photo by: Alex Jurkuta/St. Cloud Rox

Playing for the St. Cloud Rox, Kansas first baseman Brady Ballinger is pictured against the Minot Hot Tots on Sunday, June 15, 2025, in St. Cloud, Minn.

The return of Kansas baseball is about eight months away after the Jayhawks’ memorable season ended early in the NCAA Tournament, but fans might be able to get something vaguely resembling it in St. Cloud, Minnesota, this summer.

Four members of next year’s KU team — returning star first baseman Brady Ballinger, a pair of JUCO transfers in infielder Tyson LeBlanc and catcher Augusto Mungarrieta, and newly added St. Thomas transfer pitcher Riane Ritter — are playing for the St. Cloud Rox in the Northwoods League.

The wood-bat collegiate summer league has been a frequent destination for KU players and future recruits; the Rox, for example, were home to the likes of Jackson Hauge and John Nett in recent years.

This summer, 11 known Jayhawks are playing in the Northwoods: four with St. Cloud, two with Wausau and one each with Bismarck, Dickinson (for the Badlands Big Sticks), Green Bay, La Crosse and Thunder Bay. Northwoods games can be watched online on either ESPN+ or the Northwoods’ own online player.

Plus, a few more Jayhawks have taken their talents to other summer leagues. Pitcher Maddox Burkitt is with the Martinsville Mustangs in the Coastal Plain League, while fellow pitcher Blake O’Brien is playing for the Catawba Valley Stars, whose schedule mostly consists of teams from that league even though they are not an official member. Recently acquired reliever Aiden Cline, a JUCO transfer, is with the Lafayette Aviators of the Prospect League.

Here are some more detailed updates on each player.

Jordan Bach: The newest Jayhawk is Bach, a Canadian center fielder who spent his first two seasons at Southern Illinois. Playing for the Salukis in 2025, he averaged .309 with 11 home runs and 41 RBIs. Bach is currently off to a dazzling start in the Northwoods with the Thunder Bay Border Cats; through 15 games he batted .407 and had four straight multi-hit games, including a 5-for-5 showing in a victory over St. Cloud on June 12.

Cade Baldridge: A former Gold Glove second baseman who played shortstop at Cowley County Community College in 2025, Baldridge has been back at second this summer for the Wausau Woodchucks. In his first six games he had a perfect fielding percentage and batted .292 with a 1.018 OPS.

Brady Ballinger: KU’s best all-around hitter in 2025 and a recipient of All-American honors from several publications, the rising junior from Las Vegas was a mid-June addition to the Rox’s roster. He debuted on Sunday with a characteristic performance: 3-for-3 with a triple and four RBIs. Interestingly, St. Cloud has him starting in left field after he played first base during his first season in Lawrence.

Maddox Burkitt: The Free State High School product, who came to KU from Johnson County Community College, redshirted during the 2025 season. He has seen some action so far in Martinsville, Virginia, facing off against teams from across the Carolinas and beyond. Through Tuesday night’s action he had pitched one scoreless inning apiece in four of his outings, but in the remaining two allowed a total of six earned runs on five hits and a walk.

Aiden Cline: A new name for Jayhawk fans, Cline recently signed to join KU after a lone year at Midland College where, in the JUCO ranks, he made 17 relief appearances with a 2.81 ERA and 0.88 WHIP. The 5-foot-10 righty has continued dealing in Lafayette, where he gave up just one earned run in his first six outings and struck out 12 batters in 7 2/3 innings.

Savion Flowers: Flowers is a rising sophomore outfielder out of Cisco College. Listed at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, Flowers has primarily played center field for the La Crosse Loggers this summer and was batting .237 through 19 games.

Tyson LeBlanc: An offensive weapon for LSU Eunice, which won a national title during his freshman year, LeBlanc will be a junior at KU next season. He recently concluded a third-team NJCAA All-American campaign in which he batted .385 with 39 stolen bases; he hasn’t quite reached that pace in St. Cloud and was hitting .224 through 17 games, but is serving as the Rox’s starting shortstop.

Anthony Mazza: One of KU’s more recent additions, Mazza is coming off a freshman season at Hutchinson Community College in which he hit .424 but has not seen much time with the Green Bay Rockers in the Northwoods thus far this summer. He didn’t play for a two-week span and was 2-for-22 in his first six games.

Augusto Mungarrieta: Mungarrieta is another catcher who has played at two separate JUCOs, most recently at Northwest Florida State College this past season. A Northwoods League All-Star last summer, he has served as a catcher and designated hitter in St. Cloud and is off to a strong start, having batted .297 through his first 13 games.

Blake O’Brien: O’Brien is expected to be one of a rather low number of total returnees from KU’s 2025 season, and just a select few who are coming back after seeing minimal action during the campaign. In the case of O’Brien, an Overland Park native from St. Thomas Aquinas High School, he didn’t play at all as a freshman. With the Catawba Valley Stars, he only pitched 14 â…” innings in his first four starts, but three of those were shutout outings.

Riane Ritter: The last of four Jayhawks on the Rox’s roster, Ritter is a transfer from St. Thomas, where Fitzgerald began his collegiate career. In Ritter’s freshman year with the Tommies, he was a second-team all-conference selection, improving over the course of the season as a starter and finishing at 6-1 with a 4.08 ERA and team-high 63 strikeouts. His first four starts in St. Cloud, while not particularly long, went even better as he allowed just one run in each and posted 21 strikeouts to nine walks in 21 1/3 innings.

Frankie Santiago: Though a catcher by trade, Santiago’s defensive fit isn’t quite clear at KU yet, and indeed he has worked at first base this summer for the Bismarck Larks. The product of Kansas City Kansas Community College, who is originally from Cayey, Puerto Rico, hit .268 through 20 games with a pair of home runs.

Dylan Schlotterback: The Schlotterback brothers, both acquisitions from Paris Junior College, are briefly playing on separate teams this summer before they get reunited at KU. The elder Schlotterback, who is coming off a season in which he drove in 81 runs for the Dragons has played a mixture of third base and shortstop for Wausau; he had 17 RBIs in his first 22 games for the Woodchucks with a .267 average.

Gavyn Schlotterback: The younger Schlotterback, a catcher and pitcher who is expected to catch at KU, is on the Badlands Big Sticks and has still appeared on the mound from time to time, with just one hit allowed in 4 2/3 scoreless innings. At the plate, the Lakeway, Texas, native has been less consistent as he went 14-for-60 (.233) in his first 17 games.

photo by: Badlands Big Sticks

Playing for the Badlands Big Sticks, catcher Gavyn Schlotterback, right, talks to assistant coach Zac Tapia at a game against the Bismarck Larks on Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Dickinson, N.D.

photo by: Chandra Reigel Photography/Lafayette Aviators Baseball

Playing for the Lafayette Aviators, incoming Kansas pitcher Aiden Cline pitches against the Chillicothe Paints on Sunday, June 8, 2025, in Lafayette, Ind.

photo by: Alex Jurkuta/St. Cloud Rox

Playing for the St. Cloud Rox, incoming Kansas infielder Tyson LeBlanc throws the ball on Saturday, June 7, 2025, in St. Cloud, Minn.

photo by: Alex Jurkuta/St. Cloud Rox

Playing for the St. Cloud Rox, incoming Kansas pitcher Riane Ritter pitches against the Willmar Stingers on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in St. Cloud, Minn.

photo by: Alex Jurkuta/St. Cloud Rox

Playing for the St. Cloud Rox, incoming Kansas catcher Augusto Mungarrieta swings at a pitch against the Badlands Big Sticks on Friday, May 30, 2025, in St. Cloud, Minn.