Baylor Baseball: Transfer Portal Recap, Plus Roster Updates Heading into the Fall

Now that Baylor’s roster is almost entirely complete heading into the fall, let’s take a look at the transfer portal haul Mitch Thompson brought in in his first full offseason as head coach of the BU baseball program.

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Enzo Apodaca, a CF from Gonzaga, was Baylor’s best offseason addition.

The Bears transfer portal additions included Jack Little (INF, Wichita State), Patrick Hail (RHP, Lamar), Mason Greer (1B/DH, Missouri State), Ryan Martinez (SS, San Francisco), Enzo Apodaca (OF, Gonzaga) and Kade Fletcher (OF/1B/C, Oklahoma).

The most obvious observation from the portal additions is that five of the six incoming transfers are position players. 

Little, a rising sophomore from Wichita State, was on the All-AAC freshman team and can play multiple spots in the infield. Greer, a slugging first baseman, struggled at Missouri State in 2023 but had solid power numbers in 2021 and 2022.

The jewel of the transfer class is Apodaca, however. The speedy center fielder from Gonzaga is a former Freshman All-American and was an All-Star this year in the Cape Cod League, one of the premier summer ball leagues in the country.

Even after losing Freshman All-American Kolby Branch to the portal in mid-June, the offense will be the strength of the team next season.

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Rising redshirt sophomore OF Gavin Brzozowski is slated to make a big impact on next year’s team.

One of the key themes for next year’s squad will be versatility. There’s a lot of mixing and matching Thompson can do with this roster.

MCC transfer Ty Johnson will arguably be one of Baylor’s best players from the onset and has the ability to play 2B and CF. Cole Posey, a returnee from last year’s team, can also play 2B and pretty much any position in the outfield.

Greer and Will Pendergrass, a returner from last year’s team who missed most of the season with an injury, can play both corner infield positions.

Junior College additions SS Tyriq Kemp and OF Wesley Jordan have consistent bats with pop that excite the coaching staff.

Other returners slated to make big impacts include C Cort Castle, INF Hunter Teplanszky, OF/DH Hunter Simmons and OF Gavin Brzozowski.

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Junior 3B Hunter Teplanszky will be one of Baylor’s best hitters next season.

As for the freshmen, it’s tough to anticipate any of them making significant impacts early, but if I had to bet on one or two, I’d put money on C Brayden Buchanan from Austin Vandergrift or C/INF Dillon Lester from Deer Park.

This would be my early projected lineup for 2024:

Apodaca (CF), Johnson (2B), Teplanszky (3B), Jordan (LF), Brzozowski (RF), Simmons (DH), Pendergrass/Greer (1B), Castle (C), Kemp (SS). *Posey (UTL)

A top of the order of Apodaca, Johnson and Teplanszky will be one of the best in the Big 12 – that’s how talented those guys are.

I’ve reiterated throughout the summer that I thought Baylor needed to add more than a few experienced arms to make me feel better about next year’s squad.

After only one addition in the portal, Patrick Hail a 6-foot-5 right-hander from Lamar, there’s not much that gives me confidence pitching-wise.

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Baylor only added one pitcher in the transfer portal this offseason.

The returning players on the roster that I see as possible starters would be Mason Marriott, Andrew Petrowski or Collin McKinney.

Marriott had a 7.52 ERA last year across 58.2 innings pitched, Petrowski allowed just two earned runs over eight innings before being lost for the year with an injury and McKinney was recovering from Tommy John during the 2023 season and is yet to throw a collegiate pitch.

There are some experienced arms in the backend of the bullpen (Grant Golomb & Cole Stasio) and some incoming JUCO pitchers (Sam Crain, Blinn & Will Glatch IV, MCC) that should help matters, but overall, Thompson is going to have to rely on the freshmen a ton.

I think two things can be true in this case – there have definitely been some swings and misses on pitchers in the portal; however, Thompson and assistant coach Zach Dillon know their personnel better than I do and they feel really good about the incoming young pitchers.

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Mitch Thompson will have to rely on freshman pitchers this season.

And while I remain very skeptical of relying heavily on freshmen arms, I’d prefer the coaching staff throw the young guys into the fire and see what they are made of, as opposed to keeping around older guys that hit their ceilings and were recruited by Steve Rodriguez and the former staff.

This is not an overnight rebuild, but there’s a real concern in my mind that if things don’t click or injuries pile up again, the 2024 pitching staff could potentially be worse than the 2023 staff, which held the seventh-highest team ERA (6.36) among Power Five schools.

Heading into fall ball, the roster currently sits at 51. There are 26 returners, 13 incoming freshmen, six incoming JUCO players and six portal additions.

That number must be trimmed down to 40 by the start of the season.

Baylor is likely done in the portal. However, I would not be surprised if a couple of BU players who entered the portal and never found a landing place tried out again to make the team.

For example, Drew Leach, originally a Rodriguez recruit in the class of 2020, appeared in four games in 2021 and missed the 2022 season due to injury. He was cut last fall but is trying out again to make the team. With Baylor’s lack of pitching depth, I expect Leach to have a solid shot at making the final roster.