The emphasis for UNM head baseball coach Ray Birmingham this year is pitching nothing more, nothing less.
Under Birmingham in the last two seasons, the Lobos had a high-scoring offense. They routinely jacked the ball deep, but, at times, the pitching staff was the team’s Achilles’ heel.
That was especially true when Mountain West Conference Tournament rolled around in May, and UNM faced conference bad boy, TCU.
“I have been impressed that there is a lot more potential in this pitching staff than there has been on a UNM pitching staff in a long time,” Birmingham said. “We led the country in hitting last year and offensively we’re pretty good, but pitching is the key. We had some good pitching performances by a couple of people last year and need a whole staff to be a good pitching (team).”
Birmingham has restocked the Lobos’ pitching staff with four junior-college transfers and five high-school standouts.
One of those junior college transfers is Mike Lachapelle.
Lachapelle, who can throw 90-mph pitches, is from Pima Community College in Tucson, Ariz., and said it’s a great opportunity to pitch at UNM and for coach Birmingham.
“I love it here. The school and the program, it’s great,” Lachapelle said. “(Coach Birmingham) cares. He’s there for you if you ever need anything. He pushes us in school, when we go out into the community and the way we dress. He just tries to build us up as classy gentlemen.”
Gera Sanchez, Richard Olson and Zach Cleveland are the other pitchers who are junior-college transfers.
Birmingham said he stresses recruiting baseball players from New Mexico, even though Lachapelle and Cleveland transferred from Arizona, and Olson is from Australia.
So far, Birmingham has succeeded at placing more ball players on the mound from the Land of Enchantment.
“Oscar Almeida from Rio Grande (High School) — he is starting to really get it and he is a local kid,” Birmingham said. “That is still one of my goals, to develop baseball in the state of New Mexico and use our kids.”
Austin House, a La Cueva High School graduate, and Steven Florez from Las Cruces High School, are the two other native New Mexicans who will join Almeida at UNM. Canadian Zak Miller and El Paso, Texan Bobby Mares are rookie pitchers that connect the Lobo bullpen puzzle.
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Also sprinkled in that mix, Rudy Jaramillo, the lone Lobo who pitched a complete game in a victory over UNLV last year, is back. Jaramillo finished the 2009 season with a 4-2 record and struck out 37 batters.
Jaramillo would like to give the new UNM pitchers more guidance, and he already has by helping them out with their pitch selections.
“I just tell them how I had success last year and how I was mixing speeds,” Jaramillo said. “You know, throwing your change-ups and off-speeds for strikes, and that was how I really had success. So that is what I have been trying to relay to them.”
