4 Days 'til: X-factors that could help A&M reach its ceiling

It’s that time of year! The Texas Aggie baseball team is set to open up the 2026 season on Friday against Tennessee Tech at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park. We’re counting down the days with our 2026 Aggie Baseball Preview Series.

Heading into each season, regardless of sport, prognosticators like me often attempt to identify the key elements of a team and its overall roster that we (sometimes foolishly) believe will unlock its full potential.

For the upcoming Texas A&M baseball campaign, I believe there are three major X-factors that could provide the boost needed for this talented group to reach its ceiling.

Now, before we undertake this endeavor, the ensuing subject matter is based on the assumption that the guys that we expect to be headliners actually play well. In other words, these swing positions become a lot less pivotal if the wheels fall off. Following last season, there will be plenty of questions surrounding that possibility, as well as abundant wonder about how specific guys will perform after returning from injury.

So, for the sake of the article, let's suppose that A&M's top dogs produce as anticipated.

Furthermore, this is baseball. It's a long journey that typically morphs as the calendar creeps toward summer. It's not often that the first lineup looks like the last one. Due to that, a perceived crux in the preseason can transform within the first few weeks of a campaign.

Now that all the qualifiers are out of the way, here are three players that I contend carry critical importance as we step into the 2026 season.

1. The fourth infielder - The most important positional battle to me heading into the season, there’s a real competition happening between a trio of infielders — senior Ben Royo, freshman Boston Kellner and sophomore Sawyer Farr. With the other spots cemented by Gavin Grahovac, Chris Hacopian and Nico Partida, finding the final piece to the puzzle on the dirt is a hugely important task for Michael Earley and Cliff Pennington.

Zoe Kelton, TexAgs

Ben Royo hit 10 home runs in 44 games as an Aggie last season.

To me, a locked-in, steady version of Royo provides the most roster upside. From a sheer tools perspective, Royo has it all. When he's going good, he's a smooth defender with a plus range, an accurate arm, a quality internal clock and a knack for making the tough play. He's also fluid around the bag and the best double play pivot-man on the roster. At the dish, while inconsistent, there's big-time juice in his wiry frame. It's not crazy to think there's 15-20 homers in him with a season full of plate appearances. He has shown the upside, and that's why it's easy to dream on. However, there were the brain-farts defensively and the head-scratching runs of at-bats where the chase rate and strikeout numbers would balloon.

Those consistency issues have also reared their head during the preseason buildup, which is why Kellner has seen the lion’s share of first-team opportunities and looks poised to get the nod to start the season. One of the top prep players in Arizona last season, Kellner isn’t flashy, but he’s steady, tough, competitive and mature well beyond his years. Quite frankly, his production last fall and in this preseason camp has been clearly ahead of the others eyeing that starting spot. Personally, I believe it would be hard for Earley to look his team in the eye if Kellner’s play isn’t rewarded by being in the lineup, at least on Opening Day.

I imagine all three guys will get opportunities early on, and to be candid, it shouldn’t matter who emerges as the everyday guy. It’s only important that someone does.

Will Huffman, TexAgs

Boston Kellner is listed at 6-foot and 205 pounds ahead of his freshman campaign.

2. RHP Clayton Freshcorn - I believe the second-year righty's continued development will be essential for Jason Kelly's pitching staff to realize its full firing capacity. When Josh Stewart went down early last spring, Freshcorn was the first guy asked to replace him at the back end of games. A rough stretch of appearances early (some of his doing while some were just pure bad luck) shook his confidence, and he went missing at times throughout the meat of the schedule. However, he kept plugging along in side work and bullpens, tinkering with pitch shapes and usages as well as release points. It was in those sessions that he garnered some newfound belief in his stuff, and we got to witness it on full display in the final two weeks of 2025. If the Waller native is the guy we saw last May, then he can fill a multitude of all-important roles on the mound, whether that be as a Sunday starter, a Tuesday starter, a long-relief option or back in a late-inning, high-leverage role.

3. OF Jorian Wilson - I hesitated to do this because it's a lot to put on a true freshman — especially one that flew onto the recruiting scene out of a small town late in his career. A lot of the risk of heaping too much on the 6-foot-5, 230-pounder's plate is mitigated by the experienced production surrounding him. That being said, there isn't a higher ceiling anywhere on this roster...yes, that includes Grahovac, Caden Sorrell, Hacopian, Shane Sdao, Weston Moss or any of the other highly regarded Major League Baseball prospects on the team.

Will Huffman, TexAgs

Jorian Wilson hit .440 with 10 home runs as a senior at Hallettsville High School, where he also earned first-team all-district honors as a football player.

To be candid, there have been very few, if any, players that I've seen in all my years that possess as much raw talent as Wilson. It's a Braden Montgomery skillset in a Jace LaViolette frame.

If the Hallettsville product sees some success and starts building confidence in his early opportunities, it's fair to say that the freshman home run record would be in jeopardy of falling for the third time in four years. His baseline strength and exit velocities have been outrageous. Defensively, he's an easy-mover with a big arm in the outfield. You always hesitate with jumping the gun with true freshmen in this league, but this kid has the goods...in spades.

Honorable Mention: Bear Harrison/Zane Becker - Basically, I'm talking about the importance of having a pair of quality backstops that give Earley a lot more freedom both in the micro and the macro. It removes hesitations about making late-game substitutions to remove the starter while also keeping an eye on the long-term health and freshness of the position as the season progresses.