We all recognize that Texas AM had one of the most formidable lineups in the country. Obviously it was good enough to make it to the Championship series in Omaha. I thought I would look through that starting lineup and see exactly where these players came from, and how did Sloss build a championship caliber roster. I specifically looked at the hitting lineup. There were 11 players that took the bulk of the at bats this year for Texas AM. I will list them and give a brief statement about where they came from.
1. Grahovac : Grahovac was a freshman that was recruited out of California. He was the number 10 OF in the country as a high school senior and one of the top 100 players according to Perfect Game (#55). This is a freshman that was brought in expecting to make an immediate impact. Ole Miss has some history recruiting players of this caliber, the only problem is that the Ole Miss players tend to take their draft bonus and never show up on campus. Kessinger was an exception. Copper Pratt comes to mind along with two top level pitchers that were signed in the 2023 class. All three players signed MLB contracts. Texas AM recruits all made it on campus.
2. Appel: Ivy League transfer.
3. Burton: Michigan Transfer
4. Bell: Immediate impact Freshman
5. Camanillo: Another transfer portal player. This time from UC Northridge
6. LaViolette: Sophomore, but as a Freshman he was a high impact starter
7) Chestnutt: Juco transfer
8) Sorrell: Immediate Impact Freshman
9) Schott: Ivy League transfer
10) Kent: Sophomore, but was an immediate impact freshman with over 20 starts his freshman season
11) Montgomery: Stanford Transfer
Looking at this line up, it appears that Sloss's championship caliber roster was made up mostly of high school players that were good enough to make immediate impact as Freshmen, and the rest of the lineup were carefully selected transfers. Two of the transfers were from Power 5 programs. Three of the transfers were from Ivy League and low D1 programs, and the last was a Juco player.
The point of this exercise was to see that, it doesn't take four/five years of quality recruiting to build a contending program. BIanco and staff just need to make sure they are being spot on with the Transfer Portal players that they are evaluating, and they need to get a couple of top 50 high school guys to make it onto campus and work out. They can fix a lineup quickly if they are smart about things.
1. Grahovac : Grahovac was a freshman that was recruited out of California. He was the number 10 OF in the country as a high school senior and one of the top 100 players according to Perfect Game (#55). This is a freshman that was brought in expecting to make an immediate impact. Ole Miss has some history recruiting players of this caliber, the only problem is that the Ole Miss players tend to take their draft bonus and never show up on campus. Kessinger was an exception. Copper Pratt comes to mind along with two top level pitchers that were signed in the 2023 class. All three players signed MLB contracts. Texas AM recruits all made it on campus.
2. Appel: Ivy League transfer.
3. Burton: Michigan Transfer
4. Bell: Immediate impact Freshman
5. Camanillo: Another transfer portal player. This time from UC Northridge
6. LaViolette: Sophomore, but as a Freshman he was a high impact starter
7) Chestnutt: Juco transfer
8) Sorrell: Immediate Impact Freshman
9) Schott: Ivy League transfer
10) Kent: Sophomore, but was an immediate impact freshman with over 20 starts his freshman season
11) Montgomery: Stanford Transfer
Looking at this line up, it appears that Sloss's championship caliber roster was made up mostly of high school players that were good enough to make immediate impact as Freshmen, and the rest of the lineup were carefully selected transfers. Two of the transfers were from Power 5 programs. Three of the transfers were from Ivy League and low D1 programs, and the last was a Juco player.
The point of this exercise was to see that, it doesn't take four/five years of quality recruiting to build a contending program. BIanco and staff just need to make sure they are being spot on with the Transfer Portal players that they are evaluating, and they need to get a couple of top 50 high school guys to make it onto campus and work out. They can fix a lineup quickly if they are smart about things.
