photo by: Photo courtesy of Kansas Athletics

Members of the Kansas baseball team huddle at home plate during a win at West Virginia on Saturday, April 8, 2023.

In his first season at the helm of Kansas baseball, Dan Fitzgerald found it difficult at first to cope with losing even one game.

“My incredible wife, Kelly, last year said something like — after a game I was despondent — and she’s like ‘What’s up?’ and I’m like, ‘Well, we got beat,’ and she’s like, ‘Well, surely you knew you were going to lose a game this year,'” Fitzgerald recalled in a recent press conference. “I’m like, ‘I did not know that.’ I did not really process that until it happened.”

And so even as he reflects on how successful his team was on Friday nights last season — led by starting pitcher Collin Baumgartner, who is now pursuing a professional career with the Colorado Rockies, and reliever Thaniel Trumper — the near-misses linger in his mind.

“We were 5-3 on Fridays in the Big 12, really gave two of those away,” he recalled. “We make a play against TCU and a play against K-State, we’re 7-1 on Fridays. And we scored 10 runs on Friday night against Oklahoma State, we lose 15-10.

“Not that that one sticks in the back of my head at all.”

Even so, the success those pitchers had is part of why he and his staff continue to believe pitching depth is “the name of the game.” Coming off an inaugural year in which he boosted the Jayhawks to 25-32 (8-16 in Big 12 Conference play, with the majority of those wins on Fridays) — and obtained a memorable upset win over Texas in the conference tournament, thanks to a Janson Reeder grand slam — he hit the transfer portal once again for a class that D1baseball.com ranked No. 9 in the country. Eight of the 13 transfers are pitchers.

“I think it showed, hey, we can swim in some really good waters and get guys because of what we’re trying to do, and I think, with the authenticity that we recruit these guys,” Fitzgerald said.

“There’s nothing better than having options, right?” catcher Jake English told the Journal-World. “So I felt like last year we had good pitchers, but it fell off at a point. Now I feel like we’ve got a ton of options. There’s a bunch of different ways Coach Fitz and Coach (Brandon) Scott can go when it comes to pitching and I think that’s just a great thing.”

Joining the likes of Trumper and starter Sam Ireland from last year’s squad, Grant Adler (Wichita State) and Reese Dutton (USC Upstate) bring some of the most proven four-year college experience, along with JD Callahan (UC Santa Barbara) and Ethan Lanthier (St. Cloud State). Dutton has already earned a preseason second-team All-American nod from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

Four additional arms come from the JUCO ranks, which KU has continued to raid in part because Fitzgerald’s staff came in too late to make much headway on the 2023 or 2024 high school classes and also because, he said, “My whole staff has JUCO blood.”

“You just get an older guy with six and seven hundred at-bats under his belt,” he said. “It’s a good thing to have.”

In the field, KU does not have to replace much. Far and away the biggest name is Cole Elvis, who was the only Jayhawk to start all 57 games last year, playing between first base and catcher and hit 14 home runs with 52 RBIs.

Conveniently for the Jayhawks, though, English has improved significantly in the offseason, Fitzgerald said.

“I thought Coach (Tyler) Hancock’s done an amazing job with him offensively,” he said. “I thought he was the best catcher in the Big 12 last year defensively and I don’t think there’d be a whole lot of argument with that, but offensively I think he’s taken a jump.”

As a rare holdover from the pre-Fitzgerald days, he also has perspective to offer on the team’s strides since the Ritch Price era.

“It’s been a lot more about winning, it’s been a lot more about the team than it was before and it seems like it’s going a lot better,” he said.

The Jayhawks also added catcher Ben Hartl from Heartland Community College.

Elsewhere in the infield, shortstop Collier Cranford, who came with Fitzgerald from LSU, is back. Fitzgerald said that last year, KU was forced to play him more thoroughly than it would have liked immediately following a midseason injury. Now he has had the chance to go through a second, healthy offseason in Lawrence with teammates old and new.

“I thought we had a great team last year, great team chemistry and everything, but getting some new guys helped from the portal,” Cranford said. “The way I feel like we’ve jelled, I feel like I’ve known some of these guys my whole life, first two weeks they’re on campus.”

Cranford will be joined at shortstop by newcomer Chase Diggins, the latest Australian to come to Lawrence, who played high school baseball in Japan and then JUCO ball in Odessa, Texas (where he hit .434 with 20 stolen bases his second year).

Along with returning starters Cranford, English, and Michael Brooks, the biggest name back in the Jayhawks’ infield is last year’s Big 12 co-freshman of the year Kodey Shojinaga, who primarily played second base (though he projects as a catcher at the next level) and hit .378 with a .947 OPS, both team-high numbers.

Fitzgerald said that Shojinaga has a unique ability to “slow down the game and put together an at-bat,” but that he can continue to develop his power at the plate and his defense.

“I think the biggest challenge is going to be as a freshman there’s a beauty and simplicity to what you’re doing,” Fitzgerald said. “You’re just out there playing baseball. You don’t sneak up on anyone when you’re the returning Big 12 freshman of the year.”

In the outfield, which still features key contributors like Chase Jans, Jackson Kline, Mike Koszewski, Luke Leto and grand-slam hero Reeder (usually a designated hitter), one new veteran bat to watch is Lenny Ashby.

Ashby, an Aruba native, started all 54 games for New Mexico last season and hit .381 with a .455 on-base percentage, playing primarily in left field and as a DH.

Cooper Combs (Johnson County Community College) and John Nett (another St. Cloud State product) add to an increasingly wide array of outfield options.

Fitzgerald said it’s been “awesome” having his culture in place already as he’s gone through the offseason, rather than having to build it from scratch as he did last year.

“There’s certainly a reintroduction, an accountability and a reengagement in that,” he said, “but having the guys that have been through it kind of bring the younger guys up and show them how we do certain things … I feel like we started at step 50 rather than step zero.”

The Big 12 coaches have projected KU to end up in eighth place this year, right where it did last season, although that mark would put the Jayhawks farther from the bottom given that there are four new schools in the league this time around.

“It’ll increase competition, some new faces,” said Cranford, who got his first introduction to the rest of the league last year. “I’m excited about getting to play some new teams I’ve never played before, so I’m looking forward to it.”

The conference slate begins at Hoglund Ballpark against league favorite TCU on March 8. In the meantime, the Jayhawks head to Corpus Christi, Texas, to begin their season with a neutral-site series against Illinois-Chicago on Feb. 16.

Kansas sophomore Chase Jans celebrates scoring against Kansas State. Kansas fell 5-4 on Friday, April 14, 2023.

Kansas freshman Kodey Shojinaga (18) is celebrated after scoring against Kansas State. Kansas fell 5-4 on Friday, April 14, 2023.

Kansas junior pitcher Thaniel Trumper (15) fists bumps redshirt sophomore catcher Jake English (21) against Kansas State. Kansas fell 5-4 on Friday, April 14, 2023.

photo by: Chance Parker

Kansas junior pitcher Thaniel Trumper is on the mound against Kansas State. Kansas fell 5-4 on Friday, April 14, 2023.

Kansas redshirt sophomore Michael Brooks throws the ball to first during an April game against Kansas State. Kansas fell 5-4 on Friday, April 14, 2023.

photo by: AP Photo/Colin E Braley

Kansas’ Jackson Kline during an NCAA college baseball game on Saturday, April 1, 2023, in Lawrence.

photo by: AP Photo/Colin E Braley

Kansas shortstop Collier Cranford slides to catch a ground ball during an NCAA college baseball game against Baylor on Saturday, April 1, 2023, in Lawrence.

photo by: AP Photo/Colin E Braley

Kansas’ Sam Ireland during an NCAA college baseball game on Saturday, April 1, 2023, in Lawrence.