Shuckers pitching keeps team in games

It’s probably not a stretch at this point to say the Biloxi Shuckers’ offense is struggling to find its same magic of 2015. Even with several carryovers from last year’s memorable Southern League runners-up, Biloxi is last in the league in most offensive categories.

While the offense scraps to get back on track, Biloxi’s pitching is a big reason the team enters this week’s five-game home-and-home with Mobile with a 50-49 overall record.

As a staff, Biloxi boasts a 3.77 ERA and 1.26 WHIP — which is second-best in the league. Biloxi’s 784 strikeouts are tied for third in the league, while its 297 walks rank fourth.

Don’t merge, take over

One of the stars of the second half for Biloxi has been Taiwanese left-hander Wei-Chung Wang, who is 5-5 with a 3.61 ERA this season.

In his last 10 games dating back to May 18, Wang is 3-3 with a 3.72 ERA. During that stretch, Wang has had three outings where he’s surrendered three or more earned runs; his other seven starts he surrendered two or fewer runs. In Friday’s 3-2 win at Pensacola, Wang had one of his better performances of the year, tying a career-high with nine strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.

“Wang is continuing to be aggressive and pitch with intensity he didn’t have before,” Shuckers pitching coach Chris Hook said. “Since the second half started, he has turned up his intensity. I think at times he tries to merge into traffic during a game instead of just taking over — which he’s capable of doing. He’s using his pitches effectively in different sequences and has found out that certain pitchers work better for him than others.

“I think the big thing for him is we’ve really encouraged him to be an attacking type of pitcher. Instead of adjusting to the game, he’s making them adjust to him and it has really been successful for him.”

In a groove

Former Mississippi State standout Brandon Woodruff (5-6, 3.65 ERA) continues to impress at the professional ranks.

Woodruff is coming off a second consecutive Southern League Pitcher of the Week honor after striking out nine and hitting a home run in Biloxi’s 1-0 win at Pensacola on Sunday less than 10 days removed from the death of his older brother, Blake, who was killed in an ATV accident.

“We haven’t had a lot of conversations about his personal life. I think what I’ve done for him is respect what he needs,” Hook said before Woodruff’s last start. “He wants to plug in and make everything as normal as possible, and I’m here to do that for him.”

In his last 10 starts, Woodruff is 5-4 with a 2.91 ERA. Over that span, Woodruff has struck out 57 and walked 17 in 52 2/3 innings.

“What we’re really trying to do is get him to plug into his athleticism, trust his athleticism and then go out there and compete like crazy,” Hook said. “That’s probably his biggest strength. Obviously his fastball is a plus-plus fastball. It’s a Big League fastball, but to me I’m most excited about his competitiveness.”

Bumpy road

Former first-round pick Taylor Jungmann has had a rocky road in 2016. After making his MLB debut in 2015, the former Texas Longhorn has been off for much of this season.

After opening the season in Milwaukee (0-4, 9.15 ERA), Jungmann was optioned to Triple-A Colorado Springs (1-3, 9.87) on April 29 and subsequently assigned to Biloxi (0-2, 4.38) on June 30, marking his first time back in Double-A since the 2014 season when the Shuckers were still the Huntsville Stars.

Excluding his first start this season with the Shuckers, when he surrendered four runs in four innings, the 6-foot-6 Jungmann has shown improvement with eight earned runs in 20 2/3 innings. On July 10 at Pensacola, Jungmann struck out a season-high 12 Blue Wahoos. In last week’s start at Pensacola, Jungmann gave up three runs in the first but settled in to pitch four scoreless innings.

“The important part of that game was he got off track but then he found himself again,” Hook said. “If things do go bad, he needs to be able to make his adjustments and move on.”

Hook said Jungmann isn’t big on watching film and instead has to get back out on the mound to hone his craft and work through the hiccups he’s experienced in 2016.

“Part of what makes him really good is what makes it difficult to repeat,” Hook said. “He has a deceptive delivery, a big body and it comes from a different angle where no one else in the big leagues really has except for (Jake) Arrieta with the Cubs. It’s a difficult thing to repeat.

“I think he’s getting an idea of how to do that, but that’s what makes it difficult. And then he has a plus curveball. Those two things, the angle with his fastball where he throws it with plus velocity and movement, and then he has that curveball on top of it. It’s a tough combination.”

This story was originally published July 26, 2016 at 9:50 AM with the headline "Shuckers pitching keeps team in games."