Ryan’s Son Will Leave University of Texas

Reid Ryan, son of major league pitcher Nolan Ryan, said that he will leave the University of Texas and listed Pepperdine among schools he is considering attending.

Ryan asked for a release from his baseball scholarship at Texas, saying he needs more playing time to improve. He pitched in only two games in his freshman season with the Longhorns.

A right-hander who gained national attention for pitching an exhibition against his father and the Texas Rangers in spring training, Reid Ryan also listed Blinn Junior College in Brenham, Tex., near his home in Alvin; and Texas Christian University as schools he is considering.

“It’s news to me,” said Pepperdine Coach Andy Lopez of Ryan’s plans. “We spoke with him last year when he was coming out of high school, and at that time he was considering Stanford and Pepperdine. We haven’t heard anything (since) and, to be honest with you, we haven’t received a letter of release.”

Ryan is pitching for the Anchorage Bucks in a summer league in Alaska, where he was battered in his first start, a Father’s Day promotion June 16 in which a Nolan Ryan rookie baseball trading card was given away. Reid Ryan faced six batters that day, giving up four hits, walking one and hitting one. He was charged with five earned runs.

He fared better in a relief appearance a few days later, giving up four hits and an earned run in 2 2/3 innings.

“Right now, I need to pitch,” Ryan told the San Antonio Light. “I felt I needed to get in more innings (than he could at Texas) if I wanted to improve.

“The way they do things at Texas, they’re trying to win as many as possible. If that means using three starters only, that’s what they’re going to do. It’s been successful for them, but it also means that other guys don’t get used.”

“If I want to be one of the guys who gets to pitch, I’ve got to get some innings in.”

He told the Anchorage Times Thursday that he would not make his choice until after the summer.

The elder Ryan, a 300-game winner who has pitched a record seven no-hitters, said he agreed with his son’s decision to move on, adding: “He needs to pitch, and it doesn’t look like he’ll get a chance to at Texas. He’d be better off somewhere else.”

TCU Coach Lance Brown has been a friend of the Ryans since the early 1980s, when the elder Ryan played for the Houston Astros. Brown, a coach at Rice at the the time, pitched batting practice for the Astros. Now, he often pitches batting practice for the Rangers.

The elder Ryan said he was disappointed that Texas Coach Cliff Gustafson did not give Reid more opportunities to pitch.

Gustafson said he was trying to bring Ryan along slowly, adding: “I felt like he did about what we expected and what he was ready to do.”