You can’t make enough about the impact of Henry Kaczmar’s return to the top of the batting order and the middle of the Buckeyes’ infield in 2026. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
In part two of our season preview of Ohio State baseball, the parts are there again for this team to score runs. And if they can shore up the defense…if the pitching comes through…it bodes well for a positive step forward in 2026.
What I wrote about in Part 1 – about pitching – is so paramount to the rebound of the baseball Buckeyes in 2026 that it’s easy to overlook the glass being half full.
Half full, you say?
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A valid point. The positive measureables are hard to equate coming off a 13-37 season when you finished last in pitching, last in defense, and out of sight in the Big Ten standings.
But…..
Unlike football…unlike basketball…the equalizer in baseball is always the guy standing in the elevated circle in the middle of the infield. You pitch effectively in baseball and you have a chance to beat anybody. And on some days all you have to do is score just one single run. And suffice it to say, there’s yet to be a Justin Haire team that I’ve investigated that’s been remembered for winning, 1-0.
They’ll take it…yes. But it’s always been more fun if you can play like Earl Weaver and the Baltimore Orioles of the 70s. Get a couple of men on base and hope that Frank Robinson or Eddie Murray – someone, anyone – would hit a three-run homer.
Haire’s teams at Campbell University scored runs by the bunches. And his offensive personality with Ohio State is clearly that of clearing the bases with destructive contact at the plate.
A healthy Lee Ellis in 2026 gives the Buckeyes an exciting portal to improved play at the plate (above), and in the field.
Tyler Pettorini, Lee Ellis, Matt Graveline, and Trey Lipsey certainly benefited in the brief sample size of 50 games last year, averaging .290, and collectively hitting 34 home runs with 161 runs batted in. And on the threshold of 2026 Haire again has a core group of returning bats that showed in fall baseball…their ability to hit and score runs.
Pettorini, Graveline, and Lipsey are gone, sure enough.
But the trio of Ellis, Mason Eckelman, and Henry Kaczmar returning to head the attack this spring cannot be overlooked, or under-emphasized.
Ellis (.296, 7 home runs), Eckelman (.281, 5 home runs), and Kaczmar (.315, 6 home runs at South Carollina) represent the foundation of known parts on which improvement is to be built.
Kaczmar is back after a one-year foray to South Carolina and a taste of the SEC. And no hard feelings. The vibe in fall baseball was nearly that of his never having been away.
“He’s been great to be around,” says Justin Haire. “And this is where he really wants to be. He leads, and he’s mixed well with the other guys. They’ve embraced him.”
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Ellis, when healthy, was in the top ten of the most athletic players in the Big Ten last year – speed, arm strength, bat speed at the plate, and there’s no shortage of self-confidence.
Catcher Mason Eckelman lines up a tag at the plate in 2025 (.280, 5 home runs, and the most improved Buckeye)
And Eckelman. In a sport where teams look for leadership from their catching, Mason Eckelman, without question, was the most improved player on the field for the 2025 Buckeyes. No one in the Big Ten ‘received’ the ball better behind home plate, the arm strength materialized, and the bat looked more like what people expected at the next level when he came from Walsh Jesuit High School as a freshman in 2024 – a Johnny Bench Award winner. And durable? He started 49 of the Buckeyes’ 50 games in 2025!
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Coupled with those three is what Haire claims as additional ‘pieces’ – a favorite term – through portal transfer and freshmen in their 2026 class.
Alex Bemis, who we know from a productive high school career at Monroe High School, comes from a successful two-year stint at Gannon University, in Pennsylvania. And Bemis looked ready in fall baseball to make a Division I baseball contribution in the spring during the brief time we observed him – playing at third base.
Noah Furcht is a Division I transfer from UNC-Charlotte with proven versatility, athleticism, and experience enough to play everyday at a corner outfield position.
Miles Vandenheuvel (Eastern Arizona), Gavin West (Gordon State College), Dane Harvey, a behemoth 6’5″, 285 lb first baseman (Cowley Community College with projected power), Addison Binnie (Kirkwood Community College), and Grant Mangrum (catching backup from McNeeese State) add to the anticipation.
From his first true recruiting class Haire cites its offensive potential, headed by Steven Cavaco, from Huntsville, Alabama.
“Cavaco’s a left-hand hitting first baseman that’s athletic, competitive, super intelligent hitter with a really good swing,” says Haire. “We have about five guys coming in that have a chance to show. And Haven Fielder, former Tiger and Brewer Prince Fielder’s son, will likely redshirt. I’m excited about those guys.”
Alex Bemis, a transfer from Gannon University (Pa.) is an exciting transfer with versatility. “He’s a gamer,” – Justin Haire
So yes, every indication from the afore-written is that this Buckeyes team is going to score runs.
What’s not to predict is how much they’ll improve defensively, although the term ‘athletic’ is one frequently used by Haire. And athletic usually coincides with the ability to get to the ball, catch the ball, and throw the ball accurately, which was a challenge in 2025.
The Buckeyes finished last in Big Ten fielding, and it’s fair to mention…with an infield plagued by injuries and instability.
But the calendar flips now, and Henry Kaczmar returns as a necessary glue for improvement.
You cannot make enough about his return to the top of the order and the middle of the Buckeyes’ infield. Durable, mature, and professional in his day-to-day approach to the game, his year at South Carolina was marked by getting off to a slow start, then fighting back to finish with a .315 average and a .486% slug number. But importantly, Kaczmar is known from his previous time as the Buckeyes’ shortstop for making the routine play dependably. Suffice it to say, he looms as one of the most impactful figures in Big Ten baseball this spring.
If Lee Ellis can prove more dependable and ‘routine’ at second base…there’s likely to be competition enough at the other infield positions to effectively project the upgrade.
Now sophomore Maddix Simpson enjoyed his best day as a freshman at Northwestern.
Maddix Simpson probably played above freshman expectations in 2025, hitting just .236, but showed flexibility around the infield and promise for something better yet to come. To that end, he spent the off-season remaking himself physically – bigger, stronger, more durable, and with better bat speed. “He can play all four positions,” said Haire at the conclusion of fall baseball. He hopes he doesn’t have to, of course.
CJ Reid (Hutchinson Community College) and Dane Harvey are just two candidates to play at first base and provide power in the lineup.
If the outfield picture is athletic and experienced to take the right angles on balls hit, and throw to the right base, then that will erase more of the head-shaking from 2025.
Again, the alpha and omega of this team hinges on how well they pitch. You don’t strike out everybody, so there has to be an expectation to catch the ball and throw someone out.
So, can you predict?
Only if you’re willing to guess about how many arms progress, and about patience for the process. Even Haire, himself, is reticent to say. Developmental baseball is so much a part of the college game, a game now more complex compared to the past. Always threatened by MLB draft eligibility after three years, now there’s an added impatience over playing time that comes with the revolving door of the transfer portal.
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Hence, Justin Haire’s oft-repeated statement about finding players who want the Ohio State experience – who truly want to be Buckeyes. And Woody Hayes famously wrote that you win with those people.
Having been around this program for so long I anticipate, and hope for, the transformation. You root for good people. Something better than last year.
And, it’s particularly tough for a would-be fan base that delights in coming out to Bill Davis in something less than insulated Carharts. But it can’t be done any other way…than by winning.
So the key words for 2026 and beyond…are EXPECTATION. And OPPORTUNITY.
Individually, and collectively, there’ll be heightened expectation in Haire’s second year…pitching, hitting, and defense. You can’t win without it, or even improve.
Opportunity abounds.
We’ll know soon enough.
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