As the sun set on the 2024 College Football season, my eyes immediately turned to the horizon in anticipation of the sunrise over the 2025 College Baseball season. But Sean, what about college basketball? Outside of March Madness, I’m not a fan. I grew up a football guy in a small northeast Texas town like most boys grow up football guys in small northeast Texas towns. Sure, I played a little baseball like most boys do but I never learned to appreciate the game until my son had a lengthy “career” that spanned the time between his 5th birthday and the day his team lost to the eventual state champions in the regional semifinals his senior year of high school. Perhaps I’ll have my basketball transition at some point, but I doubt it. For now, I’ll have to suffer the gap between the end of College Football season and the beginning of College Baseball season. The good news? We don’t have long to wait, Texas baseball fans. Opening day is just 21 days away!
No preview of the 2025 Texas Longhorns baseball squad would be complete without mentioning ,arguably, the biggest Head Coaching coup in the history of collegiate athletics. That’s right Aggies. Take that salt and rub it directly into your Schlossnagle wounds, taking care not to confuse them with other wounds the University of Texas athletic programs have given you over the years. Coach Schloss, as he has come to be known as around the 40 Acres, is one of the best college baseball coaches in the land according to science. His 946 career wins rank Top 20 amongst active head coaches. He’s led all three teams he’s coached to the NCAA tournament at least once. Speaking of post seasons, Coach Schloss has taken teams to 18 NCAA Regional appearances, 9 NCAA Super Regionals appearances and 7 trips to Omaha in his 24 years as ahead coach. Schloss “knows ball” as the kids say.
There are a lot of new faces on the 2025 Texas Longhorns roster, but Schloss has a stable of key positional pieces returning for Texas’ inaugural SEC season with 7 of the 9 projected starters. According to D1Baseball, the projected starters for opening day in 2025 will be a strong mix of2024 Texas Longhorns with 3 new faces sprinkled in to fill the gaps left by the exit of 1B Jared Thomas, 2B Dee Kennedy, 3B Peyton Powell, and LF Porter Brown.
· First Base – Left vacant by the exit of Jared Thomas, first base looks to be manned by returner, Kimble Schuessler, in 2025. “Schuess” spent the majority of the 2024 season platooning behind the plate with Rylan Galvan or filling the DH role in the lineup. He hit .343(leading all returners) in 2024 with a .601 SLG%, 10 HRs, 14 doubles, 1 triple and 30 RBI.
· Second Base – Another right side infield position left vacant by the transfer of Dee Kennedy and Cade O’Hara’s move exclusively to the bullpen, Soph transfer, Ethan Mendoza, seems to have locked down the 2 bag in the offseason. Mendoza hit .315 with 3 HRs, 11 doubles and 24RBI during his freshman campaign at Arizona St.
· Short Stop – Returning starter, Jalin Flores, posted a .340 average with 18 HRs, 22 doubles and a team leading 56 RBI in his sophomore campaign. One of the offensive and defensive leaders on the team in 2024, Coach Schloss will need Flores to be solid in 2025.
· Third Base – Newcomer, true freshman Adrian Rodriquez, has caught the attention of the Texas coaching staff and appears to have locked down an opening day start at the hot corner with his exceptional defensive skills. Rodriguez will have big shoes to fill at the plate, replacing Peyton Powell’s .318 average, 9 HRs, 11 doubles, 1 triple and 44 RBI.
· Right Field – One of the biggest recruiting jobs that Coach Schloss has done during his short tenure at Texas was bringing back 2024 Big 12 Player of the Year, Max Belyeu. A dynamic outfielder and vocal leader, Belyeu hit .329 with 18 HRs, 15 doubles, 1 triple and 53 RBI in his sophomore campaign.
· Center Field – Sophomore Will Gasparino manned CF for much of 2024 and quickly became the guy that didn’t mind stealing stuff. With his coveted combination of speed, length and unusual height, “Gaspo” pulled several would be HRs back into the yard in 2024. Looking to improve on his.252 average with 12 HRs, 13 doubles, 1 triple and 47 RBI, the word on the street is that he’s added around 15lbs to his 6ft 6in frame in the offseason.
· Left Field – Sophomore transfer Easton Winfield has the inside track to fill the void left behind by 2 year starter Porter Brown’s departure. Winfield started 53 of 54 games as a freshman, leading UL-Monroe with his .332 batting average, 10 HRs and 18 stolen bases. Named a Perfect Game 2nd Team Freshman All American, Winfield is poised for a big year on the 40 Acres.
· Catcher– After splitting time between DH and catching responsibilities in 2024, Rylan Galvan appears to have nailed down the catching duties for the 2025 campaign. Known for his defense, Galvan’s .994 fielding percentage leads all non-pitching returners. He’ll look to improve upon his .287 average in 2024 that included 8 HRs, 14 doubles and 37 RBI.
· Designated Hitter – Handling the designated hitter duties in 2025, Casey Borba looks to improve upon his freshman campaign that saw him hit .256 with 4 HRs, 7 doubles and 17 RBI. Borba is a defender that can play both corners if needed but has the most experience at third base for the Longhorns.
The return of Coach Troy Tulowitzki to the dugout will be huge for the projected starters, who hit 83 combined HRs in 2024. The 5-time MLB All Star was instrumental in the development of Ivan Melendez who led Texas’ team record breaking HR output in 2022. The 2-time Gold Glove winner also knows a thing or two about defense on the diamond and we all know that “defense wins championships” doesn’t only apply to the gridiron.
The biggest question mark for Texas heading into 2025 is the pitching staff. It’s no secret that the pitching at Texas has declined substantially from the glory days of Augie Garrido’s tenure to the end of the David Pierce era. How quickly Texas can solidify their starting rotation and find role players out of the bullpen will determine how successful the 2025 Texas Longhorns will be. The bad news? There aren’t a lot of experienced pieces returning to the Texas pitching staff in 2025. Only 52% of Texas’ innings pitched in 2024 are on the roster in 2025. Given the struggles on the bump in 2024, maybe that news isn’t as bad as it sounds. The good news? The Arm Farm is in the house at J. Dan Brown Family Player Development Center. Coach Max Weiner, still a coach on the rise, is widely regarded as one of the best pitching coaches in baseball. He’ll have returning experience from Max Grubbs, Ace “Boogie” Whitehead, Luke Harrison, Will Mercer, Andre Duplantier II, Cody Howard, and Easton Tumis. Cade O’Hara makes the move from utility guy in 2024 to the pen in 2025 as well. But the rest of the staff are relatively unknown.
Texas fans might get a glimpse of where the staff is at the Alumni game on Feb 1st, but we likely won’t know what the rotation looks like for opening weekend until the week leading up to the Shriners Baseball Classic in Arlington, beginning on Feb 14th. Long on talent, but short on certainty will have to do for Max Weiner and Texas pitching staff at the start of year one.
No season preview would be complete without a look at the schedule, and the Longhorns have a tough one. Texas starts the season at the Shriner Classic in Arlington that includes games against SEC conference mate, Ole Miss, who won the CWS in 2022 and former Big 12 foe, Oklahoma St, who is ranked #17 in D1 Baseball’s preseason poll. The rest of the non-conference slate is manageable outside of games against Texas Tech and Washington in the Las Vegas Baseball Classic.
Perhaps no schedule is as “SEC Grind”-y as an SEC baseball schedule, though. Texas starts SEC play on the road in Starkville, MS against the #18 Bulldogs, comes home to host the #3 LSU Tigers, is back at home 2 weeks later to host #8 Georgia, hosts preseason #1 Texas A&M three weeks later, road trips to Fayetteville to take on the #5 Razorbacks, hosts #10 Florida and finishes their first SEC slate on the road to play rival, Oklahoma. That’s 5 or 6 Regional/Super Regional type matchups in 10 SEC series. That’s a grind worthy of excitement and apprehension if you’re a Texas baseball fan.
There’s a lot of uncertainty headed into the 2025 season for Texas. What will the pitching rotation look like? Can this team survive the SEC and make it into the postseason? Can the Arm Farm build quality and consistency in Texas pitching with just one offseason? Will there be a brawl at the Disch the weekend of April 25th? One thing is for sure. With the hiring of Jim Schlossnagle and the position players Texas has returning, expectations are high. It’s OmahaHorns or Bust. See ya’ll in Omaha!