The Missouri high school baseball season kicks off on Mar. 19, opening day for regular season action under MSHSAA 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 Missouri 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: 6
No. of Returning Pitchers: 3

Top Returners:

• Kyler Fanning (2026) - CF/P, 6'1, 185 lbs, L/L
  • Mineral Area JC commit
  • 2-time all state, 3 time All-Conference & All-District, will be one of our top two arms, one of the best players in Mid-Missouri, a true 5 tool player
• Max Richardson (2026) - 1B/P, 6', 150 lbs, R/L
  • North Central Missouri College commit
  • Was our closer last year and pitched in a lot of our biggest games. Will step into the #1 starter role and throw majority of our innings. One of the smartest baseball players I have ever been around.
• Nolan Samuel (2026) - SS/P, 5'10 165 lbs, R/R
  • Moberly Area CC commit
  • All-Conference & All-District, will step into a big leadership role, after a breakout junior year will be one of the keys of our offense. Clutch hitter, hit a 3-RBI walk off triple in the district championship game. Elite defender and high baseball IQ.
• Ashton Hunt (2026) - OF/2B/P, 5'7, 145 lbs, L/R
  • Spark plug to our offense, high on base percentage and can steal any bag. Can cover a ton of ground in the outfield and can also play the infield. Has multiple walk off hits in his career and stole home multiple times.
• Drew Smothers (2027) - C/IF/P, 5'9, 160 lbs, R/R
  • Been the starting catcher on our team since his freshman year. Even if he's not able to catch he will help us in some way. Very clutch bat and timely hitting.
    

Top Newcomers:

• Traycion Hodge (2029) - C/IF, 5'11 165 lbs, R/R
  • Very excited about this freshmen. Hoping he can step into a starting role left open from last year. Super talented, smart kid that can play multiple positions.

Key Players Lost:

• Jackson Engel - Moberly Area CC
• Cade Bohm - Moberly Area CC
• Carson Fletcher - Moberly Area CC
• Mitchell Bruce - Crowder JC

Coach’s Insight: “Our biggest strength is out experience. A big chunk of our lineup has significant varsity time and post season experience. The top end of our pitching rotation has thrown a significant amount of innings as well. The success our program has maintained the last few seasons also helps set a standard for the future for our program. Our biggest weakness going into the season is depth. The last couple of seasons we have had a deep roster. This year we are going to need guys to step up to fill some keep spots. The bottom half of our lineup is completely open, which can be a good thing. The competition will improve our roster as a whole.” – Brandon Boyer, head coach

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Find more information on the 2026 Moberly program below:

+ Follow them on X: @BaseballMoberly
+ Visit Prep Baseball Missouri’s 2026 MSHSAA 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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