Baseball position previews: newcomers

We are officially a month out from the return of Northwestern baseball. Literally. 30 days on the dot until NU finds itself in Houston for its first three-game series against Rice.

Within the next month, the excitement for the ‘Cats will grow exponentially. With a solid recruiting class that ranks top-70 in the nation per Perfect Game (ninth amongst Big Ten teams) and a transfer class with its fair share of seasoned veterans, Northwestern is in a prime position to shake up the conference and continue to build in year three of the Ben Greenspan era.

Six transfers, 10 first-years. Lots to break down, so let’s get to it, shall we?

Transfers

Noah Ruiz | Grad. | INF | Biola University

Ruiz takes the jump from Division II to high-major DI competition after three years of progression at Biola, where his batting average greatly improved in each season.

In his final year with the Eagles, Ruiz’s .388 average was a team best and good enough for fourth amongst all qualified hitters in the PacWest conference. He ended his campaign seventh in the conference in OPS (1.070) and RBIs (54), ninth in slugging percentage (.626), second in hits (85) and fourth in doubles (18).

Last summer, the Biola alum played for the Wisconsin Rapids in the Northwoods League, earning himself an all-star appearance after leading the league with 34 RBIs halfway through the season.

Ruiz will likely provide some assurance in the infield by slotting in at second base if he were to win the job over a returning Jack Counsell.

Ryan Weaver | Grad. | LHP | Illinois State

Simply put, Weaver is a left-handed foil for Sam Hilboki: a tall, lanky arm with a sinker that creeps into the lower 90s, a sharp changeup and a sweeping slider.

In his junior campaign, Weaver completed a rocky season with a 4.37 ERA in 35 innings. Although he finished the year with 5.1 innings of shutout ball against Northern Illinois and Eastern Illinois, he didn’t find much luck against tougher squads like Illinois and SIUE.

Nonetheless, Weaver remains a reliable option out of the pen, especially with Greenspan’s “pitch by committee” philosophy, showing a lot of potential with his change-of-pace.

Chayce Kieck | So. | RHP | Clemson

Kieck will look to convert himself to a starting role after being used in long relief for much of his freshman year at Clemson. The bulk of his season included scoreless outings against USC Upstate, Davidson, Liberty and Notre Dame. Although he struggled against Ole Miss and Florida State, Kieck showed massive upside during his time in South Carolina.

Last summer, Kieck joined the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks and showed out in the NECBL with a 1.60 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 49.1 innings, finishing as the No. 1 pitcher in the regular season and postseason rankings. He was chosen as Second Team All-NEBCL in August.

Three other names to note

For Logan de Groot, Tommy Bridges and Charlie Kutz, Northwestern’s a place where they’ll all get a chance to prove themselves as high-caliber players. De Groot was part of the dominant UCLA squad featuring the reigning Big Ten player of the year in Roch Cholowsky. The Bruins found their way to the College World Series last year, but de Groof only saw 15 plate appearances in 10 games. Bridges didn’t see the field at all in 2025 at TCU and he redshirted his freshman season.

Kutz, coming off Tommy John surgery last year, used a five-mile-per-hour jump in velocity to propel his way to a Division III All-American nod, pitching to a 3.34 ERA in 35 innings while picking up four saves.

The jump to the Division I level will reveal a lot about the versatility and resolve of the former NESCAC standout.

First-Years

James Whitaker | RHP | Las Vegas, NV. | Bishop Gorman

Whitaker is without a doubt the most exciting grab for a program that seeks to rectify their issues with the rotation from a season ago, when they ranked second to last in the Big Ten in ERA — with last-place Ohio State being the lone team NU ranked above.

If the Whitaker name sounds familiar, don’t overthink it. James is the brother of Astros prospect Tyler Whitaker, who spent the 2025 season in High-A with the Asheville Tourists.

Whitaker flipped commitments over the summer, as he was originally set to join college baseball’s juggernaut known as LSU. He boasted a career 3.33 ERA in 145 total innings with the Bishop Gorman Gaels, earning himself a top 100 ranking as a RHP in his class.

With Hilboki returning for one final season, it seems that Whitaker will be in the mix for the No. 2 spot in the rotation over the course of the next coming months preceding conference play.

Nick Barron | INF | Acton, MA. | IMG Academy

IMG is a goldmine for college and major league talent, producing anomalies like 2022 MLB draft No. 5 overall pick Elijah Green and former LSU All-American Tommy White in recent years. Barron can very well be on the same trajectory.

Barron finished his senior season ranked No. 2 in his class in the state of Massachusetts (Perfect Game) and the 16th-ranked first baseman in the country. The expectation is that he’ll be taking over the duties at first basefollowing the departures of Tyler Ganus and Trent Liolios.

During fall ball, Baron showed flashes of power, notably crushing a grand slam against the University of Chicago.

If his power continues to develop, Barron could quickly find himself right next to Ryan Kucherak or Jackson Freeman in the heart of the order.

Colton Cravens | RHP | Shepherdsville, KY. | Trinity

Formerly ranked as the No. 1 player in Kentucky, Cravens is a youthful, tall right-hander who has a ceiling as high as the clouds. In the summer of 2024 with Team Elite, Cravens recorded a 2.02 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 23 innings in a relief role, earning himself a trip to the PBR Future Games in July.

Cravens will likely make some appearances in middle relief out of the bullpen, much like Jack Grunkemeyer did a season ago. With much more room to grow, Cravens can find himself in the upper 90s as he continues to fill out his frame in college.

Rounding out the recruiting class

Noah Brocklebank, a shortstop, saw starts against UChicago and Illinois State during NU’s fallball slate, but it’s doubtful that’ll be the case come spring. However, he remains a reliable option behind Kucherak and can see some playing time in the ‘Cats’ first series against Rice.

Jake Yang also got starts at second base this past fall, but in his case, he could very well earn the starting job come spring. It’s unclear how Counsell will factor into the lineup in his return from injury, with ‘Cats faithful fearing a possible regression and the arrival of Ruiz makes things no easier for Yang. But its clear that Greenspan sees a lot of potential in his young middle infielders.

Behind the plate for both fallball scrimmages was Jay Slater, a clutch bat from Downingtown, Pennsylvania. Slater played for the Kalamazoo Growlers up in the Northwoods, where he hit .250 in 76 at-bats while driving in 11. The highlight of his summer was in late June, when he had go-ahead RBIs in back-to-back games.

Justin Fryer, Dominic DeLoreto, Sam Michel and Jake Rifenburg round out Greenspan’s new-look pitching staff. Fryer mainly overlays a solid back-foot slider with a running fastball, while DeLoreto comes off an impressive high school season where he earned North Team MVP of the Florida High School All-Star Game. Michel’s fastball, which topped out at 90-91 this past spring, earned him first-team all-state honors, and Rifenburg led Benet Academy to its first-ever state semifinal appearance.