Southeastern 16’s Graham Doty and Chris Lee speak with Auburn baseball coach Butch Thompson two weeks before the 2025 season. Topics include:

• Catcher Ike Irish is a potential first-round bat, and Thompson speaks to the defensive progress he’s made this past offseason.

• First baseman Cooper McMurray is one of the SEC’s most underrated players.

• A new-look lineup that includes transfers Eric Snow, Bristol Carter and Lucas Steele.

• The Tigers had one of their best recruiting classes in recent memory, adding coveted high-school talents like Chris Rembert, Chase Fralic, Christian Chatterton, Jackson Sanders, Connor Atwood and others.

• Auburn’s rotation may be headlined by transfers Cade Fisher (Florida) and Sam Dutton (LSU).

• Closer Hayden Murphy had a lights-out summer in the Cape Cod League, perhaps making him one of the SEC’s biggest sleepers for the 2025 season.

• The Tigers also have plenty of experienced bullpen depth with Dylan Watts, Carson Myers, Conner McBride, Parker Carlson, John Armstrong and Cam Tilly.

• Auburn added a useful back-end bullpen piece through the transfer portal in Mason Koch (Creighton), who has closing experience.

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