The last couple offseasons for the Kansas baseball team have required head coach Dan Fitzgerald and his staff to essentially rebuild entire rosters from scratch with just a few key pieces of returning talent.
This summer, following KU’s dual Big 12 titles, Lawrence Regional championship and first-ever trip to the super regionals, might be different.
As usual with baseball, it all depends on which eligible players get selected by MLB teams in July’s draft, and as usual with modern college sports, a few Jayhawks could find the transfer portal more appealing than remaining in Lawrence. But at least on paper, KU could be in for a relative windfall in terms of returning experience for the 2027 season.
Let’s start with the Jayhawks who are set to depart for sure. This season’s senior-day participants included Jordan Bach, Maddox Burkitt, Kannon Carr, Josh Dykhoff, Carter Fink, Dariel Osoria, Toby Scheidt and Max Soliz Jr.
Bach in right field and Dykhoff at first base were perennial starters for the Jayhawks all season, with Bach the team leader in walks (53) and Dykhoff a top power bat (16 home runs, 56 RBIs). Osoria slumped a bit and sat out nine games as he endured a downturn in form from his memorable 2025 campaign, but still started as a second baseman and designated hitter. Soliz got his chances after initially deciding to transfer out but returning to KU last offseason, but wasn’t consistent at the plate despite a few key home runs.
Carr served as a key relief arm and occasional starter, while Scheidt vexed opposing batters with his unusual arm angle. Fink had a couple of key late-season relief appearances. Burkitt, a Free State alumnus, appeared in just three games in two years with the Jayhawks and technically has one season of eligibility remaining.
That leaves KU with as many as 27 players who could theoretically return next year, but a few seem like shoo-ins for the MLB Draft.
The headliner is shortstop Tyson LeBlanc, both a defensive stalwart and an unexpected power threat from LSU Eunice who reset the Jayhawks’ single-season home-run record during the Lawrence Regional and finished with 25 on the year. While KU had a balanced lineup throughout the year, it was LeBlanc leading the way in most relevant categories. He ranks No. 130 in the draft on MLB.com.
Pitcher Dominic Voegele experienced a bit of a return to form over the second half of the season, mowing down one high-powered Big 12 lineup after another and setting a single-season record of his own for strikeouts (120). Voegele was drafted once before out of high school in the 20th round and it seems like a safe bet he will be again at an even higher spot.
Beyond those two the prospects become somewhat less clear. Brady Ballinger was a surefire pro after his All-American-caliber season as a sophomore but after moving to left field for the 2026 Jayhawks suffered a significant downturn in offensive production (.283 with seven home runs and 45 RBIs), even if he was still a competent middle-of-the-order bat. He also suffered a hamate bone injury late in the season but returned during the Lawrence Regional.
Boede Rahe was a first-team all-conference selection who locked down a host of opposing teams in clutch moments as the Jayhawks’ closer and frequently stretched into long relief appearances. He finished with a 4.27 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 11 saves. Sunday starter Mathis Nayral, a 6-foot-5 righty from France, was not the most durable in terms of innings pitched but had some exceptional performances scattered throughout the year and concluded the year with a 4.96 ERA.
A handful of juniors constituted the rest of KU’s batting lineup, and among them, catcher Augusto Mungarrieta probably had the best year, both in terms of his arm and blocking behind the plate and his late-season power surge. He hit .292 with a .970 OPS and tallied 17 homers and 50 RBIs.
He would certainly rank among the top veteran players if he chose to come back, along with Cade Baldridge, who was one of KU’s leaders in batting average while starting in center field and at second base but missed much of the NCAA Tournament due to injury, and third baseman Dylan Schlotterback. Those two are also technically eligible for the draft.
The lone underclassman consistently in the Jayhawks’ lineup was sophomore center fielder Tyson Owens, who started the year slow after making the move from Cochise College but hit his stride after an eight-RBI performance against Houston on March 21 and eventually found his way near the top of the Jayhawks’ order to finish a strong season with 14 home runs. Fellow sophomore outfielder Savion Flowers waited his turn on the bench most of the year before hitting a walk-off solo shot in the Big 12 tournament in relief of Ballinger and will undoubtedly be a candidate for an increased role as a junior.
KU will have a strong foundation for a future rotation. Fitzgerald has spoken optimistically already about Mason Cook, this year’s Saturday starter with a 4.81 ERA, and Riane Ritter, a St. Thomas transfer who served in a relief role for the Jayhawks, starting on weekends in 2027. Madden Seidl, an Emporia native, started seven times as a true freshman with mixed results. Daniel Lopez was a fringe option to start in 2026 after KU successfully won out over the Baltimore Orioles to sign him (he was a 12th-round pick in the MLB Draft last summer out of Odessa College), but he didn’t have a lot of success in eight appearances with one start as a sophomore and has already announced that he will enter the transfer portal.
The most experienced player of all on next year’s roster could be Manning West, a right-hander from Winder, Georgia, who after a brief stint starting for KU upon his arrival in 2025 developed into one of the Jayhawks’ most reliable bullpen pieces over the following season and a half. He pitched three key innings in the regional title game against Arkansas.
Otherwise, the roster is full of question marks. Caleb Deer, a big lefty from Overland Park, started the year with five scoreless outings but fell out of favor over the course of the year and is transferring, as is Aiden Cline. Fellow pitchers Jeremy Allen, Emerson McKnight and Ty Thomson played sparingly.
Blake O’Brien missed the season with an arm injury, and pitchers Sawyer Cooney and Dane Ebel and catchers Luke Larson, Abel Ney and Gavyn Schlotterback redshirted. Schlotterback, a former all-region hitter at Paris Junior College, returned to action after undergoing open-heart surgery in the fall to repair an enlarged ascending aorta but did not appear in a game.
Landen Lozier, a transfer formerly of Minnesota and Michigan State who joined KU late in the summer on the recommendation of Osoria, started games at third base and in left field for KU early in the year but did not play again after February.
Kansas sophomore Mason Cook looks to deliver a pitch during the Jayhawks’ game against Utah on Saturday, April 4, 2026, at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence.
Kansas center fielder Tyson Owens makes a jumping catch during the Jayhawks’ NCAA tournament game against Northeastern on Friday, May 29, 2026, at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence.
Sophomore Savion Flowers smiles while walking with his Kansas teammate during the NCAA regional practice on Thursday, May 28, 2026, in Lawrence.
Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World
Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World
Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World
Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World