Transfer portal not a primary focus for Louisville

Louisville baseball head coach Dan McDonnell isn't putting a lot of time and effort into looking at the transfer portal this offseason.

Dan McDonnell hasn’t spent much time looking at the transfer portal.

The Louisville baseball head coach says his team has no desire to add a position player to its roster. More than 900 players in Division I have entered in the transfer portal, but Louisville probably won’t be a potential landing spot.

“We have plenty of talent returning,” McDonnell said. “We have plenty of talent coming in from our signing class.”

With the potential departure of talented arms on Louisville’s pitching staff, McDonnell didn’t rule out the possibility of bringing another pitcher in, but it wouldn’t be a necessity.

“An experienced weekend arm would definitely be intriguing,” McDonnell said. “But even then, when I talked to Coach [Roger] Williams, he felt really good about our young guys returning, even though some are unproven, and about our guys coming in out of high school and junior college.”

Louisville’s weekend rotation will look entirely different in 2021 than it did during the brief 2020 season that was cut short due to COVID-19. Reid Detmers and Bobby Miller are projected to be selected in the first round of the MLB Draft.

The Cardinals desire, or lack thereof, to add players in the transfer portal can also be attributed to the NCAA’s vote to extend eligibility of spring sports student-athletes paired with the reduction in rounds of the MLB Draft.

The roster has the potential to return plenty of players from 2020.

“In a typical year with 40 rounds, we would have had six to eight guys get drafted,” McDonnell said. “I think we average one to two guys (high school players) a year who sign (professionally). I wouldn’t be shocked if it was zero.”

Louisville has had two players enter the transfer portal thus far during the offseason. Sophomore infielder Andrew Benefield and freshman right-handed pitcher Shane Harris both entered the transfer portal according to D1Baseball.com.

They have also welcomed a transfer this offseason. RHP Anthony Silkwood is coming over from Parkland College, Luke Smith's alma mater.