Baylor Baseball: Tremain Enters Portal, Plus Roster & Summer Ball Updates
With newcomers starting to move onto campus and the transfer portal closing this week, I’ll give some brief updates on the roster, as well as some summer ball updates for the nine Bears who ended up playing.
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Thursday, July 13, is the last day to enter the transfer portal officially.
This will be something to keep an eye on over the next couple of days. There are a handful of veteran players from the 2023 roster that were not promised a role on next year’s team and have the option of whether to enter the portal or compete for a 2024 roster spot in the fall.
Over the weekend, OF/RHP Cole Tremain, originally a Steve Rodriguez recruit, became the 11th Baylor player to leave via the portal, according to D1Baseball’s Transfer Tracker.
Tremain started the majority of the games down the stretch in right field after not playing for much of the first half of the year.
The California native finished the season batting .273 with four home runs, 18 RBIs and an on-base percentage of .319.
The portal closing on Thursday does not mean Baylor cannot continue to add players, however.
There’s also potential for late adds in the 2023 recruiting class. But in order to be competitive next season, head coach Mitch Thompson and his staff will need to continue to add pitching depth.
Right now, the roster sits at 45, and the coaching staff wants that number at 47-50 heading into the fall.
Nine Bears opted to play summer ball, which is a good opportunity for players to improve their skill sets and continue to see game-action throughout the offseason.
Cort Castle, who wrapped up his summer early, played with the Waterloo Bucks in the Northwest League and finished with a solid .290 batting average in 69 plate appearances. The Waco Midway product also scored 11 runs and featured a .355 on-base percentage.
OF Gavin Brzozowski and C/DH Zach Mazoch are both playing for the Clinton Lumberkings in Clinton, Iowa.
Brzozowski is tearing the Prospect League up, hitting .390 with a .514 on-base percentage through 24 games. The rising third-year sophomore ended the 2023 regular season on a great note, going 9 for his last 17 with two triples. I’m high on him and expect to take a step forward next year.
Mazoch has seen just 20 at-bats with the Lumberkings and has picked up four hits.
INF Jack Johnson and C Harrison Caley are playing for the Victoria Harbourcats, just outside of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Johnson didn’t see much playing time in 2023 for Baylor but has played in 30 games and racked up 114 at-bats for the Harbourcats. Johnson is hitting .289 and has scored 21 runs with six extra-base hits.
Caley, however, has only seen 20 at-bats across six games and is hitting .350 with limited opportunities.
Three Bears are playing in Kansas — INF Will Pendergrass and 1B/DH John Ceccoli are playing for the Hays Larks and OF/LHP Ethan Calder for the Liberal Bee Jays, but unfortunately, stats cannot be accessed.
INF/OF Casey Sunseri is playing for the Brazos Valley Bombers, but his stats cannot be accessed either.
*Statistics as of July 10
Since I last wrote, Freshman All-American Kolby Branch has found a new home — The University of Georgia.
With LSU pitching coach Wes Johnson leaving to take the head coaching job in Athens, the Bulldogs have brought in a major portal haul, including All-American Joe Redfield (Sam Houston), John Marant (College of Central Florida), Clayton Chadwick (Sam Houston) and Slate Alford (Mississippi State), amongst others.
Freshman C/DH Walker Polk, who entered the portal in late May, committed to Grayson College over the weekend. Freshman INF Jojo Medellin also announced his intentions to go to UTA, where former Baylor assistant Mike Taylor now coaches at.
Also, July 1 officially marked the entrance of BYU, UCF, Cincinnati and Houston into the Big 12. Read what BYU brings into the conference baseball-wise here.