Mississippi State outfielder Michael O'Brien enters NCAA Transfer Portal

Mississippi State outfielder Michael O’Brien has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, On3 has learned. He’s spent the past two seasons with the Bulldogs.

While O’Brien has flashed with his glove, his bat has left a bit to be desired in Starkville. Over the past two seasons, the outfielder has batted a combined .172, accumulating five hits in 29 at-bats. He’s also walked nine times and struck out seven times.

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.

While O’Brien won’t be a part of it, the future is exciting for Mississippi State. The Bulldogs started their offseason with a major move, hiring Virginia’s Brian O’Connor as their next head baseball coach, who previously completed his 21st season in Charlottesville.

O’Connor’s name came up in connection with the Texas A&M opening last year, but he reportedly never spoke with the Aggies and ultimately remained at UVA. During his time with the Cavaliers, he led the program to a College World Series title in 2015 and made seven total trips to Omaha. Now, he’ll head to Mississippi State, where he’ll replace Chris Lemonis.

All told, O’Connor had an 885-370-2 overall record at Virginia, including a 362-234-1 mark in ACC play. He was the conference’s Coach of the Year five times and helped the Cavaliers to two ACC titles.

UVA was O’Connor’s first head coaching opportunity after he served as an assistant at Notre Dame from 1995-2003. That came after he was the pitching coach at his alma mater, Creighton, from 1993-95 after a brief stint in the Philadelphia Phillies’ minor league system.

O’Connor will now serve as the full-time replacement for Chris Lemonis, who was fired after a 7-14 start to SEC play. Mississippi State athletics director Zac Selmon announced the decision following a losing weekend at Auburn, and he informed the Bulldogs in a team meeting.

Justin Parker took over as the interim head coach and helped stabilize things as Mississippi State won nine of its next 10 games, including eight in SEC play, to finish 15-15 in league action. After falling to Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament, Mississippi State still made it to the NCAA Tournament with a 34-21 overall record. The Bulldogs headed to the Tallahassee Regional, where they eventually saw their season come to a close.

— On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this article.