There is a sense of change at Texas State, which is coming off a 27-29 season.
The change for the Bobcats and Head Coach Steven Trout came in the form of 27 new players and two new coaches on the staff in former Texas Head Coach David Pierce and former Minnesota Twins assistant hitting coach Danny-David Linahan, who look to shake-up the status quo in San Marcos.
“They've created an edge about them,” Trout said. “Either [they are] going to prove to themselves, prove to their family, prove to whoever that they belonged at the D1 level. For some of those guys, even though they train for it, they don't have a lot of bats and a lot of innings under their belts, so they wanna get in here and make their name known in our program.”
The addition of so many players added a sense of competition for the roster during the offseason in fall practice and spring scrimmages.
With everyone competing for a starting role, sophomore shortstop Ryne Farber, who had a breakout freshman year and was named to the D1Baseball Top 50 Shortstops in the nation, feels the competition will pay dividends for the team.
“We have a lot of new faces this year just with all the 27 new guys,” Farber said. “That was huge for us just to have a lot of new guys that haven't played at this level [but] were super hungry to kind of earn a job and get better. That helped our fall be really competitive, which I think was really good for us.”
Junior second baseman Chase Mora has seen the competition that has happened through the offseason.
With no starting position guaranteed, the battle for a starting role has been intense.
“We all strive to be the best we can every day,” Mora said. “Having 40 guys in the locker room that all wanna be just the best players. Everybody is continuing to get better, no matter what. Whether you're out there pitching seven, you want to be the Friday night starter or you want to be the closer, everybody's competing.”
On the offensive side of the ball, the battle is just as intense as on defense and in the pitching rotation.
“For hitters, it was really competitive,” Mora said. “Everybody was wearing the cover off the ball. A big point early in the spring is really competitive. It's just looking at the guy next to you saying, ‘I'll be better than you today’ and then that next day he’ll be a bit better than you. It's kind of just that thing. Everybody wants to be better than the guy in front of them or the guy next to them.”
Some of the transfers added to the roster include sophomore infielder Justin Voss from Texas A&M, junior outfielder Rocco Garza-Gongora from Oklahoma, senior right-handed pitcher Jackson Teer from Trinity and right handed-pitcher Carson Laws from Midland College.
In addition to returning starters in Farber, Mora, senior right handed pitcher Austin Eaton and junior catcher Rashawn Galloway, Trout is thrilled to see how his team performs this year.
“I'm really excited about heading into this season on what we have talent wise and how they worked this whole fall,” Trout said. “Anything I've approached them with or goal oriented with, they've crushed. It's a really good group and they're really hungry. We'll get through the next 14 weeks and see how this thing shakes up, but really excited about them. Mainly because of how hard they work and how they bought into what we got to sell.”
The weekend starting rotation has been set for the season opener with Teer slated to start on the mound Friday, junior right-handed pitcher Sam Hall on Saturday and Eaton taking the mound on Sunday.
While the starting rotation for the weekend has been formally announced, the lineup was not and it is expected that multiple players will get a shot to start early in the season as playing time is up for grabs at multiple positions.
The projected starting infield could potentially see Galloway at catcher, sophomore Ethan Farris at first, Mora at second, Farber at shortstop and Voss at third. Senior catcher Ian Collier, junior infielder Coy Defury, graduate senior infielder Cam Thompson and freshman infielder Dawson Park could also find their way into the lineup.
The projected starting outfield is shaping up to look like Garza-Gongora, senior Washington State transfer Alan Shibley and sophomore Samson Pugh could be starting with freshmen Zach Gringrich and Travis Brigg potentially working their way in the lineup.
In the bullpen, the closer position looks to fall in the hands of Laws. Relievers looking to make an impact are sophomore Alex Valentin, senior Matthew Tippie, junior Taylor Seay, junior Bryson Dudley and junior Shane Connell.
During the off-season, the Bobcats played two fall game scrimmages against Dallas Baptist and Lamar, which both competed for their respective conference titles last season.
For Trout, the team’s ability to compete against them showed how talented the Bobcats are.
“Our two fall games spoke a lot of volumes on how they were going to show up in the moment,” Trout said. “Even though it wasn't huge crowds, they went at the debut and showed well against obviously a really good [Dallas Baptist] program out there and then Lamar came in, [which is coming] off to a great campaign last year, and we played really well.”
However, the challenge for the Bobcats is translating their success during the offseason into the regular season and into the conference tournament.
“When 4,000 fans are here and the lights come on, it's a little bit different than those inner squad [scrimmages] and fall games,” Trout said. “How do they respond to that? We've given them all the weapons in the middle game and [helped them] with their routines and all the things we do. But you can't get the in-game experience until it happens. That’s part of coaching. You have to help them during those times. So I'm excited to figure those battles out and help them out along the way.”
Texas State starts the season at home in a three-game series with the Binghamton Bearcats. Game one is set for 6 p.m. Friday at Bobcat Ballpark.
