Sounds like Gabe Starks, Heston Tole, and Max Soliz have entered the portal.
They have.
Matt do you see us getting in the portal to replace some of these needs with players leaving?
Yes.
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Players must enter the portal by Friday to be eligible at their new school next season.
Tole is transferring to Texas.
With our facilities, coaches, and Omaha tradition, we should be very competitive going after needed players, but is there any concern that LSU and others have locked up a lot of top portal players? Is there a bit of a gamble going on with letting our only two returning catchers leave via the portal BEFORE we lock in a starter and backup catcher from the portal? With, I think, no catchers in the recruiting class, could we be left “holding the bag?” I suspect DVH already has some secret committs and doesn’t need me to worry for him, but I am curious how this all works. Do Matt and Richard know something that they can’t release yet?
Arkansas has been recruiting the portal for several weeks. I don’t think anything that has transpired at any of these positions is a surprise.
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Tole to Texas? That’s a high quality program regardless of whether we hate them. Does this mean DVH has better options or does it mean Tole became unhappy? Both? Neither?
Anybody with any info?
Tole didn’t pitch after May 3. So he sat out the last seven weeks of the season basically. I can see someone wanting to move on if they got shelved for nearly two months. Gave up two ER against Misery State in 0.1 innings in that last appearance.
Knew we hadn’t used him, but I’m surprised he ended up at someplace like Texas. I wouldn’t think Texas would be taking our cast-offs. Missouri, yeah. Memphis, yeah. Texas?
Maybe Texas recruited him; he grew up in Wichita Falls before going to IMG. I looked back to see if he pitched against Texas, doesn’t look like it.
Gross!!!
Tole has upside, but he regressed from last season. Teams were hitting him way too easy this season. His .339 batting average against was easily the worst on the team among pitchers who threw double-digit innings. The next closest was Mark Adamiak at .264.
I hope we see some good news soon for the baseball team that’s for sure!
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Have patience kids, this stuff is ridiculous. How spoiled are can you be? Can’t imagine this “treat me like a superstar or I’m leaving” crap when I was I coming up.
Bunch of spoiled brats.
I don’t think that’s what’s happening here for the most part. This is pretty standard end-of-season roster turnover, where in a lot of cases players are told others are being recruited ahead of them.
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You are pure class, Matt. Really appreciate what you do, along with Scottie and RD. You guys are working your butts off to bring us content! Very well done!
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These kids want to play somewhere. Most will not make it professionally. They will go where they can get on the field. Only so many years they can play. I don’t blame them a bit!!
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I think one important factor to remember: no baseball players are on full scholarship, so you cannot compare what happens during a baseball offseason to what happens in football or basketball.
It is a constant stress on coaches to assemble a team around the 11.7-scholarship limitation, but there is also stress on some players and their families. I know of instances where baseball players transferred to their home state and significantly reduced the financial burden on their parents.
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