COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – First impressions make an impact on new Texas A&M head baseball coach Michael Earley.
When he first engages a prospective transfer on the phone, he quickly has an idea if the player will be a fit in the Aggie clubhouse.
Friday, as the top-ranked Aggies take on Elon in a 6 p.m. season-opening bout, it will be a chance for not only a slew of transfer players, but Earley himself, to make a first in-season impression on the 12th Man.
“You’ve got to fit into what we do, and I think we’ve done a lot of that,” Earley said of his transfer additions.
A&M projects to have as many as five newcomers in the defensive starting lineup at first pitch Friday, headlined by former Penn standout Wyatt Henseler.
The transfer second baseman enters the season as a preseason second-team All-American according to D1Baseball.com and the National College Baseball Writers Association and was the 2024 Ivy League Player of the Year. He led the Quakers in batting average at a .360 clip and belted a team-high 22 home runs. The next highest teammate in homers hit seven.
The Ivy League graduate transfer made his initial mark on Earley, as he was recruited by the former Aggie coaching staff in which Earley was the hitting coach.
“The first time you talk to Wyatt Henseler, you know what he’s all about,” hinted Earley.
Earley will have multiple smart choices when it comes to the tools of ignorance. The coaching staff brought in catchers Jacob Galloway, from Southern California, and Bear Harrison, a sophomore from Saint Mary’s. They will take over a position held through the majority of last season by another transfer standout, Jackson Appel, who started 59 of 65 games with a .331 batting average. This season, the Aggies could feature more of a committee approach behind the plate, Earley said.
“I think we were spoiled last year,” Earley admitted. “I don’t think any of us realize how good we had it we had it with Jackson Appel. There’s reasons he was first-team All-SEC. The fact that he could catch and could throw and could hit from two sides of the plate, you don’t see that.”
Galloway hit .286 with six home runs and 40 RBs last season with the Trojans, while Harrison swung a .322 average with eight home runs and 36 RBIs.