SEC Awards Preview: Texas Stars Poised to Bring Home Multiple Conference Honors

You can expect some new hardware to join the illustrious history of Texas baseball when the SEC announces its award winners for the 2026 season.

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While the Longhorns have had their share of ups and downs throughout this season, they’ve held steady as a top-five team in the country and top-three in the SEC for almost the entire year, mostly thanks to a few superstars who play on this team.

That begins with the SEC Pitcher of the Year frontrunner, and arguably the best starter in the nation, Dylan Volantis.

Heading into last weekend’s Friday start against Missouri, eyes were on Volantis and Florida’s Aidan King, neck-and-neck in the race for the pitcher of the year. This week’s awards show that Volantis emerged ahead of the Gator, winning pitcher of the week with his dominant seven innings compared to a lackluster King appearance against LSU.

Here’s how the next five best starters by ERA compare to Volantis in conference play:

Name	School	ERA	WHIP	OPP BA	K/BB Ratio
Dylan Volantis	Texas	2.28	1.03	.197	5.07
Aidan King	Florida	3.19	.89	.184	4.79
Jake Marciano	Auburn	3.35	1.14	.225	4.07
Hunter Dietz	Arkansas	3.47	1.22	.230	3.77
Tomas Valincius	Misssissippi State	3.49	1.03	.220	7.82
Tegan Kuhns	Tennessee	3.52	1.3	.276	6.45

While King and MS State’s Valincius are both excellent in certain stats, Volantis is by far the most consistent in run prevention, on-base prevention and the ability to strike out batters at a strong rate.

There should be no question who the pitcher of the year in the conference is.

While Texas won’t be taking home the SEC Player of the Year Award, that should be going to potential Golden Spikes winner Daniel Jackson out of Georgia, the Longhorns do have the best transfer in the conference: OF Aiden Robbins.

Robbins is fourth in OPS in the conference, behind only players who were on their respective teams last year. Only two transfers even begin to approach his level of production at Texas this year: Georgia OF Rylan Lujo and fellow Longhorn Carson Tinney.

Texas has 2:1 odds to win this award, given its awesome duo of additions from the portal, but this is Robbins’ award to lose.

Starting in CF for most of the year, he’s also tied for fifth in the conference in total bases with 76 (all ahead are returners), and is tied for fourth in home runs.

He’s a top-five hitter in the conference, while also playing solid defense at an important position and running the bases. Tinney also has an argument, but Robbins has been just a little bit better. Lujo is an awesome contact hitter for an awesome Georgia roster, but his power numbers don’t quite compare.

Lastly, Texas has the clear-cut Freshman of the Year in fellow OF Anthony Pack.

This tweet sums it up well.

Just 7 SEC hitters have an OPS over 1.100 and over 65 total bases to end the year in conference play.

Just one is a Freshman.

The question shouldn't be if Anthony Pack Jr. should be the Freshman of the Year.

It should be whether or not he's on the All-SEC First Team. pic.twitter.com/Q1nB3Bl70t

— Evan Vieth (@EvanVieth) May 17, 2026

He may find his way on the All-SEC first team, the only freshman with a chance at that list.

He leads the SEC in average at a whopping .400 in conference play, and he’s the only player to reach base more than 50% of the time in the conference slate.

He’s an MLB leadoff hitter in the body of a true freshman just getting started at Texas.

He has otherworldly contact numbers, is a top-five base stealer, and still boasts a slugging percentage of .600. He’s a superstar.

Last year, Texas brought home two of the five major awards, with Jim Schlossnagle winning Coach of the Year and Volantis earning the freshman of the year nod.

Texas will be back-to-back with its freshman, and while Schlossnagle hasn’t had the most impressive coaching resume, and Texas doesn’t have THE best player in the conference, the starpower at the top will likely take home more awards than the rest of the conference combined.

Expect the Longhorns to also see up to four names on the all-conference first team with Volantis and Robbins as shoe-ins, Pack potentially beating out Lujo or Caden Sorrell in the outfield, and fellow freshman Sam Cozart earning the closer role. If Pack wasn’t the best freshman, Cozart would likely win this award. Tinney may also find his way onto an All-SEC second team spot behind Jackson.

IT is still waiting to hear back on when these awards are officially announced, but there shouldn’t be much drama attached. The Longhorns will be very well represented.