Transfer portal: Former Notre Dame catcher Carson Tinney commits to Texas
One of the best catchers in college baseball is headed to the Lone Star State. Former Notre Dame backstop Carson Tinney has committed to continue his career at the University of Texas.
He did so with a simple social media message: “Hook ’em,” complete with the horns up emoji.
Tinney was a driving force behind a late-season Fighting Irish push that nearly put Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament field. His bat came alive, and then some, down the stretch. He ultimately put up incredibly gaudy statistics — a .348 batting average, .498 on-base percentage, .753 slugging percentage and a subsequent OPS of 1.251.
Tinney also had 17 home runs and 53 runs batted in, plus 13 doubles and 34 walks. He was much more than what he did in the batter’s box, though; Tinney was one of three finalists for the Buster Posey Award, which is given annually to the best catcher in college baseball. The award takes into account defensive performances as well as offensive production. It’ll be handed out to Tinney, Texas’ Rylan Galvan or Coastal Carolina’s Caden Bodine on June 26.
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Tinney had a fielding percentage of .991 and ranked second among all Irish players with 300 put-outs as a result of being Notre Dame’s primary man behind the plate all season long. He’s a perfect replacement for Galvan in Austin, who was also clearly one of the nation’s best defensive catchers given his standing as another one of the three Buster Posey Award finalists.
For Notre Dame, Tinney is undoubtedly the biggest transfer portal loss of the offseason. The Irish have had movement in and out of the portal since their season ended in the first leg of the ACC Tournament with a tough loss to Boston College. Keeping someone like Tinney around in South Bend would have greatly minimized the sting of losing anyone else, but letting him go was a brutal blow to the overall feel of Notre Dame’s offseason entering the fourth season of the Shawn Stiffler era.
It’s trying times for Stiffler at Notre Dame. Since former Irish head coach Link Jarrett took the program to the College World Series for the third time in history in 2022, Stiffler has failed to qualify Notre Dame for the NCAA Tournament in all three of his years on the job. He won’t have Tinney to lean on in trying to get back to the postseason in 2026.