On Monday morning, Scott Drew and the Baylor Bears added a new player through the transfer portal with the commitment of Oregon State forward Michael Rataj.
Rataj, a 6-foot-9 forward from Augsburg, Germany, spent the past three seasons at Oregon State, where he blossomed into a star.
Last season with the Beavers, Rataj posted 16.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game. He also connected on 48.4% of shots from the field, 35.1% from three, and 78.8% of shots from the free-throw line.
An international prospect in the Class of 2022, Rataj was an unranked prospect by most major recruiting services. After three years in Corvallis, Rataj developed into a four-star prospect by the 247Sports index and the 19th-best available player in the transfer portal.
The transfer portal officially opened on Monday, March 24, 2025. According to NCAA data, 1,296 FBS basketball players entered the transfer portal in the 2023-24 school year, with 864 (66.7%) undergraduates and 432 (33.3%) graduate transfers. Of the entrants, 70% reported that they enrolled in another school, 6% withdrew their names from the portal, and 23% are still active, transferred to a non-NCAA school, or left their sport.
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