BEVO BEAT Baseball

Texas crosses three names off its baseball team’s roster as Elder, Ellis and Fields move on

Posted June 20th, 2020

Danny Davis American-Statesman Staff

@aasdanny

When the first pitch of the 2021 baseball season is thrown, a few familiar faces will be missing from Texas’ dugout.

Texas confirmed on Friday that pitcher Kamron Fields has entered the NCAA’s transfer portal. On Friday, the agency representing UT outfielder Duke Ellis also announced his signing with the Chicago White Sox as an undrafted free agent.

Ellis transferred to Texas from Panola College ahead of the 2018 season. During his three years at Texas, Ellis started 126 times and hit .281. Ellis was successful on his final 32 attempted steals as a Longhorn, and he factored into five walk-off wins during the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

A senior in 2020, Ellis could have returned to Texas since the coronavirus pandemic led the NCAA to renew a year of eligibility for all of its spring athletes. Two of UT’s four seniors from this past season — outfielder Austin Todd and catcher DJ Petrinsky — will be back in 2021.

Fields can play the outfield, but Texas mostly used him as a relief pitcher these past three seasons. Fields had notable struggles in 2019 and 2020, but he exits with a 3.27 ERA and three career saves. Since Fields earned his degree this spring, he will be immediately eligible at his next stop. He also has two years of eligibility remaining.

5th-rder Bryce Elder signs with @Braves for $850k (slot 156 value = $336,600). Texas RHP, one of best sliders in @MLBDraft, also has low-90s sinker, ability to manipulate breaking ball into a curve and effective changeup. High-floor guy. @MLBDraft

— Jim Callis (@jimcallisMLB) June 20, 2020

On Friday night, MLB.com’s Jim Callis also reported that Texas pitcher Bryce Elder had signed with the team that took him in the fifth round of last week’s draft. Atlanta reportedly gave Elder a $850,000 signing bonus, which is $513,400 over the slot value assigned to the 156th overall pick. Elder was UT’s top starter in each of the past two seasons.

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