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: 5

Top Returners:

• Otto Knust (2026) - RHP/1B, R/R, 6'5, 230
  • North Carolina State commit 
  • 2025 HM All Sunflower
• Max McKenna (2026) - RHP, R/R, 6'2, 200
  • St. Louis commit
  • 2025 HM All Sunflower
• Mac Solis (2026) - IF/RHP, R/R, 6'1, 200
  • Johnson County CC commit 
  • 2025 HM All Sunflower
• Connor McCool (2027) - IF/RHP, R/R, 5'11, 185 
  • 2025 HM All Sunflower
• Jackson Barker (2027) - RHP, R/R, 6'2, 200
  • 2025 HM All Sunflower
• Luke McKenna (2028) - UTL/RHP, 6'6, 210
  • 22K in 18IP as a freshman
    

Top Newcomers:

• Cale Fossett (2026) - RHP/IF, R/R, 6'2, 205
  • Kansas City Kansas CC commit
• Cole Harris (2028) - C/IF, R/R, 6'3, 185.
• Manny Torres (2027) - MIF, R/R, 6'3, 210.

Key Players Lost:

• Anden Oviedo - Palm Beach State College
• Brady Roche 

Coach’s Insight: “Experience and physicality will be a carrier for us in 2026. We return over 90% of our innings pitched from the 2025 season and will have ten or more pitchers, that are capable of throwing at the college level, competing for roles as we head into the spring. We also return eight position players that all recorded at least 20 at bats last year. We are a big and physical team that could have the capability to win a low scoring pitching duel, or an offensive slugfest. To improve our record in 2026, we must find more consistency at the plate. In 2025, we suffered several losses by 1 or 2 runs where we scored less than 2 runs. Finding ways to manufacture runs by any means necessary to pair with our pitching depth will be a key to flipping our record from last season. ” – Matt Hill, head coach

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Find more information on the 2026 Shawnee Mission South program below:

+ Follow them on X: @SMSOUTHBASEBALL
+ 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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