Transfer portal: Notre Dame baseball lands impressive pitcher from Minnesota

The transfer portal giveth and the transfer portal taketh. Notre Dame baseball was on the wrong end of that this week when Carson Tinney committed to Texas. He was the Fighting Irish’s best player this past season. The Irish might’ve just secured a transfer portal commitment from someone who could be their best relief pitcher in 2026, though.

Minnesota’s Noah Rooney announced on social media Thursday he’s continuing his college career at Notre Dame.

Rooney is a 6-0, 170-pound left-handed pitcher from Perham (Minn.) High School. He got to Minnesota in 2021 ahead of the 2022 season. As a true freshman, he appeared in 16 games and put forth an earned run average of 6.33.

It got much better for Rooney as a sophomore. He posted an ERA of 3.29 over 18 appearances in 2023. He didn’t allow a run in 10 of his appearances. Overall, he totaled 38.1 innings pitched — many more than the 21.1 he logged in just two fewer appearances the year prior.

Every career comes with a setback. Rooney’s came as a junior. He missed the entire 2024 season with an elbow injury.

Rooney medically redshirted and returned for the 2025 season — which proved to be his best yet in a Minnesota uniform. He made a career-high 22 appearances, including one start, and fired out a 2.94 ERA over the course of 49.0 innings. He struck out 36 batters and only walked 13 to bring his career totals to 108.2 innings pitched, 80 strikeouts, 40 walks and an ERA of 3.73.

When he’s at his best, Rooney can eat up innings and log a pretty extensive pitch count for a reliever. He got through at least three innings nine times this past season, including a stretch of games in which he hit that threshold seven games in a row. His highest single-game pitch count for the season was 78 over 4.0 innings against Oregon. He didn’t allow any earned runs in that road game.

Rooney’s a good on-paper fit for Notre Dame; he is a three-time member of the All-Big Ten Academic Honor Roll. He was a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar during the 2023-24 academic school year, too.

Rooney is on his way to South Bend with Minnesota teammate Drew Berkland, who committed to Notre Dame on June 15. The right-handed outfielder/catcher made 52 appearances with 51 starts this past season. He hit .293 with 14 home runs and a team-leading 53 RBI — the same number of runs driven in by Tinney during the 2025 season.