Pair of Former UVA Freshman Phenoms Follow Brian O'Connor To Mississippi State

Jun 14, 2024; Omaha, NE, USA; Virginia Cavalier head coach Brian O'Connor makes notes during a break in the game against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the seventh inning at Charles Schwab Filed Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images | Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images

Virginia Baseball has been in flux since Sunday night when long-time head coach Brian O'Connor opted to leave to take the head coaching job at Mississippi State. Not only did O'Connor leave, but he took some of the coaching staff with him and some of Virginia's top talent has entered the portal. Two of the players who entered the portal, LHP Tomas Valincius and DH Chone James (both freshmen), are following O'Connor to Mississippi State according to Greg Madia at the Daily Progress.

Former #UVa pitcher Tomas Valincius and utility man Chone James both announced their decisions on Friday to transfer to Mississippi State and play for former Hoos coach Brian O’Connor.

They both are coming off strong freshman seasons with the Cavaliers.

— Greg Madia (@GregMadia) June 6, 2025

Valincius had a steller freshman seaosn, going 6-1 in 12 starts with a 4.59 ERA and 70 strikeouts. James played in 26 games for the Cavaliers this past season, slashing .373/.455/.478 and hitting 11 RBIs. Both players have serious upside and should continue to improve under O'Connor in Starkville.

Other star players such as OF Aidan Teel and Eric Becker have also entered the transfer portal. Whoever is named as the next head coach is going to have a lot of work to do to flip this roster.

O'Connor was introduced to the media at Mississippi State yesterday and before he talked about why he took the job in Starkville, he started his press conference by thanking the University of Virginia and reminiscing on his time as the Cavaliers head coach. O'Connor was of course asked about what made him take the job at Mississippi State after being at Virginia for so long, as well as what the moment was like for when he finally decided to take the job, and here is what he had to say:

"Well, so much goes into that, right? That's a long answer probably for that. We don't all have time for, but this is an incredibly special place here in Starkville. Certainly the program is supported at the highest level, right? In the history and tradition that's behind this program. But Zach Selman was a big part of this. I felt like if I was going to leave this place that I loved and worked at for 22 years, it had to be the right partnership, first and foremost. And then, you know, it had to be the place that you felt like you could be as successful as possible, right? I poured everything into that program in Charlottesville and, you know, the timing was lined up from the standpoint of where I was at in my career and where my family was at. Yes, there's been a lot of schools over the years that have reached out about their jobs, but make no mistake about it, this was the right one for Brian O'Connor to take a different path in his career.

Well, we had a final conversation, Zach (Selman) and I did. And I think he felt like in that conversation, maybe I should have or would have accepted the job. And I just told him that I needed a little bit of time. All right. And, you know, I'm a little bit of a softie sometimes. Okay. My family is always first and foremost in my decisions. So I sat down on the couch with my wife, Cindy, and my son, Dylan, and I held their hands and said one last time and said, are you all on board? Okay. And they looked at me and smiled and said, yes, we are. Right. I knew that I wanted to do it. I knew it was the right opportunity. Okay. And then I called Zach back and told him that I wanted to be the next baseball coach here. And then there's a process in this. It just doesn't mean that now you're going to be the baseball coach. Right. There's approvals that have to happen and things like that. And that takes, you know, sometimes 24 hours to run those approvals as just part of the search. Okay. But it was an exciting, proud moment in my life. Obviously, it was change, but really excitement."

It will be interesting to see how quickly this job gets filled. It should be a coveted job around the country, but the timing is going to be something to watch going forward.