Relief Reinforcements Shaping Alabama Baseball's Incoming Transfer Class

A major point of emphasis for the Alabama baseball staff in the early stages of the 2025-26 offseason and transfer portal cycle has been to address a now-depleted position group. New bullpen arms will be arriving for the 2026 campaign.

Of the five players who have officially committed to the program as of this writing, three are relief pitchers. The other two, infielders, are candidates to replace the departing members of that unit's right side.

The very first portal commit of the summer was former Texas State reliever Matthew Tippie on June 5. In 26 games this year for the Bobcats, he pitched to a 4.11 earned run average and struck out 73. It's early, but he's one of the players whose hat will probably be in the ring to close games next spring.

Two days later, another right-hander followed when Kaden Humphrey announced he was coming to Tuscaloosa from North Florida. Across 29.1 innings, he fanned 46, posting a 2-2 record in 24 contests (all relief outings).

Graduate transfer Evan Steckmesser made his Alabama commitment official this past Sunday. The lone southpaw of the group, he reduced his ERA from 2024 by over two points, going from 5.86 to an impressive 3.18 while tossing 21.1 more frames. In 2025 at Samford, he retired 65 batters by way of the strikeout and walked eight.

Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn wants the same things out of his squad's relief corps that a lot of coaches want. Limited traffic, cutting way down on free passes and efficiently retiring hitters with punchouts will play. This group consists of veteran hurlers who have college innings aplenty under their belts and an understanding of these details as well as where they apply situationally.

It's important to any possible successes next season that they do. There are in-house bullpen pitchers to complement the additions made throughout the offseason; the Crimson Tide is also not done in the portal, as the 2025 season has yet to officially end.

Early start to offseason festivities notwithstanding, 2025 Alabama sometimes struggled in relief and is down a national saves leader since Carson Ozmer's eligibility has expired. He, too, was a non-Power Four transfer, coming in from Penn with experience pitching in a regional hosted at Auburn.

There's no guarantee that one of these three newcomers will be tabbed as Ozmer's successor. One of them might take over Braylon Myers' setup spots. However, Vaughn and his assistants have illustrated that the bullpen is a priority next season, with specialty roles to be ironed out over the course of fall ball and preseason workouts.