Comparing Sam Cozart to 2025 Dylan Volantis

In 2025, Dylan Volantis took the college world by storm with his frequent high-leverage outings on the mound, ;eading him to many postseason accolades as a freshman. Now, Texas has another true freshman weapon performing in that same role Volantis vacated. Sam Cozart is no secret at this point, and his stats suggest he isn’t far from what Texas got from Volantis last season.

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Though he originally appeared as a starter on Tuesdays, Cozart has shifted into a closer/high-leverage role for the Longhorns, dominating in most of his appearances on the mound. When comparing his 2026 statistics so far to Volantis’ 2025 season, it becomes clear that Cozart is performing at or above what Texas saw from Volantis last season.

Just looking at the basic statistics, Cozart holds an advantage in ERA, OBP, SLG, OPS and batting average allowed. It would be one thing if he held these numbers with a significantly smaller number of innings pitched or outings. Cozart only trails 2025 Volantis by 6 appearances and 26 outs (8.2 IP).

Before we dive any further, let’s define some of these lesser-known advanced statistics.

Batting Average on Balls in Play (BABIP) – BABIP measures a player’s batting average exclusively on balls hit into the field of play, removing outcomes not affected by the opposing defense (namely home runs and strikeouts).
Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) – FIP is similar to ERA, but it focuses solely on the events a pitcher has the most control over — strikeouts, walks, hit-by-pitches and home runs. It entirely removes results on balls hit into the field of play.
Skill-interactive Earned Run Average (SIERA) – SIERA quantifies a pitcher’s performance by trying to eliminate factors the pitcher can’t control by himself. But unlike a stat such as xFIP, SIERA considers balls in play and adjusts for the type of ball in play.

Immediately, Cozart holding an advantage stands out, but what becomes really intriguing is how close the margins are to one another. While Volantis walked fewer batters by 0.9%, Cozart is allowing 0.13% less hits and striking out 0.8% more batters, leading to a WHIP that slightly bests Volantis’ in 2025. The one area where Cozart is performing considerably above what we saw from Volantis is the left on base numbers. Cozart is stranding a very high percentage of base runners.

Considering the laundry list of accolades Volantis received for his 2025 freshman season, Cozart is likely going to receive many of the same votes.

• Golden Spikes Semifinalist
• 2025 Baseball America National Freshman of the Year
• 2025 NCBWA Freshman Pitcher of the Year
• 2025 SEC Freshman of the Year
• 2025 ABCA/Rawlings All-America, First Team
• 2025 Baseball America All-America, First Team
• 2025 D1Baseball All-America, First Team
• 2025 NCBWA All-America, First Team
• 2025 ABCA/Rawlings Freshman All-America, First Team
• 2025 Baseball Freshman America All-America, First Team
• 2025 D1Baseball Freshman All-America, First Team
• 2025 NCBWA Freshman All-America, First Team
• 2025 Perfect Game Freshman All-America, First Team
• 2025 ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Div. 1 All-Region, First Team
• 2025 All-SEC, First Team
• 2025 Freshman All-SEC Team

Having another elite closer that is performing at or above what Texas got from Volantis in 2025 is extremely valuable for the Longhorns’ postseason hopes, especially when Texas has three starters that they can really trust to give them good innings on the mound before handing the ball off to the elite closer in Cozart.