Texas Ace Jared Spencer Out For Season With Shoulder Injury
Image credit: Jared Spencer (Brian Westerholt/Four Seam Images)
Texas senior lefty Jared Spencer will miss the remainder of the 2025 season with a shoulder injury, the school announced Thursday evening. The Houston Chronicle first reported Spencer will have shoulder surgery on Monday.
The Longhorns removed Spencer after just 2.2 innings against Auburn on April 17 when his velocity dipped and he began grimacing after pitches. Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle initially said Spencer’s premature removal from the contest was due to arm fatigue but further testing revealed damage to his shoulder.
A transfer from Indiana State, Spencer was enjoying a career year atop one of the nation’s best rotations. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Centreville, Michigan native pitched to a 3.27 ERA with 66 strikeouts to 23 walks in 52.1 innings, helping the Longhorns to the third-best team ERA in the nation at the time of his injury.
Spencer went unranked among transfer portal entrants over the offseason after three years in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he mostly worked as a reliever and pitched to a 4.41 ERA with 149 strikeouts to 71 walks in 122.1 innings.
Armed with a refined arsenal and better control in 2025, Spencer showed that he could be an effective starter, boosting his draft profile.
Spencer ranked No. 62 in the 2025 MLB Draft class prior to his injury.
It won’t be easy for the top-ranked Longhorns to replace Spencer’s production but if there’s one team capable of adequately filling in for its ace, it’s them. Junior righty Ruger Riojas and junior lefty Luke Harrison, both of whom were already in Texas’ rotation, are expected to pitch on Fridays and Saturdays, respectively moving forward. Freshman righty Jason Flores, who had been one of the Longhorns’ top relievers, is a candidate to stick in the rotation.
