Max Belyeu is what college baseball is all about

I’m sure Max Belyeu has big league dreams. When kids are in the backyard going through the “tie game, ninth inning, championship on the line” scenario, the setting is usually Major League Baseball.

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So when Belyeu left Texas’ March 28 game at Missouri with a thumb injury that would sideline him almost two months, he could have looked around and said it was time to do everything possible to make that big league dream come true. After two-plus years, 98 games, and over 100 hits at Texas, Belyeu could have poured himself into rehab to get fully ready for the 2025 MLB draft and his professional career. After all, he’s the No. 28 overall prospect in MLB.com’s 2025 draft prospect rankings. The bonus associated with that slot? $3.28 million.

In those same rankings, there are 12 high school players ranked ahead of Belyeu. Those players are likely to skip college baseball.

One of the things I will never forget a coach saying, whether it was Augie Garrido or David Pierce (and Jim Schlossnagle probably agrees with it, too), is that college baseball is unique because you continue to play meaningful games. If you get drafted in the second round by the San Francisco Giants, your next step likely entails playing Single A ball. Instead of playing in front of upwards of 10,000 people in college if you’re in the SEC, you’re playing in front of crowds of maybe a couple of thousand in Fresno, Modesto, Stockton, Lake Elsinore, and Visalia.

That’s not to belittle those places. But it’s to say when you’re in Single A, the focus is development as opposed to winning games. If you’re a second round outfielder, you’re asked to start hitting the curveball and avoid chasing sliders. If you go 4-for-4 but your team loses 10-4, well, in the organization’s eyes you are making progress and doing what’s asked of you in that stage.

College baseball is different. Of course programs sell professional development to recruits as everyone wants to go to the draft on their way to the MLB. Belyeu is no different. But it’s not the sole focus. Coaches are paid to win games. That’s the point of the endeavor, and that’s why it has such a different meaning compared to Minor League Baseball. And coaches pound that into players.

Last night was perfect proof that Belyeu didn’t want this year to be about development, nor did he want the last image of him in burnt orange to be one of him walking off the field in Missouri with a bum hand. He wanted to come back to help a team that had remained atop the SEC without him to the league’s regular season title. He wanted to come back to not only improve his stock, but win baseball games while improving his stock.

Belyeu worked to come back for moments like the top of the ninth on Thursday. With the game tied at four in the ninth and with two runners on, Belyeu stepped to the plate. His outing up to that point had shown what we could have expected: rust. He was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

Then, he showed why he came back. He showed why he’s a first-round hopeful. He showed how much he cares for Texas and wants to win games. Not just in his 0-0 swing, but in his emotions as he rounded first on his three-run go-ahead home run.

the shot heard round the @SEC 💣#HookEm | @BelyeuMax pic.twitter.com/fgX23mXjYU

— Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) May 16, 2025

Belyeu’s 418 foot blast put Texas in position to win the SEC outright. A hitless ninth from Dylan Volantis completed the 7-4 victory that earned the share of the title, while Tennessee’s eventual win over Arkansas gave the Horns the outright regular season crown and the No. 1 seed in the SEC tournament.

There’s no emotion like that in John Thurman Field in Modesto, home of the Nuts of the California League. It’s not something I’ve seen at Round Rock Express games nor at Sugar Land Skeeters games or at San Antonio Missions games. Fun though those games are, the on-field focus for the entities that put those contests on is for player development. Wins and losses aren’t crucial to the overall goal.

They are the goal in college baseball. They were Belyeu’s goal in returning, and the celebration seen on the bases was a small glimpse into the frustration, effort, and passion put in by Belyeu to get back to being able to help his teammates to victory.

Belyeu came to Texas to win games. He returned to Texas in 2025 to win games in burnt orange instead of any other uniform. He returned to the lineup on May 15 to bolster Texas’ chances of winning the SEC and to make a memorable impact on the baseball version of the Red River Shootout.

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I’ve seen important home runs at Texas, but I don’t know if there’s been a home run that exemplifies what college baseball is all about more than Belyeu’s smash in the ninth inning of Thursday’s game.