Zac Elgie said no to the pros. So did Lee Ridenhour. And that’s good news for Kansas University baseball coach Ritch Price.

Elgie and Ridenhour are the two KU baseball signees who were selected in the June free-agent draft, yet both bypassed the bucks and likely will find starting roles with the Jayhawks as true freshmen next spring.

They won’t be the only freshmen on the field, either.

“We’re in a rebuilding situation, and we’ll have four or five freshmen starting,” Price said. “That’s more than anybody else in the Big 12. Most teams in our league don’t play more than two.”

Elgie, a slugging first baseman-outfielder from Minot, N.D., was the 12th-round pick of the Oakland Athletics and waited until the signing deadline before rejecting a reported $250,000 bonus.

“I just kind of felt at heart that I wanted to go to school and have fun down at college in Kansas,” Elgie told a Minot television station, “and work my tail off for Kansas baseball.”

Price projects the 6-foot-2, 195-pound Elgie as a corner outfielder.

“He’s strong and physical and a good runner,” the KU coach said. “He played first base in Legion ball, but he has a good throwing arm, and I hate to waste his athleticism at first base.”

Ridenhour, a Shawnee Mission West product and the Sunflower League player of the year, is also a candidate for a corner outfield position, but he’s also a pitcher and could do both at KU after rejecting a reported $150,000 bonus from the Minnesota Twins, who tapped him in the 31st round.

“We think he’ll be a top-10 pick when he leaves college,” Price said of the 6-3, 190-pound Ridenhour.

Price hasn’t had a combination pitcher and position player since Kevin Wheeler back in 2003, yet he projects Ridenhour as a potential two-way performer. And Ridenhour isn’t the only freshmen who may see double duty.

Colton Murray, an infielder-pitcher from Olathe East, could be in the mix at second or third base while also being used out of the bullpen, Price said.

Two other freshmen who will bid for starting roles are infielder-outfielder Jake Marasco of Maize (“He’s going to play,” Price said) and outfielder Jason Brunansky of suburban San Diego, a son of former major-league outfielder Tom Brunansky.

Another new face is David Narodowski, a transfer from Vernon College, a two-year school in Texas. A native of Vancouver, B.C., Narodowski looms as the probable replacement for graduated Erik Morrison at shortstop.

“We plan to give him a chance to win the job,” Price said.

Fall baseball practice will begin today. Under NCAA rules, Price will have 45 days to conduct 33 practices.