6 Days 'til Aggie Baseball: #12 jersey 'means the world' to Austin Bost

It’s that time of year! The Texas Aggie baseball team is set to open up the 2023 season on Friday against Seattle at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park. We're counting down the days with our 2023 Aggie Baseball Preview Series.

Some may boast of prowess bold.

Austin Bost is certainly one to boast about.

Back for a fourth season in Aggieland, the senior slugger has traded in his #11 jersey for a number synonymous with Texas A&M.

"I love this team, and I think (Jim Schlossnagle) knows how much I love this team and how much this university means to me and what I want to do to get this team a national championship," Bost said. 

Two months ago, Aggie head coach Jim Schlossnagle announced it was Bost who had earned the honor of wearing #12.

"We prefer to award it to a player in his last year of eligibility who has exemplified the core values of our great university and program at a very high level," Schlossnagle said in December. "(Bost) is one of the most competitive players that I have ever coached, and he and his family are Aggies through and through."

The honor is not lost on Bost.

He comes from an Aggie family. His parents, Bryan and LaRae, are both Aggies. His brother, Blake, plays quarterback for A&M. His uncle, Carroll Broussard '62, was a two-time Southwest Conference Player of the Year on the hardwood and a 1977 inductee into Texas A&M's Athletics Hall of Fame.

"I've been an A&M fan since before I was even thought about," Bost said. "It was just a huge deal being able to come to A&M, and now, I'll be able to represent the 12th Man at A&M.

"To be a captain and one of the leaders on this team is huge and means the world to me and my family."

A look at Bost's career suggests Schlossnagle & Co. made the right call in regards to representing A&M's core values.

One would expect a kid that took the junior college route would respect the game. Out of Port Neches-Groves High School, Bost's offer list was almost non-existent, so he attended Panola College in Carthage.

"It was a junior college in a small town, but for some reason, it just felt right," Bost recalled. "I knew it was the place for me, and it was the best decision I've ever made in my life."

Bost adjusted to the college game nicely, hitting .351 with a conference-leading 20 doubles at Panola in 2019.

That kind of undeniable excellence continued once he arrived in College Station.

In three seasons in Maroon & White, Bost is slashing .335/.408/.560 with 23 home runs and 94 RBI. He's one of only three returning SEC players to hit at least .300 with 10 or more dingers in each of the last two seasons, joining LSU's Dylan Crews and Georgia's Connor Tate.

"He is and will continue to become a legendary player in the history of this great program," Schlossnagle said.

Bost's teammates certainly see him as the captain the #12 jersey would suggest he is, but the honor won't change his leadership style.

"This number is a huge deal, but I didn't want it to change the way my teammates look at me," Bost said. "It has not been like that, and I'm still the same person every single day. I'm not going to let it get to my head even though it is a huge, huge honor."

When it comes to loyalty, Bost turned down professional baseball opportunities last summer, electing to return to earn his degree in business and for what A&M hopes will be another run to Omaha.

"I knew coming back that I had the chance to get #12, a chance to win a national championship because I had another chance to play under Schloss, another chance to hit with [Micheal] Earley, and I had another chance to completely finish my degree here," Bost said. "I put it in my head what all of that was worth, and those teams didn't meet it. That's why I'm back, and I'm happy I am because it's going to be a really fun year and is going to work out for the best."

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

Bost was 13-for-35 (.371) in the 2022 NCAA Tournament with three homers and 10 RBI, including a 2-for-5 outing vs. Texas in Omaha that featured a pair of doubles.

In the clubhouse, Bost's exhibits integrity when upholding the standard and work ethic set by those who came before him.

"Getting to see Asa Lacy, Christian Roa and Chandler Jozwiak and getting to see Zach DeLoach hit and Hunter Coleman hit every single day, it shows you how to work and gets you developed by seeing those older guys," Bost said of his early time at A&M. "I try to be that for these younger guys, setting the example of how it's supposed to be done to be great."

And finally, his selfless service might have turned last season around when he volunteered to play second base despite his only experience at the position coming in summer league stints with the Fayetteville SwampDogs and Healdsburg Prune Packers.

"I knew I could do it, and when I knew we needed it, I told (Schlossnagle) that I had experience there," Bost said. "He ran with it, and it really helped our season a lot."

After an offseason of work with Schlossnagle and Will Fox, Bost is combining much-improved defense up the middle with his already-established plate presence.

"It's really just footwork and how to work the base and working on my hands every single day," Bost said. "It's really just an everyday grind trying to be the best I can be at that position, and it's going to help out a lot because I'm excited."

In clubhouse, at the plate and on the dirt, Bost's best is being counted on. After all, A&M's goals have changed following 2022.

"A lot of people say that Omaha and stuff like that is the goal, but that's not the goal for us," Bost said. "We've been there. We've done that. We've been to Omaha. We don't want to just go. We want to win the national championship."

Nothing would be better for the school he loves so grand.