The CBB continues our countdown for the 2010 College Baseball season by checking in on the Top 100 Players in the country. We will be providing one player per day until we reach number 1.
We continue the list today with number 51 in our countdown with Kansas junior RHP TJ Walz. He is from Omaha Nebraska as he attended Skutt Catholic High School. He picked up three letters playing under head coach Keith Englekamp. His senior season saw him go 11-1 with a 1.81 ERA while striking out 136 batters in 81 innings.
Walz made appearances in 16 games during his freshman season with seven starts. He ended up going 4-1 with a 5.00 ERA. One of his victories during the season was against number 9 ranked Nebraska as he went 7.2 innings while allowing six hits and three runs as he returned to his home state. He played the summer of 2008 with the Duluth Huskies of the Northwoods Baseball League. He made nine starts with a record of 1-4 with a 2.34 ERA in nine starts. He ended up striking out 65 batters in 50 innings of work.
Walz had a solid sophomore campaign in 2009 as he went 8-3 with a 4.70 ERA in 14 starts for the Kansas Jayhawks. He recorded 88 strikeouts in 82.1 innings of work. One of his best performances last year was against Arizona State where he pitched 6.1 innings allowing only one earned run while leading them to a 3-2 victory over the strong Sun Devils squad. He was honored after the season was over to Second-Team All-Big 12 while being named First Team All-Academic Big 12. He pitched the summer with the USA Collegiate National Team where he had a 2-0 record with a 2.89 ERA in 18.2 innings of work. He also struck out 22 batters while walking six batters.
You can check out our full Top 100 countdown by clicking here.
1 comment
TJ should be one of the top pitchers in the Big 12 this year. This fall, his fastball was sitting in the 89-92 range with some fairly decent movement. His Curveball is his best pitch at 80-81 and can be quite nasty at times. His slider is at 84-85 and is an average offering and he has been working hard on a changeup this fall and it is developing quite nicely. He is a great kid and very smart on the mound. At 6′, 175 lbs, he could afford to put some weight on his frame but I would guess that might take a few years. He is a quiet bulldog and not afraid to come right at hitters. I worry about his workload and injuries because of his size but that might just be my eyes fooling my brain into thinking so.
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