Lyles wants to hit

In the Texas League Notebook, we see that Jordan Lyles is getting antsy, what with just pitching, and all.

Lyles, on his toughest adjustment to pro baseball:
"Not hitting. Not playing football, not playing basketball. Just baseball year around."

Corpus manager Wes Clements:
"He's a natural competitor. He wants to hit more than he wants to pitch. He asks me to pinch-hit three or four times a week. I keep telling him I like my job too much. He hit a ball in San Antonio after I just told him, 'If you hit a ball and you think you can get a hit, I don't want you running 200 percent down to first base.' Of course, he did. He ran his butt off. He was coming back to the bench -- he was out, it was a close play -- keep in mind this was in the middle of a complete-game, 104-pitch win against San Antonio, and he was more concerned about the hit that he didn't get than anything else...

..."He doesn't throw 95, but his delivery is a little different. Big, tall kid, and 90 at the knees works pretty good. It works pretty good in the big leagues."