Oklahoma State Baseball Lands Utah Pitcher in First Transfer Portal Commitment

The Oklahoma State Cowboys now have their first reported transfer portal commitment for the 2027 baseball team.

Oklahoma State head baseball coach Josh Holliday. | STEVE SISNEY / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Oklahoma State Cowboys apparently got tired of being outshined by the Cowgirls in the transfer portal.

On Saturday, former Utah pitcher Kaden Soder announced his transfer to Oklahoma State via his social media. He is the first player to commit to the Cowboys after the program lost six players to the transfer portal since it opened earlier this month.

While coach Josh Holliday landed his first transfer, softball coach Kenny Gajewski landed a pair of transfers on Saturday, both from Big 12 schools — Utah’s Kennedy Proctor and Houston’s Madison Hartley.

About Kaden Soder

Soder joined the Utes in 2026 after a solid career in the community college ranks but only pitched in 14 games as a reliever. He went 3-0 with a 4.84 ERA as he struck out 28 and walked 12 in 22.1 innings. He allowed batters to hit .222 against him.

Soder only played one season at Utah. Before that, he played two seasons at the College of Southern Nevada (2024-25) and before that he spent a season at Oregon. With CSN, he pitched in 18 games, including 15 starts, and went

Was at the College of Southern Nevada for the 2024 and '25 seasons, making 18 total appearances and 15 starts with a 6-3 record, 3.68 ERA, and 97 strikeouts in 78.1 innings pitched. In 2025 he was named the ACCAC Pitcher of the Year, first-team all-conference and first-team all-region.

The Las Vegas native played his high school baseball at Bishop Gorman High School, one of the state’s powers. He helped it win a state title in 2023 as he was named first-team all-district, all-region and all-state.

The Cowboys have already lost a half-dozen players to the transfer portal, including pitcher Josiah Golden, catcher Brady Francisco, catcher Quinn Schambow, pitcher Caden Sramek, pitcher Ty Kennedy and pitcher Cael Turner. The only one that has found a landing spot is Schambow, who recently announced his commitment to Illinois.

Oklahoma State has more work to do in the portal as they’ve lost several key players to eligibility, including infielder Aidan Meola, first baseman Colin Brueggemann, left-handed pitcher Brennan Phillips, left-handed pitcher Drew Blake and right-handed pitcher Mario Pesca. There is also the potential loss of outfielder Kollin Ritchie to the MLB Draft, where he is considered a Top 100 player by some ratings services as a draft-eligible junior after the Cowboys fell to Alabama in a regional final of the NCAA Tournament.