Baylor Baseball: Moving Forward with Life After Kolby Branch

A week ago, head coach Mitch Thompson, even coming off of a tumultuous first year, could lay his head down at night knowing that in the midst of uncertainty, Kolby Branch would be in a Baylor uniform next season as a cornerstone of the rebuild.

Seven days later, things changed, and they changed fast. Branch entered the transfer portal Monday morning seeking a place where he could win more, which ultimately mattered the most to the Freshman All-American.

Jack Mackenzie - SicEm365

Freshman All-American shortstop Kolby Branch entered the transfer portal Monday morning.

Now, Thompson is stuck seemingly back at square one heading into Year Two. It’s been a calendar year since Thompson was hired last June, and on paper, there isn’t anything you can definitively point at and say the program is in a better position.

The roster? It’s a work in progress still.

At least we have Kolby Branch, right? That’s no longer applicable.

NIL? It’s up in the air.

So where do Thompson and his staff go from here? The same route they were always going to go – recruit, develop talent and implement a culture.

The average BU fan craves immediate success, something that’s hard to come by in the ever-changing sport that is college baseball.

And it’s not 2012 anymore. With NIL and the transfer portal seemingly giving bigger programs the opportunity to turn the tides of their teams overnight, it presently puts Baylor at an even greater disadvantage.

Because generally speaking, BU Athletics isn’t pouring money into the baseball program as rivals by the likes of TCU, Texas Tech and Texas are.

“The state of college baseball now versus 20 years ago, the biggest difference, is people’s commitment to it from the top down,” assistant coach Zach Dillon said in an interview with SicEm365 this month. “You have 300 programs across the county that are really working to win, and I’m not sure that was always the case.”

Jack Mackenzie - SicEm365

Head coach Mitch Thompson will have to make some splashes in the transfer portal this summer to be competitive next season.

Regardless, that doesn’t mean it can’t be done at Baylor. It just means Thompson needs time. And whether people like the answer or not, it’s the truth.

If there were someone to make BU relevant again, it would be Thompson. His passion and desire for the university, as well as his understanding of recruiting at a smaller private school with limited resources, are unmatched.

He’ll right the ship. It just depends on how long that process takes. 

My expectation is that by Year Three, the coaching staff should have a roster full of the guys that they recruited, plus a definitive culture. That’s when the expectations for competing in the NCAA Tournament should begin.

Anything before that? Great.

Now, I’ll hit on some questions that I’ve seen across the site over the past couple of days.

What happened and where is Kolby Branch headed off to next?

At the end of May, the coaching staff, and myself, were entirely confident that Kolby would be returning next season.

After Kolby left for Rhode Island to play summer ball, his desires seem to have changed, and murmurs started spreading last week about him potentially leaving.

Whether that was getting a taste of winning again, being influenced by teammates from winning programs or being frustrated by a lack of roster moves by Baylor this offseason? I’m not entirely sure.

Jack Mackenzie - SicEm365

Kolby Branch and summer ball teammate Dakota Jordan are being pushed as a packaged deal in the transfer portal, according to sources.

I was directly told that NIL was not a significant factor in this decision. It came down to Kolby wanting to play at a higher level and win, which is understandable considering he will be draft eligible after next season. But regardless, there’s a missing link somewhere. 

Is there a chance he could come back? Yes. Is it likely? No.

My initial guess for Kolby’s next destination would be he takes a step up to an ACC or SEC school or a future SEC school.

His brother is committed to Oklahoma. Skip Johnson, OU’s head coach is the father of MCC’s new coach, Tyler Johnson. It was my understanding there was mutual respect between Thompson and Johnson to not poach each other’s players.

I never thought Oklahoma would sneakily try and take Kolby away from Baylor. However, if Kolby made the decision on his own to enter the portal, then I don’t see why OU wouldn’t be toward the top of his list.

Remember, even though completely different circumstances and different people were involved, Kyle Nevin was committed to OU before he was ultimately drafted last summer. And there were some rumors Jared McKenzie was going to be playing in Norman as well.

Kolby has summer ball teammates from Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Clemson as well. Obviously, Texas would be an easy answer too.

Something else to note is that his summer ball teammate, Dakota Jordan from MSU, entered the transfer portal Tuesday. Jordan, an SEC All-Freshman honoree, hit .307 with 10 home runs. As of yesterday afternoon, I was hearing the two of them were being packaged together to their next destination.

Oddly enough, Jordan announced he’s staying at Mississippi State this morning. So the Bulldogs could potentially be in play here also. Another interesting note is that Lovejoy’s best player in the 2023 class, Aidan Smith, is committed to MSU.

Does losing Kolby Branch make your confidence in Mitch Thompson falter moving forward and what’s the scholarship situation now like without Branch?

No. Not really. I think it takes a special individual to achieve great success as a freshman on a losing team and say, “Let’s run that back.”

Baylor Athletics

Former Baylor infielder Tre Richardson transferred to TCU last summer and has the Horned Frogs as currently one of four remaining teams in the College World Series.

In 2023, it’s seemingly frowned upon not to take the path of least resistance. Why play for a bad team when you easily could hop in the portal and join a better squad, put up great numbers and be in Omaha next June? It seemed to work out well for former Baylor infielder Tre Richardson. 

Scholarship-wise, I guess one of the very few positives about Kolby leaving is that it opens up a lot of scholarship money and playing time to a bigger name in the transfer portal. Although, it would take a very determined individual to want to walk into this situation.

For better or for worse, the reality is Kolby Branch’s timeline didn’t exactly match Baylor baseball’s timeline.

Next year’s roster outlook?

Dillon said in the same interview with SicEm365 that they want 47-to-50 guys competing for 40 spots this fall. He also mentioned they wanted to add “three to five” impact transfers, which was before Branch and freshman pitcher Blake Rogers left, so that number probably reaches five to seven.

So far, they’ve only made one addition – Jack Little, a rising sophomore infielder from Wichita State.

Jack Mackenzie - SicEm365

Rising junior 3B Hunter Teplanszky is another player that is All-Big 12 caliber. He will be a vital piece on next year’s roster.

Currently, I count six incoming JUCO transfers, 13 freshmen and 25 returning players from the 2023 roster. And the coaching staff feels very confident in the recruiting class they have coming in.

Obviously, all of these projections can change with one transfer, and don’t worry, transfers will come. However, I’m leaning toward another rough year unless the staff brings in at least four reliable arms through the portal.

With or without Kolby Branch, next year’s team won’t be competitive until they add experienced pitching.