Fielding its best team since 2010 last season, Texas baseball has reloaded the roster during the monthlong spring transfer window.
Texas has lost marquee players and depth pieces to the portal. The Longhorns are expected to lose four players to the MLB Draft this July — pitcher Jared Spencer, shortstop Jalin Flores, catcher Rylan Galvan and outfielder Max Belyeu. Graduate infielder Kimble Schuessler will also not return, exhausting his college eligibility.
Filling these crucial holes in the lineup, Schlossnagle and his coaching staff have added 10 new players to the roster since the transfer portal opened on June 2.
After two years with Wichita State, infielder Josh Livingston will return to his home state with a year of eligibility left. Earning a starting role for the Shockers in 2025, Livingston was a threat at the plate, ending the season with a slash line of .284/.403/.555 and second place on the AAC home run leader board with 15 home runs. The infielder from Prosper, Texas, is expected to fill Kimble Schuessler’s place at first base.
Texas baseball witnessed one of the best seasons ever for a catcher as Galvan broke out in his third year, becoming one of three finalists for the Buster Posey Award, given to the nation’s best catcher. Despite the large shoes to fill, Schlossnagle picked up the other finalist for the award — Notre Dame’s Carson Tinney.
Tinney will undoubtedly fill the position behind the plate left by Galvan. Making a massive jump from his freshman to sophomore season, Tinney ended his second year with 17 home runs, 53 RBI and a .346 batting average.
Additionally, the Longhorns picked up JUCO transfer junior catcher Andrew Ermis out of nearby Temple College in the wake of sophomore Cole Chamberlain’s entrance to the portal.
After two years of Flores, Texas will see a new shortstop. Schlossnagle and his team picked up another experienced starter, former Stanford shortstop Temo Becerra. Starting two seasons for the Cardinal, Becerra has improved in every single year of his career, culminating in his senior season with a .330 batting average.
Despite not returning any starters from the 2024 squad, Texas will still have an elite outfield, picking up two of the Big East Conference’s best players. A two-year starter, senior outfielder Jack Moroknek led the Butler Bulldogs in every hitting statistic.
The second Big East outfield pick-up on the Longhorns’ roster is former Seton Hall sophomore outfielder Aiden Robbins. Emerging as one of the nation’s best hitters with an eye-popping .422 batting average, Robbins is also a threat defensively, ending his sophomore season with a perfect fielding percentage.
Making his fifth college stop, former Georgia State senior utilityman Kaleb Freeman will end his college career in Austin. Freeman adds versatility to the lineup, with experience in the infield, outfield and behind the plate. The 2025 Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year brings power at the plate, batting .349 and firing 16 home runs and setting Georgia State’s single-season record for doubles at 28.
Adding much-needed depth after a late-season burnout in the pitching rotation, Texas picked up a trio of left-handed pitchers to bolster one of the nation’s best units last season. Former Western Kentucky senior pitcher Cal Higgins, Wake Forest sophomore Haiden Leffew and Mississippi State sophomore Luke Dotson will provide more than enough arm talent to keep the Longhorns afloat.
All 10 of the Longhorns’ portal acquisitions are upperclassmen, which says a lot about Texas baseball’s mindset going into the 2026 season. After squeezing out a 44-win season, Jim Schlossnagle is in a win-now mode with a more talented and experienced roster.
