Cooper Moore is exploring his options to transfer elsewhere. However, he could be Kansas baseball’s highest selection in the 2025 MLB draft.
LAWRENCE — Cooper Moore’s emergence as a starting pitcher for Kansas baseball this past season garnered noticeable attention.
Moore, a sophomore in 2025, became an All-Big 12 Conference, second-team honoree. That came as no surprise as he went on to finish with a 7-3 record and 3.96 ERA, with 85 strikeouts compared to 19 walks in 88.2 innings pitched, for a team that reached the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014.
Following the end of the Jayhawks’ season, his stock appeared to grow, as he reposted a D1Baseball report on the social media site X that outlined he’s both draft-eligible and exploring his options in the transfer portal.
But while Moore’s future status as a college baseball player isn’t something that’ll likely be determined until the 2025 MLB Draft plays out July 13-14, Kansas coach Dan Fitzgerald had only praise for him earlier this month. While Fitzgerald acknowledged some might leverage their position in the draft with possible revenue-sharing or NIL earnings, he made it clear he wasn’t saying that about Moore. Fitzgerald stuck to being grateful for the time the two had together.
“Cooper and I talked, and that’s a conversation we’ll keep between us, but his time here was certainly — certainly contributed a ton on the field,” Fitzgerald said. “One of the things I’m really proud of with Cooper is, he came in here as an 87, 88 right-handed pitcher and left as a guy that was routinely 94, 96. So, in terms of development and our ability to take a young athlete who’s worked at it really hard, and what coach Scott and coach Holland and our entire crew did to develop him, I’m really proud of it. I know that’s going to serve Cooper well down the road.”
The first three rounds of the draft are scheduled for Sunday, while the rest of the 20 are set to unfold on Monday. Last year, Kansas set a program record with six selections in the top 20 rounds of the draft. Moore’s set to surely be a reason the Jayhawks could challenge that figure this year, as it seems to just be a matter of which MLB organization takes a chance on him when.
In addition to Moore, there are several other players MLB teams might go after. On the field, there are the likes of graduate infielder/outfielder Jackson Hauge and redshirt senior infielder Michael Brooks, while on the mound, there are those like junior pitchers Alex Breckheimer and Kannon Carr.
Although it’s unclear exactly what the Jayhawks’ roster will look like next season, Fitzgerald and his staff had to pivot after some professional departures last year and still went 43-17 in 2025 — tying for the second-most wins in a season in program history.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas baseball coach Dan Fitzgerald on Cooper Moore 2025 MLB draft
Category: General Sports
