2025 College Baseball - Pitching Transfers - SEC
Zach Root, Landon Beidelschies, Liam Doyle, Tanner Franklin, Cade Fisher, and Myles Patton highlight a strong transfer class for the SEC.
Zach Root and Landon Beidelschies attempt to fill the gap left by Hagen Smith.
The Arkansas Razorbacks lost left-hander Hagen Smith to the MLB draft (5th overall, Chicago White Sox) and look to replace him with a pair of high profile transfers. Fellow left-handers Zach Root (East Carolina) and Landon Beidelschies (Ohio State) have been brought in to try and fill the hole left by the Golden Spikes finalist. Root, a junior, was the number two starter for East Carolina last year behind 2024 first rounder Trey Yesavage (20th, Toronto Blue Jays). A strong 2024 in his own right, Root threw 68 1/3 innings with a 3.56 ERA. With a funky, deceptive motion, Root struck out 76 hitters last year relying on a strong repertoire of pitches. His fastball sits in the low-mid 90s, but flashed 97 on a few occasions. The strength of his arsenal comes from his secondary offerings; a low 80s changeup and a high 70s to low 80s sweeping curveball. Per Baseball America, both pitches generated whiff rates north of 45%. After losing their weekend rotation, and top three innings leaders, to the MLB draft in the aforementioned Smith, as well as Brady Tygart (12th round, Boston Red Sox) and Mason Molina (7th round, Milwaukee Brewers), Zach Root and Landon Beidelschies are in line for a heavy workload in their first year in Fayetteville. Beidelschies stands at 6’3” 230 pounds with a fastball to match. Sitting in the low-mid 90s and topping out at 98 mph, Perfect Game has named him as a preseason First Team All-American. At Ohio State last year, Beidelschies led the Buckeyes with 84 2/3 innings and pitched to a 4.15 ERA while racking up 91 strikeouts. D1Baseball.com has him as the fifth ranked impact transfer, with Root at second. After being knocked out in their hosted regional last year and losing their weekend rotation, Coach Dave Van Horn’s sharp use of the transfer portal provides plenty of optimism for the Hogs to reach Omaha.
Defending champion, Tennessee, adds two high strikeout arms.
Using a mix of homegrown talent—Drew Beam, Zander Sechrist, Kirby Connell—and the transfer portal—A.J Causey (Jacksonville State), Nate Snead (Wichita State)—the Tennessee Volunteers posted a 3.89 team ERA, good for 6th best in the country and 3rd in the SEC en route to winning the national title. Their elite pitching production was an excellent compliment to their offense that led the nation in hits, runs scored, home runs, doubles, and a plethora of other key stats. Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello has masterfully navigated the transfer portal, especially on the pitching side. A total of 44% of the Volunteers total innings last year came from pitchers that did not start their college careers in Knoxville. As is expected after a year of tremendous success, the Volunteers lost quite a bit to the MLB draft. Attempting to fill some of that void are two pitchers with tremendous upside and strikeout ability that need to have their skills honed by Vitello and crew. Liam Doyle comes to Tennessee by way of Ole Miss and Tanner Franklin from Kennesaw State. Doyle’s freshman year came at Coastal Carolina where he spent most of his time in the bullpen where he posted a 4.15 ERA in 56 1/3 innings and 69 strikeouts. Following his year at Coastal, Doyle jumped ship the Ole Miss Rebels where his strikeout ability took quite a jump. Starting 11 of his 16 games pitched, he struck out 84 batters in 55 innings, but an ERA of 5.73 leaves something to be desired. A fastball that hovers around 93 mph that can touch upper 90s plays extremely well at the top of his zone given his overhand release and 6’2” frame. Currently relying on his fastball over 60% of the time, his secondary offerings need some work. He has the foundations of a four pitch mix with a low 80s sweeper, high 80s cutter, and a changeup that is rarely used. Generating a ton of swing and miss on his fastball helped Doyle shut down the Volunteers top ranked offense in his one outing against them last year. In Knoxville, Doyle shut down his future team over 6 innings, allowing only 3 hits, 3 earned runs, 1 walk, and striking out 10 in an 8-5 Ole Miss victory. Baseball America ranks Doyle as a preseason Third Team All-American. If he is able to continue his success with his fastball up in the strike zone and develops at least two of his secondary pitchers, Vitello may have struck gold yet again in the transfer portal. The second of Tennessee’s pitching transfers is an exciting, yet erratic prospect. Tanner Franklin throws extremely hard, but the issue is that he has no idea where it is going. His fastball sits in the mid 90s and touches 99, but in 27 1/3 innings last year, he walked 27 batters. He will likely slide into the closer role next year for Tennessee, a position that was filled by a committee of arms last year. His preferred secondary offering is a low-80s hammer of a curveball that Prep Baseball Report records having a spin rate between 2800 and 2900, a range that would place him anywhere between 16th and 26th among qualified MLB pitchers for 2024. His next secondary offering is one that is still finding its footing. Currently a mix between a slider and cutter, it grades out as below average. His four seam fastball already features some decent cut, so committing his slider/cutter hybrid into a bonafide cutter would provide him a third pitch that could effectively miss barrels when thrown off of his fastball.
Texas A&M looks to finally win their first national title off of a strong 2024 Omaha campaign.
2024 Runner-Up Texas A&M got a major boost to their 2025 season when ace Ryan Prager announced that he would return to College Station instead of signing with the Los Angeles Angels after being selected 81st overall. To accompany Prager in the Aggies rotation this season, first-year head coach Michael Earley (Texas A&M assistant coach 2022-2024) is bringing in Myles Patton, a junior left-hander from Long Beach State. Patton turned in a strong 2024, posting a 3.26 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 66 1/3 innings of work with the Dirtbags. His fastball sits in the high 80s, touching 90 at times, but his short arm action hides the ball well and creates a good amount of deception. His calling card is a low 80s, two-plane breaking ball that generates a good amount of swing and miss. His changeup still needs some work, but with his ability to locate the fastball to both sides of the plate, he sets himself up well for his secondary offerings to play off of it.
Auburn Tigers poach Florida pitcher looking to bounce back in 2025.
Despite reaching a Super Regional in 2024, it is fair to say that the Florida Gators underperformed last season and their pitching was a major reason why. Despite their top three pitchers by innings pitched being drafted, the Gators sputtered to a 36-30 record and a 6.05 team ERA, worst in the SEC. One of their worst offenders was sophomore pitcher Cade Fisher. After posting a 3.10 ERA in 49 1/3 innings as a freshman in 2023, Fisher’s ERA ballooned to 7.13 in 59 1/3 innings during his 2024 sophomore campaign. His WHIP also increased from 1.297 to 1.618. Where Fisher shows promise is his ability to miss bats. Despite not having an overpowering arsenal, he was able to strike out 76 hitters in 2024, good for a K/9 of 11.5; largely relying on a fastball that sits right around 90 mph that gets good armside run and a high 70s/low 80s slider that has the potential to be his best pitch. His changeup is a distant third pitch in terms of usage, but flashes above average in the mid 80s. Fisher departs from the Gators, but stays in the SEC where he heads to Auburn. Despite Florida’s recent success in producing high round pitching draft picks—Jac Caglianone (TWP), Hurston Waldrep, Brandon Sproat, Hunter Barco—a fresh start may be just what Fisher needs. The Tigers have been no slouches in developing pitchers either with nine drafted—five in the top 5 rounds—since 2022 and a bounceback season can firmly plant Fisher into that conversation.