TCU Horned Frogs Baseball Preview 2025: Infield

The 2025 TCU Horned Frogs baseball season kicks off next month. What does the infield unit look like for these Omaha hopefuls?
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As the calendar turns to February, college baseball is in the air in North Texas. In just a couple weeks, Opening Day returns to Fort Worth as the TCU Horned Frogs look to bounce back from a disappointing 2024 campaign. Plenty of new faces rise this season but the infield unit is anchored by multiple household names, including a few All-Big 12 selections.

Below, we'll go over the infield 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, TCU's season fell seven wins short of our projection and the Frogs fell short of the postseason. Injuries and surprising underperformers led to an overall disappointing season.

TCU Baseball: Returning Infielders

A phenomenal freshman season was followed by a sophomore slump for shortstop Anthony Silva. In 2023, he bat .330 and struck out just 33 times, numbers that went the wrong direction in 2024 with just a .268 average and 42 Ks. Silva remained an elite defender and looks to return to form at the plate. According to D1Baseball, Silva is one of the top 10 MLB prospects coming out of the Big 12 this year.

Like Silva, catcher Karson Bowen saw a huge drop-off between his dynamite freshman season and his sophomore one. This year, Bowen loses his catching runningmate (Kurtis Byrne), meaning those duties are all his. The rotation worked exceptionally well in 2023 but not getting consistent reps at the plate in 2024 hurt Bowen's rhythm as he bat just .235. Watch for Bowen to make a leap as the Alpha behind the plate.

Third baseman Brody Green started red-hot last season, batting .500 through nine games (a 9-0 start for TCU) before succumbing to injury once again. Green's injury, which forced him to play in just nine games the rest of the season, seemed to be the first domino to fall. At 6-foot-4, Green has the size to be a lethal hitter and his defense at the hot corner improved significantly last year. A full season from Green could spell all-conference honors and a serious team anchor.

Sophomores Camden Sos and Micah Kendrick look to work their way into the lineup. Sos made 20 plate appearances and five starts at various infield positions last year. Kendrick made just eight plate appearances before his season was cut short to injury. Tim Reynolds transferred in from Odessa College ahead of the 2024 season and looks to crack the lineup in his second year with TCU.

TCU Baseball: Infield Additions

The new name to know in this unit: Noah Franco. Franco, standing 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, heads to Fort Worth as the No. 7 prospect in the country, having played his high school ball at IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.). Like Peyton Tolle before him, Franco is a two-way player with a lethal bat. He won the Fall MVP award for the Frogs and looks to provide a spark at both the plate and on the mound.

Depending on how the pitching rotation falls early this year, Franco may look to specialize on the mound (much like Tolle did in 2024), but we'll list him under infielders for now, as he could start at first base or land as a designated hitter.

Two more impact transfers project to start Day 1. Washington State senior transfer and All-Pac 12 selection Cole Cramer looks to fill a gap at first base while Texas A&M sophomore transfer Jack Bell projects to man second. Cramer finished an outstanding season, batting nearly .350 with 37 RBI and turned heads with versatility – a skill that could come in handy with this nebulous TCU infield. Bell entered college as a top-10 shortstop recruit in Texas. He played in limited action with the National Runners-up Aggies.

Preston Gamster, a junior transfer from Paris College, could contend with Green for the starting role at third base. Last year, he earned second-team all-conference as well as all-region honors. Gamster hit nine home runs and drove in 57 runners, bat .346, and stole 24 bases – a real asset to this TCU team that's aggressive on the bases.

Sophomore Colton Griffin led S. F. Austin in hitting last year, batting .303 in 49 starts. Griffin could be a rotator thanks to his athleticism on the bases, having turned 21 multi-base hits and stolen 21 additional bases.

Freshman Nolan Traeger likely sits behind Bowen at catcher this year, but does show terrific upside as a future starter. Jacob Silva, an incoming freshman, also catches but has stiff competition to break the lineup in 2025.

Final Verdict

This is a nebulous unit with multiple openings likely filled by transfers. Starters at three of the four positions depart, as well as a 1-A starter at catcher. As of late January, the battle for starters at first and third remain open, with our initial answer likely coming opening day. However, TCU rosters multiple Swiss-army knives capable of swinging to any of the three fluid spots.

The ceiling for this unit at the plate is as high as any in the Big 12. That aspect has a wide range of outcomes, though, as demonstrated by Silva and Bowen the last two seasons. Defensively, Silva presents an elite defensive option while Cramer, Gamster, and Green bring top-end athleticism. Should this unit come to form early on and hold its form, the Horned Frogs are in great shape.

That, of course, comes with a ton of uncertainty.


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Brett Gibbons
BRETT GIBBONS

Brett is an avid sports traveler and former Division-I football recruiter for Bowling Green and Texas State. He’s covered college sports for Fansided, Stadium Journey, and several independent outlets over the past five years. A graduate of BGSU, Brett currently works on-site at Google as a project lead for content curation products.