Kansas University baseball coach Ritch Price used most of his first recruiting class to fill holes so last year’s squad could be competitive.

The strategy worked, and the Jayhawks snapped a streak of five straight losing seasons. They went 35-28 and earned their first trip to the Big 12 Conference postseason tournament in school history.

Price, now in his second year at KU, used a similar approach with his second recruiting class. Unlike 2003 when he had to fill spots all over the field, however, Price primarily had to plug leaks in the pitching staff with his 2004 class.

“I think we’re better in every phase of the game than we were a year ago,” Price said. “Our pitching depth is certainly better. Our velocity is better, and one of our goals was to upgrade the arm strength on our pitching staff. I think we’ve been able to do that.”

Finding talented hurlers was Price’s top priority, but it was also important for him to find pitchers, period. The Jayhawks were in dire need of able bodies, because they returned just four guys who threw a pitch last year. One of those — senior Brandon Johnson — will miss this season after having Tommy John surgery. Sophomore Chris Jones redshirted last year after having elbow surgery, but he will return this season.

Of the 24 new players, 11 will fill spots in the rotation, bullpen and closer roles. A 12th, junior transfer John Fumagalli, will miss the year while recovering from rotator cuff surgery.

“We have two serious setbacks on our pitching staff,” Price said, “but I still think we’re significantly better.”

The new arms, paired with Jones, sophomore Don Czyz and seniors Chris Smart and Ryan Knippschild, are expected to give Kansas its most talented and deepest pitching staff in recent memory.

“This year we have 15 guys and only 12 can travel,” said Knippschild, a hard-throwing lefty who’s expected to be this year’s ace after posting an 8-5 record in 2003. “It’s going to be hard for our coaching staff to pick 12 guys to travel because it’s so much more competitive than last year. We have a lot of possible starters. We have two possible closers.

“Last year we used like five pitchers — maybe five — so we expected our starters to go at least eight innings and hopefully have someone come out of the bullpen.”

Price said he doesn’t expect to have a clear-cut starting rotation for the first month of the season while he tests out the new guys. He only has three certainties right now: junior transfer Clint Schambach will fill in for Johnson as the closer, and Knippschild and Smart will be starters.

Smart earned brownie points from Price for his offseason preparation. The 6-foot-4 right-hander dropped 20 pounds during the summer and returned to Lawrence leaner and better conditioned. Smart attributed his weight loss to healthier eating habits, lots of running and playing basketball while playing summer league baseball in St. Joseph, Mo.

He’s running better, but he’s also throwing better, thanks to the mental toughness he gained from pitching coach Steve Abney last year. Smart said Abney’s mentality has been contagious to the KU pitchers and given the staff a swagger it lacked in previous seasons.

“Mental toughness is his main key,” Smart said. “He’ll run us into the ground, but the thing about it is we know we’re doing it for a reason, because if you can finish one of his workouts you can pitch 10 innings. He just instills in your mind that you can do it. We’ve gotta overachieve.”