College sports has always dealt with roster turnover.
Student-athletes had a finite amount of time to spend in college before moving on to bigger and better things. That meant there were always players leaving out one door, while freshmen entered through another.
In today’s world of college sports, that turnover is a lot more pronounced. Teams can flip entire rosters in an offseason.
Ole Miss baseball didn’t flip its entire roster this offseason, but Mike Bianco has adjusted to the reality of modern roster building.
Half of Ole Miss’ roster is new, and that’s simply how college baseball works now.
“I think we have exactly 21 new guys and 21 returners,” Bianco said. “So, 50%, which, as you guys know, is probably more the norm now than ever before. We have enough returners and enough leaders in the locker room, but you spoke to some of the new guys today, too, and we’re excited about those guys.”
One of those newcomers is Brady Dallimore, a sophomore catcher and first baseman who arrives from TCU with a résumé that already looks like more than one year’s worth of work.
Dallimore’s path to Oxford started with a visit that made the decision easy.
“I came here on a visit, and it was mainly just the coaching staff,” he said. “They were awesome. I could tell they were just straight-up, stand-up guys who were going to be there and work hard. That’s really what I was looking for, a winning program that was going to roll up its sleeves and get to work.”
Before TCU, Dallimore was a standout at Palo Verde High School in Las Vegas, hitting .448 with a .546 on-base percentage and .771 slugging percentage as a senior.
He carried that production straight into college baseball.
As a true freshman, he appeared in 38 games and started 33, splitting time between catcher, first base and designated hitter. He earned a spot on the 2026 Big 12 All-Freshman Team.
The numbers back it up.
Dallimore collected 33 hits in 122 at-bats, and more than half of them went for extra bases. His .279 isolated power is eye-catching for a freshman catcher, but the more important part is that he got better against Big 12 pitching.
In conference play, he hit .293 with a .622 slugging percentage and .970 OPS, adding seven doubles, a triple and six home runs in only 82 at-bats.
That matters when projecting him to the SEC. This isn’t a case of a freshman padding stats against midweek arms.
He showed real power against Power Four pitching, and that’s the trait Ole Miss is betting on.
Dallimore describes himself as a gritty player who wants to fit wherever he’s needed.
“I think I’m a gritty baseball player who is going to be the best teammate possible,” he said. “I’m here to do whatever the team needs and just be the best teammate possible.”
The competition at catcher will be one of the storylines of the fall, but he isn’t treating it like a battle.
“I’m not really focused on that,” Dallimore said. “I love my fellow catchers here. We’re a great group, and we’re just working to continue to make each other better.”
His versatility makes the picture clearer. With Kelven Perera returning, Ole Miss doesn’t have to lock Dallimore into one spot. He can catch, play first or slide into the DH role depending on how the lineup shakes out.
For now, he’s settling in, getting reps and shaking off the rust.
“I felt like I did decent,” he said of the first fall scrimmages. “Obviously, there are things I can still improve on for sure, but it was fun to get back out there again.”
Ole Miss has plenty of newcomers, but few arrive with a track record like Dallimore’s.
The bat is real, the versatility helps, and the fit seems natural.
In a roster split evenly between old and new, he’s one of the additions who could matter right away.
