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Which Rice football position group is the best? worst? All-American Q&A

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All-American Level subscribers on Patreon get access to a monthly Q&A with me. This update we’ll rank the Rice football position groups for 2021.

Q. Which Rice football position group are you the most confident in for this year? And if they have a weakness, what is it? How would you rank the positions?

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A. This exercise was really, really hard. A couple of weeks ago it would have been pretty easy to slide quarterback down to the bottom of the list, but with Luke McCaffrey on board, they’re definitely not the position group I’m most worried about? But how far should they climb?

Here’s where I ended up in my best attempt to rank positions in terms of confidence level.

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Rice Baseball: 2021 MiLB Owls end of June 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) made two appearances with the Reno Aces before called back up to the big leagues, where he stayed for a couple of weeks, making four appearances, before being placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained middle finger. He hasn’t made an appearance at either level since. Collectively, Duplantier had a 13.15 ERA with the Diamondbacks before he was sent down. Duplantier’s teammate, Kevin McCanna, remains on the injured list. He has yet to make an appearance this year.

Jordan Stephens (Indians) has been a steady hand out of the pen. He allowed three runs in his first relief outing of the season, rebounding nicely with a 1.42 ERA in his 10 subsequent appearances. He holds a season ERA of 3.38 and is averaging 12.1 strikeouts per nine innings.

At the plate, Tristan Gray (Rays) has been picking up steam. He tallied seven hits and four RBI over a six-game series with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp this week. He’s hitting .212 for the season with five extra-base hits. His OPS is .646 and he’s collected eight RBI.

Double-A

Recently named the No. 3 hottest pitching prospect in baseball by Baseball America, Glen Otto (Yankees). That’s the kind of thing that happens when you have outings like this:

Otto has a 3.96 ERA this season. He’s struck out 83 batters in 52.1 innings pitched and owns a .958 WHIP.

Ford Proctor (Rays) has gotten off to a slow start. He’s hitting .168 this season in 38 games, well below his career .295 average. He’s still found a way to get on base, drawing 28 walks, lifting him to a .333 on-base percentage

More: Check out the most recent MLB Owls Pro Update

Ricky Salinas (Indians) made the jump to Double-A this month. Salinas has made six appearances since the jump. He has a 4.30 ERA in those outings, striking out 36 batters across 29.1 innings.

Single-A

Matt Canterino (Twins) 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.

Evan Kravetz (Reds, High-A) joined his former teammate on the injured list in mid-June. Prior to that, Kravetz had started his season with a 1.64 ERA across six games, striking out 33 batters in 22 innings, averaging 13.5 strikeouts per nine innings. He’s only allowed 10 hits.

More: Check out the most recent summer ball update

Dane Myers (Tigers, Low-A) is on his third team of the season, starting the year in Low-A before making the jump to Double-A and moving back to High-A. Across all three leagues, he’s hitting .283 in 75 plate appearances, collecting six extra-base hits. He has a .867 OPS.

Trei Cruz (Tigers, High-A) has started to get going after a slow start to his pro career. He held a .105 average after his first 17 games but has since raised it to .164, currently riding a four-game hitting streak. His first triple of the season helped jump-start the rally.

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Rice Baseball: 2021 Summer Ball – June update

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Current, former and incoming Rice baseball players are participating in Summer Ball leagues around the country. Here’s the latest on those Owls.

First a quick note on rosters. I’ve tracked down all players that I could find with listed statistics, but I know there are others playing ball this summer. If you come across information on anyone else associated with Rice baseball playing summer ball, please send it my way. You can leave it in the comments or send it to me some other way. Thanks!

Hitters

There’s been no slowing down the pair of Owls currently laying the wood in the Valley Baseball League. Austin Bulman is third in the league with a .386 average across 17 games, only one spot above his teammate, Nathan Becker, who is fourth with a .368 average.

Bulman’s done his damage with the long ball while Becker has churned out more singles (17) than games played (16). Guy Garibay isn’t far behind them in the California League, keeping his average near the .300 mark in the early portions of the season.

Four of the seven Rice hitters have an average of .294 or better through 10+ games. That’s an encouraging development from where things stood last summer when it was essential just Garibay and Becker showing any sort of consistency at the plate.

Hitting Stats

Pitchers

We saw flashes from freshman Matthew Linskey in limited innings with the Owls this spring. He’s kept that going into the summer, coming out of the gates with three impressive showings for the Walnut Creek Crawdads of the California League. He’s allowed one hit over 8.1 innings, a staggering line.

Dalton Wood and Jared Planks also had positive debuts. Apart from Linskey, nobody has worked that many innings in the young season, so there’s plenty of time for each to progress as the season marches on.

Pitching Stats

*All stats as of July 23 taken from league and team websites.

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Rice Baseball: 2021 MLB Owls update – June 26

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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

Rendon had a few important moments at the plate this week after missing a few days the prior week. He riding a modest four-game hitting streak, with a couple of extra-base knocks in the Angels’ weekend series against the Rays. That includes this long ball off Andrew Kittredge.

Through June 26, Rendon is hitting .232 with 15 extra-base hits, 20 walks and 36 strikeouts. His OPS is .665 and he’s collected 33 RBI.

Brock Holt – Texas Rangers

Holt played in a handful of games this week and was productive when given his opportunities, including the below bloop single which would become the game-winning run against the A’s on Wednesday. It was Holt’s first RBI since June 9.

Through June 26, Holt is hitting .231 with nine extra-base hits, 15 walks and 24 strikeouts. His OPS is .648 and he’s collected 12 RBI.

Tyler Duffey – Minnesota Twins

Duffey made two appearances this week, working a 1.2 inning hold on Sunday against the Rangers, his longest out of the season since working two complete innings on May 16 against the A’s. He followed that up a shorter three-batter stint on Tuesday, being credited with 0.2 innings pitched, one strikeout, one hit and a walk.

Through June 26, Duffey has a 3.81 ERA with a 1.376 WHIP. He’s averaging 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings.

Lucas Luetge – New York Yankees

Luetge continues to be one of the more reliable assets in the Yankees’ pen, working a combined 4.0 innings this week over the course of three appearances, allowing just one hit to the 15 batters he faced and no runs.

Through June 26, Luetge has a 2.37 ERA with a 0.947 WHIP. He’s averaging 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings.

J.T. Chargois – Seattle Mariners

Chargois came in to face one batter on two separate occasions this week. He got outs in each instance, stranding a few inherited base runners along the way. He owns a 2.00 ERA in the month of June.

Through June 26, Chargois has a 2.18 ERA with a 0.677 WHIP. He’s averaging 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings.

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Rice Football Recruiting: 2022 WR Braylen Walker commits to Owls

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Joining quarterback AJ Padgett, the 2022 Rice Football recruiting class doubled down this week with a commitment from wideout Braylen Walker.

The 2022 Rice football recruiting class had gotten off to a relatively quiet start early on. The Owls picked up one commitment in April and another in May. Then they doubled the class size in a single week, landing a pair of important targets within the span of a few hours.

2022 Sulphur, Louisiana wide receiver Braylen Walker has committed to the Owls. Walker is the fourth member of the class and the second offensive player in the fold this cycle. His commitment comes the same week as quarterback AJ Padgett. That tandem joins defensive lineman Davion Carter and Chibby Nwajuaku as the initial trio of 2022 commits. He’s the first out-of-state addition for the Owls so far, who signed eight high school seniors from outside of Texas in their 2021 class.

Rice was the first to offer Walker. Being first to pull the trigger isn’t something Rice has been afraid to do over the last several seasons, with early returns being largely positive on that strategy. Walker’s offer and quick commitment comes the same week Rice more or less finalized their 2021 class, bringing in transfer quarterback Luke McCaffrey from Nebraska.

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Standing 5-foot-11 and weighing 170 pounds, Walker is frequently able to use his legs and burst to outrun defenders and get himself into open space. When he does find green grass with the ball in his hands, he’s hard to catch. Combining speed with a quick first step and acceleration makes him a problem for opposing defenses. He’ll be a potential slot candidate for the Owls when he gets to South Main.

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