U.T Baseball: Texas Experiencing Unusual Recruiting Troubles

As the calendar changes from May to June, the NCAA Regionals are under way. After nearly four full months of baseball, 64 teams comprise 16 different regional sites. The penultimate goal is to win enough games to be one of the eight teams that are fortunate enough to advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.

The Texas Longhorns are once again part of the field of 64, as the third seed in the Dallas Baptist Regional. But it was a rough year for Augie Garrido's squad - they finished the season with a 30-26 record - and they needed a late push to even make the tournament, winning the Big 12 tournament to claim the conference's automatic bid.

In the first decade of the 21st century, the Longhorns entrenched themselves as one of the premiere college baseball programs in the country. They have made it to Omaha eight times since 2000, winning the National Championship in both 2002 and 2005.

However, they haven't lived up to their recognition in recent years. That sounds weird considering they came within a few outs of making the CWS finals last year, but simply put, they haven't been as good.

They went a combined 57-46 in 2012 and 2013, and even when they made their CWS run last year, they barely managed a winning record in conference games (13-11). They were so bad in 2013 - finishing with a horrendous 7-17 conference record - that they missed out on postseason baseball altogether.

Don't get me wrong, Garrido does a tremendous job of firing his team up when the games matter most. They have a propensity of getting hot at the right time, but recently they have had to rely on momentum and timely plays instead of just flat out beating the opponent like they have done so often in the past.

Surprisingly, it hasn't been from not recruiting well enough. As hard as it is to believe, it's been that the Longhorns have recruited too well, if that's possible.

Consider U.T's recruiting classes from 2010-2012 - specifically 2011 and 2012 - which is right around the time the Horns started to struggle.

In 2010, Michael Foltynewicz chose to forego his scholarship to Texas after he was drafted by the Houston Astros in the first round of the 2010 MLB draft. Foltynewicz was the 19th best high school player in his class according to Perfect Game, and now he is a very promising pitcher in the Atlanta Braves' organization.

But while the Horns undoubtedly missed the dominance that they could have enjoyed with Foltynewicz wearing burnt orange, he is only one player. His absence was recoverable. 

However, the next two recruiting classes that Garrido raked in were an entirely different story.

Garrido coaxed commitments from three of the top 11 prospects - Dylan Bundy, Josh Bell and Blake Swihart in the 2011 class, per Perfect Game, all of which have blossomed into outstanding professional players. 

Bundy was the top overall player in his class and he went on to be the fourth overall pick by the Orioles. Bell was a second round selection by the Pirates, and he is currently the third-ranked prospect in their organization according to MLB.com. Swihart went on to be the consensus best catching prospect in baseball, and he recently made his big league debut with the Red Sox.