When it comes to Jim Schlossnagle and the transfer portal, you just need to trust the process.

On a surface level, it’s hard to be patient with Texas Baseball at the moment.

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The 2024 season was spectacular in a vacuum: an SEC championship in the first season in the league, with a brand-new head coach, mind you, and a regional host for the first time in three years. Obviously, though, it’s hard to get rid of the sour taste of failure as Texas finished the year 6-9, with a loss in the regional to UTSA, a Texas school with far fewer resources and perceived talent than the Longhorns.

To top that off, the Longhorns continue to be nearly dead silent in the transfer portal. While a multitude of depth pieces and even a former starter, Tommy Farmer IV, have entered the portal, Texas has made just one small move, adding utility player Josh Livingston from Wichita State.

Lots of commits today. Update on the Top 20. pic.twitter.com/emuUkcHdkQ

— 64Analytics (@64Analytics) June 11, 2025

When you look at the top transfer portal classes in the nation right now, the SEC occupies four of the top five and nine of the top twelve classes. And yet, the regular-season champion, who has had extra time to take on players, is nowhere to be found.

Despite all of this, I’m trusting the Jim Schlossnagle process.

Think back to the team that David Pierce trotted out in his final season at Texas. The Longhorns had just four total former transfers making an impact: former TCU outfielder Porter Brown, former USC pitcher Charlie Hurley, former JUCO arm Gage Boehm, and Kimble Schuessler, who had already been a Longhorn for three years at that point. Really, only Boehm and Schuessler were positive players from that group.

Then take a look at what Schlossnagle brought to this team a year later, with just a week to dabble in the portal. Second baseman Ethan Mendoza became the team’s leadoff hitter and most consistent bat. Ruger Riojas and Jared Spencer were two of the team’s three weekend starters, while Thomas Burns and Grayson Saunier were two of the team’s best relievers. That doesn’t even account for the Kade Bings, Jaquae Stewarts, and Ethan Walkers of the world.

Not only that, Schlossnagle had major flips on the recruiting side of things. Dylan Volantis and Adrian Rodriguez, the team’s two best building blocks moving forward, were basically transfers. Volantis was released from his letter of intent from USC and didn’t have a home. Schlossnagle pulled him from out of nowhere to become the best freshman pitcher in the nation. Rodriguez was an A&M flip, an albeit easier acquisition, but someone who wouldn’t have been a Longhorn without Schlossnagle.

Even his 2024 A&M team was stacked with transfers: Hayden Schott, Jackson Appel, Braden Montgomery, Ali Camarillo, Ted Burton, and Travis Chestnut. Six of the team’s top ten hitters came from other schools, with Montgomery and Appel specifically being among the three best Aggies on their national championship runner-up team. That list doesn’t even include top pitchers Evan Aschenbeck, Zane Badmaev, Tanner Jones, and former Longhorn Josh Stewart, all key parts of that run.

Schlossnagle has shown himself to be one of the top five coaches in the country at properly using the transfer portal to his advantage. It’s why his A&M team nearly won a national championship and why Texas was able to win the SEC in its first year.

There is a plan in place right now that fans just won’t know until things materialize. What we do know is that Schlossnagle is going after a top prize. Texas is targeting Virginia transfers Eric Becker and Henry Ford and Maryland’s Chris Hacopian, three of the best hitters on the East Coast in 2025. They won’t be stopping there, but it seems like Texas is first looking to secure the big commitment before letting the dominoes fall on the rest of the roster.

Given the uncertainty of how the draft will shake out, Texas will need to look for help at catcher, shortstop, outfield, and left-handed pitching. Even with these being major needs for Texas, there’s still a chance that Schlossnagle and company are looking deeper—maybe for another first baseman, a weekend starter, or just depth that was lost in this recent cycle.

When it comes down to it, I’m pretty bullish on where this roster will be by the end of June. Schlossnagle’s proven track record, Texas’ investment in the program to return to the top, and an already talented group of returners should make for a great recruiting pitch to any transfer on the market. Now it’s up to the Texas staff to go out and find the right guys who will win any way, any way.