And throwing some darts at potential transfer names still out there
Ahead of next month’s MLB Draft – which has the potential to dramatically shift the NC State roster in multiple ways – the Wolfpack baseball team sits at 33 players, one spot shy of the 2026 roster limit of 34. Of course, some returning players will be grandfathered in, so rosters can remain above 34 (but no more than the previous limit of 40) until all players who were on 2025 rosters have exhausted their eligibility.
From the above linked D1 Baseball article:
College baseball players who were designated as players who would’ve been cut because of the new rules are ‘grandfathered’ into the existing roster, and that would carry over to another program should they hit the transfer portal. It would also apply for the duration of their college athletic tenure.
Players designated as “grandfathered” will not count against the 34-man roster as long as they don’t participate in revenue sharing or have any portion of an athletic scholarship. That’s going to severely limit the number of players who get tagged with that designation.
We have yet to hear which players will carry this designation, but with the July 1 window rapidly approaching for the close of the baseball transfer window, this should come out soon. The July 13-14 dates for the MLB Draft certainly impact this and the timing is not ideal.
A full MLB Draft primer for NC State will come out next week, but there are 11 players – six from the 2025 roster, one incoming JUCO transfer, and four incoming freshmen – who are worth watching in the draft (I have marked those in italics below). Should State lose any, all, or some combination of them, roster additions will be needed to adjust for the changes.
Below is the roster as it sits right now:
Catcher
- JR Drew Lanphere
- rFR Preston Bonn
- FR Vincent DeCarlo
Infield
- JR 1B Chris McHugh
- JR 2B/SS Luke Nixon
- SO 1B/3B Brandon Novy
- SO 2B/SS/3B Mikey Ryan (transfer from LSU)
- FR SS/3B Aidan West
- FR 3B Quinn Bentley
Outfield
- SR RF Brayden Fraasman
- SR LF Josh Hogue
- JR LF/RF Devin Mitchell (JUCO transfer)
- SO CF Ty Head
- FR Everett Johnson
Pitching
- SR RHP Shane Van Dam
- SR RHP Andrew Shaffner
- SR LHP Dominic Fritton
- JR LHP Ryan Marohn
- JR RHP Heath Andrews
- JR RHP Anderson Nance
- JR RHP Jacob Dudan
- JR LHP Cooper Consiglio
- rJR RHP Julien Peissel
- rJR RHP Landon Carr
- SO LHP Tristan Potts
- SO RHP Collins Black (transfer from Duke)
- SO RHP Ryder Garino (transfer from South Carolina)
- rFR RHP Truitt Manuel
- rFR RHP Kaden Morris
- FR RHP C.J. Gray
- FR RHP Michael Ragusa
- FR RHP Sam Harris
- FR LHP Luke Hemric
I fully expect to lose Van Dam, Shaffner, Fritton, and Gray in the draft. The first three are all rising seniors who have had their respective names floated in draft circles all year. Gray had an impressive showing at the MLB Combine and is now quickly rising up boards. Yeah, all pitchers.
Andrews participated in the MLB Draft Combine, but with two years of eligibility remaining and still a good amount to prove at the college level, I’d imagine he’ll be back next year to up his stock in 2026.
Fraasman and Hogue are rising seniors, but there doesn’t seem to be much noise in the way of their names in the draft. Fraasman is playing in the MLB Draft League. If either or both go, it will be very late, and the prospect of finishing up school under a full scholarship and some potential revenue share might be better than a $5k signing bonus an MLB team offers.
West is plenty good enough to get drafted, but I have a gut feeling that he’s going to be in Raleigh, and I’m also confident DeCarlo will make it to campus since he’s an older catcher (he’ll be a draft-eligible sophomore in 2027) and clubs typically – but not always – shy away from that. Bentley is the wild card for me since he’s playing in the MLB Draft League this summer and made that league’s 28-man roster (one of just six high school players) for their exhibition game against the Cape Cod League; that screams “will sign if drafted”.
Mitchell isn’t ranked on any draft boards, but sometimes that’s the case with JUCO players. He was ranked by Prep Baseball as the 40th ranked JUCO player heading into the 2025 season, so he’s clearly on teams radars.
I’d hate to speculate on the “grandfather” tagged players, so we’ll skip that for now. I only think that comes into play if by some minor miracle all ten of those above mentioned players make it through the draft and end up in Raleigh.
Let’s take a look at some potential portal targets.
Catcher
With the recent news that Lanphere will be headed back to Raleigh in the fall, the catching position is likely set barring DeCarlo getting drafted and signing pro.
There are still some solid transfer options out there, including JR Frankie Ferrentino (Merrimack), Broedy Poppell (Florida A&M), and Mark Quatrani (Cornell). Shea McGahan (Southeast Missouri) is another name that interests me. Again, I don’t anticipate any portal additions behind the dish.
Infield
As it stands right now, State has two 1B, two 2B, three SS, and three 3B. Over the last few years, State has rostered between eight and nine infielders, but with the reduced roster maybe carrying six is okay. I wouldn’t be shocked to see State add one more infielder into the mix, likely scenario is adding a utility player who can play both infield and outfield.
Virginia transfer Henry Godbout is obviously the huge name out there, but that’s a pipe dream as SEC teams are going after him hard. Some names to look at among infielders are: Sam Miller (Columbia), Michael Ball (Nevada), Maika Niu (Marshall), Maddox Latta (Cal State Fullerton), Finley Bates (San Diego State), Cam Karczewski (Purdue Fort Wayne), Gabe Roessler (Milwaukee), Antonio Jimenez (UCF), Carter Sintek (South Dakota State), Coltin Quagliano (Illinois), Grady Mee (Western Michigan), Ethan Sitzman (Saint Louis), Tyler Bickers (Milwaukee), Jaden Jones (Texas Southern), Nick Husovsky (Ball State), Jeremy Wolf (UNC Greensboro), Drew Wyers (Bryant).
Brandon Crabtree is a former Wolfpack commitment who is another name to watch. He’s played 3B at Gaston College, but the lefty-hitting JUCO transfer can rake.
Outfield
This is the spot that is in the most flux in my view, based on if Fraasman, Hogue, and/or Mitchell go in the draft or via undrafted free agent deals. Regardless, additions must be made. Getting to six players is a must.
If Fraasman and Hogue return, though, the Wolfpack would bring back its entire starting outfield from last year. It’s going to be hard to land transfers in that scenario. Should one or both leave via the draft, then you have a starting spot or two to dangle in front of transfer options and that will open more doors.
There are still a lot of options out there for outfielders, but it’s hard to speculate as to which ones will be viable until we know what happens after the draft. I would expect the outfield addition(s) to come late in the process.
Pitching
If the Pack lose the four pitchers I expect them to in the draft, then transfer additions must be made and in bulk. You could hilariously insert the joke about Avent/Chrysler only needing six pitchers to get through a season, but the – okay, that’s a funny joke and sadly accurate – but the roster needs more arms.
Marohn, Nance, and Dudan give State a solid starting three even if Andrews gets drafted and turns pro. Fritton would obviously add to that list of potential starters, as would Van Dam and Gray.
All that to say that State is clearly in the market for reliever, and there are still some big ones in the market. A trio of former Duke hurlers are still on the market in LHP Mark Hindy, RHP Gabriel Nard, and LHP Andrew Healy. Another former Duke arm, LHP Owen Proksch, is available, but he’s likely looking for starting opportunities and not a reliever gig. RHP Tanner Sagouspe (Cal Poly) and RHP Luke Lyon (Troy) are another couple of names worth mentioning among a lot of good options still available.
As you can see from the current roster above, State is likely looking at only four lefties in play for 2026. There’s a strong need to add a southpaw or two, so seeing if Hindy or Healy would like to join Black in relocating from Durham to Raleigh would be well worthwhile. Quality should take precedence over which hand releases the ball, though, so if neither are available, it should be a best-available (and feasible) approach.