October 2021 Newsletter

How the transfer portal has changed college recruiting

This is the second of a two-part series examining how the college baseball recruiting landscape changed during the COVID-19 pandemic and what lies on the horizon. Part 2 deals with two of the biggest words in college athletics today – transfer portal – and how it has changed the landscape of college baseball recruiting.

When Jim Schlossnagle was named the head coach at Texas A&M University less than three weeks after the end of the 2021 regular season, one of his first jobs was to assess the competitive level of the roster he was inheriting.

It didn’t take long, however, to realize an Aggies team that finished dead last in the SEC West needed a major overhaul. So, the veteran coach who turned TCU from an afterthought to a College World Series contender went back to the formula that helped him built the Horned Frogs into immediate championship clubs in Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference and, later, the Big 12 Conference.

Only this time, it had a name. The transfer portal.

“We (signed several transfers) when we first got there, when a guy could transfer and immediately be eligible,” Schlossnagle said. “We, obviously, haven’t when they couldn’t transfer and be eligible. That was a big area for us because kids had gone away to bigger schools or away from the Metroplex. Then they decided after a year or two they wanted to play closer to home. And they also saw our program was going to be a successful one. So that’s really how we, partially, built the foundation for our success at TCU.”

A new source

Now that the transfer portal allows players to transfer one time without having to sit out a year and lose a season of eligibility, it has become a tremendous asset for college coaches around the country looking to bolster their programs or build from the ground up and be immediately competitive. In Texas A&M’s case, 10 players from the 2021 team transferred out, and Schlossnagle signed eight out of the portal, tied with fellow SEC foe Kentucky for the most among Division I teams.

But he’s not alone. LSU also hired a new coach in the offseason, and Jay Johnson brought in six new players from the portal, including one of his standouts on an Arizona team that reached the College World Series last year in slugger Jacob Berry. Perennial Big 12 power Oklahoma State lost 10 players to the portal and signed six new ones.

The transfer portal became a new source of college-ready talent, ready to step in and immediately bolster a roster or fill a hole of an existing power once again hoping to get back to the hallowed grounds of Omaha. At one point, the transfer portal had almost 3,000 players registered.

“As an industry, it’s been huge,” said James Ramsey, an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Georgia Tech and former All-American at Florida State. “I think it's just made people feel more comfortable because there's more release valves in the system. I think that you're seeing a lot of kids feel that way, for better or for worse.”

The fact that COVID-19 killed the 2020 baseball season and gave everyone involved an extra year of eligibility further gummed up the recruiting works. The NCAA tried to help alleviate the problem with expanded rosters for the 2021 season, and though it’s being cut back some, the rosters will still be larger than normal for 2022. That allows coaches to take more players and sign a few more than they normally would, whether it’s out of high school, junior college or the transfer portal.

But it also means more and more players who might have had a chance out of high school to make a Division I roster will have to go to a lower division or junior college because of the amount of transfers in the system who, potentially, could make more of an immediate impact.

In a way, the transfer portal is replacing junior college for some programs.

“You feel like your risk factors are lower with a portal guy,” said Cooper Fouts, an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Louisiana Tech, who joined the Bulldogs staff after three seasons at Purdue. “It’s almost like you're signing a junior college guy because they have some body of work against competition compared to high school guys, where you feel like, unless they're elite-level talent, there's only so many of them. Why would I spend money on a guy that's never done it, who’s going to go away from home for the first time ever and have all this new put on his plate, where I can go get this guy in the portal? He’s really proven he can do it. He's already been away from home for years. He's more physically prepared. He's more mentally prepared.”

Two-way portal

While most may think the transfer portal allows the rich to get richer, it actually goes both ways.

It’s not just players from smaller schools looking to take the leap to a Power 5 program, but it’s also Power 5 programs losing a lot of players looking for more playing time or to improve their draft stock by going to smaller schools where they can shine.

Of the 15 schools who had the most losses to the transfer portal after 2021 (10 or more players), 10 of them came from a Power 5 conference. Subsequently, of the 12 teams that signed the most players out of the transfer portal by the end of the summer, half of them were from non-Power 5 conferences. Only three of those 12 teams – Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and LSU, have been to the College World Series since 2010.

“So, you look at this top five program, OK, this player wasn’t good enough there, but they're good enough for us,” said Fouts, who personally knows about the transfer process having played at Texas Tech after two years at the College of Southern Nevada. “That's the risk that people take. It’s one of our challenges of our great job. That’s where the gamble is because you don't know. I think that's where people feel like their risk is lower, and their reward could be higher, because they were already in a really good program.”

Ramsey said the philosophy at Georgia Tech is not to take many transfers, preferring to develop the players the Yellow Jackets sign out of high school. But, he added, there are plenty of programs that have made hay in bringing in transfers.

“If you have a program, and there's a lot of those in the country, that has a very good reputation for developing players or not bringing in too many, I do think that you're going to be well served by the portal,” Ramsey said, “because there are so many good players that are looking for a new home a new experience, a new degree, any and all of those things. I do think you're going to see more and more people take a mid-major producer, or a role player from a Power 5, and trade up, trade down, trade levels and kind of just put guys in different positions.”

Hidden dangers

Fouts was quick to point out some hidden dangers for coaches when it comes to the transfer portal and the ease of kids to look elsewhere.

One of those dangers is in summer ball, where players from programs from all over the U.S. play and become friends. Sometimes, when it comes to some of the top players in the top leagues like the Cape Cod League, there’s some behind-the-scenes recruiting going on as well.

“Are you going to send them out and risk somebody going, ‘Hey, you know, you didn't play that much there, you can start here,’” Fouts said. “I think that's a major risk that you have to evaluate, if you're going send those guys out, where you're going to send them and who you're going to trust them to. That's a big, big deal. It changes everything. It really does. I think as long as the NCAA continues to grant the one-time waiver, the roster influx, on a yearly basis, is going to be really, really strong at most schools across the country every year. They’re going to continue to look for players like that they feel can help them, and this cycle will never end.”

He added that it’s increasing the burden on coaches as well in trying to keep those players. Fouts said recruiting a player no longer stops when that player signs his national letter of intent.

The portal is here to stay, however, and has become just another aspect of the game coaches and programs will have to adjust to.

“I think it is what it is,” Schlossnagle said. “And for anybody to complain about it, they're going to get left behind. It's part of recruiting now.”

Artifact of the Month

This hat and lineup card from a Texas vs. Oklahoma game were donated to the National College Baseball Hall of Fame following Augie Garrido’s 1,800th win on April 29, 2011. Garrido, who was inducted into the CBHOF in 2016, finished his coaching career with 1,975 wins and five College World Series titles from his stints at Cal State Fullerton and Texas. Garrido died in 2018 at the age of 79.

Where Are They Now

(Courtesy of Kent State Athletics)

Eric Lauer, whose standout junior season at Kent State earned him the 2016 National Pitcher of the Year Award, served as a key piece of the Milwaukee Brewers pitching rotation for most of the season, including the team’s run through the postseason.

In fact, Lauer was the Brewers starting pitcher for Game 4 of the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves. Lauer went 3.2 innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs. Lauer recorded a no-decision in the game.

Lauer made a statement for the Brewers, coming on strong after June and compiling a 1.74 ERA in 14 appearances, 13 of those as a starter. The start total alone was a highlight for Lauer after he made only four appearances in 2020 after tearing the capsule in his throwing shoulder.

By the end of September, Lauer had a career-best 2.93 ERA in 113.2 innings.

Talking to The Athletic, Lauer spoke of the creative names he has for his pitches — “zoom ball,” “riser,” “spin ball,” “bullet” and, of course, a change-up.

“You can’t just throw everything that everyone else throws,” Lauer told The Athletic. “You gotta have some funky names.”

Using more descriptive names for his pitches has helped Lauer work with Brewers pitching coach Chris Hook, who told The Athletic that listening to how Lauer described his body movements as he throws and what he wants to get out of certain pitches made it easier to figure out how to help him have success.

“I had to adjust my coaching plan to him,” Hook said. “He needs other ways to get to the spots of his delivery. He needs other ways to get to his spin and his pitches. And I gotta be really, really creative in getting him there. It’s a lot of fun.”

Lauer, who was drafted in the first round by the San Diego Padres in 2016, said Hook’s willingness to learn Lauer’s pitching language has been crucial in his current success.

“That was a really cool thing because there are pitching coaches that don’t really care, they’re, like, ‘This is how I explained something. This is what you should do.’ And it’s not helpful to me or to somebody else who doesn’t perceive things the same way,” Lauer told The Athletic. “So, I think it was really cool to see that he was constantly trying to learn me, constantly trying to mold to what I was doing and to what I wanted to hear and what would help me the most instead of trying to mold me into what he was trying to do.”

Inductee Spotlight

Dick Runchey, umpire

2011 National Collegiate Umpire Award* recipient

Career Highlights:

Collegiate umpire from 1976-98
Five College World Series — 1982, '83, '90, '94 and '98
Worked four College World Series final games on the plate: 1982, '90, '94, '98
19 NCAA Division I Regionals
3 MAC Championships
12 Big Ten Championships
1990-2013 Regional Evaluator/Advisor NCAA Baseball Umpire Program
NCAA Tournament Representative 2004-12
ABUA Hall of Fame 2002

Dick Runchey makes a call at first base during a College World Series game. Runchey umpired 48 games at five different World Series before his retirement in 1998. Now, he spends much of his time working with young umpires through clinics and organizations as well as serving as an NCAA regional umpire advisor. Photo courtesy of Dick Runchey.

Getting to know Runch:
(The following article was written for the 2011 Night of Champions yearbook.)

Dick Runchey may go down as one of the greatest coaches of all time.

Even though he was not in one of the dugouts during a game, he was on the field constantly directing his crew throughout every inning of every game. His record is almost perfect – no wins, but no losses either.

“We have good days, and we have bad days,” Runchey said. “But we never lose.”

That’s because Runchey has been a coach of umpires for more than 40 years – both on and off the field. He is regarded as maybe the most respected umpire in the world among college and international baseball umpires, coaches and administrators. That is why he is being honored this year with the College Baseball Foundation’s inaugural National Collegiate Umpire Award.

“Wow. That’s what I told Mike (Gustafson, CBF executive director) when he called me. At first, I thought it was a prank because our peers like to pull some good stuff – umpires are a rare breed and nothing is off limits,” he said. “It was like when I got that call to go work the College World Series. I have a place in Florida and I had played golf and grabbed something to eat. My wife still works up in Michigan so it’s just me by myself.

“The phone rings, and it’s Mike. I know a lot of people around the sport, but I’ve never met this guy. So he tells me who he is and about the College Baseball Hall of Fame and now the wheels in my start spinning. I start thinking – ‘Man, this is for real. I better put on my professional hat.’ And then I started to remember the email Gene McArtor had sent out months before asking for recommendations. Then Mike told me that it was me who was going to receive this award. I got chills just like I did when I got called each time I got to do the College World Series.

“I haven’t been on the field in 12 years. But it was that same feeling. Just the sheer rush through my body made me realize – ‘This is big.’ I always thought that there should be something done to help recognize umpires, and this being my 43rd year to be involved with it, for it to be me the very first time – just unreal.”

Friends say he’s the type of guy who will feel like your best friend, father and mentor in a matter of minutes after meeting him. You not only want to take him out for a beer, but you want his respect and can learn a lifetime of knowledge from his experiences. All you have to do is look at his resume to understand that:

The Olympics
The World Championships
World Baseball Classic
The Pan-Am Games
Filled in for Major League Baseball umpires in 1979
Minor League Baseball
1984 American League Playoff
5 College World Series
4 national championship games behind the dish (1982, 1990, 1994, 1998)
Instructed more than 250 clinics around the world
Inducted into Amateur Baseball Umpires Association Hall of Fame in 2002 and is currently serving as the ABUA Executive Director
Umpire Evaluator for the Collegiate Baseball Umpires Alliance2007 ABUA President
2003-09 Director of Umpires for the IBAF

He has enough stories to fill a book – which he says will be written someday – but he remembers his final College World Series game and why Omaha and college baseball have always meant so much to him.

Runchey was the umpire at the plate on what has been described as one of the biggest games in College World Series history. In what might look more like the score of a Pac-12 football game, Southern California beat Arizona State, 21-14, to claim the 1998 title – its first national championship in 20 years.

But what Runchey does goes far beyond wins and losses on the field.

He left the field 12 years ago and has since been more involved on the administration side of things, overseeing numerous clinics around the world while serving on the committees to select umpires for international baseball competitions, NCAA postseason and the College World Series. It’s here where Runchey truly became a coach among umpires.

“That’s the exact philosophy I took,” Runchey said of his position with umpires now. “I love kids and I love working with kids. I wanted to coach. I coached high school for a while after I left the minor leagues. That was the passion I had.

“I didn’t have a dad growing up. My dad passed away when he was 34 so our coaches raised my brothers and I. My mother was the stronghold, but she had to work. So, in umpiring, I always took the mindset that it was coaching. So, when I was umpiring, I was coaching my team — my crewmates.

“It’s coaching and I love to do it.”

One day, when the story is finally written, there will be numerous people mentioned along the way that had a big impact on Runchey and how he came to be one of the most respected men in amateur baseball. He remembers his translators and people who assisted him in other countries, and he still keeps in contact with them today through Facebook and the internet. People who were there to help him get around, learn the culture and simply “stay out of trouble.”

“I told you – we’re a rare breed,” Runchey said with a laugh. “Baseball is a game. I learned that a long time ago. It’s a competition. Some teams win, some teams lose – that’s how we remember players. But the thing I will take away from all of this is the people I’ve met along the way from all over the world.

“One day we will all get to see each other again somewhere down the road. I can’t take the scores and games with me when it’s over, but I still have those important people I’ve met along the way.”

So when you’ve been all the places Runchey has been and accomplished so much over a lifetime dedicated to helping others, where will this achievement rank among all the accolades for the umpires’ coach?

“This is big,” Runchey said. “I guess you could say that I’ve covered the whole gamut of umpiring in baseball. So I don’t know if you call it the perfect ending or the icing on the cake – I guess it could be a number of things. But I tell you what, it’s going to look good on my tombstone.”

* Beginning in 2021, the CBF started inducting an umpire each year as part of the annual National College Baseball Hall of Fame class. Also, each umpire who already has been honored became a part of that year’s induction class instead of being recognized by a separate award.