Erik Bakich looking to add power hitting, extra pitching from transfer portal

The Clemson baseball program swept its way through the Clemson Regional this postseason, advancing to a super regional for the first time since 2010.

Tigers coach Erik Bakich is now focused on getting his team over the hump and back to Omaha for the first time in 15 years after coming up just short in 2024.

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Bakich recently shared what Clemson will be looking for in the transfer portal this offseason as the Tigers look to improve their roster.

“Getting some power out of the portal is certainly a big area of focus for us – maybe a left-handed bat with power. Who doesn’t need that?” Erik Bakich said.

Clemson is losing its top two power bats from the 2024 team in Jimmy Obertop and Blake Wright and will turn to the transfer portal for help.

The Tigers are also in need of pitching, Erik Bakich revealed. Sophomore pitcher Tristan Smith and junior pitcher Austin Gordon are both draft-eligible and seem likely to turn pro.

“And then pitching, you can never have enough pitching. And that’s the one part where, assuming Tristan Smith signs and Austin Gordon signs, that’s a premium weekend starter and premium closer,” Bakich said. “We’ll develop our current roster. We’ll let the guys that we have develop. But you can never have enough good pitching.”

It sounds as if Clemson will try to land the best pitchers it can, regardless of what their role was elsewhere this past season.

“We’ll certainly be looking for any lightning bolts that are like shut down, swing and miss, high strikeout guys on the back-end,” Bakich said. “Best available, really. Just best available portal players if that’s what it comes down to, managing our own roster.”

While Clemson will be active in the transfer portal, the Tigers are also going to lose some players to the transfer portal. Still, Bakich feels good about the Tigers’ chances of putting together another strong roster that can potentially get to Omaha and the College World Series.

“We’ve had a couple of kids announce that they’re leaving, and that’s to be expected. There’s always going to be some attrition. So it’s just managing who’s leaving, who’s coming, the draft. Those questions will all be answered over the next month or so,” Bakich said. “But we absolutely are looking at it from an objective standpoint of, ‘How are we going to replace these innings? How are we going to replace this power? How can we make sure that we’re still playing this time next year.’”