“There’s never been a good baseball team without a good catcher.”
The baseball truism from Texas Longhorns head coach Jim Schlossnagle puts into perspective the importance of Monday’s commitment from Notre Dame Fighting Irish catcher Carson Tinney, who announced his pledge with a simplicity that Arch Manning would appreciate.
Tinney is ranked as the No. 5 player in the NCAA transfer portal, according to Baseball America, and has two seasons of eligibility remaining, but projects as a top prospect in the 2026 MLB Draft. The former Notre Dame standout chose Texas over Florida and Georgia.
Ranked as the No. 183 overall player and No. 16 catcher in the 2023 recruiting class by Perfect Game out of Castle Pines (Colo.) Valor Christian, Tinney was a part-time starter as a freshman, posting a .268/.411/.422 slash line on offense while starting 15 games in 28 appearances.
As a sophomore, Tinney emerged as one of the top players in college baseball. The 6’3, 220-pounder was a Buster Posey Award finalist and first-team All-American after a breakout season that saw him slash .348/.498/.753 with 17 home runs, 13 doubles, and 53 RBI. In addition to Tinney’s raw power, he controlled the strike zone well with 40 strikeouts compared to 34 walks and 13 hit by pitches.
Tinney’s power translated into more than just extra-base hits — his exit velocity ranked in the top 10 nationally and he finished first in xWBOA, which is Expected Weighted On-base Average (xwOBA), “formulated using exit velocity, launch angle and, on certain types of batted balls, sprint speed.”
Tinney isn’t a one-dimensional catcher, either — he’s well regarded for his arm strength behind the plate and only made three errors while allowing eight passed balls and throwing out 17-of-25 attempted base stealers in 2025.
With the addition of Tinney to the Texas roster, the expectation is that Rylan Galvan will sign following the MLB Draft next month.