Counting Down Cal's Top-50 Transfer Athletes: No. 27 Jacob French

We rank the mid-career arrivals in Berkeley who have had the greatest impact on the Golden Bears

Jacob French | Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics

The transfer portal era in college athletics seems like it’s been with us forever. Likewise, most fans can recall less turbulent times when transfers happened, they simply didn’t look like a stampede to the 1849 California Gold Rush.

We thought it was time to rank the best transfers Cal teams have attracted, most of them in recent seasons but also including a few OGs from yesteryear. 

We limited our ranking to transfers from four-year colleges.

Here is the next athlete in our countdown: 

27. Jacob French

Sport: Baseball

Arrival year at Cal: 2024-25

Previous school: San Francisco State (Batted .347 as a freshman in 2024)

Contributions at Cal: 

— The second baseman and utility player batted .390 — highest on the team by nearly 50 points and third-best in the ACC — in his debut season with the Bears in 2025. He also had a .440 on-base percentage and his 20 strikeouts were the fewest among any player in the conference who batted at least .350.

-- French's 2025 batting average was the fourth-highest by a Cal player in the past 30 years, earning third-team All-ACC honors as a sophomore.

— He completed his sophomore season by batting .667 (16 for 24) over the Bears’ final six games. He scored eight runs and drove in eight in those six outings.

— Had back-to-back four-hit performances against Cal State Bakersfield and San Diego in March of the 2026 season, scoring four runs and driving in six in the two non-conference outings.

— French was 7 for 13 with a double, a home run, five runs scored and five RBIs in three ACC games vs. Pitt, a mid-April road sweep in 2026 in which the Bears outscored the Panthers 39-9.

— He was leading the Bears in batting at .344 through May 12 of the 2026 season, but was shelved by an injury in late April.

Standout performance: French was chosen to the 2025 ACC all-tournament team after batting .692 (9 for 13) in three games. In a 14-12 win over Wake Forest, French was 4 for 6 with three RBIs and three runs scored. He also had four hits in a third-round loss to Georgia Tech.

Impact on his team: Despite his prowess at the plate, the Bears were 24-31 in 2025, including 9-21 in their first season in the ACC. This year, they finished 29-26 overall, 12-18 in conference games.

Previously on our list: 

No. 28: Anna Purchase

No. 29: Justin Pippen

No. 30: Fardaws Aimaq

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