2 Days 'til: LaViolette's greatness approaching A&M's all-time greats

It’s that time of year! The Texas Aggie baseball team is set to open up the 2025 season on Friday against Elon at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park. We’re counting down the days with our 2025 Aggie Baseball Preview Series.

No. 17 will sit atop Texas A&M’s all-time home runs list at year’s end.

That much is certain.

However, odds are that Daylan Holt, who wore No. 17 for the Aggies from 1998-2001, will pass that torch to Jace LaViolette.

With the current No. 17 sitting at 50 homers, Holt’s 56 reigns for the time being.

But even he knows his days are numbered, even if his numbers aren’t.

“This is the 26th year that I've had the record, and it's been cool and great,” Holt said. “It’s kinda part of it. Baseball is all for records, and records are made to be broken.”

Entering 2025, LaViolette appears destined to overtake Holt.

In 2024, the Aggies mashed 136 home runs to surpass a 1999 squad that hit 128.

That year, Holt led the country with 34 homers and 105 RBIs, both of which are program records.

“The further you get away from it, you just realize how stupid that number was,” Holt recalled. “To be able to hit 34 home runs in 70 games, you're up against Babe Ruth numbers and stuff like that with how many home runs per at-bats. It's just crazy.”

“Crazy” is also an apt word to describe LaViolette’s time in Aggieland.

In 132 career games, the outfielder is slashing .297/.433/.683 with 26 doubles, 50 bombs, 141 RBIs and 137 runs scored.

He’s so good that fellow Aggie legends refuse to leave the stands when he hits.

“He reminds me of when I played with Detroit, and Cecil Fielder was our first baseman,” Scott Livingstone said. “When Cecil came to the plate, no one went to the bathroom. You had to watch him hit, and that’s the same way I feel about Jace.”

A two-time All-American, Livingstone spent eight years in the big leagues. His name tops the program’s list in runs (217), doubles (75), at-bats (881), total bases (543) and RBIs (228).

He was the first member of A&M’s 50-homer club, which grew to a trio upon welcoming LaViolette on June 23, 2024.

“I say this all the time: I did play four years, so my numbers and stuff in the record books are over four years versus three for a lot of guys,” said a modest Livingstone. “I had 50 in four, and he’s got 50 in two. I mean, that’s amazing. It just says a lot about him and his talent and his ability.”

That talent has been well documented.

Beyond his prowess at the plate, LaViolette is a five-tool player: He can hit, hit for power, run, throw and plays elite defense.

Look no further than his ninth-inning home run robbery of Cade Kurland in Omaha.

“He’s a good player, and he loves to be on the field,” teammate Gavin Grahovac said. “You never know what you’re gonna get from him, but you know it’s going to be something good.”

“Good” is an understatement. “Great” is much better.

Indeed, his greatness is being measured against a select few to don the Maroon & White.

Kelii Horvath, TexAgs

In addition to his offensive abilities, Jace LaViolette was also an SEC All-Defensive Team selection in 2024.

Holt and Livingstone are among that group. As is Chuck Knoblauch, who became the most decorated professional to come through A&M. Names like Wally Moon, Dave Elmendorf, John Byington, Cliff Pennington and Braden Shewmake surely qualify.

However, only three Aggie position players have ever earned multiple All-American honors during their careers: Livingstone, Jason Tyner and Tyler Naquin.

A first-team All-American in 2024 and a preseason selection in 2025, LaViolette projects to join that list.

“If he stays healthy and takes care of what he needs to, he’s gonna be just fine,” Naquin said. “My thing is don’t try and reinvent something. What he’s done the past two years is what he needs to do again and just prove that that’s who he is.”

He stands to make millions this summer, with the MLB Draft set for July 13-14 in Atlanta.

Braden Montgomery just became the highest-drafted A&M position player ever when Boston selected him 12th overall in 2024. Montgomery signed for $5 million.

At 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds, LaViolette enters his junior season as MLB.com’s No. 2 draft-eligible prospect.

“I don’t know who’s got the first pick, but if they don’t take him, I think they’re crazy,” Livingstone said. “I don’t think he would mind going one, two, three, four, five. I think he’ll be just happy to get drafted and go and play and just keep going with his career.”

Before he can become a professional, LaViolette will face a highly-anticipated 2025 season.

While his individual expectations are high, the team’s are somehow even higher.

After falling just shy of winning it all last season, the Aggies are the nation’s preseason consensus No. 1.

@DaylanHolt/X

Holt remains the only Aggie to hit 30-plus homers in a single season, with 34 in 1999. LaViolette came close with 29 in 2024.

All-Americans Grahovac and Ryan Prager, stars Hayden Schott and Caden Sorrell and impact newcomers Wyatt Henseler and Gavin Kash create one of college baseball’s most talented rosters.

All of that is centered around LaViolette.

“That's a huge foundation that they have returning, and with the first-year head coach who's familiar with the program having to live up to a preseason No. 1 ranking, they are definitely set to get back,” Holt said. “That's kinda how we were in ‘98 and ‘99. We didn't have the success in ‘98 that they did last year, but we had a ton of returning players, and we felt like we had a chance to go win it.”

In 1999, the Aggies won the Big 12 regular-season title. They came through the losers’ bracket to win the College Station Regional. Then, they beat Clemson in a three-game super regional to get to the College World Series for just the second time since 1964.

To date, A&M’s 1999 team is the only one to have played 70 games. The 2024 squad played 68.

Last season, the 1999 club held a 25-year reunion during the Vanderbilt series.

That afforded the two No. 17s the chance to meet.

“I introduced myself because I'm an old guy now,” Holt said. “I was like, ‘You’re gonna break the career record. Congratulations.’ And he was like, ‘Oh, I dont know. There's a long way to go.’”

The humility LaViolette exhibited in that exchange is part of who he is.

On the field, he’s a superstar chasing an all-time program record. Off it, you would never know that he’s the only Aggie to hit over 20 home runs in back-to-back seasons.

“I watch him play, and he’s such a humble guy,” said Livingstone, who interviewed LaViolette on his Ball 5 Podcast. “When it comes to greatest players, it’s tough to pick one, and I think if you ask Jace, he probably wouldn’t say he’s No. 1 because he’s just a humble guy. And he’d just be honored for people to be considering him.”

Sure, counting stats won’t settle generational arguments of “who is the greatest of all time.”

Yet, there will be no discussion as to LaViolette’s relevance to that ongoing debate.

After all, he’s just six swings from overtaking Holt in one category.

“I hope when he breaks a record, I break it right after him,” said Grahovac, who broke LaViolette’s freshman home record with 23 in ‘24. “We just want to win games, and if I get to do that, I get to do that. But he’s a great guy, and I love being around him.”

As for the one LaViolette’s chasing, he’s just enjoying the ride.

Because records are meant to be broken.

“He's deserving of his accomplishments, and he’ll go down as one of the best A&M players in history, and he should,” Holt said. “At least say No. 17 is still the all-time career home run record holder for home runs.”