COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – Shortly after new Texas A&M baseball head coach Michael Earley took his position in Aggieland, he called former A&M catcher Troy Claunch.
Earley’s message did not include a timeframe, but offered Claunch a job as a coach should he decide to hang up his boots in the near future.
The call made Claunch’s decision to retire from professional baseball a little easier. This year, Claunch will work as an assistant coach while also completing his master’s degree in real estate.
“I’m excited, like any coach, to impact the next generation,” Claunch told KBTX. “I want to pass on everything I’ve learned throughout my baseball career and expand my knowledge. I know there’s a lot I don’t know when it comes to coaching and I’m excited to learn it, and learn it quickly, and then help this team in any way I can and give back to A&M and a place that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to repay.”
Claunch was in the midst of his second full minor league season, playing with the Double A Birmingham Barons. The excitement of playing professional baseball was still there. In fact, Claunch was able to attend the festivities surrounding the game at Birmingham’s historic Rickwood Park in June.
However, his playing time was limited. In 2024, Claunch had 39 at-bats as part of a .179 batting average in 13 games.
“I’d like to say that I’m a very ambitious but realistic person,” Claunch said. “Professional baseball, in my opinion, wasn’t for me. I had 40 at-bats that season. I was basically just an active bullpen catcher and I could kind of see the writing on the wall about what the future would look like if I continued to play.”
For as long as Claunch could remember, people told him he was going to be a great coach. He knew the most important thing he had to offer on the field were intangibles like leadership, which are a more important part of the game at the college level than in professional baseball. In his only season at Texas A&M, he was given the number 12, a designation as a team leader.
However, he said he did not want to hear such predictions about his future as long as he was still an active player.
Although he wasn’t quite ready to make the decision to retire when Earley called him, it certainly moved him in that direction, he said. Earley lived that life and made the same decision. In fact, there’s a picture of Earley hanging in the Barons’ stadium from when he played for the organization. It helped that Earley told him to take as much time as he needed to make one of the most important decisions of his life.
“This was a big deal for me,” Claunch said. “It was about a month-long process of weighing the options, praying about it, talking to everyone around me. Ultimately, it’s something I really want to do and I’m really excited about it.”
Claunch has returned to College Station and will begin classes in the fall. At Blue Bell Park, he will work primarily with the catchers and also help with batting practice.
Most importantly, he will learn from a coach who had a huge impact on his career at Earley.
“He knows what my route is. He knows what is needed,” Claunch added. “So it will be crucial for me to soak up everything like a sponge and ask him all the questions. I think that will be very useful.”
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