches, I don't think she'll hit right away. Let her concentrate on pitching during the game. As the season goes on, she might start hitting when she pitches. But who knows? Maybe she's ready right away, maybe she doesn't hit well enough in college to supplant a fielder.

[OUBeliever56A]

Will Bahl be the go-to pitcher? Yes, based on what I saw in Fall ball. She absolutely destroyed hitters. Was it the second game before someone even fouled one off? Will she pitch most of the time? No, I don't think so. I think Patty will use 3 starting pitchers as long as they are effective. I might go so far as to say that Bahl might not pitch against teams that Patty thinks we might face in the postseason.

Is Bahl a hitter like Ricketts? Maybe. Her high school career stats are .504 avg, .536 obp, 1.093 slg, 58 hr. She only had 30 walks, but also had only 29 strikeouts in her career. All in 434 plate appearances. That would indicate that she makes great contact and puts the ball in play, with a lot of hits. 98 of her 195 hits were for extra bases (26/14/58). She provides the flexibility to get more players involved.

I think Patty might use Bahl in the field for spot innings early in the season to help get her comfortable in the college environment. When she pitches, I don't think she'll hit right away. Let her concentrate on pitching during the game. As the season goes on, she might start hitting when she pitches. But who knows? Maybe she's ready right away, maybe she doesn't hit well enough in college to supplant a fielder.

I won't say anything about negative about Bahl's HS career either pitching or hitting. I would suggest that the Summer Ball stats would be better to use though than the Nebraska HS stats. The pitching numbers for Bahl in summer ball play are still very impressive. The summer hitting stats are good, but not sure they indicate she will hit over the talented hitters at OU.

I would like Bahl to not think too much about hitting as a freshman. Let her focus on pitching. She was almost untouchable in the fall. She only gave up 3 singles and one triple with no with 0 walks and 32 Ks in 13 innings until the last fall ball game against North Texas. In that game she gave up 3 singles and very uncharacteristic 3 walks in the game that all occurred in one inning. She allowed 3 runs. I will say the home plate umpire did a squeeze job on the strike zone, but that would sound like an excuse.

OU will need Bahl to be very good in the circle in 2022. I would be very happy if she did that and never batted. But she will hit some in all likelihood.

BTW, May and Trautwein will also be very good in the circle in 2022. All three will contribute greatly to the pitching effort by OU.