Georgia Baseball: Bulldogs Land Pair of Transfer Hitters

The Georgia baseball team picked up transfer portal commitments from two hitters on Monday afternoon as new head coach Wes Johnson heads into his first offseason at the helm. Slate Alford (transfer from Mississippi State) and Georgia native Lukas Farris (transfer from Western Kentucky) both announced their commitments to UGA on Monday.

Alford heads to Athens after two seasons in Starkville with SEC foe Mississippi State. Alford hit .248 this past year for Mississippi State as he appeared in 45 games (40 starts). Alford had a slash line of .248/.313/.459 on the year, which gives him an OPS of .772. Alford hit 9 homers and 4 doubles. He also had 36 RBI and 29 runs scored. Overall for his two year career at Mississippi State, Alford hit .240 with a .740 OPS. He mainly plays third base. While the numbers at Mississippi State do not blow you away, he is an experienced SEC hitter who is a former highly ranked High School recruit. This could be a case of a talented player just needing a change of scenery.

Farris, who prepped at North Cobb HS, returns to his home state to play for Georgia after a strong Freshman season at Western Kentucky. Farris hit .291 on the year with a strong .907 OPS (.363 OBP and .544 SLG%). Farris hit 13 HR with 7 doubles, 43 RBI, and 37 runs scored across 55 games (50 starts). While the walk rate will need to improve (8.8% in 2023), Farris was a quality hitter for the Hilltoppers this past season. Farris split time between right field, first base, and DH in his Freshman season. It will be interesting to see where Georgia plans on playing Farris this next season.

Georgia baseball adds pair of transfer hitters

Georgia is set to lose two of the most experienced players in the SEC in Connor Tate and Ben Anderson (as well as also losing Will David, an experienced portal addition from last year), so it makes sense for Georgia to bring in a couple of experienced bats. These are also the first players brought in by Wes Johnson. It would not surprise me if Georgia is fairly active in the portal this offseason as Johnson brings new players in (Georgia might also see some players exit in the portal with a HC change, and that just being a common-place in college baseball now).

Speaking of transfers, this is the second straight offseason of Georgia being busy in recruiting the portal for hitting talent. Last year they added the previously mentioned David (Samford), Sebastian Murillo (Long Beach State), and Mason LaPlante (Yale) as transfer bats.

These two moves continue a string of good news for Georgia baseball fans as star slugger Charlie Condon also recently announced he would be returning to Georgia next season.