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Posted
Just now, hobbes2702 said:

Who else would we potentially be in for?

Another pitcher maybe?

Doesn’t the portal not close until the 30th? 

Posted

Robbins RF

Mendoza 2B

Rodriguez CF

Tinney C

Freeman DH

Moroknek LF

Borba 3B

Livingston 1B

Becerra SS

Jonah, Cole, Duplantier in reserve. I saw an article that said Robbins is a potential top 50 pick so may have to hang on there

 

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Posted
1 minute ago, cmontexas said:

Robbins RF

Mendoza 2B

Rodriguez CF

Tinney C

Freeman DH

Moroknek LF

Borba 3B

Livingston 1B

Becerra SS

Jonah, Cole, Duplantier in reserve. I saw an article that said Robbins is a potential top 50 pick so may have to hang on there

 

And this isn’t even including the incoming class which is ranked top 2. 
 

we should be okay 

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Posted (edited)
30 minutes ago, Revolution512 said:

If Borba is playing next year, he dramatically improved 

Arod at 3rd. Jonah to center. Freeman 1st and Livingston/Borba DH platoon

The lineup is pretty modular with several guys having some position flex.

Edited by cmontexas
Posted (edited)
56 minutes ago, Revolution512 said:

If Borba is playing next year, he dramatically improved 

He was one of the few hitters who seemed to get better as the year went on.

.984 OPS with 12 homers for a true sophomore is not too bad.

Players are allowed to improve and my guess is at least 1 of these transfer hitters is going to struggle to adjust and we will need someone else to step up. Just the way it goes.

Edited by Hookem2147
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Posted

Blake Munroe

 

 

It was quite the day for the Longhorns, as they landed two players out of the portal who will immediately make the team better. 

We first saw Texas get a commitment from Stanford’s Temo Becerra. While he can essentially play any infield position, he should start at shortstop. 

It’s worth noting that the staff feels he’s better defensively than UVA’s Eric Becker. 

Offensively Becerra is solid. He has a 90% overall in-zone contact rate, including 94% against fastballs.

The second commit of the day was the biggest, when Notre Dame catcher Carson Tinney announced he would be a Horn. 

Tinney, a Buster Posey Award Semi-Finalist, was the best catcher in the portal. Nearly every program wanted him. Big time arm strength. Only 3 errors all season. Enough said there. 

Offensively, Tinney was top ten in the country for average exit velocity. He went .348 at the plate. He had the No. 1 xWBOA in the country. 

Difference. Maker.

Both of these prospects visited Texas at the same time. Texas rolled out the red carpet and even took both prospects to meet the football staff and let them watch conditioning drills on Friday. 

They were must gets at their positions, especially after missing out on Eric Becker. 

Speaking of Becker, I think Texas was somewhat surprised he decided to return to school. I know I was. They even made one last pitch before his decision. In the end, he just loved UVA too much. 

Texas knew UVA’s Henry Ford was going to Tennessee as of early Saturday morning. 

While the Volunteers may be happy now, I expect Ford to make the jump to the draft and not look back. 

— 

The needs for the Longhorns in the portal have all been met. There’s no spot that don’t feel good about.

Sources have told me that anyone added from here on out is “cherry picking” and just an added bonus.

Many of you have made remarks about adding arms. As I reported over the weekend, Texas feels great about their pitching staff after adding two arms in the portal.

That’s not to say they won’t add any more, but if they do it will be someone elite.

Going back to Tinney and Becerra for a second, I think it’s important to note they were seen as must gets at both catcher and shortstop. 

Make of that what you will. 

Yesterday we saw OF Will Gasparino head for the portal. This came as no surprise. There were rumblings for weeks now that this would most likely happen. 

Honestly, I would have been more shocked if he remained at Texas. 

Incoming freshmen are scheduled to report to Austin around the second week of July. 

I expect the majority of the class to make it in. 

I still believe there’s a 20% chance (at best) that SS Kayson Cunningham ends up at Texas. 

Gavin Fien is the other longshot to end up in burnt orange. 

Schloss and staff will do what they can to try and convince both to attend school instead of signing with a team. 

No portal visitors are scheduled for this week at this time. Originally one prospect was going to make it in, but that host has been cancelled.

Don’t be surprised to see some visits lined up later in the week, however.

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Posted
3 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

He was one of the few hitters who seemed to get better as the year went on.

.984 OPS with 12 homers for a true sophomore is not too bad.

Players are allowed to improve and my guess is at least 1 of these transfer hitters is going to struggle to adjust and we will need someone else to step up. Just the way it goes.

yep.  we've got 4 guys from "mid majors" and you never know how they might adjust to more consistently better pitching.  Borba is somewhat of a known commodity against P4 pitching and performed pretty well late.

Posted
4 hours ago, cmontexas said:

Robbins RF

Mendoza 2B

Rodriguez CF

Tinney C

Freeman DH

Moroknek LF

Borba 3B

Livingston 1B

Becerra SS

Jonah, Cole, Duplantier in reserve. I saw an article that said Robbins is a potential top 50 pick so may have to hang on there

 

This isn’t the first place I’ve seen Arod listed in CF. If he is our starting CF then we have some serious defensive issues 

Posted
9 hours ago, hobbes2702 said:

This isn’t the first place I’ve seen Arod listed in CF. If he is our starting CF then we have some serious defensive issues 

Also I refuse to believe we can’t find a 3B better than Borba. He blows defensively and isn’t a great hitter either 

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Posted
1 hour ago, BrazilHorn said:

Also I refuse to believe we can’t find a 3B better than Borba. He blows defensively and isn’t a great hitter either 

That’s my view of his defense, as well.  At times, he played 3B like he was on skates … and his throws were often erratic, I believe, because he seemed to include one or two double clutching crow hops before cutting loose.

His hitting did seem to come around.  But, that may have been perception based on his mediocrity surrounded by the failure of others.

Posted
2 hours ago, BrazilHorn said:

Also I refuse to believe we can’t find a 3B better than Borba. He blows defensively and isn’t a great hitter either 

You better prepare yourself for disappointment on that side then.  Borba had 5 errors in 70 attempts.

 

2 minutes ago, MuellerHorn said:

image.thumb.png.fb449084b841e64b4551ae74b440af20.png

His OB% was .410 and he slugged .574. Those are both excellent numbers for a college player. 

While he certainly seems limited at 3B, we could do much, much worse than Borba at DH. I'm not concerned if we roll with him at DH.

If yall are concerned about Borba at 3b, then I’d love to hear your opinion of Becera at SS. 

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Posted
2 minutes ago, Texas Fight said:

You better prepare yourself for disappointment on that side then.  Borba had 5 errors in 70 attempts.

 

If yall are concerned about Borba at 3b, then I’d love to hear your opinion of Becera at SS. 

Temu > Flores and it's not even close

Posted
7 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Temu > Flores and it's not even close

I can see you are not one to look at statistics. Did you watch a lot of Stanford games this season? Or last season? I think he was sub .900 in field % in 2024. Get ready.

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Posted (edited)
13 minutes ago, Texas Fight said:

You better prepare yourself for disappointment on that side then.  Borba had 5 errors in 70 attempts.

 

If yall are concerned about Borba at 3b, then I’d love to hear your opinion of Becera at SS. 

Borba is going to be fine. If anything, his decent .951 FLD% should increase next season with an entire off season of work. If he even marginally improves at the plate, he's one of our best all around contributors. Visually, he's a player with high highs and low lows. When one actually drills down into his stats, he's a good contributor. 

Edited by MuellerHorn
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Posted
15 minutes ago, MuellerHorn said:

image.thumb.png.fb449084b841e64b4551ae74b440af20.png

His OB% was .410 and he slugged .574. Those are both excellent numbers for a college player. 

While he certainly seems limited at 3B, we could do much, much worse than Borba at DH. I'm not concerned if we roll with him at DH.

.. which is why I couched my opinion of his hitting in terms of perception.  DH over 3B is my vote.

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Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, Texas Fight said:

I can see you are not one to look at statistics. Did you watch a lot of Stanford games this season? Or last season? I think he was sub .900 in field % in 2024. Get ready.

image.thumb.png.4ec770d8c12a43763ffd72d21ae4e96b.png

I bet he'll significantly improve this season. He won't be playing on a dirt/grass field either. Oh, and he'll actually have adequate lighting...

Fuck, still too soon.

Edited by MuellerHorn
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Posted (edited)
8 minutes ago, Texas Fight said:

I can see you are not one to look at statistics. Did you watch a lot of Stanford games this season? Or last season? I think he was sub .900 in field % in 2024. Get ready.

I can see you are not one to look at statistics either. 

image.thumb.png.1836f313bdaf0243563fdafe270159fa.png

image.thumb.png.b9d4e6a6a933850d68601a00dc7f2487.png

 

 I'll take a .935 fielder over a .970 fielder which is essentially just a 3.5% difference 8 days a week given the above dog shit batting by Flores for 2 of his 3 years here.  Especially considering Flores batted .176 in conference play last year. 

Edited by BurntOrange&White
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Posted
16 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

I can see you are not one to look at statistics either. 

image.thumb.png.1836f313bdaf0243563fdafe270159fa.png

image.thumb.png.b9d4e6a6a933850d68601a00dc7f2487.png

 

 I'll take a .935 fielder over a .970 fielder which is essentially just a 3.5% difference 8 days a week given the above dog shit batting by Flores for 2 of his 3 years here.  Especially considering Flores batted .176 in conference play last year. 

We are talking about fielding right? Or are you not reading these posts?  Borba blows defensively….

Becera is going to have a lot of errors. 

Posted (edited)
11 minutes ago, Texas Fight said:

We are talking about fielding right? Or are you not reading these posts?  Borba blows defensively….

Becera is going to have a lot of errors. 

Cool, he's still better than Flores who absolutely fucking sucked.

 

Borba has a better career fielding percentage than LSU's starting 3rd baseman. Does he blow?

 

Edited by BurntOrange&White
Posted
13 minutes ago, Texas Fight said:

We are talking about fielding right? Or are you not reading these posts?  Borba blows defensively….

Becera is going to have a lot of errors. 

Does he have range? Flores couldn't be charged with errors on balls he couldn't get to.

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Posted (edited)

WKU transfer left-handed power pitcher Cal Higgins gives Texas baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle options (by FCB)

Spoiler

AUSTIN, Texas — If Jim Schlossnagle tinkers with the idea of moving freshman sensation left-handed pitcher Dylan Volantis to the starting rotation for 2026, the Texas baseball coach is going to need some arms out of the bullpen like Western Kentucky left-handed transfer Cal Higgins.

Higgins, who has a power arm at 6-foot-4 and 245 pounds, signed with Texas out of the transfer portal this month after posting a 1.87 ERA and a 3-2 record with six saves last season at WKU.

In 22 appearances for the Hilltoppers, Higgins had 52 strikeouts in 43.1 innings pitched with an opposing batter average of .190.

"They [Texas] kind of had a list of guys that if they entered the portal, they would immediately contact," Higgins said. "And I guess I was on that list because of the kind of season I had, and the room for growth that they saw was really special."

Higgins said as soon as he entered the transfer portal, he heard from Texas pitching coach Max Weiner.

"Coach Max just immediately reached out," Higgins said. "And I kind of had them at the top of my list since the first day he reached out. It made it very difficult for someone to beat them."

Higgins said he bonded with Texas pitchers Luke Harrison, Ruger Riojas and Cody Howard on his visit.

"It was good to chit chat with those guys," Higgins said. "I had a really good time, and that was a huge part of why I felt so comfortable."

"The second I stepped on campus, I just fell in love with everything, not even just like the baseball aspect of it, but just campus itself," Higgins added. "It had an aura to it. You step on campus and you're just like, 'Wow, I'm at the University of Texas, like, this is really, really, really cool.'"

Higgins is from Kearney, Neb., so he took a visit to Nebraska before signing with Texas.

"As a Nebraska kid, you know, they offer a visit, I felt like it was the correct thing to do - and they were great people," Higgins said of his visit to Lincoln.

But Higgins said once he visited Texas, it was a done deal.

"Coach Schlossnagle mentioned that some of the more nerve-wracking things he has to do as the Texas baseball coach is go to meetings with the other head coaches, just because everybody there is kind of a legend in their own field or sport," Higgins said. "So, that'll be really special, just to be able to be friends and colleagues with some really special people, such as Olympians and that kind of stuff."

1. Sounds like he's set to be the closer next season with Volantis seemingly having the Friday starter role locked down

2. This article makes it seem like Harrison and Riojas are both set to return

3. "Higgins is from Kearney, Neb., so he took a visit to Nebraska before signing with Texas." Well, well, well. We best the old rival, again.

Edited by MuellerHorn
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Posted
8 minutes ago, MuellerHorn said:

1. Sounds like he's set to be the closer next season with Volantis seemingly having the Friday starter role locked down

2. This article makes it seem like Harrison and Riojas are both set to return

Both of these updates gruntle me greatly. 

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Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, BurntOrange&White said:

I can see you are not one to look at statistics either. 

image.thumb.png.1836f313bdaf0243563fdafe270159fa.png

image.thumb.png.b9d4e6a6a933850d68601a00dc7f2487.png

 

 I'll take a .935 fielder over a .970 fielder which is essentially just a 3.5% difference 8 days a week given the above dog shit batting by Flores for 2 of his 3 years here.  Especially considering Flores batted .176 in conference play last year. 

I remember the errors Flores COULDN’T make because he had no range

 

ha! But should have scrolled further down as @zlavydra clearly covered and smothered this, unlike Flores could.

Edited by Bottlecap
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Posted

Harrison was a top 5 starting pitcher in SEC play in terms of ERA (3.51). Started all 10 conference weekends and allowed more than 3 earned runs just 1 time.

His stuff may not be top-end but he was pretty much the definition of consistency. Him coming back to set the floor in the rotation would be a big deal. 

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Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, BurntOrange&White said:

 I'll take a .935 fielder over a .970 fielder which is essentially just a 3.5% difference 8 days a week given the above dog shit batting by Flores for 2 of his 3 years here.  Especially considering Flores batted .176 in conference play last year. 

Flores' fielding stats do not reflect his limitations as a fielder. Last season he was a liability, despite not committing that many actual errors.

That is not to say this Stanford guy doesn't also suck in the field, just that Flores' stats don't tell the whole story.

14 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Harrison was a top 5 starting pitcher in SEC play in terms of ERA (3.51). Started all 10 conference weekends and allowed more than 3 earned runs just 1 time.

His stuff may not be top-end but he was pretty much the definition of consistency. Him coming back to set the floor in the rotation would be a big deal. 

Yep. He was a great Saturday/Sunday type guy. A Volantis-Riojas-Harrison rotation would be strong.

Edited by Valmy77
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Posted (edited)
16 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

Flores' fielding stats do not reflect his limitations as a fielder. Last season he was a liability, despite not committing that many actual errors.

That is not to say this Stanford guy doesn't also suck in the field, just that Flores' stats don't tell the whole story.

Yep. He was a great Saturday/Sunday type guy. A Volantis-Riojas-Harrison rotation would be strong.

Friday: Volantis (L)

Saturday: Harrison (L)

Sunday: Riojas (R)

Fourth: Bing (L) or Flores (R)

Long-relief/relief: Grubbs (R), Dotson (L), Burns (R), Saunier (R), Hamilton (R), Howard (R)

Situational: Walker (L)

Closer: Higgins (L)

And this doesn't even factor in a freshman like Cozart that could absolutely contribute. This staff should ball out.

Also, check out how balanced that list is between LHP and RHP. We haven't seen that in years...

Edited by MuellerHorn
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Posted
1 hour ago, MuellerHorn said:

Friday: Volantis (L)

Saturday: Harrison (L)

Sunday: Riojas (R)

Fourth: Bing (L) or Flores (R)

Long-relief/relief: Grubbs (R), Dotson (L), Burns (R), Saunier (R), Hamilton (R), Howard (R)

Situational: Walker (L)

Closer: Higgins (L)

And this doesn't even factor in a freshman like Cozart that could absolutely contribute. This staff should ball out.

Also, check out how balanced that list is between LHP and RHP. We haven't seen that in years...

We should take bets on the first one of those to need TJ surgery before the season starts... 

 

I kid I kid.... but seriously. 

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Posted
4 minutes ago, NorthLoop said:

We should take bets on the first one of those to need TJ surgery before the season starts... 

 

I kid I kid.... but seriously. 

Yeah we probably need a fourth weekend guy.

But if it Volantis the season is probably fucked anyway. Damn it, why doesn't LSU ever lose their ace to Tommy John?

Posted
2 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

Harrison was a top 5 starting pitcher in SEC play in terms of ERA (3.51). Started all 10 conference weekends and allowed more than 3 earned runs just 1 time.

His stuff may not be top-end but he was pretty much the definition of consistency. Him coming back to set the floor in the rotation would be a big deal. 

Amazing, but true. I kept waiting for the 1.2 inning, 7 ER game in which he just couldn't locate, but it didn't happen.  

Posted

I have to tell you, the ongoing hate towards Borba as a hitter is absurd. It was thing in the 2025 thread, game threads, and now here. I get that he took too many called 3rd strikes for some people's liking, but the guy hit pretty fucking well down the stretch and, ultimately, on the year. He could be in store for a massive season based on the the work they're pushing with him regarding a focus on all fields with power. 

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Posted (edited)
35 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

I have to tell you, the ongoing hate towards Borba as a hitter is absurd. It was thing in the 2025 thread, game threads, and now here. I get that he took too many called 3rd strikes for some people's liking, but the guy hit pretty fucking well down the stretch and, ultimately, on the year. He could be in store for a massive season based on the the work they're pushing with him regarding a focus on all fields with power. 

His swing is a little long and yes, was a dead pull hitter. Sure, we all heard Schloss discuss trying to get him to use all fields. That would help. He had a nice finish to the year. However, I don’t think an average bat and average glove is what Schloss has in mind at a place like 3rd base.

He will need to improve a good bit imo. It’s not out of the question, he just needs a big step forward this summer/fall.

Edited by Revolution512
Posted
6 hours ago, Texas Fight said:

You better prepare yourself for disappointment on that side then.  Borba had 5 errors in 70 attempts.

 

If yall are concerned about Borba at 3b, then I’d love to hear your opinion of Becera at SS. 

I think that Borba is limited in terms of range and so a play doesn’t get recorded as an error as he never gets close enough for it to be. 
Just after watching other teams that came into the Disch he just isn’t as good IMO. 

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