Former Sam Houston State LHP Braden Davis commits to Oklahoma

Former Sam Houston State left-handed pitcher Braden Davis has committed to play for the Oklahoma Sooners out of the NCAA transfer portal. Davis made the announcement via Twitter on Thursday afternoon, adding another quality piece to the pitching staff for head coach Skip Johnson.

Davis made 22 appearances for Sam Houston State last season, all coming out of the bullpen. He recorded an impressive 3.16 ERA over the course of 37 innings pitched. A near 2/1 K/BB ratio will be something the Sooners may slightly want to improve, walking 23 while striking out 51.

However, opponents did have a tough time putting the ball in play against Daivs. Opponents batting average was .213 with just seven extra-base hits coming off their bat. Davis gave up just one home run throughout the entire 2023 season.

Davis now heads to Norman and will look to be a part of an improved Oklahoma squad. A nice pickup for Johnson in the portal.

Transfer portal background information

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.

A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.