BOY WONDERS

ERICH WEISS AND COREY KNEBEL PLAN TO LOOK BACK ON THE 2013 SEASON WITH ZERO  REGRET.

ONE DAY IN THE FUTURE, when his baseball career is over, Erich Weiss will look back. He’ll think of his batting averages, shake his head at the time he went 9-for-11 at the plate in his first collegiate series, and count all the awards.

Corey Knebel will want to reflect back on his time at Texas as well. He too has a list of honors and achievements. Atop the mantle sit the awards for best closer and best freshman pitcher in 2011.

But today isn’t the appropriate time to start looking back. Instead, they need to look forward and focus on one serious task — returning to Omaha, the site of the College World Series, where the Longhorns were two-and-BBQ’d in 2011. The trip was over before it started.

Weiss and Knebel may have one last shot at the title.

IN THE FALL OF 2010, as Texas practiced at Disch-Falk Field, Weiss decided he wasn’t going to waste his

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first year of college ball in the dugout. His father, Gary, had had a cup of coffee with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the early 1980s, and Weiss himself was a state champion in high school, as well as a member of the all-state team and district co-MVP. As he’d tell himself, he was no mere utility player. But the program’s expectations weren’t high initially. Even in the news release announcing his signing, then-hitting coach and recruiting coordinator Tommy Harmon made Weiss sound like a project player, with buzz words like “potential” and “hopefully.”

“[Weiss] needs to get stronger physically,” Harmon said in the statement, “but he has the potential to be a good left-handed hitter. He’s going to be big. He needs to grow into his frame, but he has a strong throwing arm and is hopefully an offensive second baseman.”

A few months later, Weiss not only started at third base — where he’d never played before — but was raking at a prolific rate. He started the season with an .818 effort in four games against Maryland and finished at the top in nearly all categories: batting average, RBI, triples, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. His performance was unexpected, which Weiss — who wasn’t drafted the previous summer — now dubs the “twilight zone.”

“I was caught up in the moment because it was just a dream to come to Texas and be able to play,” he said. “It wasn’t hard, I wasn’t really thinking about anything.”

Weiss was a revelation. He was one of three players who hit .300 or better on a team built around pitching and defense. A lean 6’2”, Weiss opened his freshman season telling reporters he was no power hitter; that he wouldn’t hit home runs. The long ball is still not a hallmark of his game — nine in his career, not bad considering he hits in the cavernous Disch for half his games — but anything that meets Weiss’ bat comes roaring right back.

How Weiss didn’t get caught up in the hype his first year is still a mystery. Head coach Augie Garrido upped the ante, likening him to another precocious hitter, Robin Yount, the Hall of Famer who made his major league debut with the Brewers at age 18.

“I can’t remember ever seeing anything like that,” Garrido said early that season.

Heading into his sophomore season, Weiss placed the pressure on himself to carry the team. And when an early slump bit him, frustration and fear set in — along with the worry his previous season was a fluke. He broke several batting helmets, slamming them into the cubby.

“I had too much pressure to be the guy to hit 1.000 in the first series,” Weiss said. “When that didn’t happen in the first couple of weeks I was hitting .200. It was a learning experience and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to have a repeat year; I thought I had to carry the team.”

So Weiss shifted his focus and instead of trying to cream every pitch he saw, worked on doing the little things that made him successful as a freshman. He practiced better plate vision, notched cheap singles — anything to move runners over and keep outs off the board. The joy returned.

“I said, ‘I need to start having fun out there.’ I began looking forward to the next at-bat instead of [dwelling] on the last one,” he explained. “You’d think freshman year would be a learning experience, but I never had a bad moment. Sophomore year was when I had to battle my way back.”

Weiss finished with a .350 batting average, two points better than his freshman campaign. Some slump.

 COREY KNEBEL doesn’t much care for Hawaii.

Early in Knebel’s freshman season, the coaches were excited about the cocksure righty who lived for competition and could throw fire. But in an early appearance against Hawaii, Knebel’s sizzling fastball — clocked at 97 miles per hour — burned him. In the top of the 15^th inning, Knebel gave up a single, and then uncorked a wild pitch. The base runner moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. Knebel struck out the next batter but another wild pitch, high and behind the batter, gave the Warriors the game.

Some start.

But when you throw 97 miles per hour, you tend to get more than one chance, and that’s how Knebel found himself on the mound against Stanford March 4. Taylor Jungmann had spent his body, throwing 120 pitches. The first game of the series against the No. 9 Cardinal had come down to Texas leading 4-3, with Stanford’s star slugger Brian Ragira at the plate. Instead of trying to gas Ragira, Knebel simply induced a grounder to end the game.

The next day, Knebel pitched two scoreless innings while striking out three for his second save in as many days.

“After Hawaii, I was down. I thought that might be my only chance to pitch at Texas and I didn’t do well,” he said. “But I never thought I wasn’t any good.”

Knebel sailed from there, racking up 19 saves, tying the school record. He was named the freshman pitcher of the year by Collegiate Baseball and joined Weiss on the All-Big 12 first-team, along with the Louisville Slugger All-America team.

He knows the question is coming, but unlike he would with a pitch call he doesn’t like, Knebel doesn’t brush it off.

“Why would the best closer in the nation want to be a starting pitcher?”

It was a topic of contention a year ago, when Knebel butted heads with Garrido and pitching coach Skip Johnson over his role. The sophomore preferred starting. But who would close games if not Knebel?

At one point Knebel told reporters, “I wish they’d make up their mind if I’m going to be a reliever or closer.”

His freshman season was an interesting one. Knebel made 27 appearances, three starts, and even recorded a complete game. His 2.08 ERA and .189 batting average were excellent, but he wasn’t a dominant strike-thrower and struggled with his command. Given six months to mature and reflect, Knebel regrets how he handled the season.

“[Starting] was a challenge I wanted to embrace … I wanted to do more,” he said.” It was stupid. I was young and I questioned the coaches’ authority. I’ll never do that again.”

This season should move forward without controversy. Knebel is back in the bullpen where he belongs, where short appearances allow him to release the monster fastball.

“I think closing is what I’m meant to do,” Knebel said.

A career 1.67 ERA and an average of one strikeout per inning would say, yes, that makes sense.

EARLY SUCCESS earned Weiss and Knebel the nicknames Franchise and Superstar, but the 2010 recruiting class is far from a two-man show. There’s Mark Payton, the steady right fielder, who hit .322 last season. Jacob Felts, the catcher who raised his batting average by 67 points between years 1 and 2, and considered by many the team’s unquestioned leader. Pitcher Nathan Thornhill can start games or come in on relief. Alex Silver will start at first base.

The future looked so bright for this bunch when they got to Omaha ahead of schedule. After the team was eliminated by North Carolina, Garrido admitted in a hallway under TD Ameritrade Stadium he wasn’t expecting the Longhorns to get so far. But he was expecting it last season and they didn’t deliver, failing to reach the postseason for the first time since 1998.

“Before the fall even started we had a meeting and Jacob talked a lot about it — how this can’t happen again while we’re here at Texas,” Weiss said.

Weiss and Knebel are draft-eligible and project to be early picks in June’s MLB Draft. Turning down a big signing bonus for one more season is mostly unprecedented — Cole Green said no to $300,000 after his junior year, and then slipped five rounds. Not to mention, seniors have zero leverage when it comes to negotiating a professional contract.

“This year is likely my last year so I’m going to work as hard as I can,” Knebel said. “One major reason for that is my family — with the money, it’s going to be an easy decision.”

Weiss added, “If there’s a possibility of getting drafted high, I’d look at this season as my last season at Texas. I’m taking every game like it’s my last game.”

Their time at Texas has been historic. Knebel, should he save 13 games, will top Huston Street for No. 1 in the Texas record books. His ERA is top five. Weiss, in the absence of another early slump, can finish with one of the 10 best career batting averages in school history.

“I don’t like to think about that. I just want to get back to Omaha this year,” Weiss said. “Later, I’ll look back on it and think about all the memories. What I’ve done, it hasn’t sunk in — not yet, but I’m sure it will.”

 

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