NC State Wolfpack's Mikey Ryan (2) fields a ground ball as Auburn Tigers take on NC State Wolfpack during the NCAA Regional Baseball tournament at Plainsman Park in Auburn, Ala. on Saturday, May 30, 2026. | Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Chris Hart

As we all know, NC State will have a new head coach for the first time since the 1997 season, but it’s a familiar face in Chris Hart who has been on staff with the Wolfpack for the last 22 years. The real questions will revolve around Hart’s decisions with the coaching staff, roster construction, in-game management, and non-conference scheduling.

We’ll have a separate post on the last of those items, so we’ll skip that for now, but will note that the non-conference scheduling philosophy needs an entire overhaul. Let’s leave it there for now.

For the coaching staff, Clint Chrysler just completed his 8th year as pitching coach for NC State. There have been some high-end arms under Chrysler, but also some questions around a lack of development and a dependency on using too few arms. It’s unclear how much the latter was a Chrysler decision or an Elliott Avent call, but it definitely had a negative impact on the former.

Bo Robinson has been on staff for the last five seasons after spending the previous nine seasons at Charlotte. J.T. Jarrett has been on staff for the past three season as Director of Player & Program Development, a position previously held by Robinson, who was promoted to Assistant Coach prior to Jarrett’s hiring. NC State grads Tyler Stocum and Joshua Fisher serve as Director of Operations and Director of Baseball Analytics, respectively. It would be surprising to see a change in either of their positions unless they choose to move on.

It would be nice to see Hart bring in an assistant coach focused on catcher development, a position lacking since Brett Austin left the staff ahead of the 2024 season. That responsibility could belong to a new Associate Head Coach or to a new Assistant Coach with Robinson being promoted to Associate Head Coach, a position he held for his last two years at Charlotte.

The two gripes of in-game management of recent memory have been around excessive use of the bunt on offense and in waiting too long to pull pitchers. Thankfully, sacrifice bunts have been on the decline the last several years for the Wolfpack, which no doubt has coincided with some of the more prolific offenses for State. The real question will be whether Hart will be quicker with the hook on pitchers. Better to err on the side of an early hook than a late hook with that one, as well as not running pitch counts up high on starters in early season games.

Transfer portal action is a must in this day and age of college athletics, so there’s no avoiding it. Avent and Hart had a good approach previously with adding smaller school D1 transfers with traits that would signal an ability to translate to the ACC, then supplementing those players with JUCO transfers. With Hart’s heavy hand in recruiting, it should be expected that this philosophy won’t change, but it’ll be interesting to see if it’s adapted in any way.

Speaking of roster construction for 2027, let’s get to the impacts there…

MLB Draft

Four player are out of eligibility (1B/DH Dalton Bargo, OF Brayden Fraasman, INF Wyatt Peifer, and RHP Danny Heintz) and obviously will not be back next year.

JR 2B Luke Nixon, JR 1B Chris McHugh, JR 3B Sherman Johnson, SO CF Ty Head, JR RHP Jacob Dudan, JR LHP Ryan Marohn, and JR LHP Cooper Consiglio are among 14 draft-eligible players who are also potential returnees. Of course, those listed above are all likely to be selected and should sign professional contracts.

Among the incoming freshman class, OF Gunnar Alm is the most likely loss via the draft. He’s a speedy center field prospect with a sweet lefty swing and a projectable 6’2 frame. Alm, who set the NCHSAA record for both career runs and career stolen bases, could go as high as the 2nd round of the draft.

Transfer Portal

Removing the four graduates and the seven expected MLB Draftees leaves 24 players who are eligible to return but NC State will also need to fend off losses via the transfer portal. In the lineup, the high priority players to keep on campus are FR LF Rett Johnson and SO SS Mikey Ryan. JR RF Andrew Wiggins, FR INF Christian Serrano, and FR C Vincent DeCarlo should also be prioritized to keep in Raleigh.

Among the pitching staff, SO RHP Anderson Nance, FR LHP Luke Hemric, FR RHP Sam Harris, SO RHP Ryder Garino, FR RHP Aiden Kitchings, and FR RHP Mikey Ragusa should be prioritized arms to bring back. If Consiglio somehow goes undrafted, he should also be a high priority to bring back. Consiglio, Nance, and Hemric would be a great start to a weekend rotation.

I’m also high on rFR RHP Truitt Manuel making some minor adjustments to get more movement on his fastball and turning into a stud reliever. I’d also be interested in moving JR RHP Heath Andrews to the bullpen, though he may not be interested in that move after two years as a weekend starter.

Incoming freshman class

Two members of NC State’s 2026-2027 freshman class reclassified up and were on this year’s roster: Serrano and FR RHP Jacob Smith. Pulling double-duty as a quarterback on the football team, Smith ended up undergoing Tommy John Surgery in early March and missed the 2026 season. The procedure will also cost him the 2026 football season, but he should be returning around the start of the 2027 baseball season.

The remaining 2026-2027 freshman group is an 8-man class. If Alm makes it to campus, he’ll slot in as the Wolfpack’s starting CF for next year. Landon Church and Cooper Gornet are the infielders in the class after corner infielder Kellen Smith was released from his LOI in April and switched his commitment to ECU last month. Church is the highest rated, a speedster who also has the ability to play outfield. Gornet was one of 72 players who took part in the USA Baseball National Team Development Program last summer.

Freshman pitchers are almost always an unknown, but there are five freshman arms currently in the class (4 RHPs and 1 LHP). RHP Otto Knust is the headliner, a stock 6’5 righty who has been up to 97 this year; he has big stuff, but also can be erratic with the control. RHP Logan Clark is an athletic 6’2 arm who has hit the mid-90’s, but injury cut his 2026 senior season short. RHP Heath Craver is an older, smaller frame low-90’s arm. RHP Maddox McRee is a 6’3 two-sport athlete (basketball) with a high ceiling and a low-90’s heater. LHP Mylo White is the lone southpaw of the class, a high-upside low-90’s arm.

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