Auburn Baseball Adds Transfer Pitcher Josh Sibley as Portal Focus Shifts to Bullpen

The Auburn Tigers are not satisfied with last season's results. 

After falling for the second straight year in the Super Regionals, just missing Omaha and the College World Series, Auburn's Head Baseball Coach has been working tirelessly to improve the roster through the transfer portal. 

How he is building it might surprise you. 

Thompson and the rest of the Tigers staff have taken a focus on building more arms to add to the roster, something that was easily the team's strength this past season, and many are still planning on returning. 

But that's not stopping Thompson from bringing more in. 

On Tuesday, the Tigers picked up the commitment of Jacksonville State pitcher Josh Sibley. Over his 17 appearances for the Conference USA squad, the junior had 22 strikeouts across 13.1 innings and a 4.05 ERA. 

He pitched during one of the midweek matchups this past season for the Gamecocks, where he threw two scoreless innings against the Tigers on April 7th. This is just one of 5 pitchers that have already joined Auburn's roster from the Transfer Portal this offseason. 

A player like Sibley could likely see some important late innings as a premier bullpen piece this upcoming season. So far during this portal window, the Tigers have also added Dane Burns (Mississippi State), Jack Pezzolo (UC Davis), Corey Kling (Arizona), and Zach Stevens (South Alabama) to compete with the rest of the pitching staff returning, who ranked toward the top of the country in almost every major pitching stat. 

The focus must now shift to adding a few more bats to the lineup to provide depth for an already competitive offense heading into the new year. Former Auburn center fielder Bristol Carter, who entered the portal after the season, recently committed to stay in the SEC and will play for South Carolina in 2027. 

The Tigers only have two batters committed from the portal in John Beverley (Georgia State) and Ben Swails (Iowa). Adding one or two more would be ideal heading into the summer. The Transfer Portal is officially closed, but players can still commit and be added to the upcoming Auburn Tigers roster.