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Rice Baseball: 2021 MLB Owls update – July 23

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The 2021 MLB season is underway and Rice baseball alums are busy on the mound and at the plate. Here’s the latest from the MLB Owls from this week.

Anthony Rendon – Los Angeles Angels

Rendong traveled with the team to Minnesota this week, but remains on the injured list. He hasn’t appeared in a game for the Halos since July 4.

Through July 23, Rendon is hitting .240 with 19 extra-base hits, 29 walks and 41 strikeouts. His OPS is .712 and he’s collected 34 RBI.

Brock Holt – Texas Rangers

Holt has gotten off to a slow start out of the All-Star break, much like the rest of the Rangers which has tallied just eight runs over its past five games. Holt has one hit over that period in 10 at bats, making three starts and entering twice in the late innings.

Through July 23, Holt is hitting .201 with 11 extra-base hits, 17 walks and 31 strikeouts. His OPS is .574 and he’s collected 15 RBI.

Tyler Duffey – Minnesota Twins

Duffey has made two appearances since the All-Star break. In the first, he picked up his second win of the season, walking two in one inning pitched against the White Sox on Monday. Two days later he entered in the sixth inning against the Sox, surrendering four hits in 1.2 innings with no runs allowed. He’s quietly been one of the more productive relievers on the Twins this season.

Through July 23, Duffey has a 3.38 ERA with a 1.339 WHIP. He’s averaging 7.7 strikeouts per nine innings.

Lucas Luetge – New York Yankees

Luetge has appeared in three games for the Yankees since the All-Star Break with varied results, facing one batter on Sunday, earning a hold on Tuesday and being saddled with a blown save on Thursday.

Through July 23, Luetge has a 3.20 ERA with a 1.222 WHIP. He’s averaging 9.4 strikeouts per nine innings.

J.T. Chargois – Seattle Mariners

Chargois has also seen three games of work since the break. Across those outings, he’s worked 2.2 innings, allowing three hits with one walk and two strikeouts. He did not allow any runs.

Through the July 23, Chargois has a 2.25 ERA with a 0.893 WHIP. He’s averaging 8.7 strikeouts per nine innings.

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CUSA Media Day Roundup: All eyes on the Rice football offense

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After a busy offseason, change was the pivotal word for Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren when speaking about his offense in 2021.

The Rice football defense was one of the most dominant units in Conference USA last year. The Owls climbed all the way up to No. 12 in the nation in scoring defense and blanked a Top 15 team on the road. If any facet of this team deserved to be the focal point of conversation when the 2021 season rolled around, the defense had done everything they conceivably could to put themselves in the spotlight.

But beginning with the first question Rice football head coach Mike Bloomgren was asked during Conference USA Media Days and proceeding to the last, the focus was clear: offense, offense, offense.

To some extent, the defense is a known commodity at this point. They’re going to be good, really good. But minus one notable departure, former linebacker Blaze Alldredge, that unit will look the same. The offense is going to look different.

Read more in the 2021 Rice Football Season Preview, available for purchase now. 150+ pages on Rice football, their 2021 opponents and more.

“I’m not normally very comfortable with change,” Bloomgren admitted in his opening remarks, “but I’m excited about these changes,” he said, referring primarily to the hiring of new offensive coordinator Marques Tuiasosopo. The addition of transfer quarterback Luke McCaffrey fits in that “change” category as well.

Bloomgren didn’t get too far into x’s and o’s, beyond specifying from a play design and scheme standpoint “a lot of it’s the same”, with only so many different combinations of blocks and routes. But how that offense is executed, and who’s executing on those instructions is what’s meant to be differential.

That’s where Luke McCaffrey comes in. Although he wasn’t guaranteed anything beyond a locker and helmet when he arrived, early returns are already positive. Bloomgren was effusive when praising his character and how he carried himself. The on the field production, that matters too.

“That’s a very talented individual that’s been successful on a big stage coming to our program,” Bloomgren said knowingly before getting into how the offense can utilize the run game to take shots downfield. They’ll also have the benefit of returning all five starting offensive linemen, what Bloomgren estimates is probably a first for him in his coaching career.

Add in 10 returning offensive starters overall and you get a delicate mix of familiarity and change. How the coaching staff sorts through the chaos and puts the pieces together will mean all the difference.

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The Roost Podcast | Ep 83 – Realignment and Rice Football with Shehan Jeyarajah

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We take a brief pause in our Conference USA previews to discuss the latest realignment rumors and talk Rice Football with DCTF’s Shehan Jeyarajah.

Shortly before hitting the record button for this week’s podcast, the news broke that Texas and Oklahoma had approached the SEC about joining the conference. Fittingly enough, we’d already scheduled time with Dave Campbell’s Texas Football’s Shehan Jeyarajah. We start off with the pressing news before getting into the upcoming Rice Football season, major storylines across the state of Texas college football and more.

Be sure to stick around for some Conference USA sleepers that Shehan thinks could have big years. You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page. For now, give a listen to Episode 83.

Episode Notes

  • Housekeeping
    • Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on your platform of choice. Every little bit helps.
    • Please support us on Patreon. Be the first to get the inside scoop on what’s going on with Rice football and stick around for even further analysis. That includes our debriefing series on spring football, recruiting news and more.
      Become a Patron!
    • Pick up your copy of the Rice Football or Conference USA Season Preview today or as it’s been called by others, The Bible for Conference USA!
  • Shehan Jeyarajah joins the show — Shehan dives into the latest realignment carousel before sharing his thoughts on the 2021 Rice Football season, including:
    • What to make of the Texas-to-the-SEC news
    • Who’s the third best program in the state of Texas right now?
    • Conference USA storylines and media days
    • His take on the upside of Rice football in 2021
    • Under-the-radar players to watch in Conference USA

Where can you find us?

Download and subscribe to The Roost Podcast on any of your favorite podcast providers. The show is available on iTunes, GooglePlay, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and PodBean. Please consider leaving a review wherever you listen.

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Olympian Ariana Ince, a fitting ambassador of Rice Athletics, on and off the field

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Ariana Ince will represent Rice Athletics and the State of Texas in the Tokyo Olympic Games, the culmination of many years of preparation.

A decade removed from her time as an undergraduate student at Rice University, the former Rice Athletics star Ariana Ince hasn’t forgotten her roots. Even though she’s since moved out west to California and works full time in the Golden State, she’s still very much connected to her time in Houston and her journey that began there so many years ago.

Now 32, Ince spends her days in the ergonomics industry. But that’s where the similarities between her and many of her classmates stop. Ince isn’t like every other young business professional. While others juggle commutes and deadlines, Ince has added another, much more expeditious projectile: the javelin. And she’s taken that passion as far as it can go, earning a spot to represent the United States in the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Her journey began at Rice in 2010 where she won Conference USA Championships in the pole vault. Then one day, during a workout at Herman Park, her focus began to shift. She’d stumbled upon a collection of apples near the bottom of a hill near the auditorium. In a bid to get out of the remainder of the workout, Ince made a bet with her coach that she could hit a chain fence at the top of the hill.

“I don’t remember how far away it was,” Ince recalled, “but it was car enough that [coach] thought I couldn’t do it.”

Ince grabbed an apple and let it fly. It sailed through the air, not only hitting the fence but going straight through it and exploding into a million pieces. And so the switch to javelin began. In the years that followed, she’s continued to hone her craft, spending time as a volunteer coach at Texas A&M and later training at the Olympic Training Center in California.

“Zoom doesn’t have a smell function,” she jokes as she relays the daily rigors of training in conjunction with the more normative challenges of the 9-to-5 life. Whether it’s dashing back and forth from the track to meetings without time to shower or the contrast of teaching others proper posture while contorting her own body to hurl a spear after hours, Ince has remained focused in the midst of it all.

Ince qualified for the Olympics based on her World Rankings score after placing fourth at the US Olympic Trials in late June. That comes months after the Games were delayed by COVID-19 and Ince, like many others, saw their professional athletic aspirations put on pause.

During the limbo, she continued working, spending time with a teammate in Colorado to train before returning to California. Months later, with a spot in the Games secure and a ticket punched to Tokyo, she can hardly process the magnitude. “I think probably I’ll feel a little bit incredulous,” she said, “that like, I actually did it.”

When she steps onto the field in Tokyo later this month, she’ll join Funmi Jimoh as the only two female Rice athletes to represent the United States at the Olympics. Ince says she knows Jimoh and the two have already joked about having meetings as the lone members of the exclusive club. The magnitude of that realization continues to loom large.

That connection, to Jimoh, to Rice and to her hometown of Gonzalez, Texas are things she’ll proudly bring with her on the journey. “Those ‘Come and Take It’ Flags,” she said with a grin, “We’re very proud of that.”

When the Olympic fanfare comes to an end, Ince has no plans to slow down. She’s already charted out a course of international competitions that span the next five years beyond Tokyo. The javelin is still very much in her future, just like it’s been a part of the present. And all the while, she’ll be helping others with their posture when the time comes to her “day job”.

“It makes me feel really balanced,” Ince says of her simultaneous pursuits of athletic and professional life, “I don’t have that same concern like ‘What do I do after sport?’ My whole thought process is life after sport is going to be so easy. All I have to do is go to work? Please, that’s going to be too easy.”

An observer of our zoom call to this point, current Rice Track and Field coach Jim Bevan chimes in with a brief, but a fitting review. “It’s such a treasure to listen to a Rice athlete being interviewed because they bring more to the page than just athletics,” he said. “I think it speaks well to Rice because we do truly feel we’re the home of the true student-athlete.”

Student. Check.

Athlete. Check.

At the risk of mixing metaphors, in so many ways, Ince has knocked both facets of her life out of the park. She admits she’ll probably have to find a new hobby when it does come time to hang up the cleats. But for now, she’s enjoying the ride. Now it’s onto Tokyo, and hopefully, a spot in the Finals.

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Rice Baseball: 2021 MiLB Owls mid-July update

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While several Rice Baseball alums are producing at the highest level, others are working their way up the ladder. Here’s the latest on the MiLB Owls.

Triple-A

Jon Duplantier (Diamondbacks) has been back and forth between AAA and the Major Leagues this season, but most recently made a brief appearance with the AAA club on July 10. He faced one batter. Prior to that outing, his later appearance came on June 13 with the Diamondbacks.

Duplantier’s AAA teammate, Kevin McCanna, began the year on the injured list. He got his first action of the year this month, making three appearances and two starts. He has a 1.50 ERA with six strikeouts and three hits allowed across six innings. Opposing batters are hitting .136 against him thus far.

Jordan Stephens (Indians) has been a reliable closer for his club, earning saves in three of his last six appearances, including a multi-inning save on June 24. He has an ERA of 5.40 on the season, with incredible home/road splits. His home ERA is 0.77 while his road ERA sits at 11.57.

Glenn Otto (Yankees) was promoted from AA to AAA this month. He pitched 4.1 innings in his debut, allowing seven hits and two runs while striking out four. He left the game with the score tied and did not receive a decision, but Scranton did go on to win the game.

On July 3, Tony Cingrani (Cubs) signed a minor league deal with the Cubs after opening the year with the Atlantic League’s Lexington Legends. He’s made two relief appearances so far, allowing one unearned run in 1.2 innings with one hit, one walk and two strikeouts.

At the plate, Tristan Gray (Rays) has tallied multiple hits in four of his last nine games, bumping his batting average up roughly 30 points in the process. He’s hitting .234 this season with 12 extra-base hits. His OPS is .686 and he’s driven in 15.

Double-A

Ford Proctor (Rays) has improved at the plate in each month of the 2021 season. He hit .152 in May and .203 in June before opening July on a blistering pace. He started the month with back-to-back three-hit games, riding his hot bat to a .382 average for the month, raising his season average to .220 and his OPS to .740 (thanks to a 1.170 OPS this month).

More on Rice Baseball: Jose Cruz Jr. adds three from the transfer portal, and he’s not done yet

Ricky Salinas (Indians) has been working to settle into AA after making the jump in mid-May. He’s been back and forth with his consistency, highlighted by his two most recent games. He allowed 10 runs (two earned) in 1.2 innings of work on July 9 before rebounding to work 5.2 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts in his next outing. His AAA Era is 3.89.

Single-A

Matt Canterino (Twins, High-A) hasn’t appeared in a game since the end of May, currently residing on the injured list. Before he stepped off the rubber, Cantero was dealing, striking out 35 of the 68 batters he faced, posting a staggering 17.5 strikeouts per nine innings.

Dane Myers (Tigers, High-A) was placed on the injured list shortly after moving to High-A in June. His last appearance came in June 6. He’s hitting .283 this season in games across Low-A, High-A and AA.

Trei Cruz (Tigers, Low-A) mashed his first home run of his minor league career in July in his game after moving from the Tigers’ High-A to Low-A club. He’s reached based safely in all eight of his games at the Low-A level thus far and holds a .231 average since the move.

Rookie

Evan Kravetz (Reds) moved from Single A to rookie league at the beginning of the month after posting a 1.64 ERA at that level. He’s made two appearances in rookie ball, both starts, racking up seven strikeouts in 4.1 innings pitched without allowing an earned run.

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