Stanford Catcher Charlie Saum Enters Transfer Portal

Stanford baseball may be in trouble. Recently, Temo Becerra announced his intent to enter the transfer portal. It was a tough break for the Cardinal, who were already losing their starting shortstop due to graduation.

To make matters worse, Charlie Saum will be entering the portal as well, according to National College Reporter for Baseball America, Jacob Rudner.

Stanford senior catcher Charlie Saum has entered the transfer portal with one season of remaining eligibility. He's batting .230 with four homers, six doubles and 18 RBIs over 40 games in 2025. Experienced backstop with over 100 collegiate games under his belt.
— Jacob Rudner (@JacobRudner) May 12, 2025

Saum had had a good career with the Cardinal. In his underclassmen years, Saum was a solid piece, but didn’t see the field much. As a freshman, Saum saw 14 plate appearances, where he got two hits and an RBI.

He also collected his first double against arch-rival USC. As a sophomore, he took a bit of a jump. He had 21 at bats, putting up four hits and two RBI. He also hit one double, mimicking his freshman year. Although Saum didn’t have the biggest role at that time, the Cardinal saw tons of success, making back-to-back College World Series runs in his freshman and sophomore years.

His senior season was similar to his junior year. He got 144 plate appearances for 34 hits and racked up a career-high seven doubles. To add, he finished with four home runs and 19 RBI, almost identical to his junior year stats.

After a solid career on the farm, Saum has entered his name into the portal, where he looks for another opportunity to prove himself before potentially landing in the MLB Draft. This now leaves openings at second base, shortstop, and catcher that will need to be filled on the Stanford roster before next season.

Stanford has many holes to fill this offseason, which gives head coach David Esquer big shoes to fill. If the Cardinal have a great offseason, they can find depth to the already decent roster that they have, with Jimmy Nati, Brady Reynolds, Rintaro Sasaki, Tatum Marsh, Luke Lavin, Ethan Hott, Brandon Larson, Cort McDonald and Charlie Bates.

A number of pieces of this Cardinal club were underclassmen in 2025, so there is plenty of room to grow up and down the lineup and on the pitching staff.

If Esquer fails to find the right pieces, the Cardinal may continue their downward fall out of the hunt for a College World Series berth, while a good offseason could give Stanford a great chance of bringing national-level baseball back to the farm.