Murfreesboro, Tenn. – The MTSU coaching staff has been on fire during the transfer portal's spring window and continued this past week. The Blue Raiders landed shortstop, Cooper Clapp and right-handed pitcher, Landen Burch. Both of which came by way of Florida Southwestern College.

With those two pickups, the Blue Raiders hold 11 commitments in their 2024 transfer class. Shortstop and pitching were a huge need so the staff did a good job of finding talented JUCO kids who could potentially find their way into the lineup. Here’s a deeper look at both players.

Cooper Clapp

Coming out of high school, Clapp was a big-time prospect, ranking as a top-500 player and the No. 12 player in Tennessee, according to Perfect Game. The middle infielder took his talents to South Bend to play for the Fighting Irish. Unfortunately for him, he was redshirted and didn’t see any playing time. That led to him transferring to FSW and having a nice, bounce-back season.

He saw action in 57 games as he slashed .283/.377/.455 while clubbing eight home runs, driving in 38 runs and collecting 16 extra-base hits. All while playing solid defense at shortstop. Clapp will be in the running for the starting spot along with upcoming sophomore, Grant Snider.

This is a big get for the team as Clapp features good contact with some sneaky power, is a good base runner and has a solid glove. He could potentially fill the void at shortstop that MTSU had issues with last year.

“I came to visit the campus and facilities after summer ball ended and I loved it,” says Clapp. “Coach Meyers, Coach Nichols and Coach Huber were awesome, I realized that those are the kind of guys that I want to play for. They showed me how important I was to them and that’s what sold me, I’m excited to help them win games this year.”

Landen Burch

Burch was a beast on the bump in high school, finishing his senior year with a 0.86 ERA and striking out 48 through 24 innings of work. Following that year, he signed to play for Old Dominion but didn’t have the season that he was hoping for. Posting a 6.88 ERA while striking out 30 through 34 innings.

Just like Clapp, the righty came down to FSW to try and get back on track and he was able to do just that. Burch would have a really good season with the Bucs, posting a 3.56 ERA to go along with a 1.60 WHIP and striking out 85 through 73 1/3 innings. A very impressive turnaround in what turned out to be a good JUCO conference in 2024.

Burch features really good strikeout stuff, doesn’t walk too many batters, is a proven workhorse and could take over one of the weekend starter roles next season.

Pitcher and shortstop were two spots that had to be filled and the staff did that perfectly with the additions of Clapp and Burch, both could see breakout seasons in 2025.