University of Houston Athletics
Rayner Noble Chat Wrap
1/23/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Jan. 29, 2002
Shasta McCougar (Houston,TX): What are your thoughts about RHP Nathan Mitchell? What are your expectations from No. 24 this year?
Rayner Noble: Being a senior, we look for big things out of him. He has the ability to be very effective with running fastball complimented by a pretty hard breaking ball. He neutralizes left handed hitters witha good change-up. I look for him to be used in a late setup role and possibly close some games.
Scott (Corpus Christi): Im the cousin of Soph. pitcher Gene Flores and would like to know the status on his health and how the new season is going to be?
Rayner Noble: So far, so good. He threw 3 innings of intrasquad two days ago. His velocity was good. Curveball was good with a good changeup. It looked like the old Gene Flores. PASADENA: HOW IS MATT HOOPER DOING AFTER HIS ELBOW SURGERY? IS HIS GOING TO BE A STARTER OR CLOSER? I'M CAN'T WAIT FOR THE SEASON TO START.
Rayner Noble: Matt is coming back pretty strong. He is going to pitch today in intrasquad. He is further along than I expected. He will used in middle relief and more than likely as our closer. houston: who will be the primary starters for you this year
Rayner Noble: Our primary starters will be Brad Sullivan, Gene Flores, Austin Faught and Keith Whatley. They are all experienced. We can interject any one of them in the middle of a Conference series or a middle of the week game.
Jerry (Houston): Good luck on the upcoming season - Cougar baseball is a tremendous source of pride for UH fans.
How is Justin Toone doing? Can you describe his pitching style and what role he is a candidate for (starter? reliever?) Heard he was having arm problems in the fall, what's the status of that?
Thanks and beat Baylor.
Rayner Noble: Justin threw some in the bull pen Sunday. He feels fine today so that is encouraging. We will just take him one bullpen at a time until he can throw some intrasquad. We were banking on him to do some big things, possibly some spot starting but more in the relief corps.
He relieves heavily on a hard sinking fastball. He is a little bit like Hooper. He relies a lot on his fastball.
Larry/Houston: Rayner,
Good luck this year. I was very impressed with Brad Sullivan Saturday in practice as well as Ryan Wagner. Talk a little about Brad and how good you think he can be at UH. Also your early thoughts on Wagner and his role at UH.Rayner Noble: I think Brad Sullivan has chance to be one of the best who has ever come through here. He has worked hard on mastering certain pitches to get left-handed hitters out on a regular basis. It just depends on if he stays here three seasons or through his senior year. He could wind up with a lot of records here.
Ryan Wagner is a guy that has the ability. His fastball ranges from 88 to 92 mph. It is just going to be a matter of time before he starts shining. Coming from a small high school to a program like this is a big leap, but he is coming along well.
Hill: How does this years defense compare to last years and 2000's defense?
Rayner Noble: You are going to see some people in different positions. Hyung Cho will be moving from third base to second base. Jesse Crain will open the season at shortstop. Brett Cooley and Cole Bruce will fight for the job at third base. We will also see some competition at third base and second base from Stuart Musslewhite and Cameron Blair who are both freshmen.
LaserCoog (Houston): Everybody's obviously excited about our young pitching staff. Individually and collectively, how would you rank this group with others you've had in past years? How do they compare at this point to the top staffs in collegiate baseball?
Rayner Noble: This staff is comparable to the one that we had in 1999 and 2000 with Nance, Crowell, MacAdoo and Runser. It depends on Faught and Flores picking up their velocity if they will be draft choice. I compare this staff to that group of guys in 2000.
As for nationally, we are going to run into some opponents that will have 2-3 guys that will be top five round guys. From a pure talent standpoint, there will be some better pitching staffs, talent wise. But that's not to say that our staff can't move into that arena with more experience.
Hill: What newcomer do you expect to have the biggest impact?
Rayner Noble: I think it's two and possibly three-fold. Brett Cooley...from what I have seen so far may have the biggest impact. he will sit in the lineup between Cho and Snyder. That gives us some legitimate juice in the middle of the lineup which we did not have last year. Cole Bruce can be thought of in the same breath. He has a lot of ability and a lot of pop in his bat. We will interject him in the sixth hole, behind Snyder. That's not too bad in terms of power.
Last, Danny Zell, a lefthanded pitcher, could be a very pleasant surprise on the mound. Those are probably the three guys that could have the most impact right off the bat.
danny(dallas): Looking forward to the season, coach how is the pitching staff looking? Are we looking at a two team race the Coogs and Tulane? Good luck this season, can't wait to get down to Houston to take in some games......
Rayner Noble: To say it's going to be a two-team race is a fallacy. This is a balanced league. South Florida is a team that is not getting the respect it deserves. East Carolina has ranked amoing the top five leaders in RPI in recent years. UNC Charlotte is going to put a team on teh field that is going to surprise some folks. You can't discount Southern Miss. I look for a balanced race. I don't think you're going to see one team run away with the Conference USA title. Charles (Houston): Good morning Coach, Cougar Field is a gorgeous facility. Recently UH added indoor batting cages. Are there anymore additions planned in the future? Good luck on the season and keep up the good work. You are making us proud.
Rayner Noble: We are looking at possibly adding a nice scoreboard next season. It's just a matter of financing and sponsorship for teh board. It would be a 60-foot by 40-foot structue that would really be the finishing touch on our facility. It would also have a video center like at the football stadium. If you are interested in helping sponsor the new scoreboard, please let us know and thanks for the support.
Larry/Houston: Coach, Please let our fans in on Matt Farrington and the other signees from November.
Rayner Noble: Matt Farrington is someone who can come in and bolster our left-handed hitting. He will come in and push hard for playing time in the outfield. He can also pitch. He along with Travis Tully will give us some left-handed hitting. We also bolstered our catching by signing Clint DeCuir and Ryan Temko. With the status of Snyder being a good prospect, we needed to add some catchers.
We also signed some pretty good pitchers. Justin Vaclavik is similiar to Kyle Crowell. He is not tall but has a live arm. We also signed Kendall Thurman who the scouts really liked. Both of them have extremely live arms. We took care of our needs in the early signing period.
Hill: And the Top of the lineup? Bourn/Crain
Rayner Noble: Offensively, the top of our lineup will look like Michael Bourn leading off against Right-handed pitching. Agianst lefties, we will move around a bit. Gabe Lucas is a good leadoff against right-handers.
Against Righties, Lucas will be a good two-hole. If the top of the lineup can do some exciting things, it sets the table for the guys with power. That makes it fun for the fans and the head coach.
Moderator: We have time for one more question before Coach Noble needs to leave.
Joe (Houston): Coach, First of all let me just say I'm very excited about this coming season and I want to commend you on the job you've done with the program. Now, my question is : Last year our team was involved in several one run games and, as a result of our youth, came up short in many of them. How much do you think our guys have grown in one year to be able to turn the corner this year?
Rayner Noble: I don't know if it was our youth. I think it had more to do with our lack of pop in our lineup. We did not produce enough runs. Offensively, we were lacking. We brought some guys into the lineup and the guys that are returning are stronger and wiser at the plate. Hopefully, that will alleviate our problems of scoring runs. Moderator: Thank you all for your questions and support of Coach Noble and the baseball team. The Cougar baseball squad starts the season at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 8 when it competes at the Astros College Classic at Enron Field.
Coach Noble will be available for another on-line chat during the week of March 25 so please keep your eyes and ears open for a time and date.
Thanks again to everyone and Coach Noble. Have a great day and we will see you at the ballpark.
