Over the weekend, Major League Baseball held its annual draft during which two Arizona players were selected. Pitchers Owen Kramkowski and Collin McKinney hope to join the long list of former Wildcats to make the bigs, a number that reached 95 earlier this year.
Of that group, 10 have spent time in the majors during the 2026 season, which is currently on the All-Star break, but only four are active and healthy. Here’s a look at how each has fared, along with an update on some other ex-UA players who
are in the minors or playing overseas:
Active Major Leaguers
RHP Kevin Ginkel, Arizona Diamondbacks
The 32-year-old Ginkel is having one of the best seasons of his 8-year run with the D’Backs, sporting a 2.84 ERA along with a 3-2 record in 41 appearances. In 38 innings he’s struck out 40 against just 11 walks, and opponents are hitting just .223 against him.
Ginkel, who was part of the 2016 UA team that lost in the College World Series championship series, is earning $2.75 million this season as he approaches free agency. He was a 22nd-round pick in 2016, before the draft was reduced to 20 rounds in 2021.
OF Robert Refsnyder, Seattle Mariners
At 35, Refsnyder is the elder statesmen of ex-Wildcats in the majors and the only active player left from the 2012 NCAA title team that produced seven big league players. Seattle is his ninth organization he’s been with, seven of which have had him in the bigs.
The Mariners signed Refsnyder to a 1-year, $6.25 million deal after seeing how well he hit lefties during the previous four seasons with the Boston Red Sox, but that proficiency hasn’t carried over from the East Coast. In 49 games and 105 at-bats Refsynder is hitting just .133 with three homers and nine RBI, and two weeks ago he was put on the 15-day IL with knee inflamation.
With 1,669 career plate appearances, Refsnyder is 15th among all ex-Wildcats and only 158 behind Terry Francona, who has become much more known for being one of the best managers in MLB history and who is in his 25th season overall and 2nd with the Cincinnati Reds.
RHP Chase Silseth, Los Angeles Angels
It took the 26-year-old Silseth less than a year of pro ball to make the majors, going from pitching with the UA in the 2021 CWS to being an 11th-round pick of the Angels a month later and then making his MLB debut in May 2022.
That was as a starter, which he did during most of his time in the bigs those first three seasons. He was converted to a full-time reliever in 2025 and this season has become one of the more effective bullpen arms in the American League.
Silseth, who is still four seasons away from free agency, is 3-1 with a 3.03 ERA in 42 games. He’s struck out 45 in 35.2 innings with an opposing BA of .227. He’s making $800,000 this season, a little better than the $485K he signed for out of the draft.
C Austin Wells, New York Yankees
The 27-year-old Wells is is the Yankees’ primary catcher, and has been since 2024, but he could be at risk of losing playing time if his team looks to upgrade at the position before the Aug. 3 trade deadline. It wouldn’t be a surprise if they did, seeing as Wells is hitting a miserable .155 in 66 games with six homers and 13 RBI.
Wells hit 21 homers last season in 126 games but is just a career .211 hitter, though his defense has kept him in the lineup. He’s eligible for arbitration this winter and would need a really good second half to land a nice raise from his current $866,200 salary.
Though best known for his time with the Yankees, Wells also played for the World Baseball Classic-winning Dominican Republic earlier this year thanks to his mother’s parents being from that country. He hit two homers in five games during the WBC and was a fan favorite.
MLB Injured List
LHP Andrew Nardi, Miami Marlins
A 16th-round pick of the Marlins in 2019, Nardi made his MLB debut in 2022 and a year later was one of the best left-handed relievers in the National League, going 8-1 with a 2.67 ERA in 63 games. His numbers dipped in 2024 when he also suffered an elbow injury that required surgery, robbing him of all of the 2025 campaign.
The 27-year-old Nardi returned to action this season and sported a 5.16 ERA in 25 appearances over 22.2 innings before going on the injured list again in late May. He was diagnosed with a stress reaction in his ribs, and with him on the 60-day IL he couldn’t return until the end of this month at the earliest.
Nardi, making $800 this season, enters his first year of arbitration in 2027.
RHP Jesse Scholtens, Tampa Bay Rays
While Arizona Baseball doesn’t list him in its media guide as a former Wildcat to make the majors, the 32-year-old Scholtens did play for the UA briefly in 2013. He appeared in two games as a freshman before transferring to a junior college and then Wright State, from where he was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 9th round in 2016.
Scholtens never made it to the bigs with San Diego, which released him 2022. The Chicago White Sox signed him and got him into 26 games with 11 starts in 2023 before he missed the 2024 season due to injury, eventually ending up with the Rays in 2025 via waivers.
After two appearances that season, Scholtens has pitched in nine games this season with Tampa including a pair of starts. In 37.2 innings he’s gone 5-3 with a save and a 3.82 ERA but since late May has been on the IL with a wrist injury.
In the minors
IF Scott Kingery, Chicago Cubs
A 2nd-round pick of the Philadelphia Phillies in 2015, the 32-year-old Kingery is now with his third MLB organization after signing a 1-year, $1.25 million deal with the Cubs in November. He was on the Opening Day roster but appeared in only eight games with four at-bats, getting one single with a stolen base and two runs scored, before getting designated for assignment.
After clearing waivers, Kingery joined the Triple-A Iowa Cubs where he’s hitting .205 with three home runs and 12 RBI in 38 games.
Kingery spent parts of five seasons with the Phillies, who signed him to a 6-year, $24 million contract before he made his MLB debut, from 2018-22 and also played in 19 games with the Angels in 2025.
C Cesar Salazar, Houston Astros
Drafted by the Astros in the 7th round in 2018, Salazar continues to be valued by that organization but not enough to keep him with the big club full time. Since making his MLB debut in 2023 he’s appeared in only 35 games, nine this season, and after a month in Houston he was DFA’d in June before getting outrighted to Triple-A Sugar Land.
The 30-year-old Salazar, who has also twice been used as a pitcher in blowouts, has hit .189 with 10 RBI in the majors but in the minors has clubbed 49 homers including one this season. He’s also played more than 230 games in the Mexican Pacific League with Hermosillo, a team the UA has faced multiple times in fall exhibitions the last few years.
C Daniel Susac, San Francisco Giants
The newest member of the ex-Wildcat MLB Club, Susac has been on the Giants’ 40-man roster all season after being unable to crack that list with the Athletics, who drafted him in the 1st round in 2022. Because the Oakland/Sacramento/soon-to-be-Las Vegas A’s didn’t put him on the 40-man in the winter he was grabbed in the Rule 5 Draft by the Minnesota Twins, who then traded him to San Francisco.
Rule 5 picks have to stay on the MLB roster or the injured list all season that first year or be offered back to their original team. Susac is on the IL for the second time, dealing with a lower back strain, but is currently on a rehab assignment and could get back to the majors after the All-Star Break.
Susac debuted with a bang in April, going 3 for 3 and reaching base all four times in his first start, and was hitting .478 before his first IL stint. While he was gone the Giants traded away starting catcher Patrick Bailey but Susac wasn’t able to capitalize upon his return, hitting .200 in 26 games since coming back.
For the season, Susac is hitting .262 with 14 RBI and when he comes back he’ll likely take the place of fellow rookie Drew Cavanaugh, who can be sent to the minors.
Searching for a team
OF Jared Oliva
The 30-year-old Oliva made the Giants’ Opening Day roster alongside Susac, his first time in the majors since 2021 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who drafted him in the 7th round in 2017. He appeared in seven games for San Francisco, going 1 for 7 with a stolen base before breaking the hamate bone in his left hand and ending up on the 60-day IL.
After sending him to Sacramento for a rehab assignment, where he hit .241 in 14 games, the Giants DFA’s Oliva on June 20. The New York Mets claimed him off waivers on June 23 and sent him to Triple-A Syracuse, but on Saturday he was let go by that organization as well.
Thriving overseas
1B Bobby Dalbec
The highest-drafted player from the 2016 UA contingent, going in the 4th round to the Red Sox, Dalbec played in more than 300 games with Boston from 2020-24 and had a cup of coffee with the Chicago White Sox in 2025 before spending time in the minors with two other clubs. Then, at the age of 30, he signed with the Yomiuri Giants of the Japanese Central League.
So far, the move is paying off. Dalbec is tied for 4th in the league with 13 homers and 5th in RBI with 51 for the Giants, who are a game out of first place.
Next ones up?
There are more than 60 former Wildcats active in professional baseball somewhere in the world, according to Baseball-Reference.com, and most of them are still seeking their first taste of the majors. Many were drafted or signed pro deals in the past five years.
Unfortunately, only one is at the Triple-A level: lefty Jackson Kent, who was a 4th-round pick of the Washington Nationals in 2024. He began this season at Double-A Harrisburg, going 1-1 with a 2.35 ERA in seven starts before getting promoted to Rochester in May, and since then has gone 5-3 with a 5.02 ERA in nine starts. If he sticks at that level the rest of the season the Nats might add him to the 40-man this winter.
Currently at the Double-A level are pitchers Clark Candiotti (Padres), TJ Nichols (Rays) and Tonko Susac (Texas Rangers), while outfielder Chase Davis was at Double-A in the Cardinals’ organization before getting injured and is currently rehabbing in Single-A.
Also recently getting promoted to Double-A is outfielder Aaron Walton, who was a 2nd round pick of the Cleveland Guardians last July. He hit 15 homers and drove in 55 in 79 games at High-A Lake County before getting elevated to the Akron Rubber Ducks on Monday.
