Team Preview: Baylor Bears
Checking in on the Baylor Bears and some newfound momentum on and off the field.
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Editor’s note: We’re less than three weeks away from the start of the season! So, I’m picking up where I left off with my short-lived fall camp reviews (shoutout to real jobs and chaotic football seasons). We’ll restart with Baylor, but you’ll notice that the Arizona and Arizona State articles from November have been updated as well).
2025 should be considered a success for the Bears and Mitch Thompson, who now enters season four at the helm. For Baylor, last season marked its first winning season since 2021, and its most Big 12 wins (13) since 2019.
After two years of sub-.500 play overall, Thompson and the Bears seem to have turned a corner. Now, with some key returning arms and young bats, Baylor could take the next step.
Of course, that will require being a little better in Big 12 play this season, but the Bears have gotten progressively better in that regard under Thompson, going from six league wins in 2023 to 13 in 2025.
The Bears have also seen a boost in support in recent weeks, receiving the largest gift in program history courtesy of Chip and Joanna Gaines, that resulted in the renaming of the stadium to Magnolia Field. Plus, new athletic director Doug McNamee recently told staffers at SicEm365 that baseball will get increased support moving forward.
All in all, Baylor has some real momentum as it works towards a run to the top half of the Big 12 and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2026.
2025 in Review
A 7-1 start to the season included series wins over Youngstown State and Gonzaga, with a midweek win over UTSA, who would later go on to reach the super regionals.
A 1-2 weekend at Globe Life Field halted some of Baylor’s momentum, with losses to Oregon State and Auburn sandwiching a win over Ohio State. The Bears grabbed momentum back with five consecutive wins after that as they closed the book on their non-conference schedule and began Big 12 play.
Series losses to Kansas and Kansas State set Baylor on its back foot in league play, but the Bears bounced back with a series win at Arizona. The Bears couldn’t sustain the success, with series losses to Houston, Texas Tech, TCU, Arizona State and Oklahoma State over the rest of the season, while beating Utah and UCF.
Baylor’s first appearance in the Big 12 Tournament in four seasons ended in one-and-done fashion at the hands of Oklahoma State, but the 33-22 overall record gives the Bears some momentum to build on ahead of this season.
Players Out/Players In
Every team experiences turnover, but the way we look at roster change here at Base 12 is by looking at production in three buckets: incoming (i.e. all transfers, D1, D2, D3 and JUCO), returning and outgoing. We calculate that production in terms of total WAR for the hitters and total WARc for the batters, then look at the difference between incoming + returning and outgoing, to get an idea of what a team gained, kept and lost.
Here’s what that looks like for Baylor.
Baylor’s combined incoming and returning production at the plate slightly outpaces it’s production lost. The Bears did a good job in the transfer portal with the few bats they added, and there are big expectations for a handful of younger players as well that could boost Baylor at the plate in 2026.
Meanwhile, the Bears lost some significant arm talent, but return a good amount of proven production (especially out of the bullpen) and bring in some more veteran talent, including from the JUCO and D3 ranks.
Arms Preview
Outgoing: Gabe Craig, Carson Bailey, Caleb Jamison, Bryson Bales, Will Glatch, Patrick Hail, Cole Stasio, Andrew Petrowski, Drew Leach, Jack Hickerson
Returning: Ethan Calder, Lucas Davenport, Mason Green, Grayson Murry, RJ Ruais, Brayden Bergman, Camden Clewett, Stefan Stahl, Caleb Bunch, Cayden Baker (RS)
Incoming: Charlie Atkinson (DBU), Luke Devasher (JUCO), Cade Waibel (JUCO), Zack Wallace (JUCO), Cade Hansen (D3), Luke McLeod (HS), Cade Waibel (HS)
Baylor’s pitching staff took a few hits this offseason with the departure of Gabe Craig and Will Glatch to graduation and Carson Bailey to the transfer portal (he committed to Texas A&M, but wound up at McLennan CC this season).
Ethan Calder is a good place to start when rebuilding a pitching staff, and he will have a major role on the mound for the Bears in 2026. Calder has a career K-rate of 19.7%, and he’s seen his walk-to-strikeout ratio move in the right direction in each of the past three seasons. The tall lefty can use any of his four pitches (fastball, changeup, curveball, slider) to get strikeouts.
Mason Green stepped into Baylor’s Friday night role late in the season, going four scoreless innings against Arizona State and five innings of one-run ball against UCF. Righty Cade Hensen posted a 2.68 ERA over 84 innings for D3 Wisconsin-Whitewater, earning WIAC All-Conference first team honors. Hensen is an innings-eater that can step into the weekend rotation and provide a viable arm. Lucas Davenport could also find his way into the starting rotation this season after a good sophomore campaign out of the bullpen.
Reliever Zack Wallace won a Division 3 JUCO national championship with Rowan-Gloucester in 2025, posting a 2.02 ERA with 72 strikeouts across 49 innings. He’s a solid bullpen addition for the Bears, joining Caleb Bunch and Grayson Murry, who were strong in relief for Baylor in 2025.
Bunch struck out 30 and walked just eight in 39 innings of work, finishing with 20 appearances out of the bullpen. Murry struck out 24 across 24 innings of work, with an opponent batting average against of just .181.
Dallas Baptist transfer Charlie Atkinson and JUCO addition Cade Waibel are two arms to keep an eye on in late-inning situations for the Bears. Atkinson made just one appearance for DBU in 2025, but struck out 22 across 18 innings of work in the Appalachian League this summer. His fastball sat in the low-to-mid 90s and he went to his slider often as his strikeout pitch.
Waibel, meanwhile, struck out 45 across 28.1 innings of work while recording six saves for McLennan CC.
Bats Preview
Outgoing: Tyriq Kemp, Wesley Jordan, Gavin Brzozowski, Jack Little, Endo Apodaca, Hunter Simmons, Cortlan Castle, Hunter Teplanszky, Will Pendergrass, Jack Johnson, Brayden Mulkey, Brett White
Returning: Caleb Bergman, Travis Sanders, Pearson Riebock, JJ Kennett, John Youens, Ty Johnson, Brayden Buchanan (RS), Samuel Jenkins (RS), Brytton Clements (RS), Hunter Snow (RS)
Incoming: Tyce Armstrong (UT Arlington), Cade Dodson (UT Arlington), Robert De La Garza), Brady Janusek (HS), Luke McLeod (HS), Cash McDade (HS)
The Bears underwent significant turnover with their lineup this offseason, losing six regular starters including first team All-Big 12 shortstop Tyriq Kemp.
Keeping Travis Sanders and Pearson Riebock were two big offseason wins for the Bears, and Thompson kept the momentum rolling with the addition of two UT-Arlington Mavericks in the portal in the form of Tyce Armstrong and Cade Dodson.
Sanders hit eight home runs in his first season with the Bears, as the former Texas Tech transfer started 41 games at second base. He’s moving to shortstop this season to fill the void left by Kemp. Riebock will backfill at second base after playing most of his freshman season at third.
Armstrong has the 13th-highest incoming WAR for a portal position player this cycle, and is coming off a 2025 season that included 12 home runs, 46 RBI and an OPS of .971.
Dodson played second base for the Mavericks, but is making the move to third base for the Bears after slashing .322/.485/.391 as a freshman at UTA.
Another infielder to watch is Odessa College transfer Robert De La Garza, who earned JUCO All-American honors in 2025 after hitting .415 with 26 doubles, seven triples and six home runs.
Ty Johnson is Baylor’s veteran center fielder, and he’s looking to bounce back after a challenging 2025 at the plate. He hit .261 with seven doubles, but continued his strong defensive presence in center with just one error on the season. He’ll look to get back to his 2024 form, which saw him hit .313 with an OPS of .807.
Johnson will likely be joined in the outfield by freshman Brady Janusek, who was rated as the No. 6 outfielder in Texas for the class of 2026 by Perfect Game. On Johnson’s other side will be redshirt freshman Hunter Snow. both Janusek and Snow put together quality fall camps and are signs that Baylor’s success under Thompson has the potential to be sustained with top high school talent.
Catcher Brayden Buchanan is back in action after redshirting in 2025. He made 12 starts at catcher for the Bears in 2024, and looks to get back into the swing of things this season. He’ll likely back up JJ Kennett, who started 23 games behind the plate for Baylor in 2025.
2026 Schedule Notes
Baylor opens the season with a weekend series against New Mexico State, before hosting Texas State for a midweek matchup. The Bears then travel to Round Rock for the Round Rock Classic, where they’ll face off against Oregon State, Purdue and Southern Miss. That weekend will give Thompson a good read on his ball club.
A trip to Houston to participate in the Bruce Bolt College Classic follows a week later, where Baylor will face a trio of 2025 tournament teams in Ole Miss, Texas and UTSA.
Baylor’s midweek schedule is pretty standard for a Texas school, featuring several in-state opponents including Tarleton State, Sam Houston State, Incarnate Word, UT-Arlington and UTSA. The Bears also have a midweek game against Kansas State, which will count as a non-conference game.
The Bears miss Kansas, Kansas State and Arizona in Big 12 play this season. They’ll host West Virginia, BYU, TCU, Texas Tech and UCF at Magnolia Field, while traveling to Arizona State, Cincinnati, Houston, Oklahoma State and Utah.
Overall, it’s a favorable schedule for the Bears, who get two in-state rivals plus the defending regular season champs at home, while missing three of the Big 12’s eight tournament teams from 2025.