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.
Texas A&M baseball is heading into year two under head man Michael Earley and looking to bounce back after an underwhelming 2025 season.
The Aggies had a chance for a late postseason push, but they thwarted that chance themselves by getting swept late in the season by a subpar Missouri squad.
When looking at the statistics, not all the numbers from 2025 suggest that the Aggies were far off from success. However, A&M must improve in a few key areas in 2026 if the Ags want to have the bounce-back season that everyone in that locker room is looking for.
Gotta swing it better
Despite solid home run numbers and slugging last season, the Aggies were not good enough at simply getting the hits they needed to succeed. A&M hit the seventh most homers in the SEC last season with 95 and had the 11th-best slugging percentage at .473. However, they were the worst in the SEC in batting average with a poor .260 team average that really hindered their run production. Last season, A&M was too reliant on the long ball to produce runs, and without other hits to supplement that, there were fewer runners on base to drive in when the long balls did come.
The Aggies lose key production from Jace LaViolette in the power department, but they supplement that with the additions of Chris Hacopian and the return of Gavin Grahovac, who was sidelined for almost all of last season with an injury after hitting 23 homers in 2024. Caden Sorell will also be a key factor in this department, and he had his own injury issues last season as well.
With the power of the lineup, the supplemental pieces around the big bats will be crucial in providing RBI potential in other ways. Singles to get guys on base and drive in runners in scoring position will be an important addition to the threat they provide this season. If A&M does improve upon last year’s disappointing production at the plate, the team's batting average will tell an important story.
Continue to limit opponent runs
One area where the Aggies had success last season was in the pitching department. It was not a dominant staff like the one in 2024, but they were good enough to get the job done in many ways last season.
The team ERA for the Aggies was 4.30, which was good enough for sixth in the SEC. This was a bright spot and was good enough to get the job done for the Aggies in many games when run production matched the level of the pitching staff.
Additionally, the Aggie staff produced an SEC-best 151 walks allowed all last season, 42 fewer than Arkansas, which was the next best staff in that department. This exemplifies the way that the pitching staff was attacking the zone last season and making other teams beat them by putting the ball in play.
The departure of a lot of key names and pieces means that the bullpen will have a lot of different faces this year. Ryan Prager and Justin Lamkin were staples in A&M’s starting rotation last season and were ninth and 10th in the SEC last season in innings pitched.
The blow of those losses will be softened by the return of Shane Sdao, who missed all of last season with an elbow injury and was a candidate to be a part of last year's starting rotation. Big things are also expected of Weston Moss, who was nails with a 3.19 ERA out of the Aggie bullpen in 2025.
Ultimately, the Aggies must replicate or improve their success in limiting runs in 2026. If they are able to do so, the rejuvenated offense should provide enough run production for A&M to see improvements in the win column.
Find ways to get on base
Compounding A&M’s offensive woes last season, they were also not good enough at finding other ways to get on base.
Walks were a key part of the Aggies' success in 2024, but they struggled to do the same last season. A&M was just 10th in the SEC last season with 284 walks as a team and was 13th in the SEC in on-base percentage at just .377. One of the reasons for the lower on-base percentage is related to the Aggies batting average issues. However, they were still not good enough at forcing the issue and getting walked. This would have led to more traffic on the basepaths and more RBI opportunities for the power hitters in the lineup.
In addition, the Aggies lost their most dangerous man in the lineup as LaViolette was pitched around the most en route to ranking second in the SEC in walks with 57. That accounts for a significant portion of the team’s walks last season (20 percent), which means that the lineup as a whole will need to be better in 2026.
The big bats in the lineup this season who could see more caution as they get pitched to will be Hacopian, Sorrell and Grahovac. If the Aggies are better at the plate in 2026, it all starts with their plate discipline and ability to create more dangerous scenarios for the opposing team’s pitching staff.
Tactically attack the zone
Despite A&M’s solid team ERA last season, they still had some issues giving up hits and dealt with a lot of danger on the basepaths. This was exemplified by the Aggies 500 strikeouts on the season, which was 15th among the SEC, and their .248 batting average against was 10th in the league. This was also the reason for their SEC-best walk numbers because many opponents were putting the ball in play. Additionally, among the eight teams in the SEC with a team ERA of 4.50 or better, the Aggies had the worst batting average against.
This shows that the A&M staff struggled to finish off at-bats last season with swings and misses and allowed far too many bat-to-ball opportunities.
Even though A&M would risk giving away more free passes, they should still attack the zone more tactically in the 2026 season. Seeing a significant increase in strikeout numbers and a marginal increase in walk numbers would show that the Aggie staff is allowing fewer opportunities to do damage with their bats and likely allowing less traffic on the bases.
Limit costly errors
While the Aggies cleaned up this issue as the 2025 season went along, errors were certainly a problem early on and cost them in multiple games.
In 2025, the Aggies tied for ninth in the SEC for fielding percentage at .974. Additionally, A&M had the second fewest fielding chances in the SEC but the ninth most errors with 49.
The addition of Cliff Pennington to the coaching staff could prove to be important in cleaning up the Aggies' fielding woes this season. A&M will also have a new look defense across the board. It remains to be seen if Pennington and the work over the offseason were fruitful, but if the Aggies are a better defensive team in 2026, they could certainly add a couple more wins to their total just by remedying the mistakes made in the 2025 season.
Ultimately, 2026 is a fresh start for Earley’s Aggies. They must flush 2025 and look ahead to this year’s potential.
A second season under a young head coach should look very different, especially with the new faces in the lineup, bullpen and coaching staff. If A&M can maintain the course with their pitching and make significant improvements at the plate and in the field, they will be solid contenders to make a bit more noise in the SEC and play themselves into a postseason berth.
