VYPE Hot 20 Pitchers: No. 19 Andrew Kautz, Mansfield

 

Ace. Stud. Stopper. High school baseball lingo uses such terminology to describe a team’s best pitcher.

You can identify a team’s stud pitcher by the sound of his fastball pounding the catcher’s mitt and the sight of scouts whipping out their radar guns before his first pitch.

It doesn’t matter if he’s a right or a southpaw. A team’s ace pitcher is defined by his ability to rack up wins and strikeouts, while keeping his earned run average below 2.00 – if not 1.00.

Coaches look down the calendar in order to schedule their best pitchers against their best competition. Opposing batters hope to see his name in the box score the game before they play, in hopes he’ll be resting his cannon when it’s their turn to face him.

Most teams are fortunate to have one workhorse pitcher. He’s the name that drives some coaches to schedule one-game playoff series. Others are blessed with a deep rotation that includes two hurlers who can bring it with the best of ’em.

An ace pitcher might lose a game due to a lack of offense, but more times than not he’ll take the mound and carry a team on his back to victory, and hopefully to state.

Here is our take on this seasons’ s top 20 pitchers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area:

*Statistics at presstime.

Today's pick is: 

19. Andrew Kautz

Mansfield

8-1            1.78            48 Ks

Gives Tigers a commanding 1-2 rotation.

Previous pick was:

20. Jordan Stafford

Keller

7-1            1.88            55 Ks

Indians ace hurled a no-hitter in 2009.

 

Register to start your own blog rating and debating your own “best” lists at VYPE.com/DFW.