photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas junior Brady Ballinger celebrates with the dugout during the Jayhawks' game against Utah on Saturday, April 4, 2026, at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence.

Kansas’ Brady Ballinger and Mathis Nayral were selected in the MLB Draft on Sunday afternoon, bringing the Jayhawks’ total number of selections for the year to four.

“We’re proud of all four guys who were drafted,” head coach Dan Fitzgerald said in a press release. “We have a number of returners who we anticipated getting drafted. It just shows that this is truly the deepest that college baseball has ever been and spots in professional baseball are becoming more and more rare. For Tyson (LeBlanc), Dom (Voegele), Brady and Mathis to get these opportunities, it’s a real tip of the cap to their ability and their projection as professionals. We’re really looking forward to watching them in the next stage of their career.”

After waiting two decades between selections of Kansas baseball players in the MLB Draft, the Detroit Tigers only took a few rounds to double up on Jayhawks in 2026. Detroit picked Ballinger, a two-year starter for KU at first base and in left field, No. 216 overall in the seventh round of the draft on Sunday afternoon. The pick has a slot value of $274,300.

Ballinger follows past and future teammate LeBlanc, who was a second-round pick of the Tigers’ on Saturday. It’ll be the third time the pair has worn the same uniform, as they were also summer baseball teammates for the St. Cloud Rox of the Northwoods League prior to LeBlanc’s arrival at KU.

“Brady had a great two-year run for us,” Fitzgerald said in the release. “He was a key piece of both our NCAA Tournament teams. Brady has a great hit tool and has also shown defensive versatility. Really excited to watch him in his professional career.”

Ballinger, a Las Vegas native who started his career at the College of Southern Nevada, didn’t take long to become a fan favorite when he joined the Jayhawks prior to the 2025 season.

He was one of the best hitters in the Big 12 Conference as a sophomore first baseman, when he batted .353 with a 1.165 OPS, 16 home runs and 56 RBIs; he also led the league with 56 walks, demonstrating the discipline that has been key to his approach. Perhaps his defining moment that year was a three-run home run to even the score against Oklahoma State in a Big 12 tournament quarterfinal game that KU eventually won in walk-off fashion.

Ballinger was the first-ever Jayhawk to become a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy given to the nation’s best player. He received several All-American honors and went to USA Baseball Collegiate National Team training camp, fashioning himself into a marquee draft prospect ahead of his junior year.

Moved to left field amid a glut of Jayhawk infielders, Ballinger didn’t quite achieve the same production in what was still a solid junior season. He hit .283 with seven homers and 45 RBIs, at one point reaching base in 25 straight games, and at one point helped KU earn its Sunflower Showdown sweep with a big ninth-inning home run in Manhattan. Ballinger missed the Big 12 tournament with a hamate bone injury before returning to supply a few significant hits as the Jayhawks won the Lawrence Regional title.

“Ballinger was one of the most devastating junior college hitters in the country at the CC of Southern Nevada in 2024, then encored with one of the best offensive performances in Kansas history last year,” his writeup on MLB.com reads. “But he slumped to .283/.401/.466 with seven homers in 60 games this spring as his timing got out of whack and he couldn’t get to his plus raw power. All of his value comes from his bat, so he’ll have to up his production in pro ball.”

The last pair of KU players picked by the same team in the same draft was Kodey Shojinaga and Tegan Cain, who went to Philadelphia in 2024. (Reese Dutton also joined the Phillies as an undrafted free agent that year.)

photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas pitcher Mathis Nayral delivers a pitch during the Jayhawks’ NCAA tournament game against Arkansas on Sunday, May 31, 2026, at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence.

The Toronto Blue Jays selected Nayral, a 6-foot-5 right-handed pitcher, at No. 402 overall, making him the penultimate pick of the 13th round. He is the first Jayhawk taken by Toronto since David Meyer (who did not sign) in the 44th round of the 1993 draft; Sean Rackoski also went to the Blue Jays as a free agent in 2017. No former KU player has played for the major-league club.

Nayral is originally from Montpellier, France, and arrived at KU as a junior after two years at Cochise College, a junior college in Arizona. He made 17 starts for the Jayhawks in 18 appearances as a consistent weekend arm, and finished the year at 4-3 with a 4.96 ERA and 71 strikeouts to 28 walks.

He earned the title of Big 12 pitcher of the week in late March after allowing one run in seven innings of an 8-2 win on the road at Cincinnati in which he struck out 11 Bearcats and at one point retired 14 straight batters. Nayral was also the starter in the Big 12 tournament championship game against West Virginia, during which, aided by strong defensive play behind him, he shut out the Mountaineers for a tense 4 1/3 innings.

He followed Voegele, a third-round pick of the Baltimore Orioles, as the second member of KU’s starting rotation to get drafted (the third, Mason Cook, was not draft-eligible).

“Mathis had a great year for us and has a really bright future ahead of him,” Fitzgerald said. “Toronto did a really nice job of scouting him. Really proud of Mathis and I’m looking forward to following his future.”

The late stages of the draft brought one more potentially significant development for the Jayhawks’ 2027 roster. Jake Berkland, a shortstop from Division II Minnesota State who in June announced his commitment to KU, was picked by the Chicago White Sox in the 19th round at No. 555 overall.

Berkland, who would arrive at KU as a redshirt junior with two years of eligibility remaining, hit .366 with 11 home runs and 47 RBIs last season. He also hit .297 in 24 games with the Wausau Woodchucks of the Northwoods League in June. Whether he will forgo his chance to play with the Jayhawks in favor of the professional opportunity remains to be seen.

Several draft-eligible Jayhawks who were key contributors in 2026 went unselected; probably the most notable was KU closer Boede Rahe, who didn’t take long to announce his return for 2027, writing in a post on X, “God’s Timing! What do you say we run it back Lawrence?”