Arizona Baseball Dives Into the Portal and Lands Two Infielders

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 struck out 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.

Recently, Arizona managed to go into the portal and land two players in Milwaukee second baseman Tyler Bickers and former Oklahoma State infielder/catcher Beau Sylvester.

The additions meet an area of need with second baseman Garen Caulfield graduating and first baseman Tommy Splaine being out of eligibility, as well.

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.

Now, the 2026 season is far away and I’m sure Hale will be looking to add to the roster in order to sustain the success he has had as the head coach of the program. But, these were good additions for the team in terms of need and depth that will be required to get through the grind of the long college baseball season.

Please be sure to let us know your thoughts on the recent additions to the baseball program and how you see them making an impact. Be sure to follow us on our X account by clicking on the link.