Predicting the 2025 Oregon State baseball everyday lineup

What are the 2025 Oregon State Beavers going to look like when they step out onto the diamond for the first time?

Maybe it’s too early to start thinking about such things. But with the 2024 MLB Draft put to rest and a number of players selected — and some notably not — it’s as good a time as ever to speculate.

First, it’s important to get into who won’t be with the team anymore.

Starting at the plate: of 11 players to have taken more than 100 at-bats in the 2024 season, it’s expected that six of them will not be returning and four of them played consistently on the infield.

Second baseman and unanimous All-American Travis Bazzana was the No. 1 overall pick in the draft and signed a contract with the Guardians that was just shy of $10 million on Friday, July 19. Shortstop Elijah Hainline, first baseman Mason Guerra and outfielder Micah McDowell were also selected in the later rounds of the draft by the Dodgers, Braves and Marlins respectively. Both Guerra and Hainline still have eligibility remaining, but are expected to sign professionally.

The other two are outfielder Brady Kasper, who is out of eligibility and catcher Tanner Smith who elected to transfer to Miami.

On the bump, the Beavers will need to replace both Aiden May and Jacob Kmatz in the starting rotation and closer Bridger Holmes after all three were selected in the MLB Draft. Other relief arms such as Jaren Hunter, AJ Lattery and Ian Lawson have also expended their eligibility, while Tyler Mejia and Aiden Jimenez elected to transfer and will need to be replaced ahead of the 2025 season.

Without further ado, let’s speculate on the starting rotation and infield!

Starting Rotation

As mentioned, Eric Segura is the only pitcher from the 2024 weekend rotation to be returning. Currently, there is no reason to expect the soon-to-be sophomore to not return to his place there. His invitation to train with USA Baseball this summer is all the more reason to expect the right-hander to take another leap forward from his 6-1, 4.93 ERA freshman campaign. Pencil him in as your Friday night ace.

It’s Saturday and Sunday where things get different, but the answers feel very clear. Nelson Keljo gets the ball on Saturdays and Laif Palmer on Sundays. Keljo and Palmer both got a handful of starts in 2024 in midweek contests and both feel poised to crack into the weekend rotation with another year of experience.

Keljo in particular really turned things on at the end of the year and was nails in Oregon State’s regional, throwing 4.2 scoreless innings across two games and allowing just two total hits. He along with Segura was invited to train with USA Baseball.

Palmer was in contention for the Sunday starting role with Segura in the fall before suffering an undisclosed hand injury that affected his freshman campaign, pitching a total of 5.2 innings with a 14.29 ERA. His summer ball starts with the Corvallis Knights have been a big improvement, currently having thrown 11.2 innings in three starts with a 2.31 ERA.

Infield

Catcher is going to be a healthy dose of youth and Wilson Weber. With Tanner Smith making his exit, Weber is the only player on the roster who has ever caught a collegiate game. He wasn’t as handy as Smith in terms of throwing out runners, nabbing just three of the 23 to run on him, but had one of the hottest bats on the West Coast for a period last season.

If you ask Easton Talt, he’ll say he’s still a catcher, but we’ll get to that when we get to the outfield. Other than Weber, local product Ryan Vandenbrink of West Linn as well as Washington-native Kailand Halstead are both incoming freshman who will likely get some run behind the dish.

Figuring out if Mason Guerra will sign professionally after being taken by the Atlanta Braves in the 14th round is the biggest headache of figuring out this infield. If he’s back, he’s likely still the starting first baseman while Jacob Krieg continues to serve as a designated hitter or a platoon option at first.

If Guerra is playing pro ball this time next year, it’s Krieg’s job to run with. Krieg, the hulking first baseman who looks a summer of peanut butter sandwiches away from being a defensive tackle for the football team in the best way possible, saw a drop in playing time toward the end of the year. Nothing was ever confirmed, but a minor injury could be suspected. Regardless, if he’s healthy he’s the only true first baseman on the roster and more towering homers and ridiculous exit velocities can be expected.

Second base is a straightaway answer — kind of? Pencil in Jabin Trosky as a starter... somewhere on the middle infield. He’s earned it, he’s a freak of nature with the glove and a solid bottom-of-the-order hitter who finished last year with a .287 batting average while learning how to play third base in place of an injured Trent Caraway.

Speaking of Caraway, with a full bill of health he’s the everyday third baseman for now. His defense needs some serious work, but some of which could be attributed to injury. After taking a pitch off his throwing hand on a bunt attempt during the Beavers’ series in Utah, he had to have a rod inserted to his finger and missed two months.

When Caraway finally returned for regionals he looked massively uncomfortable making a routine throw from third to first and accounted for three errors. There has been no improvement since heading out to the Cape Cod League, playing eight games in the hot corner and recording seven errors in 20 chances. To make a long story short, it’s been bad.

He’s a former highly-touted shortstop recruit, but his projection has always been a move to the hot corner with his 6-foot-2, 200-pound frame.

Regardless of defense, the main attraction will remain his bat. He hit .339 in his freshman year and is currently hitting .273 playing on the Cape, being named a CCBL All-Star. If Oregon State had a conference, he’d likely be a First Team All-Conference selection, but if he can’t figure out defense on the left side of the infield he may find himself as a full-time DH, at first base or in a corner outfield spot at some point in his collegiate career.

Shortstop is tricky. Trosky is the only player still on the roster to have played the spot last year and that was in just 15 games. This summer he’s primarily been at short for the West Virginia Black Bears of the MLB Draft League, making eight of his 16 appearances there. However, keeping him at second feels like the safe bet with another highly-touted recruit expected to come to campus and play the left side of the infield a la Caraway.

Adam Haight was considered by Perfect Game to be the No. 156 overall player in the class of 2024 and the No. 188 player in the 2024 MLB Draft according to Baseball America. He’s of the same build that Caraway is at 6-foot-2, 200 or so pounds and if it weren’t for Caraway holding down the hot corner he’d probably make the move there too. For now, it seems like he’d be the option up the middle next to Trosky — whether that’s at second base or short.

Other options could be a transfer portal bat, but Oregon State has been quiet in the portal, only bringing in relief pitchers to this point. Other combos could be Tyce Peterson or Dawson Santana at second with Trosky playing short.