Does Texas need Dylan Volantis to start?

Right now, one word to describe Texas’ pitching staff is lavish. That is certainly the case for the potential starters that Texas can throw out on the mound. While the expectation is for Dylan Volantis to start out as the Friday night guy, Texas may not even need him in that role. While it is fun to think about him dominating once a week, his services may be best used in locking down a win whenever and wherever Texas needs one in the season.

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For those that have missed it, Jim Schlossnagle said this to the broadcast crew about the Longhorns’ starting pitchers: “Luke Harrison is the only one in that weekend rotation for sure right now, barring injury”.

This was followed up Ty Harrington mentioning Harrison and Ruger Riojas squared off in an intersquad the day before.

That gives us some real insight to the potential of Riojas returning to the weekend rotation, instead of to a projected bullpen role.

Right now, the 2026 Texas squad has a ton of potential weekend rotation options and pitching coach Max Weiner will need to play around and find the best one as the Longhorns head into conference play.

Potential Starters

LHP – Luke Harrison – No. 53 (guaranteed)
LHP – Dylan Volantis – No. 99
LHP – Haiden Leffew – No. 12
LHP – Kade Bing – No. 11
RHP – Jason Flores – No. 4
RHP – Ruger Riojas – No. 13
RHP – Michael Winter – No. 34
RHP – Sam Cozart – No. 35
RHP – Brett Crossland – No. 88

Riojas stepped into the Sunday role for the Longhorns starting with the LSU game in late March last season. He was flat out dominant in the month of April until he lost significant weight from the flu. Up to that point for the whole season, Riojas was near the top of the leaderboards for Division I pitchers across multiple categories.

-top 10 pitchers in Division I with 8 wins
-top 50 in WHIP with 1.05
-top 69 in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 4.25
-top 75 in earned run average at 2.98

Given the stats included the outings prior to the six starts he accumulated in late March and all of April, it is a safe assumption that he was one of the best starting pitchers in Division I baseball. All while playing against the toughest competition. He would certainly be a fantastic option to trot back onto the mound as a proven starter in 2026.

Bing, another pitcher with starting experience, is a underdog here but it’s still within the realm of possibilities he works his way into a starting role. Last year he opened as the Sunday starter before being moved into a long relief role. He has developed MLB level vertical movement on some of his pitches. While he is likely in a long relief role, Bing is a weekend arm at 98% of Division I schools.

Haiden Leffew entered the fall as one of the frontrunners to win a weekend starting job. While he wasn’t a starter for majority of his outings at Wake Forest, there was clearly a lot of talk about him getting into the weekend rotation for good reason. The fall scrimmages didn’t go perfectly for him, but he is one of the few left handed pitchers Texas has in the potential starter category.

Jason Flores getting the start for the alumni game is certainly noteworthy as well.

This was likely a great chance for Weiner to observe how Flores is preparing for the game in an environment that is as close to a real gameday as you can find. Flores came in and was highly efficient in the alumni game, picking up three outs in nine pitches. With a fastball that is rumored to be touching triple digits, he is potentially going to sit in the high 90s early in games.

Then we get to the trio of freshmen we recently looked at possibly having a big impact in 2026.

Michael Winter is the first name that comes up for the group of potential freshman starters. The dude is big and talented with plenty of juice on the fastball and some nice breaking pitches. Winter will have every opportunity to earn a starting role early on in the season.

Sam Cozart was one of the names that was highly pursued in the MLB draft, and the moment his name showed up on the Texas roster was a massive win for Schlossnagle. As he displayed at the alumni game, he has the ability to consistently throw strikes and go deep into an outing. To see him earn a role in the weekend rotation would be far from surprising.

Lastly, but certainly not least is Brett Crossland. The dude is a stone cold killer on the mound and will not be intimidated. He had the task of going up against some of Texas’ best hitters from 2019 to last season and held his own. For Crossland to look unphased was certainly a positive sign. This is a guy that has been praised by Schlossnagle.

Back to Volantis. As fun as it would be to watch him dominate an opposing team for the first game of a weekend series, he may be more valuable in a role where he can be used in as many as seven innings across an entire week. Volantis himself seems to be perfectly happy in that type of role.

“I’m not a starter, I’m not a reliever, I’m a Longhorn. I’m not worried about anything other than helping the team win.”

Volantis’ makeup is really special. It is not easy for a pitcher to walk into the most stressful situations with runners threatening to score and to just shut them down. He did that time and time again in 2025, and then would go onto a 60-pitch outing.

Ultimately, the biggest luxury with a pitcher like Volantis is getting to use him whenever. Then, Schlossnagle and Weiner can let the abundant starting options handle the heavy lifting.

While it is likely we see Volantis as the starter on Friday early in the season, it may not take long to see him get moved into what can only be described as a luxury role when SEC play and the NCAA Tournament rolls around.

Buckle up, it’s looking like a fun season ahead at the Disch with the arms on the Longhorns roster.