Brian O'Connor locks down important pieces from Diamond Dawg roster

Less than a week into Brian O’Connor’s tenure as Mississippi State’s baseball coach, a whole lot of big things have happened for the 2026 roster.

O’Connor got off the plane in Starkville late Sunday night and the coach admittedly has not slept for more than three or four hours since. The highest priority has been locking down players on campus that they want to keep in maroon and white and also adding critical pieces from the transfer portal.

The coach is already seeing a return on that investment with Friday being his breakthrough day.

Along with landing four players out of the portal on Friday, the coach also had announcements that three promising Bulldog prospects will be returning for another season with another one on Saturday. Slugging 3B Ace Reese and talented freshmen pitchers Charlie Foster, Dane Burns and Ryan McPherson all announced their plans to return for another season.

Quartet of announced returners key to State’s 2026 roster

Reese is the recruiting win of offseason for State and O’Connor as one of the SEC’s best players spurned pursuit from other schools in the conference to stay in Starkville. The first-team All-SEC member made a major impact for the Bulldogs this year after transferring from Houston following his freshman season.

As an everyday starter at third base, Reese batted .352 with a 1.140 OPS, .718 SLG and .422 OBP in 57 games. He had 80 hits, 58 runs scored, 18 doubles, 21 home runs and 66 RBI. Reese finished third in the SEC in SLG, doubles and home runs, fourth in hits, sixth in RBI and eighth in batting average.

On the mound, the return of McPherson, Foster and Burns all bring excitement to Justin Parker’s staff. The two hurlers were among the more promising arms. McPherson pitched in 20 games as a true freshman and shined at times. He was 4-1 with a 4.12 ERA and three saves. Mcpherson threw 39.1 innings, giving up 18 earned runs with 15 walks and 56 strikeouts. Teams batted just .190 against him.

Foster missed a large portion of the season dealing with an injury, but he made his impact when he was playing. State landed Foster late in the recruiting process last summer and he made an immediate contribution pitching in seven games and delivering a 1.59 ERA in 11.1 innings. He gave up just three hits, two earned runs and eight walks while striking out 17. After missing two months of action, he returns for the final month of the season and threw 4.1 innings against Missouri, Texas A&M and Florida State and allowed just one hit with no runs and nine strikeouts.

The 6’5 lefty Burns also showed major promise at times. He threw in 14 games this year with a 4.02 ERA. He pitched in 15.2 innings with 19 strikeouts.

Both McPherson and Burns have been coming off of arm injuries but look to be in good shape heading into year two.

There are others that the coach is likely to push to return but there are decisions to be made. Key hitters Bryce Chance, Gehrig Frei and Noah Sullivan all have the option to return for a final season of eligibility, but all three also have the opportunity to start their pro careers when the draft rolls around in July. All three were present at O’Connor’s announcement on Thursday night.

O’Connor spent at least two days this week sitting down with every member of the baseball team. He spoke with each player about their role on the team and what they saw for the future. Those meetings appear to be paying dividends as Reese, Foster and McPherson especially could have been major players in the transfer portal market.

“Those two days were long days, but they were great days because I got to understand from the guys that wore the uniform what this place means to them,” O’Connor said. “That’s that cultural investment that is so important. It’s in those young men’s blood so it has to start with that in order to be successful.”

In addition to those announcements, State had four transfer portal players join the party. After visiting Thursday night for O’Connor’s introduction to State fans at Dudy Noble Field, Virginia players LHP Tomas Valincius, OF James Nunnallee and UTL Chone James along with Illinois OF Vytas Valincius all committed to the Bulldogs. O’Connor is expecting more announcements in the coming days.