Baylor University · Waco, Texas · Big 12
People and Process
Big 12 baseball. A world-class education. A culture built around getting better every day — in one of America's great college towns. In pursuit of potential.
The program
The history
Baseball has been played at Baylor since 1902. The trophy case holds three Omaha trips, nine conference titles, a Hall of Famer and a Golden Spikes winner.
Our program
A Hall of Famer. A National Player of the Year. A Rookie of the Year. World Series champions. The names change every decade — the pathway doesn't.
Hall of Famer. 260 wins across 21 seasons with the White Sox, and Baylor's first All-Star in 1939.
1999 National Player of the Year and Golden Spikes Award winner. 2002 National League Rookie of the Year.
Unanimous All-American behind the plate, then an MLB career with Cleveland and Tampa Bay.
104 big-league home runs and seven seasons with the Rangers, including back-to-back World Series trips.
16th overall pick. Twelve seasons in the majors.
35 saves and Rangers Pitcher of the Year in 2015.
Three-time World Series champion. More career home runs than any Bear in history.
9th overall pick. Starting catcher in the 2026 All-Star Game.
Tyce Armstrong · 2026
Tyce Armstrong transferred in from UT Arlington. One season later he was Baylor's home run king, an All-American, Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, and an ESPY nominee alongside Shohei Ohtani.
His line: 4 AB, 3 R, 3 H, 12 RBI — breaking a Baylor single-game RBI record held by Shea Langeliers. Baylor won 15–2.
The game earned an ESPY nomination for Best Single-Game Performance — alongside Shohei Ohtani.
| Player | GS | AVG | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | R | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyce Armstrong · 1B | 56 | .338 | 71 | 14 | 1 | 24 | 64 | 50 | .757 | 1.210 |
Started all 56 games. 39 of his 71 hits went for extra bases. His 24 home runs are the most in Baylor history.
The best hitting season in program history — and Academic All-America the same year.
Some of these were posted mid-season — Armstrong finished the year with 24 home runs.
“This year has been phenomenal. Honestly, the best year of my life. From day one, Baylor became home for me. I'm grateful for my teammates, grateful for the coaches and grateful for everyone in this program. This place means a lot to me.” Tyce Armstrong After his record-breaking home run
Brady Janusek · 2026
In 2010, a Baylor freshman named Max Muncy hit 11 home runs. This July, he started the All-Star Game for the Dodgers. Brady Janusek just passed him.
All while starting every game in the outfield as a true freshman.
| Player | GS | AVG | OBP | SLG | H | HR | RBI | R | XBH | SB | FLD% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brady Janusek · OF | 56 | .297 | .375 | .563 | 68 | 14 | 53 | 48 | 29 | 17 | .976 |
A home run, on Feb. 14 vs. New Mexico State. He then hit safely in his first 18 games.
Two SportsCenter Top 10 plays in the outfield, and a .976 fielding percentage.
The first Bear ever named to Perfect Game's Freshman All-America team, plus Big 12 All-Freshman honors.
Janusek is back for 2027 — the record-setting freshman will be hitting in the middle of the order when you get here.
Lucas Davenport · 2026
Lucas Davenport arrived from Blinn College as a reliever. Two years later he was a Big 12 weekend starter — and a fifth-round pick of the Boston Red Sox.
Reliever to weekend starter, in one year.
A complete game vs. Texas Tech — 11 strikeouts, zero walks. Big 12 Pitcher of the Week.
69 strikeouts, 16 walks — a 4.31 K/BB ratio, fourth in the Big 12.
Between seasons, Davenport rebuilt his arsenal — moving off the sinker to a four-seamer with added velocity, and folding in a brand-new sweeper. Boston spent a fifth-round pick on the result.
From his stadium Trackman reports, spring 2025 vs. spring 2026. Same pitcher, rebuilt arsenal.
| Arsenal | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Primary fastball | Sinker · 43% usage | Four-seam · 48% usage |
| Fastball proStuff+ | 82 | 95 |
| Sinker usage | 43% | 7% |
| Sweeper | — | New pitch · proStuff+ 110–118 |
| Strikeout minus walk rate | 11.6% | 20.2% |
| Expected wOBA against | .338 | .316 |
| Pitches tracked | 587 | 969 |
In 2025 he was a sinker-slider reliever with a fastball that graded 82 — well below college average. The staff rebuilt the mix around the four-seam, kept the splitter (his best pitch, 115+ proStuff+), retired the curveball, and taught him a sweeper that graded plus from day one.
A reliever became a starter who held his stuff deep into games — 212 pitches thrown facing lineups a third time, with his best expected results of the day (.278 xwOBA). That's what got a big-league organization to buy.
Source: Trackman stadium reports via Pitch Profiler, Feb–May 2025 and Feb–May 2026.
Gabe Craig · 2025
The year before Davenport was drafted, Gabe Craig put up one of the best relief seasons in college baseball history — and became a fifth-round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies.
The 2025 staff ranked top 30 nationally in ERA, WHIP, BB/9 and K:BB — the first Baylor staff to do that since 2012.
Same arm, one year apart. The stuff and performance tells the story.
| Metric | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Fastball velocity | 90.8 mph | 94.4 mph |
| Walk rate | 22.2% | 1.9% |
| Strikeout rate | 35.6% | 43.8% |
| Strikeout minus walk rate | 13.3% | 41.9% |
| Sweeper proStuff+ | 134 | 154 |
| Location grade (proLoc+) | 87 | 108 |
| Expected wOBA against | .326 | .236 |
An offseason of work added 3.6 mph to the fastball, a new slider in place of the cutter and curveball, and a command jump that took his zone rate from 39% to 52% — while the sweeper, already one of college baseball's best pitches, got even better.
The nation's best ERA and WHIP, a strikeout-to-walk rate almost no college pitcher has ever posted, and a fifth-round selection by the Phillies. Same arm. Same sweeper. A completely different pitcher.
Source: Trackman stadium reports via Pitch Profiler, Feb–May 2024 and Feb–May 2025.
Tyriq Kemp · 2025
Tyriq Kemp came to Waco from the Netherlands by way of an Oklahoma junior college. Two seasons later he was an All-Big 12 shortstop hitting .358 — and a sixth-round pick of the Kansas City Royals.
Development here isn't just for the five-star recruit. Kemp arrived a JUCO transfer and left a pro.
July 15, 2026 · Philadelphia
Max Muncy started at third base for the National League. Shea Langeliers started at catcher for the American League. No other school had two starters on the field.
Armstrong's 12 RBI broke Langeliers' record. Janusek's home runs broke Muncy's. The records players chase here belong to big leaguers.
Muncy and Langeliers even came from the same high school — Keller, outside Fort Worth. Recruited, developed and drafted at Baylor.
The pathway
158 Bears have been drafted. Baylor has had a pick in 34 of the last 36 drafts — and a top-six-round pick in seven of the last eight years.
| Year | Player | Pos | Team | Round | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Lucas Davenport | RHP | Boston Red Sox | 5 | 156 |
| 2026 | Tyce Armstrong | 1B | New York Yankees | 19 | 578 |
| 2025 | Gabe Craig | RHP | Philadelphia Phillies | 5 | 161 |
| 2025 | Tyriq Kemp | SS | Kansas City Royals | 6 | 188 |
Four picks in two years, three of them inside the top six rounds. All four were developed under the current staff.
“Growing up, my dream was always to be a professional baseball player — and now that it's happened, it's an incredible moment you really can't describe to anyone.” Lucas Davenport RHP · 5th round, Boston Red Sox · on draft night
The future
5,000 seats. 330–400–330. A new videoboard in 2024, and a new name in January 2026: Magnolia Field. Next up — a player-development building along the left-field line.
Design concepts from Gensler Sports — proposed, not yet built. Nearly all of it is space for players.
In the building today: TrackMan on every pitch at the ballpark and portable units on the road, Edgertronic high-speed cameras, five motion-capture cameras with biomechanics software in the Jack Ward Pitching Lab, and the MLB-level predictive models that graded every pitch in the case studies above.
Coming with the new performance center: force-plate mounds, force plates for hitters, HitTrax, and video analysis stations wired through the building.
In January 2026, Chip and Joanna Gaines' Magnolia made the largest gift in program history — and the field became Magnolia Field at Baylor Ballpark.
“Baseball has played a meaningful role in our family for generations. It's where lessons are passed down and memories are made.” Chip & Joanna Gaines Baylor '98 and '01 · founders of Magnolia
The degree
Baylor is an R1 research university and a top-50 private school. Baseball ends. The degree doesn't.
Also nationally ranked: No. 38 Most Innovative Schools and No. 40 for undergraduate research and creative projects. Baylor sits inside the top 100 national universities and the top 50 privates.
Armstrong hit 24 home runs and made Academic All-America with a 3.81 GPA — in the same year. Davenport made Academic All-Big 12 as a weekend starter.
Advisors plan around road series, study space sits inside the ballpark, and the degree is treated as part of the development plan — not a box to check.
The four years around baseball.
The place
Ninety minutes to Dallas. Ninety to Austin. A river through campus, and Magnolia two miles from the ballpark.
Straight up I-35 between DFW and Austin. Your family can drive to a midweek game and be home the same night.
About 20,000 students, in a city where Baylor athletics is the main event.
You're on the field in February, and you stay on it.
Come see it
Every player on this page arrived with something to build. Come to Waco and let us show you the plan we'd write for you.
The best way to get in front of this staff is at a camp — dates, ages and registration are at BaylorBaseball.com.
“I'm hearing guys say it changed their lives. That's what it's about.” Mitch Thompson Head coach
Head Coach
Assistant Coach
Assistant Coach
Assistant Coach
Director of Player Development
Director of Operations
Plus dedicated athletic performance and athletic training staff for baseball. Full bios at BaylorBears.com.