The NCAA baseball transfer portal opened Monday, and with that, eight Bearkats have jumped in to find their next school.
Of the eight Kats in the portal, only Jace Martinez and Jonathan Anders saw significant play time on the 2026 team.
Easton Ballard, Blake Brown, Parker Blackman, Easton Dean, Noah Kendrick and Peyton Huff are the other six who have gotten in. Brown and Blackman both saw playing time as true freshmen, when Sam Houston went 12-43.
Brown and Blackman combined for 86 at-bats in 2026.
Martinez entered the transfer portal after starting all but two games in 2026. As of now, Martinez is the biggest name in the transfer portal for Sam Houston. Over the past three years, Martinez has played in 164 games, starting 163 of them, and has played in six different positions. While his defense has been strong, Martinez has a career .242 average with 128 hits. He struck out 191 times in three years, with two of those years being in the bottom five in CUSA.
Other position players in the portal include Easton Dean, who appeared in 45 games across two seasons as a catcher; he started 25 of those games. Dean held a .177 batting average with 17 hits.
With four position players in, Sam Houston has also seen four pitchers exit.
The biggest name from that arm is Anders, who came in from Wharton County Junior College. The lefty had a 3.12 ERA, which was the second lowest for Sam Houston in 2026. Anders threw 40.1 innings in 23 appearances, only one being a start for the Bearkats.
Opponents held a .243 batting average against him, which was the second-best on the team.
Ballard appeared in three games, logging just two outs and facing 10 batters.
Kendrick made 12 appearances with a 12.18 ERA in 17 innings for Sam Houston.
Huff took a redshirt and made zero appearances for Sam Houston after coming in from Southern.
While eight guys have jumped in, Sam Houston has retained most of its core that was filled with freshmen and juniors. Friday night pitcher Ryan Peterson is expected to be taken in the first few rounds of the MLB Draft in July. He is currently ranked No. 81 in MLB.com’s 2026 Prospect Rankings.