Stanford Baseball 2026 Season Preview

We are just a couple of weeks away from the start of college baseball season, and fans are beginning to build hype for the Stanford Cardinal, who are entering a year of monumental importance in their rebuild.

Stanford has always been a top tier baseball program in the college baseball landscape. At the turn of the decade, the Cardinal made three straight College World Series, and were near the top of the college baseball world, being the premier program on the West Coast.

Unfortunately, Stanford has struggled since then, going just 49-58 over the past two seasons. They failed to reach the tournament in either season. While the Cardinal’s program has been on a downturn of late, many things are changing in 2026, with a revised roster as well as a few interesting, standout returning players.

Stanford loses Trevor Haskins, Temo Becerra, Charlie Saum in the field, which will be tough losses. Haskins was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals, while Saum entered the portal and then signed as an undrafted free agent with the Toronto Blue Jays. Becerra entered the portal and landed with Texas.

They also lost right-handers Matt Scott and Joey Volchko, two top pitchers for the Cardinal last season. Both have been seen as intriguing players in the MLB Draft, though they've struggled with the Cardinal. Scott and Volchko transferring is their hope to boost their draft stock.

The Cardinal will return Rintaro Sasaki, Jimmy Nati, Tatum Marsh, Brady Reynolds, Charlie Bates, Luke Lavin, and Cort Macdonald, who are all projected starters for Stanford this season. Those seven, especially the top five, will be doing some heavy lifting for Stanford's offense this season. They do have an intriguing freshman coming in as well, who should be a starter.

Brock Sell is an incoming third baseman that has been ranked as the 45th best player in the nation out of high school. But more importantly he is the ninth-ranked college freshman by Perfect Game. Sell should have a big impact for a team that is known for having freshmen who typically have big roles.

Stanford is returning two starting pitchers, left-hander Christian Lim and Parker Warner. While neither had a great season last year, both are intriguing prospects for the Cardinal, and are both highly ranked out of high school. They also bring in Brock Ketelsen, the 88th best player in the country out of high school, who is also ranked No. 9 among college freshman by Perfect Game.

Their top reliever is potentially a top player as well in Aidan Keenan. He returns after a successful 2025 season where he kept the Cardinal in a number of games and earned five saves.

As of right now, the expected starters are: Luke Lavin at catcher, Rintaro Sasaki at first, Jimmy Nati at second, Charlie Bates at shortstop, Brock Sell at third, Brady Reynolds in left field, Tatum Marsh at center, and Cort MacDonald at right. The pitchers will likely be Christian Lim as the Friday night starter, Parker Warner on Saturday, and Brock Ketelson on Sunday, with Aidan Keenan in the bullpen.

Stanford is not a ranked program entering the season, and given their subpar seasons the past two years, they'll likely have to prove themselves a bit to earn that national recognition. They have a lot of talented pieces on this roster that will draw attention over the course of the year, but how far they go as a program will depend upon how quickly they can come together as a unit.

The Cardinal begin the 2026 season with No. 24 Arizona in the College Baseball Series in Surprise, AZ. They will also take on Michigan and No. 12 Oregon State to kick off an electric baseball season.

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