photo by: Arun Halder/Kansas Athletics

Kansas' Brady Ballinger celebrates in the dugout during the fall exhibition against Bradley on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025, in Lawrence.

As first pitch approaches for the new-look Kansas baseball team, three returning Jayhawks received preseason all-conference honors in a poll of league coaches released on Thursday afternoon.

Junior Brady Ballinger (infielder), senior Dariel Osoria (designated hitter) and junior Dominic Voegele (pitcher) were named to the Big 12’s all-league team, with Ballinger a unanimous selection. Three selections in a single preseason is the largest number in program history.

Ballinger, who played first base in 2025, emerged as one of the breakout stars of KU’s run to the NCAA Tournament. He has received several All-American honors and plenty of MLB Draft buzz in the lead-up to his junior year after batting .353 with 16 home runs and 56 RBIs in his first season as a Jayhawk. Originally from Las Vegas, he spent one season at the College of Southern Nevada.

Osoria is another junior-college product, a native of the Bronx, New York, who played two years at Western Oklahoma State College. A crowded infield left him without a position in the field last year, but as KU’s go-to designated hitter he was a highly consistent .324 with nine home runs and 47 RBIs.

Of note, neither Ballinger nor Osoria is expected to play the role in which he was named to the all-league team. Ballinger will likely start in left field for the 2026 Jayhawks, while Osoria has put in the work to lock up a spot at second base.

Voegele, who was the preseason pitcher of the year ahead of the 2025 campaign, will serve again as KU’s Friday night starter. A former Big 12 freshman of the year who came to KU from Columbia, Illinois, he had a 5.70 ERA in 96 1/3 innings last year, which constituted something of a step back from his first campaign, but still put up a variety of dominant performances throughout the season.

As a team, the Jayhawks were picked to finish in a tie for fifth in the potent 14-team Big 12. That’s a considerable improvement from ninth last winter, after KU ended up second in the league at the conclusion of last season. (The Jayhawks actually swept first-place West Virginia late in the year and finished with one more league win than the Mountaineers, but they also had one more loss because the Mountaineers had games canceled earlier in the season, so WVU took the Big 12 crown.)

TCU was picked to win the league in 2026, followed in the poll by Arizona, West Virginia, Arizona State and then a tie between KU and Oklahoma State. Below the Jayhawks and Cowboys were Kansas State, Cincinnati, Texas Tech, UCF, Baylor, Houston, BYU and Utah.

TCU racked up the individual awards, with Sawyer Strosnider as the preseason player of the year, Tommy LaPour as pitcher of the year and Lucas Franco as freshman of the year. ASU’s Dean Toigo, a UNLV transfer, was named the preseason newcomer of the year.

Along with pitchers Kannon Carr and Manning West and catcher Max Soliz Jr., the trio of Ballinger, Osoria and Voegele comprises the most significant returning players on a roster largely composed of newcomers. KU opens its season on Feb. 13 at UTRGV in Edinburg, Texas.