No. 19 Texas baseball begins the new era for the program led by first-year head coach Jim Schlossnagle next weekend in the Shriners Children's College Showdown in Arlington, TX. Schlossnagle has a deep and talented, yet pretty unproven, Texas roster going into the 2025 regular season opener next weekend on Feb. 14 against the Louisville Cardinals.
Early big board for Texas baseball players for the upcoming 2025 MLB Draft this summer
Texas gets a few key players back from last season's roster. But roster attrition with the pitching staff and a new defensive roster gelling are major question marks for the Longhorns going into this inaugural campaign in the SEC for the 2025 season.
Longhorns fans are hoping that all the talent on Texas's roster will translate to immediate success for Schloss and Co. in the 2025 season. As a consensus preseason ranked top-20 team, the Longhorns have the expectation of contending to be a regional host in the postseason and potentially make its first run to Omaha and the College World Series since 2022.
Here are Texas's top three prospects for the 2025 MLB Draft ahead of the start of the 2025 regular season in early-to-mid February.
Max Belyeu, OF
It was a huge win for Schloss to get All-SEC preseason First-Team outfielder Max Belyeu back to school for his junior season for 2025. Belyeu, the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year, is one of the top players in all of college baseball entering the 2025 season.
Last year, Belyeu showed a great combination of power, situational and clutch hitting, with a .329 batting average, 18 home runs, and 53 runs batted in.
MLB.com's first full first-round 2025 MLB mock draft of the offseason projects Belyeu to be a top-15 pick to the San Francisco Giants (13th overall).
Jalin Flores, SS
Another major priority for Schloss and the new Longhorns' staff this offseason was getting junior middle infielder Jalin Flores back for another season for 2025. Flores, a reigning All-Big 12 First-Team and D1Baseball Third-Team All-American for the Longhorns in 2024, was arguably Texas's best hitter in the stretch run of this past campaign.
Flores tied for the team-lead, with 18 home runs, and a career-best .340 batting average. If Flores continues to build on the success he had at the plate and defensively last season, he could cement his status as an early-round pick projected for the 2025 MLB Draft this upcoming summer.
Rylan Galvan, C
Junior catcher Rylan Galvan has been a consistent producer with the bat in the middle of Texas's lineup the past couple of seasons. Galvan had a career-best .287 batting average, eight home runs, 37 runs batted in, and 36 runs last season.
Galvan's proficiency with the bat needs to be matched by showing improvement defensively behind the plate this season in the SEC.
The biggest concern surrounding Galvan's scouting report and profile for the draft in the MLB is his defensive ability. While he is a great offensive catcher for the Longhorns, Galvan had issues behind the plate defensively since taking over for Silas Ardoin a couple of years ago.