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Baseball 2026

yoda said:
That's it- season over, final record 11-45, Bradley finishes in a tie for 8th place (last place) in the MVC with a
conference record of 5-19, and do NOT qualify for the MVC Baseball Tournament which begins Wednesday morning -
LINK
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Just for the record, for what it's worth, Bradley was not last in the conference. The Braves finished 6-18 in the MVC, one game ahead of Valpo's 5-19 record, so one game ahead of last place in the conference.

Let's hope that we're not having this conversation next year!

Here's the standing.
 
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Da Coach said:
I'm seeing a few Bradley baseball players in the transfer portal this week-
www.x.com/mason_lee41/status/2056564567711391868
www.x.com/SchaffnitRyan11/status/2056862789658988861
www.x.com/CalLeighton2025/status/2056466254479626487

I'm not making any presumptions, but this might be expected as new head coach Justin Dedman finally gets a chance to recruit the team he wants.
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It seems that usually most of the outgoing baseball players who go into the transfer portal were urged by their coaches to go into the portal, because the coaches are bringing in players who they HOPE can be more productive, who have a higher upside to be starters, who will be more coachable, etc. You'll see lots of advice online that says, when your coach tells you, Hey, we think you should go into the portal, you should listen to your coach. Nothing is said in public, of course, but if you look closely, often these are the transferring players whose highlight videos in their Twitter announcements show good moments early in the season before they lost their starting position, or in late innings of blowout games when the subs got an opportunity. Some of those outgoing players usually find spots at other D1 programs, and others move to D2 or other levels to keep playing their sport. Right-sizing.

And usually a small number of the players who go into the portal are productive starters, or players with upside potential, who the coaches would rather have kept, and didn't ask to go into the portal. But those players are betting that they can get better opportunities elsewhere. They may see themselves as starters on a bigger program. Or they may be hoping for a fresh start in a different system with different styles or expectations. Or they hope to get more attention in next year's draft or transfer portal after a year in a bigger conference or on a team with more wins. Some players just move to be closer to their girlfriend's new job. Lots of reasons come into play.

New coaches often continue to have a lot of roster turnover into year two and three: First of all, they have a lot of graduations, because they're bringing in as many experienced players as they can find -- it's harder to win with freshmen. When hired right before their first academic year, as you suggest, new coaches have to bring in a full roster after all the other schools have already had a head start of several years in recruiting. They take the best they can get of the leftovers. Some of those quick-hires on the roster work out, and others don't.

At least, entering year two, the new coaches are in a better posture, as they have had a full year to line up commitments from high school players, Juco players, etc. They're less far behind in recruiting cycles than they were when they started from scratch last summer. So, even if a new coach often has a nearly all-new roster again in year two or three, it wasn't thrown together at the last minute as was necessary for year one.
 
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Tobias S Bradley said:
It seems that usually most of the outgoing baseball players who go into the transfer portal ....
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Yeah. That's what I meant. ;)
We wish any players transferring good luck. And, we hope they can finish their college careers successfully elsewhere and get their degrees.
I think most, if not all, of us fans appreciate their contributions to the rebuilding process of Bradley baseball.
 
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