The Kansas high school baseball season kicks off on Mar. 19, opening day for regular season action under KSHSAA regulations. Leading up to opening day, we’ll be publishing our team previews ahead of the 2026 spring season, touching on programs spanning all state classifications, counting down to the official Prep Baseball Kansas Preseason Power 25 Rankings.

Perennially, we’ve submitted a preseason questionnaire to high school head coaches across the entire state. Their responses have been flooding in and we’re using the detailed insight they’ve provided in our team-by-team preseason analysis.

Our 2026 preseason coverage continues today.

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2026 SEASON OUTLOOK

No. of Returning Position Players: 7
No. of Returning Pitchers: 3

Top Returners:

• Nathan Troutner (2026) - 1B, 6'6", 215 lbs, R/R
  
  • .947 OPS
• Brayden Jones (2026) - 3B/P, 2026, 6'3", 205 lbs, R/R
  • Washburn commit
• Logan Waldorf (2026) - CF, 5'9", 180 lbs, L/R
  • Southwest Tennessee CC commit
  • .832 OPS, 13 SB
• Dylan Orsund (2026) - LHP, 6'3", 180 lbs, LHP
  • Kansas City Kansas CC commit
  • 13.1 IP, 14 K, .184 BAA
• Dav Christensen (2026) - OF/P, 6'1", 185 lbs, L/L
  • Pacific Univ. commit
• Miles Thomas (2026) - OF/C, 5'10", 175 lbs, R/R
  • Baker commit
• Maddox Wittrock (2026) - LHP, 5'10", 175 lbs, LHP
  • 28.1 IP, 2.47 ERA
• Grayson McFall (2027) - MIF, 5'10", 175 lbs, R/R
• Marshall Awtry (2028) - UTIL, 5'11", 170 lbs, R/R

Top Newcomers:

• Bo Woodall (2027) - RHP/MIF, 2027, 6'0", 175 lbs, R/R
• Brody Kopmeyer (2027) - C, 5'10", 175 lbs, R/R
• Cade Wilson (2027) - OF, 6'0", 180 lbs, L/R
• Landon Harris (2026) - RHP, 5'11", 175 lbs, RHP
  • Missouri S&T commit

Key Players Lost:

• UTIL Keaton Humphrey - Cowley CC
• RHP Trenton Higgins - Highland CC
• MIF Luke Schelhammer - Central Methodist
• C Chase Bradbury - Johnson County CC
• RHP Gavin McConnell

Coach’s Insight: “This team returns a lot of position players from a year ago. These men will build off of last season, doing the little things right and making routine plays defensively. This is a team that was battle tested a year ago, playing in many close games where they needed to come up with a competitive at bat or play in the field. The hope is that we learned what it takes to be successful and can find ways to do the little things that it takes to give us a chance to win. We return a lot of players but will also see many newcomers, especially on the mound. We will need to learn to lead to help bring everyone along. In order to be successful, we will need to mature quickly in order to peak late in the season.” – Kanon Hoover, head coach

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Find more information on the 2026 Blue Valley Northwest program below:

+ Follow them on X: @skiesbaseball
+ Visit Prep Baseball Kansas’ 2026 KSHSAA Team Previews page to learn more.

+ If you are a high school coach and didn’t receive our questionnaire, please click HERE to fill out the form

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