TCU leads 2023 Big 12 Preseason Baseball Honors

Just three weeks away from first pitch of the 2023 Frogball campaign, and the excitement is building for Kirk Saarloos’ second season leading the program. After winning the Big 12 regular season and reaching the Super Regional of the NCAA Tournament in 2022, the Horned Frogs are looking for more this season.

On Wednesday the Big 12 announced preseason conference awards and TCU led the way with six players receiving recognition, headlined by conference preseason Player of the Year 3B Brayden Taylor and Freshman of the Year SS Anthony Silva.

Taylor has been a starter at Third Base since day one of his previous two years with the Horned Frogs, earning All-Conference honors both seasons. He is TCU’s top returning hitter, batting .314 with 13 HR and 50 RBI. Taylor led the Frogs in on-base percentage in 2022 (.454), getting on base in 52 of 59 games and blazed the basepaths when reaching, a perfect 10-10 on steal attempts with 55 runs scored.

Anthony Silva joins the Horned Frogs from San Antonio as a top 75 prospect per Perfect Game, the #5 overall player in Texas, hitting over .400 in high school and ranking as a top defensive infielder and could step right in to replace Tommy Sacco at Shortstop for the Frogs.

The preseason Big 12 All-Conference team includes four more Horned Frogs in addition to Taylor: Outfielders Elijah Nunez & Austin Davis, and Relief Pitchers Luke Savage & Garrett Wright. Batting leadoff and playing Center Field, Nunez earned a team-leading 58 walks while batting .287 and ranking 3rd in the conference with 31 stolen bases in 2022. One spot behind Nunez in stolen bases last season was West Virginia’s Austin Davis who transferred to TCU after four years in Morgantown where he hit .313 for his career. Savage & Wright each made All-Conference teams last year with Savage earning a First Team nod. In 25 appearances last season, Savage allowed a .239 batting average against, with 35 Ks to just 17 BBs. Wright worked just 18.2 innings in 2022, but amassed 27 strikeouts and a measly .174 batting average.

The Horned Frogs enter the season ranked #15 by D1Baseball and begin the 2023 campaign on Friday February 17 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX against #10 Vanderbilt.