Baylor Baseball Season Preview: Top Three Returning Players
As Baylor baseball’s Opening Day matchup against Nebraska (Feb. 16) at Globe Life Field approaches, it's time to start breaking down the roster, plus the biggest storylines and questions heading into the 2024 season.
Today, we’ll start by assessing the three best returning players from last year’s roster. In the coming weeks, I’ll highlight the top newcomers, the top wildcards, the most impactful freshmen and the biggest questions surrounding head coach Mitch Thompson’s squad going into Year Two.
Hunter Teplanszky: (48-47 GP/GS, .308 BAVG, .406 OB%, 172 AB, 34 R, 53 H, 19 XBH, 34 RBI, 86 TB, 20 BB, 39 SO)
Junior third baseman Hunter Teplanszky is arguably Baylor’s best returning player heading into the spring. After transferring from TCU last offseason, Teplanszky quickly became the Bears’ second-best bat only behind Freshman All-American Kolby Branch, who has since transferred to Georgia.
Teplanszky held a .308 batting average and was second on the team in runs (34), hits (53), doubles (11), RBIs (34), total bases (86) and on-base percentage (.406) behind Branch. If he takes another step forward offensively, Teplanszky could be an All-Big 12 type player come May.
Defensively, Teplanszky struggled for much of the season at third base. He led the team in errors (13), but after returning from a brief injury stint that forced him to sit out four games in late April, he incurred only a single miscue over his final 13 contests. While fielding improvements were clearly made over the course of last season, it’ll be something to monitor this spring.
Cort Castle: (40-30 GP/GS, .299 BAVG, .364 OB%, 117 AB, 23 R, 35 H, 7 XBH, 18 RBI, 45 TB, 9 BB, 16 SO)
Junior catcher Cort Castle is Baylor’s lone returning player who earned All-Big 12 honors last season. The Waco native has quickly become one of the faces of Thompson’s rebuild.
Castle’s playing time was inconsistent at the start of last year, and it wasn’t until mid-to-late April that he secured a full-time starting role behind the plate. Over the back half of Big 12 play, Castle had nine multi-hit performances and led the team with an impressive .393 batting average during that span.
Castle doesn’t possess the raw power you’d expect from a traditional catcher, but he’s solid defensively and consistently gives you a quality at-bat. Now, as an upperclassman and likely a full-time starter, it will be interesting to see how Castle improves on his promising 2023 campaign.
Gavin Brzozowski: (50-39 GP/GS, .247 BAVG, .367 OB%, 146 AB, 24 R, 36 H, 10 XBH, 20 RBI, 58 TB, 25 BB, 40 SO)
Opposed to more proven commodities in Teplanszky and Castle, saying redshirt sophomore outfielder Gavin Brzozowski is one of the Bears’ best players may be considered a conjecture to some. However, I remain firm in my belief that Brzozowski has one of the higher ceilings on the team and should be much improved this spring.
The 6-foot-1 corner outfielder has a sweet swing from the left side. He flashed some pop last season and was tied for second on the team in home runs (5). Brzozowski ended the year on a tear and was 11-26 at the plate over his final eight games. Hopefully, that was a sign of things to come for the rising redshirt sophomore, but one thing to keep an eye on is Brzozowski’s approach at the dish – he was second on the team in both strikeouts (40) and walks (25) in 2023. If he can cut down on the swings and misses, there’s potential for Brzozowski to have a breakout season.
*All stats from 2023: GP/GS = Games Played/Games Started, BAVG = Batting Average, OB% = On-Base Percaantage, XBH = Extra-Base Hits, RBI = Runs Batted In, TB = Total Bases*