TCU Baseball Positional Preview: Outfielders
The outfield unit is TCU's deepest and most experienced unit. Anchored by returning studs Elijah Nunez and Luke Boyers, the outfield rotation might just be TCU's best, too. The Horned Frogs added some experience in the portal and roster young talent.
Below, we'll go over the five outfielders for TCU baseball this season and what to expect from the unit as a whole. Check back for more positional previews, leading up to a TCU baseball season preview and prediction.
Last year, we were just a game off and a round too ambitious.
TCU Baseball: Returning Outfielders
Nunez and Boyers headline returners in the outfield. Sophomore Logan Maxwell also returns after starting 21 games last season.
Nunez comes off a season which he was named Honorable Mention All-Big 12. The centerfielder led the team in steals with 31, the 17th-highest mark in the entire country. He improved his batting average from .225 freshman year to .287. Nunez recorded 64 hits, 58 walks, 31 RBI, seven doubles, and a home run at the plate.
Boyers added 37 RBI and six home runs batting in 2022. He was one of just two Frogs to play in and start all 60 games last season, where he provided consistency to right field. He, too, landed Honorable Mention All-Big 12 honors while also being named second team Academic All-Big 12.
Maxwell likely continues his role as a rotational outfielder, primarily in left field. Nunez shores up center and Boyers will move to left field (per D1Baseball).
TCU Baseball: Outfield Additions
Two newcomers anchor the outfield. The biggest addition– perhaps on the entire team– is West Virginia grad transfer Austin Davis. Davis was named first team All-Big 12 after batting .330 with 26 RBI, 11 doubles, and four home runs. He makes for a dangerous base running counterpart to Nunez, as Davis logged 29 stolen bases last season.
Davis hails from Orlando, Fla., and spent four years with the Mountaineers, also earning Honorable Mention All-Big 12 honors in 2021. He is a back-to-back first team Academic All-Big 12 selection, as well. Davis played in right field for WVU, where he's expected to play for TCU while Boyers bumps to left.
The other addition is incoming freshman Jake Duer, a four-year letterman locally from Flower Mound High School. Duer earned first team all-state honors as a senior and second team all-state as a junior, and was named an All-American by Baseball Factory. He ranks top-five all time for Flower Mound in walks, hits, batting average (.392!), runs, and doubles; he also has the school record for triples.
With such an experienced crew in the outfield, Duer may see more work as a pinch hitter this season, but solidifies an extremely talented rising crop.
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