Mississippi State lands Texas baseball transfer P Aaron Nixon

News dropped for a former Texas baseball player in the NCAA Transfer Portal on July 1. Former Texas sophomore right-handed pitcher and Freshman All-American Aaron Nixon announced he would be committing to the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the SEC West.

Nixon made the announcement via a post on his Twitter timeline on the afternoon of July 1 that he would be taking his talents to Starkville to join the Mississippi State baseball program.

This is the first really notable transfer news for head coach David Pierce and the Longhorns so far this offseason. There will be more movement for the Longhorns in the transfer portal this offseason, but Nixon is a notable loss for the pitching staff.

Texas baseball loses transfer RHP Aaron Nixon to Mississippi State

Nixon struggled out of the bullpen for the Longhorns in the season that was compared to his freshman campaign. As a freshman during the 2021 season, Nixon put up a record of 4-3, with a sparkling 2.12 earned run average, nine saves, 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings, and just 2.6 walks.

But then, Nixon saw his ERA more than double last season, sliding up to a mediocre 5.04. He also put up a losing record and saw his save total nearly get cut in half.

It wasn’t too surprising to see Nixon enter the transfer portal early this offseason, though, after some of the coaching staff turnover that the Longhorns had of late. Texas parted ways with the now-former pitching coach Sean Allen.

Given the fact that Allen recruited and helped to develop Nixon at Texas in the last two seasons, it wasn’t a shock to see the sophomore pitcher leave the Forty Acres once his pitching coach departed.

Mississippi State is coming off an uncharacteristically poor 2022 campaign, where they registered a record of 26-30 (9-21 SEC) and saw the in-state rival Ole Miss Rebels walk away with the College World Series title. But Mississippi State is pretty consistently one of the best college baseball programs in the country, at least in the last few decades. A big offseason so far in the transfer portal could help lead them back to prominence next season.

Meanwhile, Texas finished up the 2022 season with a record of 47-22 (14-10 Big 12) after getting knocked out of the College World Series by the five-seed Texas A&M Aggies. That was the second straight College World Series appearance for the Longhorns.