WVU Baseball Loses 10 Players to Transfer Portal

WVU Baseball lost a series of players to the transfer portal in the days after their season ended, including utility man Chase Swain, a major contributor during the 2025 season.

Swain’s father, Jack, broke the news via a Twitter announcement. The rising redshirt senior began his career at Penn State Abington and Manhattan College before transferring to West Virginia ahead of the 2025 season.

He showed his ability to hit at the highest level of college baseball while with the Mountaineers, batting .319 with 18 walks in parts of 50 games (39 starts). His West Virginia highlights include stealing home against rival Marshall during the ninth inning to put the Mountaineers in front.

WVU Baseball also lost third baseman Ellis Garcia, a rising senior, to the portal. A key contributor down the stretch during the 2023 season, his freshman year, Garcia’s playing time dropped as his career went on.

The only other batter to hit the portal who logged a qualifying number of plate appearances with the Mountaineers in 2025 was utility infielder Spencer Barnett, who hit .278 with four home runs in parts of 45 games (28 starts).

Other position player transfers include Jorge Valdes, who made 39 appearances in 2025 (often as a pinch-runner) but never earned a start, reserve outfielder Michael Perazza, and utility infielder Alex Marot.

Pitchers to hit the portal include freshmen Aiden Cody, who took a redshirt year after undergoing surgery, and right-hander Carlos Caraballo, who also didn’t make an appearance. Rising junior Joe Fredericks saw his playing time drop from 16 innings pitched in 2024 to just two in 2025, while lefty Cole Fehrman threw 6.2 innings across 14 appearances.

Click here to learn about WVU Baseball transfer acquisitions.