2025 TCU Baseball Season Preview: Infielders & Catchers

Junior catcher Karson Bowen and All-Big 12 preseason shortstop Anthony Silva return for the Horned Frogs.

TCU baseball takes the field in less than one week to open the 2025 season. Having looked at the pitchers who’ll hit the mound for the Horned Frogs, we’ll continue our season preview series with the third of a four-part series, this time examining new and returning infielders.

Preseason All-Big 12 honoree Anthony Silva is back at shortstop after choosing to forego the 2024 MLB Draft. Silva, who was named the Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year in 2023, enjoyed a stellar freshman campaign, slashing .330/.416/.471 with seven homers and 50 RBIs and earning All-Big 12 Second Team honors. An elite defender in his time with the Horned Frogs, Silva will be looking to get back on track offensively after a tough sophomore season in 2024, when his line fell to .268/.369/.384 with four homers and 33 RBIs. Silva, who has amassed 30 stolen bases over two seasons, should be a threat as a runner.

TCU will be looking for a new second baseman after losing Peyton Chatagnier and Ryder Robinson from the 2024 roster. One option could be returning senior Brody Green, who made 17 starts including five at second base last season. Green was one of the better bats in the lineup for the Horned Frogs in 2024, when he posted a career-best .303 average with 20 hits over 66 at-bats. Another player who could emerge is former Stephen F. Austin infielder Colton Griffin, who led the Lumberjacks with a .303 average in 2024 before transferring to TCU. Griffin, who started 49 games and totaled 56 hits and 21 steals last season, spent time at shortstop, second base and the outfield in his time with SFA.

A potential breakout candidate is junior infielder and JUCO recruit Preston Gamster, who D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers reported to have had a strong fall preseason. The 6-foot-3 shortstop amassed a .346 average with nine homers and 57 RBIs during his sophomore season at Paris Junior College in 2024. Looking at first base, TCU could see another two-way star take over for All-Big 12 First Team honoree and Boston Red Sox draft pick Payton Tolle. That player is true freshman pitcher/infielder Noah Franco, who arrives in Fort Worth as the 2025 Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year. One of the top high school prospects in the nation, Franco has posted some of TCU’s highest exit velocities in the offseason and should take on the lion’s share of the workload at first base this season.

Former Washington State infielder Cole Cramer is a candidate to take over at third base this season. The senior started 52 games for the Cougars in 2024 and posted a .345 average with 68 hits, 42 runs and 37 RBIs. An All-Pac 12 honoree last season, Cramer is an ascending talent who started his collegiate career at Linn-Benton Community College, where he racked up 57 runs along with 37 RBIs, 24 stolen bases and 11 doubles over 83 games. Behind the plate, TCU rosters four catchers including returning starter Karson Bowen. Bowen enters his junior season as one of the more experienced players on the 2025 roster, having registered 106 starts in two years with the Horned Frogs. An All-Big 12 Freshman Team winner in 2023, Bowen slashed .350/.420/.502 in his first collegiate season.

Rounding out the TCU infield will be Texas A&M transfer Jack Bell along with returning sophomores Micah Kendrick and Camden Sos. Bell made 19 appearances for the Aggies last season, while Kendrick and Sos each earned limited playing time for the Horned Frogs in 2024. Behind the dish will be true freshmen Nolan Traeger and Jacob Silva as well as junior Tim Reynolds, who didn’t see game action after transferring in from Odessa College. Nolan is the younger brother of TCU pitcher Jax Traeger, while Jacob is the younger brother of shortstop Anthony Silva.