2024 Wichita State Baseball Transfers

[WuDrWu]

So combining known transfers, summer assignments and graduates, it looks to me like we have 19 active summer assignments and 9 unknowns:

Jake Rice FR INF
Michael Mulhollon SO LHP
Hunter Holmes JR LHP
Peyton Walters JR RHP
Tyler Dobbs FR LHP
Colton Vercoe SO RHP
Brady Hamilton FR RHP
Trevor Lee FR RHP
Ben Leikam FR LHP


And somewhere around 20 incoming recruits. That's 48 student athletes.

I expect 7 of the above 9 unknowns to be in the mix come the fall, but I'd feel a lot better knowing what each of them is up to and why they aren't having a summer assignment. That's 46. There are quite a few incoming kids that have either not played or barely played in '24 (or '23 or '22), assuming due to injury. There's only 1 incoming pitcher that I think has a chance to help us (so far). I suspect there will be at least 2 transfers that will help (we need a lot of pitching help). Hopefully at least one of these freshman (Lee, Leikam, Iverson & Arnett) can develop quickly and help a lot next spring.

Right now, pitching is a lot of hope and speculation and not much in the way of substance. I feel much, much more comfortable with the fielding/batting lineup. Find someone to play 2nd and some backups, most importantly behind the dish to keep Mo healthy and fresh and we should be fairly competitive top to bottom, at a minimum, with quite a few viable L/R options.


Happy to hear Gadler is confirmed....honestly was hoping it was someone new transferring in (not that I don't love Gadler returning).

My understanding is he'll be just fine in the fall.

Probable guys in the mix to be starters as of June 13, 2024, best case scenario talent/health wise:

Hamilton, Gadler, Dobbs, Mount, Mulhollon, incoming transfer, unknown transfer. I'm leaving Zang off this list until he's fixed, but if he can get fixed, he works.



Edit: For my own information, Luke Agnew on twitter says he's in the portal. Luke was a '23 grad, PG 9, RHP, FB high 80s-low 90s. Repeatable solid delivery from a 6'3" 210 frame. Everything said green light starter + in his 2nd year. Top 10 guy in WI top 500 nationally. Don't even know that he made it to WSU. If he did, he wasn't able to make the roster ahead of several guys that were injured or not capable of playing 1 inning, and for all I know he may have been injured. Things happen, for a variety of reasons.

I'm modifying my expected rotation to Brady Hamilton, Grant Adler, Jace Miner, Jack Mount, Tyler Dobbs. Zang, Mulhollon, Taschner (juco) and a current redshirted freshman are the most likely to challenge for those spots. All kinds of "ifs" in that list, health chief among them.

Holmes, Arnett, Anderson, Iverson, Walters, Munz will likely be bullpen guys for now. There's one incoming freshman pitcher for whom I have high hopes but to expect him to help right out the gate is a bit much right now. The other incoming pitchers, at least at this point, I just can't see helping much but it's a long ways away.

[vtshocker]

Here’s to hoping miner is next to return. Both were the newest social media follows

[WstateU]

[Cdizzle]

GAdler had a 2.55 ERA over 14 starts in 2023. I will certainly take adding that back into the mix.

Is Zang returning? I thought he was an early entry into the portal. The young man clearly has a live arm, if he can ever channel it...

Agreed that I feel pretty good about the returning lineup options, and that we still need pitching, pitching and more pitching. I'm interested in the Mulhollon kid.

[WuDrWu]

GAdler had a 2.55 ERA over 14 starts in 2023. I will certainly take adding that back into the mix.

Is Zang returning? I thought he was an early entry into the portal. The young man clearly has a live arm, if he can ever channel it...

Agreed that I feel pretty good about the returning lineup options, and that we still need pitching, pitching and more pitching. I'm interested in the Mulhollon kid.

I am cautiously optimistic on Gadler. He's MORE than capable of being a strike throwing machine on Saturday or Sunday which will convert to a ton of success.

As far as I know, Zang is returning. I think there was confusion surrounding his removal from the Clearwater roster (just speculating). There's little doubt he has a live arm with lots of talent. He's got to be able to throw strikes to be successful however. If he gets that problem fixed, he's very capable of being a solid starter. Middling summer success so far. Not great, but not awful either.

Mulhollon is a high upside kid. PG 8.5, 6'4" southpaw. It hasn't translated to anything yet, mostly because of injury. Reaching some of his potential, he'd be a Tolle/Dobbs hybrid. Doesn't have Tolle's velo, but it gets on you FAST and he has more movement, like Dobbs, with that slider/sweeper type movement. Lot's of IFs though.


At their best, and by that I mean just what we've seen at WSU, we could be very competitive with Brady Hamilton, Grant Adler, Daniel Zang, Tyler Dobbs & Jack Mount as starters. Now, there's no stopper or Friday guy...I think we might have enough talent to fill in the L/R/L/R/L/R type bullpen this staff likes.


Jerry, Drew, MM, Caleb, Walters and Hunter. Add in just one of Mulhollon, Lee or Leikam, and 1 newcomer (I like Taschner kid to fill some role, any other newcomers would surprise me bigly) plus hopefully the Miner rumor has legs. Miner could easily move into a rotation spot or provide great depth to the bullpen. Not saying that's an Omaha roster, but it would be a start at least with some quality depth and plenty of options. If we could just find one surprise transfer or impactful newcomer.

[Cdizzle]

I am cautiously optimistic on Gadler. He's MORE than capable of being a strike throwing machine on Saturday or Sunday which will convert to a ton of success.

As far as I know, Zang is returning. I think there was confusion surrounding his removal from the Clearwater roster (just speculating). There's little doubt he has a live arm with lots of talent. He's got to be able to throw strikes to be successful however. If he gets that problem fixed, he's very capable of being a solid starter. Middling summer success so far. Not great, but not awful either.

Mulhollon is a high upside kid. PG 8.5, 6'4" southpaw. It hasn't translated to anything yet, mostly because of injury. Reaching some of his potential, he'd be a Tolle/Dobbs hybrid. Doesn't have Tolle's velo, but it gets on you FAST and he has more movement, like Dobbs, with that slider/sweeper type movement. Lot's of IFs though.


At their best, and by that I mean just what we've seen at WSU, we could be very competitive with Brady Hamilton, Grant Adler, Daniel Zang, Tyler Dobbs & Jack Mount as starters. Now, there's no stopper or Friday guy...I think we might have enough talent to fill in the L/R/L/R/L/R type bullpen this staff likes.


Jerry, Drew, MM, Caleb, Walters and Hunter. Add in just one of Mulhollon, Lee or Leikam, and 1 newcomer (I like Taschner kid to fill some role, any other newcomers would surprise me bigly) plus hopefully the Miner rumor has legs. Miner could easily move into a rotation spot or provide great depth to the bullpen. Not saying that's an Omaha roster, but it would be a start at least with some quality depth and plenty of options. If we could just find one surprise transfer or impactful newcomer.

Omaha is a 5 year plan. I'll take any plan that has us seriously competing for conference championship and realistic shot at tourney bid via conference tourney next year.

We need improvement and can't really afford any regressions from the returning lineup. And we need at least 1 bat to come in and be highly productive. Those 2 things happening are reasonable, if not likely.

We need at least 1 weekend arm to manifest itself. And we need the retuning arms all to improve. Those things happening are unreasonable, if not impossible.

We also need to stay healthy. Mulholland was an unknown loss in 2024, but realistically we had an INSANELY healthy season.

I'm holding onto some unreasonable excitement around a lot of guys choosing to stick around, understanding that a couple of top pieces are not. It's still enough that I can play with lineups in my head and get a little excited about how things COULD go next year if we get some breaks.

[WuDrWu]

Omaha is a 5 year plan. I'll take any plan that has us seriously competing for conference championship and realistic shot at tourney bid via conference tourney next year.

We need improvement and can't really afford any regressions from the returning lineup. And we need at least 1 bat to come in and be highly productive. Those 2 things happening are reasonable, if not likely.

We need at least 1 weekend arm to manifest itself. And we need the retuning arms all to improve. Those things happening are unreasonable, if not impossible.

We also need to stay healthy. Mulholland was an unknown loss in 2024, but realistically we had an INSANELY healthy season.

I'm holding onto some unreasonable excitement around a lot of guys choosing to stick around, understanding that a couple of top pieces are not. It's still enough that I can play with lineups in my head and get a little excited about how things COULD go next year if we get some breaks.

Very fair. I believe Davis Mauzy will make us better (although Dayvin was really good) in the field. I expect to be better in the field and at the plate and especially running the bases (speed).

You're spot on regarding unusual pitching health. I would like to think limiting pitch counts to most everyone outside Favors (grown man, built up inning strength) and LaPortal (took a chance but had him throwing a ton of fastballs early in the season and early most games to limit the more damaging offspeed stuff) by the staff played a positive role in keeping a lot of the staff healthy.

I like our chances for improvement a little more than you seem to, if only because there's some physical talent there. However, we still desperately need velocity, and THAT is highly unlikely to happen, barring unknown and unanticipated additions.

[Cdizzle]

I like our chances for improvement a little more than you seem to, if only because there's some physical talent there. However, we still desperately need velocity, and THAT is highly unlikely to happen, barring unknown and unanticipated additions.

Pelfrey still has a year of eligibility. It's 2024. They gave Reggie his Heisman back. There are no rules.

[Kung Wu]

Pelfrey still has a year of eligibility. It's 2024. They gave Reggie his Heisman back. There are no rules.

Sproing! Wheat woody!

[1972Shocker]

I have to believe that his cousin Nate's experience with this Shocker coaching staff this year had to have something to do with Grant's return.

[1972Shocker]

The Shocker Grain Gang's response to Grant's returning:

[1972Shocker]

I feel much, much more comfortable with the fielding/batting lineup. Find someone to play 2nd and some backups, most importantly behind the dish to keep Mo healthy and fresh and we should be fairly competitive top to bottom, at a minimum, with quite a few viable L/R options.

I do hope we a have a little better left-right balance at the plate next year so glad to hear you think that will be the case.

[shoxlax]

I have to believe that his cousin Nate's experience with this Shocker coaching staff this year had to have something to do with Grant's return.

Or he realized what we already knew….that KU is full of douchery.

[1972Shocker]

Or he realized what we already knew….that KU is full of douchery.

I didn't say it was the only reason or even the main reason which you may have zoned in on.

[WuDrWu]

Or he realized what we already knew….that KU is full of douchery.