photo by: Hub City Spartanburgers

Former Jayhawks Ben Hartl, left, and J'Briell Easley fist-bump while playing for the Hub City Spartanburgers in this undated photo.

A new set of Kansas baseball players will soon arrive in the professional ranks.

The MLB Draft runs from July 11-13 in Philadelphia, and some Jayhawks will surely be in contention for selections given that Brady Ballinger, Tyson LeBlanc and Dominic Voegele are poised to attend the combine in Phoenix. Even those who don’t hear their names called in the 20-round draft will have chances to catch on afterward as undrafted free agents, as quite a few Jayhawks have in recent years.

Before those new additions join the fold, it’s an ideal time to survey the current landscape of KU products in pro baseball.

The biggest change this season in the world of Kansas alumni in pro baseball was, unfortunately for the Jayhawks, the dismissal of Rob Thomson as Philadelphia Phillies manager.

Thomson, the former KU player who still holds the program’s single-season batting average record, had risen to prominence decades into his coaching career when he led the Phillies to the World Series as their interim coach in 2022 after taking over the team in June.

Philadelphia made the playoffs each of Thomson’s following three seasons, reaching the NLCS in 2023 but losing in the NLDS as the NL East champion in both 2024 and 2025. Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies’ president, announced Thomson’s dismissal on April 28 after he started the season 9-19. Don Mattingly took over as interim manager and has guided Philadelphia into position for a potential NL wild card as the season approaches its midpoint.

Thomson took the rare step of speaking to the media after his firing and expressed optimism about the future of the team, praised the Phillies’ management and said he “would seriously entertain staying with the organization” in an advisory role of some sort.

Whether that comes to fruition remains to be seen — he certainly still seems to be well liked by plenty of Phillies fans — but in the meantime, with unexpected late-spring free time, he made the trip out to KU for the first-ever Lawrence Regional.

“Rob’s the coolest human being I know,” KU coach Dan Fitzgerald said at the time. “He’s so humble, and he’s done everything you can possibly do in the game of baseball. He’s become a good friend. I have to be careful when I’m with him to not ask too many questions, because I could literally ask him thousands of questions.”

With Thomson out of the game for the moment, the main Jayhawk in the pros is Los Angeles Angels relief pitcher Ryan Zeferjahn. The Topeka native and former Ritch Price-era standout starter has found a niche in the Angels’ bullpen and this season has slightly improved on his 4.74 ERA from the 2025 campaign. Zeferjahn was limiting opponents to a .160 batting average as of Sunday afternoon, a considerable improvement, though he has also issued walks at a higher rate.

The month of June has been kind to Zeferjahn, as he had allowed just one run in 10 innings across his nine appearances. That included a rare save as he entered with two outs in the ninth to help the Angels escape a jam against Tampa Bay on June 12.

The rest of the former Jayhawks in professional baseball are in various stages of the minor league development pipeline.

Blake Weiman was a former eighth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates out of KU in 2017 who has made Triple-A appearances for four different teams in the years since, including most recently for the Sugar Land Space Cowboys in 2025, when he had a 7.94 ERA in 26 games before getting released in August. Weiman caught on with the Angels’ organization in February and was assigned to Triple-A Salt Lake, but went on the 60-day injured list and has been on a rehab assignment in the Arizona Complex League.

Collin Baumgartner, the SIUE transfer who served as the ace in Fitzgerald’s first season at the helm, reached Triple-A himself late in 2025 and seemed to have a shot at making the Colorado Rockies but retired in May and now, according to an Instagram post, has taken over as the director of baseball organization Canes St. Louis.

Wes Benjamin, who pitched in 21 games for the Texas Rangers between 2020 and 2021, made it to Triple-A in the San Diego Padres’ organization last season but was released on Nov. 3 and returned to the Korean Baseball Organization, where he previously played three years for the KT Wiz. After originally joining the Doosan Bears as a temporary injury replacement, Benjamin performed so well — he has a 3.02 ERA through 11 starts — as to be named one of the league’s May MVPs. (Also pitching internationally, by the way, is Jackson Goddard, a former 2018 third-round pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks who is currently with the Acereros de Monclova in the Mexican League.)

Jaxx Groshans, a fifth-round pick in 2019 (the same year Zeferjahn went in the third round), was released by the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas last summer and is back in independent ball with the Chicago Dogs, for whom he has been one of the top players.

A couple of young former Jayhawks recently made the leap from unaffiliated leagues to the minors.

Eric Lin and Jackson Hauge were each undrafted in 2025. Lin excelled for the Dogs last season with a 2.51 ERA in 22 appearances before the Tampa Bay Rays took on his contract in late May; he was recently assigned to the Class A Charleston River Dogs and has allowed one run on two hits in 4 2/3 innings. Hauge spent time with the Florence Y’alls of the Frontier League and then this year with the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars of the Atlantic League, then the New York Mets purchased his contract. He got off to a slow start at the plate with Class A St. Lucie but has improved of late, though he is still batting .147.

Hauge, Lin and Robbie Knowles — a reserve pitcher from the 2025 team who signed with the St. Louis Cardinals and is playing at Class A Palm Beach — have joined a large group of Fitzgerald-era Jayhawks who are climbing their way up through the minors.

Hunter Cranton, KU’s closer from the 2024 season who was its highest draft pick since 1990, missed much of the 2024 campaign after he was hit in the head by a line drive in a spring training game and suffered a concussion. Seattle traded him to Arizona, where he played briefly at High-A Everett with some success. This year, he was set to pitch at Double-A Amarillo but only made one appearance and has been on the 60-day injured list.

Contributing regularly at Double-A is lefty Evan Shaw, a 16th-round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024 who has a 5.51 ERA in 23 appearances for the Tulsa Drillers this season.

The Phillies invested heavily in KU talent with three acquisitions in 2024, and all are still in the system, with Reese Dutton (3.12 ERA in 13 games with 11 starts) and Kodey Shojinaga (.262 with 20 RBIs) at High-A Jersey Shore and Tegan Cain (3.75 ERA in nine appearances), who missed all of 2025, at Class A Clearwater. J’Briell Easley (4.60 ERA in 12 outings with 11 starts) and Ben Hartl (.236 with three homers and 15 RBIs), both acquired that same year by Texas, are teammates at High-A Hub City.

The last member of that year’s robust group of pro prospects, righty Ethan Lanthier, recently came off a lengthy injury absence of his own — he hadn’t pitched since April 29, 2025, in St. Lucie — and is on a rehab assignment with the Mets in the Florida Complex League.

Brady Counsell, a Gold Glove winner in his lone year at KU and the son of Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell, started his first full professional season at High-A Hillsboro in the Diamondbacks organization. He has hit .209 this year with three home runs and 24 RBIs.

The rest of the 2025 pros are in Class A, including draftees Alex Breckheimer (Palm Beach Cardinals, currently on the 60-day injured list) and Derek Cerda (batting .290 for the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers) and undrafted signees Michael Brooks (Stockton Ports) and Ian Francis (Daytona Tortugas).

photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Head coach Dan Fitzgerald, right, talks with former Phillies manager and Kansas alum Rob Thomson during the NCAA regional practice on Thursday, May 28, 2026, in Lawrence.

photo by: AP Photo/Paul Sancya

Los Angeles Angels pitcher Ryan Zeferjahn throws against the Detroit Tigers during the ninth inning of a baseball game Thursday, May 28, 2026, in Detroit.

photo by: Helene Haessler/St. Lucie Mets

Jackson Hauge of the St. Lucie Mets runs the bases during a game against the Daytona Tortugas on Thursday, June 18, 2026, in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

photo by: Palm Beach Cardinals

Playing for the Palm Beach Cardinals (under the identity of the Frozen Iguanas), Robbie Knowles waits to pitch against the Jupiter Hammerheads on Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Jupiter, Fla.

photo by: Hillsboro Hops

Brady Counsell of the Hillsboro Hops bats in this undated photo in Hillsboro, Ore.

photo by: Stockton Ports

Michael Brooks of the Stockton Ports swings the bat at a game against the San Jose Giants on Saturday, June 13, 2026, in Stockton, Calif.