Oregon State baseball coach Mitch Canham: “Everyone that is here is excited about the future of the program, about our schedule and about the camaraderie around them.”
The NCAA baseball transfer portal window closed at midnight, accompanied by a welcoming sound for Oregon State’s baseball team.
Silence.
As coaches predicted — and players promised — the Beavers experienced no crippling departures, much alone a mass exodus such to those that destroyed the women’s basketball and football programs during the 2023-24 season.
Seven players, including catchers Tanner Smith and Evan Gustafson, pitchers Aiden Jimenez, Tyler Mejia, and Tephen Montgomery, and infielders Brandon Forrester and Reeve Boyd, chose to leave. Only four of them (Smith, Mejia, Montgomery, and Forrester) appeared in a game last season.
According to OSU coach Mitch Canham, the players left for a number of reasons, none of which had anything to do with the Pac-12 Conference’s dissolution or the Beavers’ independent destiny.
“For anyone that leaves, I still love them,” Canham told The Oregonian/OregonLive last month. “They’re our kids. They’ve been there with us. They’ve been a part of the program. Sometimes things just don’t work out. Sometimes it’s about playing time and sometimes it’s about fit — on either end. But everyone that is here is excited about the future of the program, about our schedule and about the camaraderie around them.”
