Arizona Baseball Adds RHP to its 2026 Roster

The 2025 college baseball season is well over and Arizona’s success getting to the College World Series, which featured a Super Regional 2-1 series win over No. 5 seed North Carolina is a massive stepping stone and tone setter for the program moving forward under head coach Chip Hale.

Like we have talked about before, Hale has done a great job of keeping the talent on the roster following the trip to the CWS. Outside of graduating players and players taking the next step to the MLB draft, Arizona will have key players returning, making for an interesting 2026 season.

The starting rotation will have talent coming back in Smith Bailey and Owen Kramkowski set to take on bigger roles after ending the season on a high note with the two combining for 11 innings of work in the CWS and struckout 11 batters while giving up just five runs.

Even with things going in the right direction, that hasn’t stopped Hale from looking across the country and seeing what players the Wildcats can snag in the portal to improve the 2026 roster.

To this point, Arizona has added three position players in infielders Tyler Bickers and Beau Sylvester and then later outfielder Carson McEntire.

Last season in Milwaukee, Bickers hit .369 while smacking four home runs and driving in 42 RBI, which were a career-high in his two seasons with the program. He played in 58 games taking 225 plate appearances.

Sylvester has spent three seasons with the Cowboys playing in 50 games where he hit .224 in 116 total plate appearances. Still, in his one game against Arizona, he recorded a hit and an RBI for the game.

McEntire spent his freshman season with the Beavers where he batted .238 in 26 games hitting four home runs and 10 RBI.

Where McEntire shined was in the Super Regionals where against Florida State he was able to knock in a home run while driving in two RBI helping the Beavers advance to the CWS.

Now, late Tuesday night, Arizona has added to its pitching staff by landing South Florida transfer RHP Corey Kling, which was first reported by Brian Pedersen of AZ Desert Swarm on Twitter.

Kling has spent the past two seasons at USF appearing in 22 games, totaling 39 innings of work with a 5.03 ERA while striking out 26 batters.

During the offseason, Kling has pitched in the New England Collegiate Baseball League where he has posted a 1.93 ERA in 12 games where he pitched 46 ⅔ innings and struck out 47 batters while on the mound.

It’s a long way til the 2026 season and the team will go through fall camp to see what they have on the roster before playing any meaningful game. So, there could be a chance that Hale will still be looking to add to his roster.

Please be sure to let us know what you think about the addition of Corey Kling and what it could mean for the program and roster as they get ready for the 2026 season. To do so, follow us on our X account by clicking on the link.