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Mississippi State baseball could soon land final puzzle piece to potential top five team for Brian O'Connor's first season

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Adam Holt | Last updated Jul 24, 2025 6:38 PM ET

The Mississippi State Bulldogs have had arguably the best offseason in college baseball. They have one of the top-ranked transfer portal classes in the county. They hired one of the top coaches in the country in former Virginia HC Brian O'Connor. The 2025 MLB Draft did not raid their roster nearly as bad as it could have, either.

Now, the Bulldogs could land another impactful arm that just entered the transfer portal recently. He would be staying in the SEC if he joined Mississippi State's staff as well.

Bulldogs trending for impressive transfer pitcher

According to Pete Nakos, Mississippi State has emerged for a top transfer portal pitcher. Florida LHP Frank Menendez has been in contact with the Bulldogs, and they could land him as part of a ridiculously strong transfer class for this offseason.

Mississippi State has emerged as a potential destination for one of the top available transfers remaining in the portal. The Bulldogs have been in contact with Florida left-handed pitcher Frank Menendez, he told On3 on Thursday. He entered the portal on Thursday afternoon under the Designated Student-Athlete tag. -- Pete Nakos, On3.com

Mississippi State is emerging for a transfer portal pitcher, @PeteNakos_ reports

Intel: https://t.co/AlCUhsRdyv pic.twitter.com/gvm2kYGyki
— Transfer Portal (@TransferPortal_) July 24, 2025

Mississippi State is looking for a lefty reliever, and Menendez fits that bill. When healthy, he's proven that he has impressive stuff and could provide depth to the bullpen in Starkville. With the Gators, Menendez appeared in 22 career games as a reliever. Menendez threw 23.1 innings and gave up 10 earned runs., good for a 3.86 ERA. He totaled has 26 strikeouts and sixteen walks at Florida.

Adding Menendez will probably be the final pitching piece that the Bulldogs would add this offseason.

Portal: Can confirm that LHP Frank Menendez has entered the portal and is leaving UF.

Menendez was projected to be a big part of UF pitching staff last season before getting hurt. He had a 1.29 in 7 innings last year before getting hurt. @InThePortalCBC pic.twitter.com/7oDDmQUbwo
— Andrew Riedell (@RiedellAndrew) July 24, 2025

Their pitching staff got a notable boost with freshman lefty Jack Bauer coming to campus, instead of heading to a MLb organization through this year's draft. He was widely ranked as a top 50 prospect in the class but made it clear to teams that he had the intention of going to school unless he landed a massive contract. Bauer hit 103 MPH during his high school career and holds a ton of long-term potential.

Ryan McPherson, Charlie Foster, and Dane Burns are just a few of the other impressive, young arms set to make a major impact next season for O'Connor's team. Menendez joining the staff would be a nice bow on top for the Bulldogs.

Preseason projections are high on Mississippi State

Rankings before a pitch is thrown are always tough to believe. That being said, the Bulldogs have a lot going in their favor going into next season. That's clearly a premise believed by Baseball America, too. Mississippi State is ranked as the number four team in the country in their "too early" top 25.

It's never too early to look ahead

Here's our 'Way Too Early' NCAA Top 25 for next year.https://t.co/E667trKFSH pic.twitter.com/pnFgps92r8
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) July 23, 2025

The expectations for O'Connor's team are going to be very high - for good reason. The former Cavs coach brought impact transfers, like Aidan Teel and Tomas Valencies (among others), to Starkville. Not to mention, the experienced HC ran one of the most consistent programs in the sport while at Virginia.

With the tools available to him at Mississippi State, there is no reason why O'Connor can't find immediate success in maroon.