Horned Frog Hardball Report

This is part two of our TCU Horned Frogs baseball preview series.

The TCU Horned Frogs enter the 2026 season with high expectations. A team boasting three reigning All-Big 12 players has a target on its back on the conference and national levels after reaching regionals last year for the 18th time in the last 21 postseasons. The Frogs are preseason favorites to win the conference in the 2026 Big 12 Baseball Preseason Poll conducted by league coaches, receiving 13 of 14 first-place votes.   

The Rookie and the Vet 

One of the most important relationships in baseball is the chemistry between the middle infielders.    

True freshman shortstop Lucas Franco told assembled media that, “expectations are a distraction.” He’ll have to find a way to manage them, as he was selected preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year. The Katy, Texas, product attended Cinco Ranch High School and was the No. 5 prospect in the state of Texas according to Perfect Game. The 6-foot-3 left-handed hitting shortstop hit .413 his senior year with 13 extra-base hits. With last year’s shortstop Anthony Silva drafted to the Cleveland Guardians, there is a hole looking to be filled, and Franco has a chance to make an impact there immediately.  

Second base is a different story. Cole Cramer, a graduate student from Arlington, Washington, is the only returning Horned Frog to play in and start in all 59 games last season. Last season, he hit .320 with 14 extra-base hits and drew the most walks on the team with 43. Cramer is one of the veteran leaders on this young roster.  

When Franco was asked about how he had settled into being around the team in his first year, he said that Cramer, “was a guy that took me in and showed me the ways.”  

Finding Innings 

Trever Baumler is among the young arms TCU will rely on to solidify its pitching staff this season. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Pitching depth is critical in college baseball, and the Frogs will be tested after losing senior Louis Rodriguez to Tommy John surgery. 

The No. 1 question mark for this Horned Frogs team? Pitching development. Tommy LaPour will be the Friday starter, but the Frogs have multiple talented young arms looking to build upon last season. 

Sophomore Mason Brassfield looks to build on a productive freshman year where he provided 61 and two-thirds innings with a 4.09 ERA and a 25 percent strikeout rate. The crafty left-hander from Bakersfield, California, was named a Perfect Game Second Team All- American last season.  

Another pitcher TCU will call upon to provide some length is sophomore Trever Baumler. Hailing from Urbandale, Iowa, he has a mid-90s fastball that he pairs with his breaking ball. His brother, Carter, was a fifth-round pick of the Baltimore Orioles in 2020.  

Heavyweight Slate  

The Frogs face a brutal early schedule that will test their credentials as a Big 12 and, potentially, a national contender. TCU plays No. 23 Vanderbilt, No. 7 Arkansas and Oklahoma on consecutive days (Feb. 13-15) at Arlington’s Globe Life Field in the Shriners Children’s College Showdown. Then comes a trip west to face No. 1 UCLA in Los Angeles the following weekend. Beginning the season with these opponents will ensure that Kirk Saarloos’ team is tested before starting Big 12 conference play.  

Season Prediction 

The Horned Frogs, led by coach Saarloos, win the Big 12 Championship and advance to the College World Series for the first time since 2023. TCU has the roster to live up to expectations, and its gauntlet of a non-conference schedule will have them battle-tested for the postseason.

— Grant Harris

This is the first of a multi-part series previewing the TCU Horned Frogs baseball team. 

Major media outlets agree that TCU has the talent for another deep postseason run. The Frogs rank in the preseason top 12 in polls from reputable outlets including D1 Baseball, Perfect Game and Baseball America. TCU is ranked in the preseason top 25 for the 17th consecutive season. The optimism is an extension of roster continuity from last year’s squad that went 39-20 but was eliminated in the NCAA Corvallis Regional. 

TCU returns much of its squad from last season, including a trio of potential first-round MLB draft picks. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Feeling a Little Drafty 

The Frogs roster features legitimate major league talent with three 2026 MLB Pipeline Top 100 draft prospects: outfielder Sawyer Strosnider (No. 10), outfielder Chase Brunson (No. 44) and ace pitcher Tommy LaPour (No. 62).

Wichita State transfer Tommy LaPour assembled an 8-3 record and a 3.09 ERA over 16 starts in his Horned Frogs debut last season. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Brock, Texas, product Strosnider, the Big 12 Freshman of the Year last season, is one of the best all-around athletes in the country. He has a pretty, left-handed swing and hit for a .350 average with a .420 on-base percentage. The 20-year-old slugged .650 and hit 13 doubles, 11 homers and led the nation with a school-record 10 triples while pacing the team in hits (77) and runs batted in (51).

Brunson is an all-around player who provides both a consistent bat and great defense in center field. The 6-foot-3 San Clemente, Calif., native was named to the All-Big 12 Second Team last season after slashing .317/.395/.554 with 12 dingers. Brunson started the 2025 season with a 43-game on-base streak. He is expected to be the centerfielder again this season after starting 58 games last year.

LaPour, the big 6-foot-4, 230-pound right-hander, was a true workhorse for the team last season after transferring from Wichita State. LaPour has a big fastball that lives at 95-98 miles per hour and can get all the way up to 101. He also has a slider and changeup that can be used when he gets ahead in the count. The Kansas City-area native started 16 games in 2025 and threw 90.1 innings to the tune of a 3.09 ERA. He struck out 88 hitters while only walking 27. This earned him first-team All-Big 12 honors last year.  

Sophomore Studs 

Noah Franco is a talented player who has the ability to hit and pitch. The two-way pitcher and outfielder hit .313 with a .548 slugging percentage as a freshman and mashed 11 homers. He also has the arm to provide some innings on the mound, as he threw 12 innings, striking out 18 on the year. Perfect Game gave him first-team Freshman All-American honors last season.

Nolan Traeger is a left-handed-hitting catcher who started 43 games as a true freshman, hitting .327 with a .429 on-base percentage. He is a very good framer behind the plate and has a strong arm that threw out nine would-be base stealers last season. He was named second-team All-Big 12 in 2025.

Sophomore catcher Nolan Traeger is among the four returning Horned Frogs who were listed as freshman All-Americans by Perfect Game a season ago. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Comings and Goings 

The two biggest losses for TCU in the transfer portal were first baseman and catcher Karson Bowen, who went to Florida, and right-handed pitcher Kole Klecker, to Arizona State. The Frogs responded to these losses by bringing in first baseman Rob Liddington (Incarnate Word), infielder Kyuss Gargett (Kentucky), and pitchers Ethan Thomas (Hawaii) and Tanner Sagouspe (Cal Poly).

Liddington is a left-handed hitter who can plug in place of Bowen at first. The senior hit .359 and swatted 15 homers for Incarnate Word last season.

Gargett is an athletic infielder who can play multiple positions. He has experience in big moments, making 5 starts and 12 appearances in the College World Series.

Thomas is a 6-foot-5 230-pound right-handed pitcher with a fastball that gets up to 94 and a couple of off-speed pitches. He spent his last two seasons at Hawaii and made 18 appearances with 37 strikeouts and three saves for the Rainbow Warriors in 2025.

Sagouspe is a right-hander out of Cal Poly who finished his 2025 campaign with 40 innings pitched over 25 appearances registering an ERA of 3.60 with 50 punchouts. His over-the-top delivery brings in a fastball in the low 90s, and he features a hammer curveball. 

— Grant Harris