Five storylines to watch for UVA baseball in 2026

Football has garnered most of the attention around Grounds, and basketball is in full swing, but the baseball season is slowly creeping up as well. Virginia will open their season with a three-game set against Wagner at the Dish, starting on Friday, February 13. Here is what you should be keeping an eye out as we head into the new year:

Chris Pollard makes his debut as the Virginia skipper

There is no other place to start than the new man in charge, Chris Pollard, who looks to pick up the slack of the model baseball program that Brian O’Connor had built. Pollard has plenty of experience winning in the ACC, having built Duke into a force of their own with 420 wins, four Super Regional appearances, and two conference titles over his 13-year tenure.

Despite Mississippi State making Oak an unbeatable offer following the 2025 season, let’s be clear that Virginia is still at a relative advantage from a resource perspective, certainly compared to Duke. Pollard has every opportunity to maintain Virginia’s status as a contender in both the ACC and national landscapes. As far as year one, an NCAA Tournament appearance is at least the bare minimum.

Returners Harrison Didawick and Eric Becker set the foundation

While the cupboard was left bare in the position player department, Pollard was able to retain two key bats from the 2025 team.

Harrison Didawick tied Jake Gelof’s single-season home run record with 23 bombs in the 2024 season, before struggling mightily in 2025. Getting him back was a pleasant surprise, and he is primed for a bounce-back season with the new coaching staff. Didawick pencils into the middle of the order at the designated hitter spot, with corner outfield flexibility.

Eric Becker has some work to do defensively at shortstop, but his bat is as reliable as it gets. He reached base safely in all 27 regular season ACC contests in 2025, while leading the team with a .368 batting average and .617 slugging percentage. Becker’s hit tool is raved about by MLB scouts, and is the primary reason why he is a potential first round pick this upcoming July.

A.J. Garcia as one of the country’s top outfielders

In a similar sense to Ryan Odom on the basketball side, Pollard quickly replenished his roster through predominately new, yet exciting names upon taking the job at UVA. By far his biggest acquisition was A.J. Garcia, who follows Pollard to Charlottesville from Durham.

Garcia has been mocked as high as the top five in the MLB Draft and was recently projected at No. 13 overall by Pipeline. The left-hander displays an incredibly advanced approach at the plate, with a career walk rate of 18.6% (D1 average is about 12%) and an OPS over 1.000 in each of his first two seasons. Expect Garcia to be a staple at the top of the Cavaliers’ order.

He is also a capable glove in center field, combining raw speed with quality jumps and efficient routes to the ball. Outfield defense has been a major separating factor between Virginia’s teams that have gone to Omaha, and those that have fallen short.

Virginia’s bullpen should see clear improvement in 2026

While in 2025, a bulk of the issues from a run prevention standpoint were fielding-related, the lack of reliable back-end options caused the Wahoos to squander several late game leads. New pitching coach Brady Kirkpatrick was able to retain most of the top relievers heading into the new season, however.

Matt Augustin, an all-NCAA Tournament team honoree in 2024 who missed 2025 with an injury, slots into the closer spot in his third year. Drew Koenen and Kevin Jaxel, both of whom pitched to a sub-3.00 ERA in 2025, return as viable set up options.

Another name to monitor is Eastern Michigan transfer Tyler Kapa, who led the MAC with 90 strikeouts over 66 innings. His deep pitch mix could be valuable as a bridge man to eat a few of the middle frames.

Kirkpatrick does appear to be a bit scarce on left-handed options. Virginia’s top lefty acquisitions — Henry Zatkowski and Kyle Johnson — both project as starters. Perhaps returner Dean Kampschror can see another influx of innings, and a role that goes beyond isolated left-on-left matchups.

The ‘Hoos bring in a top-five freshman recruiting class

Virginia ranks fourth in Perfect Game’s 2025 rankings, and lost only one player to MLB in Mariners second round selection Nick Becker. In his first freshman class, Pollard has taken O’Connor’s success on the recruiting trail to a whole different level.

While the program is accustomed to leveraging the vast talent pool in the New Jersey region, Pollard casted his net wide, grabbing players from Colorado, Mississippi, Michigan, and California, in addition to the three freshmen from the Commonwealth.

Of Virginia’s 16 incoming high school players, four rank inside the national top 100 and three more are inside the top 250. At the top of the list is RHP Noah Yoder, who is certainly raw, but can consistently climb into the upper 90’s with his over-the-top fastball.

We can also expect Jayden Stroman, a very talented athlete from Medford, NY, to have a defined role right off the bat. Stroman wants to give the two-way thing a shot, and a college program like Virginia will be a lot more patient in that regard than an MLB organization. While it appears that his pitching development is currently further along, do not be surprised to see him get some additional action on the left side of the infield as early as 2026.