TCU Baseball Voted To Win Big 12; Multiple Players Receive Preseason Honors

For the past few seasons, TCU baseball has been the hunters. Now, they're the hunted.

The two-time regular season league winners were voted No. 1 by the Big 12 coaches. They topped perennial contenders like Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and Texas with five first-place votes and 61 voting points.

Six Horned Frogs also received preseason honors, ranging from Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year to all-conference honors.

Coaches Votes TCU No. 1 In Big 12 Baseball Preseason Poll

The Horned Frogs followed up a regular season Big 12 title and Big 12 Tournament title in 2021 with another regular season title in 2022. The consistency– coupled with returning production and a top-10 transfer class nationally– garnered the complete respect of Big 12 coaches.

As a result, TCU baseball was voted to win the Big 12 Conference this season.

Since joining the conference in 2013, TCU has never been voted lower than fourth in the preseason. In 10 of 11 seasons, the Horned Frogs debuted third or higher.

The Frogs handle an onslaught of SEC powers in their own backyard at the College Baseball Showdown in Arlington, out-of-conference foes Florida State and Cal State Fullerton at home, Louisville and Michigan in-state (Shriner's Classic in Houston), and in-conference foes Oklahoma State and Texas at home.

While the schedule is loaded with very good baseball teams, the bulk of their difficult series are handled at or near home.

Five Horned Frogs Earn Preseason All-Big 12 Honors

Shortstop Braden Taylor, center fielder Elijah Nunez, grad transfer Austin Davis, and pitchers Luke Savage and Garrett Wright were named to the Preseason All-Big 12 team. Taylor and Davis are a repeat nominees after being named to the list last season. The other three are first-timers.

Taylor finished the 2022 season on the second team All-Big 12 while Davis earned first team honors.

The other promising factor for TCU is that Taylor, Nunez, Savage, and Wright are all juniors, with the possibility that any number of them return next season.

Taylor, Silva Earn Individual Preseason Honors

Taylor adds to his decorated baseball career with a first-time accolade: Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year. He breaks the two-year run of Texas Tech Red Raiders earning the preseason award. Names associated with the conference Player of the Year include Texas' Ivan Melendez and Texas Tech's Jace Jung.

Incoming freshman Anthony Silva was named the Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year. The Clark High School (San Antonio) product is a top-75 prospect nationally and a top-15 Texas prospect, via Perfect Game. Silva earned four letters in high school and was named the top defensive infielder, per Baseball America.

Silva participated in the MLB Draft Combine and carries a very long list of awards, records, and honors.

Catch all of these terrific players and the rest of your Preseason No. 1 TCU Horned Frogs in the College Baseball Showdown at Globe Life Field beginning Feb. 17.

Want to join the discussion? Click here to become a member of the Killer Frogs message board community today!

Follow KillerFrogs on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest TCU news! Follow KillerFrogs on Facebook and Instagram as well. Download the KillerFrogs app on Google Play or in the Apple App Store.