{"id":544157,"date":"2026-01-29T15:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T15:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/544157\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T15:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T15:02:13","slug":"who-is-chris-hacopian-meet-texas-am-baseballs-newest-star-infielder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/544157\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Is Chris Hacopian? Meet Texas A&#038;M baseball&#8217;s newest star infielder"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jan. 29, 2026, 5:30 a.m. CT<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">One of the biggest names in the college baseball transfer portal this offseason was infielder Chris Hacopian, and <a href=\"\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Texas A&amp;M<\/a> landing him was nothing short of a program\u2011shifting win. The Aggies entered 2026 needing to replace one of the most prolific hitters in school history\u2014Jace LaViolette, now off to the MLB\u2014and adding Hacopian immediately stabilized the lineup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The junior infielder arrives as one of the top hitters in the country and a <a href=\"http:\/\/aggieswire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/college\/aggies\/baseball\/2025\/10\/19\/texas-aggies-baseball-caden-sorrell-weston-moss-d1-baseball-2026-mlb-draft-prospects\/86771981007\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">projected high MLB Draft pick<\/a>. He wasn\u2019t a national headline coming out of high school, but evaluators saw enough raw tools and offensive upside for Maryland to offer him a scholarship, allowing him to play alongside his brother. Years of training in his family\u2019s baseball facility helped shape a disciplined, advanced hitting approach\u2014one that blossomed into a breakout career with the Terrapins.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">At Maryland, Hacopian slashed .375\/.502\/.656 with 14 home runs and an exceptional 40\u2011to\u201119 walk\u2011to\u2011strikeout ratio, cementing himself as one of the most polished bats in college baseball.<\/p>\n<p>A Difficult Decision and a Bigger Opportunity<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Leaving Maryland wasn\u2019t easy. It was home. It was where he grew up, built lifelong friendships, and deepened his faith. But after long conversations with the people closest to him, Hacopian entered the portal with a clear purpose: challenge himself at the highest level.<\/p>\n<p>Need a news break? <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (play)|e|auto spike click:5|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/play.usatoday.com\/?itm_source=SPIKE&amp;itm_campaign=PLAYSPIKE&amp;itm_medium=ONSITE\">Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">He wanted a program that matched his ambition. He wanted teammates who shared his professional goals. And that\u2019s where <a href=\"http:\/\/aggieswire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/college\/aggies\/baseball\/2025\/06\/20\/chris-hacopian-texas-aggies-baseball-transfer-portal\/84281919007\/\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Texas A&amp;M stepped in<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;I wanted to challenge myself, I wanted to go to a good program in the SEC, I wanted to surround myself with guys with similar goals that I have with when it comes to professional baseball&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The Aggies\u2019 track record of developing MLB talent spoke for itself. For Hacopian, the fit was obvious.<\/p>\n<p>What He Brings to the 2026 Aggies<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Hacopian is expected to be a cornerstone of the 2026 roster\u2014a middle\u2011of\u2011the\u2011order presence with elite plate discipline, gap\u2011to\u2011gap power, and the ability to control at\u2011bats in a way few college hitters can. His arrival softens the blow of losing LaViolette and gives A&amp;M a proven, mature offensive anchor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">If you want to dive deeper into his story, his full segment with Over Slot Baseball offers a great look at who he is on and off the field.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"gnt_em_vp_a gnt_em_vp__yt_a\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/FJoR8t7S5xA?si=fp3Wk02591lFddE7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-g-r=\"vp_tg\" aria-label=\"Play YouTube video\" data-v-t=\"2026 MLB Draft Show - Chris Hacopian\"><img alt=\"\" class=\"gnt_em_vp_img gnt_em_vp_img__yn\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/FJoR8t7S5xA\/maxresdefault.jpg\" onload=\"if(this.naturalWidth&lt;200){this.setAttribute('onload','this.classList.remove(\\'gnt_em_vp_img__yn\\')');this.src=\" https:=\"\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/sports\/college-sports\/sec\/texas-am\" data-autotag=\"b9436d3f-7a91-499d-900d-6ca3a6ee20c7\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Texas A&amp;M<\/a> will open the 2026 campaign with a three-game home series against Tennessee Tech beginning February 13 at Blue Bell Park in Bryan\u2013College Station.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Contact\/Follow us\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/aggieswire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">@AggiesWire<\/a>\u00a0on X and like our page on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AggiesWire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Facebook<\/a>\u00a0to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&amp;M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Jarrett Johnson on X:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WhosNextSports1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">@whosnextsports1<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 29, 2026, 5:30 a.m. CT One of the biggest names in the college baseball transfer portal this&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2289],"tags":[67525,5,648,1694,2341,68462,67701,68107,69701,68463,67527],"class_list":["post-544157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-college-baseball","tag-accessfree","tag-baseball","tag-college-baseball","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-baseball","tag-sstssportscollegeaggiesbaseball","tag-sstsnbaseball","tag-tagcollege-baseball","tag-tagsmg-timely","tag-tagtexas-am-aggies","tag-typestory"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115978996530978727","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}