The Oregon Ducks have had a rough time in the college baseball Transfer Portal, especially over the last week. After a promising season ending with a trip to the Austin Super Regional, Oregon looked to be building toward a trip to Omaha. Instead, the transfer portal has taken an impressive group to build around and torn it apart.
The first hit came when Oregon lost freshman All-American Angel Laya to the Transfer Portal after his outstanding season. Losing Laya was only made worse when Junior Lauaki and Burke-Lee Mabeus also entered the Transfer Portal taking 3 key bats out of the lineup.
The Transfer Portal has proven that while the SEC is spending big along with a few other Big Ten programs that are pushing to build an elite roster, the Ducks clearly aren’t invested in NIL for the baseball program.
Angel Laya tied to 3 of the SEC’s biggest spenders
When Angel Laya entered his name into the Transfer Portal, it was clear that he was going to command a hefty price in the Transfer Portal. On Sunday, On3’s Pete Nakos revealed that LSU, Texas A&M, and Georgia are the three programs pushing for Angel Laya.
When you see the 3 programs making the biggest push for Angel Laya it reveals that NIL is clearly a large factor. LSU and Texas A&M are annually among the biggest spenders on their rosters.
LSU followed up their National Championship season by missing the 64 team College World Series field as they had a disastrous season. Jay Johnson has already added big names this cycle including Bino Waters, and Laya would likely be that next big piece.
While it hurts to see key pieces walk out the door, especially when they’re as talented as Angel Laya is, there’s not much Mark Wasikowski could do. The Ducks clearly aren’t funding baseball at a high level, and until there’s the same level of financial support, it’s going to be tough for the Ducks to hold onto elite talent when others are spending big.
The factor that gets overlooked is the fact that Oregon still isn’t getting the same cut of Big Ten revenue as other schools due to the move. When Oregon finally gets its full share, it’ll get much easier for the school to pour resources into the non-football schools, but until then it’ll be a challenge.
Coach Wasikowski has done a great job taking under the radar transfers and freshmen like Laya and turning them into elite players. Until the funding reaches a point where Oregon is able to afford keeping its biggest stars, the path forward is going to have to be finding under the radar talent and turning them into stars on a yearly basis.
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