Practices Underway for Mitch Thompson and Baylor Baseball: 'Our Guys Are Excited'

“Our guys are excited; they believe in themselves, and they believe in their skills and their tools,” head coach Mitch Thompson told the media before Baylor baseball’s first official team practice of the spring. “It's not hard for us to look at ourselves and go, ‘We're better,’ and that's good. That's where you want to keep going. You want to keep getting better, and we need to be better.”

Coming off the heels of back-to-back disappointing seasons in which the Bears had a 42-66 combined record and failed to make the Big 12 Tournament both times, Thompson’s squad is expected to be much improved this spring, and the confidence is palpable amongst the coaching staff and the clubhouse.

 “I’m anxious to see how this year plays out,” Thompson said. “It's kind of been a deal where we've been continuing to work every day trying to improve the program. I think we're to a place now where we'll start to see some of the fruits of those labors and those hours of work.”

As for the players, Thompson’s squad is ecstatic to be back in the ballpark and build off a successful fall ball campaign in which the pitching staff reportedly took major strides forward, and the lineup showcased its depth and versatility.

“We're chomping at the bit,” preseason all-conference outfielder Wesley Jordan (Sr.) said. “We're ready to go. Everybody's energy is high, and the excitement is there.”

Right-handed pitcher Patrick Hail (Sr.) added, “There's no better day than the first day of intrasquad [scrimmages]. Everybody's facing hitters for the first time, and it's almost a culmination of a body of work of 16 weeks in the fall coming together, and it's show time. You don't rise to your competition; we like to say you fall to your level of preparation. We have an extremely high level of confidence and trust in every single guy on the staff.”

Heading into Thompson’s third year at the helm, the Bears are looking for some better fortune injury-wise. Last year, Baylor was ravaged by injuries and lost three key contributors for the season within the first week of the spring: infielder Jack Little (RSo.), as well as outfielders Hunter Simmons (RSr.) and Gavin Brzozowski (RJr.).

“We got it out of our system,” Thompson said of the team’s injury issues. “I've done this for too long. It doesn't happen like that every year, but when you have that many season-ending injuries, even before the season started or right as the season started, that was a blow. … It wasn’t what we were expecting, so it’ll be nice to stay healthier, and we’re planning on that.”

In 2025, the Bears will be a senior-heavy team with a ton of returning experience, something that’s less common in modern college athletics. The lineup and most of the pitching staff are expected to be anchored almost entirely by upperclassmen.

“With how college baseball is now, being older is better,” Jordan said. “With a lot of guys that have shown they can do it at this level, we can go with our heads held high and ready to go.”

“It’s a big deal for us,” Thompson added. “When you start looking around the entire ball club, you’ve got the three outfielders who all started a bunch of games for us last year: [Enzo Apodaca, Ty Johnson and Jordan]. Hunter Simmons started for us the year before. Gavin Brzozowski [is back], Tyriq [Kemp] at short, [Hunter] Teplanszky at third, Cort [Castle] behind the plate. All around the horn, we have veteran guys. To win in college baseball, you need to be old — 18-year-olds don’t fare well against 23-year-olds very often.”

While the Bears return the majority of their starting position players, most of the questions turn toward the pitching staff, which was at the bottom of the conference last season in almost every pitching category. Following the season's conclusion, Thompson parted ways with pitching coach James Leverton and hired Lamar’s Sean Snedeker in his place.

Snedeker helped coach Lamar to the second-lowest ERA (3.79) in the country last season and the sixth-lowest ERA (3.96) in 2023. He has also guided his pitching staff into the top 10 nationally in ERA at all three collegiate stops: Lamar, Oral Roberts and Duke.

“He came in and connected with the pitching staff right off the bat. His years of experience speak for themselves. His knowledge speaks for itself. He connected with each kid and then started working with each guy individually, and they all took off. They made jumps, and they made jumps in their velocities. They made jumps in their ability to throw strikes on multiple pitches,” Thompson said. 

“To be honest with you, they gave our hitters fits all fall to the point where our hitters were frustrated with the whole process, but that was great,” Thompson continued. “Overall, we improved a ton, and I think he’s been a really nice addition to the staff.” 

The improvement on the mound in the fall was noticeable to the position players as well. Even Jordan, who led the team with nine home runs and earned All-Big 12 honors last season, said that the fall was “tough” on the hitters.

“Our pitchers are good,” Jordan said. “With Sned coming in, it feels like a complete 180 of what we had. The guys that are back and the new guys are completely different pitchers, and they’re great. I have a ton of confidence in them.”

Hail, who was at Lamar from 2022 to 2023 before transferring to Baylor, believes reuniting with Snedeker in Waco is “a dream come true.”

“In my first year with him, I was injured the whole year, so I got an inside look into how his mind works and what it takes to be an elite pitcher realistically,” Hail said. “I think it’s been life-changing for some of these guys to get to experience that themselves. I’m really glad that they get to experience what I’ve experienced.”

While the team is confident that they will be much improved, the rest of the conference's coaches don't share that sentiment and voted Baylor second-to-last place in the Preseason Poll. 

Thompson, who isn’t privy to preseason rankings, believes that the team can use it as motivation this spring and pointed to the Arizona State Sun Devils, who were picked last in the conference in football this fall and ended up winning the Big 12 and made the College Football Playoff.

“I haven't ignored it,” Thompson noted. “I said [to the team], ‘Hey, here's what it is. This is what the coaches said.’ That's fine and it is what it is. It's our job to go prove them wrong. The good thing is it doesn’t happen on paper. If you’re No. 1, they don’t hand you the trophy – you still have to go play the games. Ask Arizona State in football; they did okay this year.”

The Bears will open the season on Friday, Feb. 14, at 3 p.m. against Youngstown State at Baylor Ballpark.

More Reading

• Top Questions Surrounding Baylor Baseball Heading Into Mitch Thompson's Third Season