With a handful of position players expected to return for Kansas baseball next year and the foundation of a strong starting rotation, the Jayhawks have the luxury of undergoing somewhat less of a roster overhaul this summer ahead of the 2027 season.
KU still has, however, seven publicized JUCO signees, three high school signees and a plethora of additional commitments whose signings have not yet been officially announced. That will make for quite a bit of new blood, and as usual the Jayhawks will surely add to that group over the course of the summer, depending in large part on any potential transfer departures and MLB Draft signings.
Here’s a deeper look at the talent KU has set to come in next year. These players have either signed with the Jayhawks or revealed their commitments. Note that some could be selected in July’s MLB Draft.
Jake Berkland: Berkland is to this point KU’s most recent addition and one of just two from four-year colleges. He spent the 2026 campaign, his sophomore season, as the starting shortstop for Division II Minnesota State, where he hit .366 with 11 home runs and 47 RBIs.
Ryan Chase: A first baseman for Santa Fe College out of Land O’ Lakes, Florida, Chase put together two extremely consistent seasons at the plate, batting .391 as a freshman and .393 as a sophomore.
Bradon Durfee: Durfee will be a redshirt junior at KU. He is a center fielder from Pasco-Hernando State College who hit .354 with 12 home runs and 65 RBIs while also stealing 26 bases for the Bobcats, who went on a run to the NJCAA DII World Series.
Keaton Fenn: Fenn is a right-handed starting pitcher from Iowa’s Southeastern Community College who had a 5.58 ERA and 1.47 WHIP as a sophomore with 74 strikeouts and 32 walks.
Holden Groebl: Groebl follows in the footsteps of Cade Baldridge by joining KU from Cowley College. He will give the Jayhawks an option behind the plate for the 2027 season, when he will be a true sophomore. The Leawood native hit .332 with 10 homers and 44 RBIs for the Tigers. (Groebl, Berkland, Chase and Durfee are all playing together for the Wausau Woodchucks of the Northwoods League this summer.)
Logan Harrell: Harrell is another Division II addition, in his case from Trevecca Nazarene University. After starting as a freshman at first base and in right field at times with occasional pitching appearances, he moved to the bullpen as a sophomore. Then, in his third season with the program, he anchored the starting rotation on the mound and was second-team All-Gulf South Conference as he went 8-5 with a 3.48 ERA and 97 strikeouts to 20 walks.
Logan Honikel: A high-school addition for the Jayhawks from faraway El Modena High School in Orange, California, the shortstop batted .368 as a senior.
Aiden Lieser: Lieser started his career at Nebraska in 2025 but did not play and redshirted before opting for the junior-college ranks. In 12 starts at Iowa Western, the righty from Minnesota dominated, going 4-1 with a 2.20 ERA.
Aidan Mouton: Mouton, a second baseman, will join KU from LSU Eunice, the same junior college that produced the Jayhawks’ star shortstop Tyson LeBlanc. He is coming off a dominant season in which he batted .429 with 14 home runs and 75 RBIs; he also pitched 19 innings in two years with the Bengals.
Joey Nicholson: The sophomore right fielder from Gaston College put up impressive numbers for a team that went 54-5. He racked up 79 RBIs with 16 home runs on a .403 average (granted, as one of five players who did so for the Rhinos) and committed to KU three days after his season ended.
Jake Overstreet: Overstreet played as a catcher and designated hitter for Weatherford College, appearing in 41 of 61 games with a .333 average.
Colton Rother: KU went back to the well at Western Oklahoma State College for Rother, an incoming sophomore corner infielder. He was a second-team all-region selection after putting up a .399 average with 13 homers and 72 RBIs.
Hutch Russell: As a sophomore third baseman for Oklahoma’s Seminole State College, Russell was an on-base machine who hit .410 with a 1.213 OPS, both significant improvements from his freshman year out of Midwest City, Oklahoma.
Grey Sanders: An in-state pitcher from Mulvane, Sanders put up eye-popping numbers all year as the Wildcats won a 4A state title. He set school records for single-season wins, career wins, single-season ERA, career ERA and career strikeouts as he allowed just one run during the 2026 season.
Collin Smith: The Jayhawks’ most recent JUCO addition and a former South Carolina commit, Smith comes from Cochise College, which produced Mathis Nayral and Tyson Owens. After a stellar freshman season in which he accrued a 3.56 ERA with 92 strikeouts and 28 walks, primarily out of the bullpen, he had a slight downturn in a similar number of innings with a 4.85 ERA while starting as a sophomore.
Ian Swanson: A 6-foot-2 righty from Gulf Coast State College, Swanson worked his way into the starting rotation as a sophomore and posted a 4.94 ERA with 86 strikeouts to 27 walks.
Chris Tavarez: Tavarez’s power took a step forward as a sophomore, as he hit .338 with a 1.177 OPS as the shortstop for El Paso Community College. He is one of several Jayhawks expected to play for a familiar summer team, the St. Cloud Rox of the Northwoods League.
GT Taylor: Taylor is a high school prospect from Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis whose Instagram bio declares a desire to become “the best hitter in the world.” He is an outfielder who according to Prep Baseball “possesses some of the best power and bat speed in the state, consistently taking aggressive hacks that generate exit velocities north of 100 mph.”
Xavier Woods: Another product of LSU Eunice, Woods is a 6-foot-1 lefty from Cleveland, Texas, who recorded a 2.76 ERA with his 8-0 record as a freshman but slumped to 7.07 as a sophomore.
Santa Fe College’s Ryan Chase swings at a pitch on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026 in Gainesville, Fla.
Pasco-Hernando State College’s Bradon Durfee swings at a pitch during a game against Palm Beach State College on Friday, May 1, 2026, in Port Charlotte, Fla.
Southeastern’s Keaton Fenn pitches in a game against North Iowa Area Community College on Saturday, March 22, 2025, in Burlington, Iowa.
Cowley’s Holden Groebl watches the ball during a game against Fort Scott on Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Arkansas City.
Trevecca’s Logan Harrell pitches during an intrasquad game on Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn.
El Modena’s Logan Honikel makes contact with a pitch in this undated photo.
Gaston’s Joey Nicholson bats in a fall baseball game on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025, in Gastonia, N.C.
Weatherford’s Jake Overstreet runs the bases during a game against Vernon on Friday, May 15, 2026, in Weatherford, Texas.
Western Oklahoma State College’s Colton Rother is pictured during a game on Friday, May 8, 2026, in Enid, Okla.
Seminole State’s Hutch Russell swings during a game against Rose State on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Seminole, Okla.
Mulvane’s Grey Sanders winds up during a game against Wellington on Monday, April 27, 2026, in Mulvane.
Collin Smith pitches for Cochise College in a game against Utah State Eastern on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, in Douglas, Ariz.
Gulf Coast State College’s Ian Swanson pitches in this undated photo in Panama City, Fla.
Christian Brothers College’s GT Taylor bats during a game against Principia on Monday, May 4, 2026, in St. Louis.
Travis Jacobson/Iowa Western
Shawn Jenkins/Santa Fe College
Pasco-Hernando State College
Southeastern Community College
Cowley College
Gregory Ruff/Trevecca Nazarene
El Modena High School
Gaston College
Weatherford College
Western Oklahoma State College
Seminole State College
Kasey McDowell/MulvaneSports.com
Cochise College
Gulf Coast State College
Christian Brothers College High School