The Florida State baseball team's 2025 season ended heartbreakingly close to a return trip to the College World Series.
Still, it's hard to argue the Seminoles' 2025 campaign, which ended Sunday night with a 14-10 loss at Oregon State, was anything other than a success. FSU lost multiple starting pitchers, its best reliever and four batters who were taken in the first four rounds of last year's MLB Draft -- including two first-round picks -- off the 2024 team. And yet, the FSU coaching staff did such a good job restocking the roster that even with those losses, the Seminoles nearly made a second straight trip to Omaha, which hasn't happened at FSU in 25 years.
As is often the case on highly-successful teams, FSU will again have a decent amount of production to replace this offseason so that the 2026 Seminoles can carry over the momentum of the last two seasons.
Here's a look at what FSU is losing and could stand to replace through the transfer portal this offseason:
Infield
The corners of the FSU infield seem likely to be locked down for 2026 with first baseman Myles Bailey (.327 with 19 homers) and third baseman Cal Fisher (.303 with eight home runs) both expected to return for their sophomore and junior seasons, respectively. The middle infield, though, is going to be brand new in 2026.
Shortstop Alex Lodise has played his way into first-round contention after his exceptional 2025 season (.394 with 17 home runs) which made him one of three finalists for the Golden Spikes Award. Second baseman Drew Faurot (.307 with 16 homers) is also likely to be off to the pros after finishing his junior season at FSU. These two each started all 58 of FSU's games this season as second-year transfers into FSU and were quite impactful both at the plate and as a middle-infield pairing in the field. That leaves a gaping hole that will certainly need to be addressed.
It's likely that FSU's first portal commit of the offseason, Davidson infield transfer Eli Putnam (.350 with 35 homers and 34 doubles the last two seasons) already addressed one of those spots. He projects as a second baseman if FSU wants to keep Fisher at third base, which would make sense.
Shortstop, though, remains up in the air. FSU has a few options on its own roster such as Noah Sheffield and Jace Estes. But at such an important position, Link Jarrett and staff may value finding a shortstop with more experience and more pop in his bat than the returning options on the roster.
Outfield
FSU is also likely to lose two members of its starting outfield from this year's team in center fielder Max Williams (.321 with 19 homers) and right fielder Gage Harrelson (.339 with .444 on-base percentage and 17 extra-base hits). Both are juniors who are likely to be well-regarded enough in this year's draft class that they don't elect to give up their final year of negotiating leverage and return to the Seminoles for their senior season.
That leaves FSU just one full-time starter from this year's outfield back in 2026 in rising junior Chase Williams. The junior-college transfer suffered a shoulder injury early in the season which first knocked him out for an extended time and then somewhat limited him even when he returned, forcing him to give up being a switch-hitter the rest of the season. Still, Williams managed to be quite effective in the field with some remarkable plays and at the plate with his blazing speed (18 for 20 on stolen bases, quite a few infield hits) and the power he found in the postseason with two NCAA Tournament home runs. He's likely to move to centerfield in 2026 as his athleticism allows him to cover a larger swathe of land out there.
FSU does have a few internal options it could consider to fill up the other two spots in the outfield. Brody DeLamielleure platooned as a DH down the stretch of the season with James Hankerson Jr. while playing some left field earlier in the season. JUCO transfer Blayden Plain was expected to be in the mix at first base and in the corner outfield spots before suffering an injury which sidelined him all season long. Either of them are certainly options. However, it's another spot where the Seminoles could look for a boost through the portal like they got from Max Williams ahead of the 2024 season or from Harrelson in 2025.
Pitching
I know, I know...This probably should have been first on this list. Like the trenches in football, pitching is something that needs to be addressed every offseason through the transfer portal. With the ups and downs all pitchers go through and the injuries that always seem to occur over the course of a long season, you can truly never have enough pitchers on a college baseball team.
Among the starters, FSU is losing Jamie Arnold (2.98 ERA each of the last two seasons with 278 strikeouts over 190.1 innings), who is likely to be a top-five or at worst top-10 pick in July's MLB Draft. It's also possible FSU loses another starter in Joey Volini (3.50 ERA over a team-high 87.1 inning). However, that's not a guarantee as he doesn't have a significant amount of draft stock this year. Volini would forfeit his final year of leverage with the MLB if he returned to FSU for his redshirt senior season, but it could also potentially boost his stock and show MLB teams a larger sample size of what he's capable of on the mound.
Another question mark on the mound is Evan Chrest. The Jacksonville transfer and junior RHP was effective as FSU's midweek starter before suffering an arm injury on March 11 vs. Florida that forced him to miss the final three months of the season. He was still around the team throughout the rest of the season after undergoing surgery and appeared to be progressing well as he was no longer wearing the brace he was sporting on his arm by the end of the season. The questions, though, are if Chrest will be healthy enough to be back on the mound by February 2026 and if he elects to return to college or if he's draftable enough even while he's still recovering for a pro team to take a chance on him.
The lone returning starter for certain is rising junior LHP Wes Mendes (5.42 ERA over 78 innings). Mendes' first season with the Seminoles was a bit of a roller coaster which brutally ended in a valley when he allowed seven runs over two-thirds of an inning in Game 3 of the super regional at Oregon State. However, before that, he appeared to have really found something of late, throwing five or more innings in six of his seven starts before that while greatly reducing his walks and extra-base hits off him. A step in consistency this offseason under pitching coach Micah Posey would greatly help Mendes as his stuff is certainly good enough and he enters the offseason as a strong contender to be FSU's Friday starter next season.
In the bullpen, Joe Charles (4.84 ERA over 35.1 innings) is out of eligibility. While he didn't have a good super regional, he was far and away FSU's most reliable bullpen arm down the stretch of the 2025 season. Connor Hults, who threw just 5.2 innings this season due to injury after he was a valuable arm in FSU's 2024 postseason run, is also out of eligibility. But there are quite a few relievers who could return.
John Abraham (4.64 ERA over 33 innings) was a bit up and down this season as a sophomore, but his highs were exceptionally high and demonstrated his potential. VCU transfer Maison Martinez (5.55 ERA over 24.1 innings) is a rising senior and could potentially return to the Seminoles depending on where his draft stock is. He was a valuable early-season arm before he missed time and never again found his form after returning. Chris Knier (4.75 ERA over 30.1 innings) was effective out of the bullpen when he was in the strike zone. Rising junior Peyton Prescott (5.15 ERA over 36.1 innings) touched 100 miles per hour vs. Oregon State and has the chance to be a critical pitcher for the Seminoles in 2026 if he's available. He left the final game of the Corvallis Super Regional with an apparent arm injury, which is always concerning to see for a pitcher.
It also bears mentioning that all five FSU players who have entered the transfer portal as of Wednesday, according to D1Baseball, are pitchers in Hudson Rowan, Nick Greaney, David Davila, Matt Hoag and Mason McDougall. None of them had particularly large roles in 2025 and only two ever pitched in games this season.
Still, FSU is in need of multiple arms, both potential starters and likely bullpen arms to bolster those units and help ensure that the struggles from this past season (too many walks and big innings allowed) aren't nearly as big a problem in 2026.
Still, it's hard to argue the Seminoles' 2025 campaign, which ended Sunday night with a 14-10 loss at Oregon State, was anything other than a success. FSU lost multiple starting pitchers, its best reliever and four batters who were taken in the first four rounds of last year's MLB Draft -- including two first-round picks -- off the 2024 team. And yet, the FSU coaching staff did such a good job restocking the roster that even with those losses, the Seminoles nearly made a second straight trip to Omaha, which hasn't happened at FSU in 25 years.
As is often the case on highly-successful teams, FSU will again have a decent amount of production to replace this offseason so that the 2026 Seminoles can carry over the momentum of the last two seasons.
Here's a look at what FSU is losing and could stand to replace through the transfer portal this offseason:
Infield
The corners of the FSU infield seem likely to be locked down for 2026 with first baseman Myles Bailey (.327 with 19 homers) and third baseman Cal Fisher (.303 with eight home runs) both expected to return for their sophomore and junior seasons, respectively. The middle infield, though, is going to be brand new in 2026.
Shortstop Alex Lodise has played his way into first-round contention after his exceptional 2025 season (.394 with 17 home runs) which made him one of three finalists for the Golden Spikes Award. Second baseman Drew Faurot (.307 with 16 homers) is also likely to be off to the pros after finishing his junior season at FSU. These two each started all 58 of FSU's games this season as second-year transfers into FSU and were quite impactful both at the plate and as a middle-infield pairing in the field. That leaves a gaping hole that will certainly need to be addressed.
It's likely that FSU's first portal commit of the offseason, Davidson infield transfer Eli Putnam (.350 with 35 homers and 34 doubles the last two seasons) already addressed one of those spots. He projects as a second baseman if FSU wants to keep Fisher at third base, which would make sense.
Shortstop, though, remains up in the air. FSU has a few options on its own roster such as Noah Sheffield and Jace Estes. But at such an important position, Link Jarrett and staff may value finding a shortstop with more experience and more pop in his bat than the returning options on the roster.
Outfield
FSU is also likely to lose two members of its starting outfield from this year's team in center fielder Max Williams (.321 with 19 homers) and right fielder Gage Harrelson (.339 with .444 on-base percentage and 17 extra-base hits). Both are juniors who are likely to be well-regarded enough in this year's draft class that they don't elect to give up their final year of negotiating leverage and return to the Seminoles for their senior season.
That leaves FSU just one full-time starter from this year's outfield back in 2026 in rising junior Chase Williams. The junior-college transfer suffered a shoulder injury early in the season which first knocked him out for an extended time and then somewhat limited him even when he returned, forcing him to give up being a switch-hitter the rest of the season. Still, Williams managed to be quite effective in the field with some remarkable plays and at the plate with his blazing speed (18 for 20 on stolen bases, quite a few infield hits) and the power he found in the postseason with two NCAA Tournament home runs. He's likely to move to centerfield in 2026 as his athleticism allows him to cover a larger swathe of land out there.
FSU does have a few internal options it could consider to fill up the other two spots in the outfield. Brody DeLamielleure platooned as a DH down the stretch of the season with James Hankerson Jr. while playing some left field earlier in the season. JUCO transfer Blayden Plain was expected to be in the mix at first base and in the corner outfield spots before suffering an injury which sidelined him all season long. Either of them are certainly options. However, it's another spot where the Seminoles could look for a boost through the portal like they got from Max Williams ahead of the 2024 season or from Harrelson in 2025.
Pitching
I know, I know...This probably should have been first on this list. Like the trenches in football, pitching is something that needs to be addressed every offseason through the transfer portal. With the ups and downs all pitchers go through and the injuries that always seem to occur over the course of a long season, you can truly never have enough pitchers on a college baseball team.
Among the starters, FSU is losing Jamie Arnold (2.98 ERA each of the last two seasons with 278 strikeouts over 190.1 innings), who is likely to be a top-five or at worst top-10 pick in July's MLB Draft. It's also possible FSU loses another starter in Joey Volini (3.50 ERA over a team-high 87.1 inning). However, that's not a guarantee as he doesn't have a significant amount of draft stock this year. Volini would forfeit his final year of leverage with the MLB if he returned to FSU for his redshirt senior season, but it could also potentially boost his stock and show MLB teams a larger sample size of what he's capable of on the mound.
Another question mark on the mound is Evan Chrest. The Jacksonville transfer and junior RHP was effective as FSU's midweek starter before suffering an arm injury on March 11 vs. Florida that forced him to miss the final three months of the season. He was still around the team throughout the rest of the season after undergoing surgery and appeared to be progressing well as he was no longer wearing the brace he was sporting on his arm by the end of the season. The questions, though, are if Chrest will be healthy enough to be back on the mound by February 2026 and if he elects to return to college or if he's draftable enough even while he's still recovering for a pro team to take a chance on him.
The lone returning starter for certain is rising junior LHP Wes Mendes (5.42 ERA over 78 innings). Mendes' first season with the Seminoles was a bit of a roller coaster which brutally ended in a valley when he allowed seven runs over two-thirds of an inning in Game 3 of the super regional at Oregon State. However, before that, he appeared to have really found something of late, throwing five or more innings in six of his seven starts before that while greatly reducing his walks and extra-base hits off him. A step in consistency this offseason under pitching coach Micah Posey would greatly help Mendes as his stuff is certainly good enough and he enters the offseason as a strong contender to be FSU's Friday starter next season.
In the bullpen, Joe Charles (4.84 ERA over 35.1 innings) is out of eligibility. While he didn't have a good super regional, he was far and away FSU's most reliable bullpen arm down the stretch of the 2025 season. Connor Hults, who threw just 5.2 innings this season due to injury after he was a valuable arm in FSU's 2024 postseason run, is also out of eligibility. But there are quite a few relievers who could return.
John Abraham (4.64 ERA over 33 innings) was a bit up and down this season as a sophomore, but his highs were exceptionally high and demonstrated his potential. VCU transfer Maison Martinez (5.55 ERA over 24.1 innings) is a rising senior and could potentially return to the Seminoles depending on where his draft stock is. He was a valuable early-season arm before he missed time and never again found his form after returning. Chris Knier (4.75 ERA over 30.1 innings) was effective out of the bullpen when he was in the strike zone. Rising junior Peyton Prescott (5.15 ERA over 36.1 innings) touched 100 miles per hour vs. Oregon State and has the chance to be a critical pitcher for the Seminoles in 2026 if he's available. He left the final game of the Corvallis Super Regional with an apparent arm injury, which is always concerning to see for a pitcher.
It also bears mentioning that all five FSU players who have entered the transfer portal as of Wednesday, according to D1Baseball, are pitchers in Hudson Rowan, Nick Greaney, David Davila, Matt Hoag and Mason McDougall. None of them had particularly large roles in 2025 and only two ever pitched in games this season.
Still, FSU is in need of multiple arms, both potential starters and likely bullpen arms to bolster those units and help ensure that the struggles from this past season (too many walks and big innings allowed) aren't nearly as big a problem in 2026.
