Speak softly and carry a big stick
Because of his bat and the way he manages the pitchers, Oklahoma sophomore catcher Brady Lindsly is a big reason the Sooners are 6-0 in Big 12 play.
NORMAN — Asked about catcher Brady Lindsly, Oklahoma pitcher Nathan Wiles’ eyes lit up.
“Brady Lindsly’s a stud, that’s all I can say,” Wiles said. “He’s probably the hottest hitter in America right now. Behind the dish, he’s a solid catcher. The whole thing. He’s all you can ask for behind the plate.”
The No. 19-ranked Sooners enter this weekend’s series at TCU — which starts with a 6:30 p.m. Friday game at Lupton Stadium in Fort Worth — with a perfect 6-0 Big 12 record for the first time in the conference’s 20-plus year history.
Lindsly is a big reason why, as the sophomore has taken the reins for the Sooners both offensively and in the way he manages the pitching staff.
In six conference games, Lindsly is hitting .421 with five doubles and six RBI. Altogether, he’s hitting a team-best .354 with 10 doubles and 20 RBI.
All this coming from a player who couldn’t even win the starting catching job his senior year of high school.
At Keller (Texas) High School, Lindsly was stuck behind Shea Langeliers at catcher, so he played shortstop instead.
“I love infield and I think it’s so much fun, but I”m not nearly as good of infielder as I think I am catching,” Lindsly said.
But still, then-Sooners coach Pete Hughes pursued him as a catcher, though the decision wasn’t without trepidation.
“It was really difficult for me to recruit you when you couldn’t even start as a catcher at your high school,” Lindsly remembers Hughes telling him right as Hughes made the offer.
“I know that doesn’t look great, but once he found out who Shea was and what he does and what I did in the summer catching, it worked out pretty well.”
Langeliers is Baylor’s starting catcher and last weekend the Sooners and Lindsly swept Langeliers’ Bears.
“He may not be the best athlete in the world, but he’s a baseball player,” Sooners coach Skip Johnson said. “You can win baseball games with baseball players — guys that want to play baseball, want to practice hard and understand the game one pitch at a time.”
Lindsly hit .271 as a freshman last year, starting 14 games.
But beginning in the fall, Lindsly’s hitting took a big step forward.
For Lindsly, his biggest improvements have come not through big changes in his mechanics but in adjusting his approach, taking the “focus on the small things.”
“(It’s about) having a plan at the plate — a consistent routine,” Lindsly said. “That’s just really helping me, just trying to stay present in each atbat.”
The Sooners have surged into the national rankings after sweeping consecutive Big 12 series for the first time since 2006.
They’ll face a TCU team that is typically near the top of the Big 12 standings. But the Frogs have lost four in a row, including a three-game sweep at Oklahoma State last weekend.
“It’s definitely highenergy right now,” Lindsly said. “We’re all still trying to stay focused. Things are rolling pretty smoothly right now. We just want to keep it that way.”