Remaining questions for Texas Baseball after the transfer portal's closure

Texas baseball made out like bandits this June, securing a top-four class in the nation while adding multiple high-impact hitters and pitchers, headlined by Notre Dame catcher transfer Carson Tinney.

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Texas lost 17 players to the portal, but just two players who played a large role on the team in 2025 exited. While Will Gasparino and Tommy Farmer IV showed potential, especially defensively, Longhorn fans aren’t all that upset with replacing those two with higher-level bats.

With 10 new additions to the team, nine of which are expected to start or play a key role in the bullpen, the Longhorns have answered many of the questions that IT posed heading into June. Who would replace their three MLB draftees? Try Tinney, Stanford transfer Timo Becerra and Butler transfer Jack Moroknek. Where are the lefties in the bullpen? Head coach Jim Schlossnagle went after three new ones.

Texas can still technically add players from the portal, but with most problems solved on the personnel front, a few lingering questions remain for the Longhorns heading into the 2026 season.

How will this rotation look in the SEC?

Generally, Texas knows how its rotation is going to look. All-American and rising sophomore Dylan Volantis will make the transition from closer to Friday starter, Luke Harrison will return to the Saturday role, Ruger Riojas on Sunday’s and likely Kade Bing for the midweek games.

Though the names are set in stone, how they fit into their roles still remains to be seen. While Volantis is one of the best arms in the nation, he has only started one game in his career and is now being thrust into one of the hardest roles in the nation: starting on Fridays in the SEC. What if he isn’t up for that and needs to transition back into the bullpen?

Riojas also draws a lot of intrigue, as his best ball came when he was working in a flex long-relief role where he could enter games in any inning and give Texas a solid 10 outs in the process. But when Riojas was expected to start, he struggled at times, especially deep into the season. Can he and Volantis not only be plus pitchers, but a strength of the team in the rotation? Generally, IT lean’s yes, but don’t be surprised if there is a shakeup later in the season with Bing, Jason Flores and a new crop of freshmen gunning for starting spots.

Who plays centerfield?

With the losses of Gasparino and Farmer, Texas no longer has a true centerfielder on its roster. Two main options that come to mind when discussing this spot, Seton Hall transfer Aiden Robbins and rising sophomore Jonah Williams, but both players come with their own risks.

Robbins is a speedster with lots of experience playing the outfield in college, but that’s been limited to just 10 games in center, all in 2024. Robbins seems like the early candidate to start there, but the Longhorns would also like to keep Williams in the lineup, who took over a starting spot late in the year and produced a strong season, especially in SEC play.

The problem is that Williams will likely be playing football into the start of the new year, making his body physically weaker and his focus distant from the diamond. While no one is complaining about his ability to be a two-sport star, it would be nice for baseball fans if he could focus on the position full time. He played almost exclusively in left field last year, making the transition even harder for the athlete.

How good will the infield defense be?

Texas had problems at times last season with the way its infield played. Adrian Rodriguez was prone to an error, and in the regional, the group completely collapsed against UTSA, one of the main factors leading to Texas’ early postseason exit.

But as we enter 2026, the best parts of that defense are gone with the graduation of 1B Kimble Schuessler and the likely departure of SS Jalin Flores. Becerra will take over at shortstop for Flores, and while fielding percentage is an often flawed stat, he was prone to errors and misplays in 2025. Not something you want from your shortstop.

At first base, Texas has a big question of who can start there. Georgia State transfer Kaleb Freeman has played all over, but rarely at first. Is he able to make a similar defensive leap at the position like Schuessler did? Wichita State transfer Josh Livingston and Casey Borba each have experience at the position, but you’d rather keep Livingston as a 10th man and Borba at third, where he played well. This singular question packs a ton of mini-asks inside of it, and the answer will take a while to find out.

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The Longhorns have done great to add to this team heading into 2026, making them one of the favorites to contend for another SEC championship. While this team looks a lot more like what Jim Schlossnagle wants from his group, these ideas linger in the minds of his staff and those observing from the outside. If the starting pitching is legit, and fielding assignments are properly figured out, this team should be a juggernaut in its second season in the SEC.