Last season, the North Carolina Tar Heels returned to Omaha for the first time since 2018, going 48-16 on the year. They won the ACC regular season after going 22-8 in conference play, which included a 14-1 home record. UNC was able to weather the loss of two Friday night starters after Jake Knapp was injured in preseason and Folger Boaz went down in early April. Despite those injuries, the Tar Heels managed to lead the ACC in staff ERA.
North Carolina loses their entire outfield, which includes program legend Vance Honeycutt. Colby Wilkerson, who started every game at shortstop in 2024, graduated. They also lose weekend starter Shea Sprague and bullpen ace Dalton Pence. Head Coach Scott Forbes and his staff have reloaded with a number of underrated and savvy transfers. Perhaps their biggest acquisition of the offseason was former UNC assistant Scott Jackson returning to Chapel Hill after finding some success as Liberty’s head coach.
The Tar Heels are ranked #9 in the College Baseball Central Preseason Poll in large part thanks to their deep pitching staff and the return of key offensive pieces like Luke Stevenson, Gavin Gallaher, and Alex Madera. The offense may not be quite as explosive in 2025 as they were last year but it should still be a well-balanced group.
Catchers (Starter Rank: 1, Group Rank: 1)
North Carolina’s position players are led by returning catcher Luke Stevenson, who as a draft eligible sophomore, should be the first catcher off the board in July’s MLB Draft. Stevenson is coming off a big freshman season that saw him slash .284/.420/.535 with a .955 OPS in 64 games. He’ll be the anchor of the lineup as a left-handed slugger while providing great defense behind the plate. He’ll look to cut down on the strikeouts a bit as he looks to be a Top 10 draft pick.
Fellow sophomore Macaddin Dye will receive plenty of opportunities when Stevenson gets a break from catching to DH. Dye is one of three Liberty transfers on the North Carolina roster and, like Stevenson, is coming off a solid freshman campaign. The Virginia Beach native hit. 275 with 13 doubles and nine home runs for the Flames last season. The right-hander is the perfect high quality back-up that could compete for plate appearances as the DH too. Dye is primed for a breakout season and has some above-average pop in his bat. He’ll be more than ready to take over the primary catching duties as a junior next season.
Rom Kellis is the third catcher behind Stevenson and Dye, but is expected to start in the outfield. Freshman Mitch Wilson also provides depth but isn’t likely to get much playing time in his first year.
Infield (Starter Rank: 10, Group Rank: 11)
Despite the losses of Parks Harber and Colby Wilkerson, the Tar Heels get Hunter Stokely back from injury and another year of eligibility for team captain Jackson Van De Brake. They’ll be joined by fellow returners Alex Madera and Gavin Gallaher. Of those four, three are graduate students with loads of experience while Gallaher is the reigning Chapel Hill Regional Most Valuable Player.
Stokely returns after missing virtually all of 2024 and should slot in at first base or as the designated hitter. The lefty veteran has played in 130 games for the Tar Heels and is a career .295 hitter. In 2023– his last full season– he hit .317 with 15 doubles and six home runs. He’s more of a gap-to-gap power hitter rather than a home run bat, but is very capable of putting the barrel on the ball.
Van De Brake, a 2023 All ACC 2nd Teamer, started the season at third base last year before struggling offensively and ending up on the bench. It wasn’t a guarantee that Van De Brake would be with the team this season after his eligibility expired at the end of last year. His appeal for an extra year was granted and his return is huge for this team. His leadership and experience will be invaluable as he looks to have a bounce back while playing at second base.
Madera, a former D-III transfer, will move from second base to shortstop and fill the hole left by the graduated Colby Wilkerson. Madera will likely bat lead-off or at the bottom of the order for Heels this year after hitting .303 with just 13 extra base hits a season ago. He has a mature approach at the plate as evidenced by his nearly even strikeout-to-walk rate, but doesn’t possess a ton of power. I really like the thought of him batting ninth and serving as a second leadoff man turning the order over.
The infield is bolstered by yet another heavily experienced player in graduate transfer Sam Angelo, who arrives after an incredible career at D-III school Montclair State. 64 Analytics, the premier transfer ranking tool, rated Angelo as the #1 Division III prospect in the country. The southpaw first baseman had some gaudy numbers in 2024, hitting .436 with 33 extra base hits and walking more than he struck out. He was another under-the-radar acquisition that hits the ball very, very hard.
Perry Hargett may have been in the conversation to start at second base had Van De Brake’s eligibility appeal not been granted. Hargett was ranked the 89th best recruit to make it to campus by Perfect Game and enjoyed a strong fall that will result in playing time off the bench in 2025. In addition to second base, he can play anywhere on the left side of the infield and all three outfield positions.
Fellow freshmen Lee Sowers and Boaz Harper can each play the middle infield as well as third base, but need time to develop and adapt to the college game.
Outfield (Starter Rank: 5, Group Rank: 7)
UNC brought in a high level replacement in Liberty transfer Kane Kepley to take over center field from first round draft pick Vance Honeycutt. Kepley joins his former head coach Scott Jackson in Chapel Hill after slashing .332/.484/.523 with 25 stolen bases and a 1.007 OPS in his sophomore season. He possesses an elite eye at the plate and walked 53 times last year versus just 26 walks. Over the summer while playing for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks, Kepley broke the franchise record for walks in a summer with 38. While he’s a different player than Honeycutt, he’ll bat lead-off and provide a more mature approach. He’s a very good defensive center fielder as well, albeit not quite at the elite level of Honeycutt.
Joining Kepley in the outfield is another graduate transfer in Tyson Bass, whose bat made noise throughout the fall. Like Angelo and Madera, Bass is another gem coming up from the D-III ranks that should have no trouble finding success. The 6’3”, 205 pound outfielder hit .369 for NC Wesleyan last year while slugging 21 home runs and stealing 31 bases. He hit a handful of home runs in the fall, with most of the exit velocities measuring over 110 MPH. Bass will likely slide into the middle of the order while starting in right field.
Rom Kellis, who was briefly mentioned earlier in this piece as the third catcher, is the favorite to start in left field. The junior transfer from Florence-Darlington Tech hit .404 with 31 extra base hits as JUCO player in 2024 and matches the likes of Kepley and Bass in his power/speed combo and great eye at the plate. While the Tar Heels don’t appear to boast the power of last season, they do look like they’ll get on base at a high rate and wreak havoc with aggressive base running.
North Carolina has the luxury of two veteran outfielders on their bench in juniors Carter French and Reece Holbrook. French only had six at-bats last season and is most valuable as a defensive replacement or a late inning pinch runner. Reece Holbrook has a similar skillset but has more upside with the bat. Hargett is another depth option in the outfield as is two other freshmen in Sawyer Black and Parker McCoy.
Projected Lineup
Rotation (Rank: 2)
With the previously injured Folger Boaz and Jake Knapp back healthy, UNC has one of the best and deepest rotations in the country. Despite the return of those two former aces, the rotation will be led by sophomore Jason DeCaro, who stepped into the Friday night role last season after Boaz went down. The eighteen-year-old spent the entire year starting on the weekend, going 6-1 with a 3.81 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 89.2 innings. Over the summer he also shined for Team USA. DeCaro boasts a mid-90s fastball, two good breaking balls, and a change. He’s going to continue to develop and improve with each passing start and I would bet on him being a first round pick in 2026.
Knapp was injured just before the season started last year but will be back by first pitch in 2025. In his last full season in 2023, the right-handed hurler enjoyed a decent season as he started all 16 games he appeared in and went 5-4 with 65 strikeouts in 64.1 innings pitched. His arsenal features a low 90s fastball with above average secondary pitches. Whether he’ll be the same after TJ surgery remains to be seen, but don’t be surprised if he has a monster year.
Sophomore Folger Boaz will also be back in time for opening day and is draft eligible in his second year. The southpaw earned the Friday night role to open the season in 2024 and started all 9 of his appearances on the weekend before his injury against Virginia in April. A good year should see him be a potential day one pick while a monster year could push him into the first round conversation.
While the Tar Heels could go with a younger pitcher such as sophomores Boston Flannery or Olin Johnson to start their midweeks, I like lefty Kyle Percival to be the fourth starter. As a reliever last season, Percival went 4-0 with an impressive 2.42 ERA with 20 strikeouts in 22 games and could be an option for the rotation or back-end of the bullpen. Seeing him over the summer and in the fall, it’s clear he’s taken big steps forward in his development and could be an elite arm in 2025.
Bullpen (Rank: 5)
If Percival is a starter, the bullpen will be led by relief aces Matthew Matthijs and Aidan Haugh. Matthijs enjoyed a breakout sophomore campaign that saw him lead the team in wins. The junior right-hander went 12-4 with a 3.72 ERA and 56 strikeouts in 36 appearances. Matthijs’s arsenal features three strong pitches that he can throw effectively. Haugh, who was drafted in the 16th Round by the Minnesota Twins, is a versatile arm that can serve as a starter, a stopper, or a closer. In a myriad of roles last year, Haugh went 4-3 with a 4.83 while striking out 61 in 54 innings of work. While Matthijs is more of a one/two inning guy, Haugh has the ability to stretch to as many innings out of the bullpen as needed.
Cam Padgett, who appeared in 17 games for the Tar Heels last season and threw 29.1 innings, will also be a key contributor in high-leverage situations. Padgett throws a mid-90s fastball and showed development in the fall that should see his numbers improve in 2025.
UNC brings in a trio of quality graduate transfers to bolster the bullpen in Tom Chmielewski, Dylan Weber, and Cale Bolton. Chmielewski is a southpaw from Princeton who served as a weekend starter for the Tigers last year. In 13 starts, the former Ivy-Leaguer went 6-6 with a 3.40 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 76.2 innings. With a limited amount of experienced lefties in the bullpen, he’ll see plenty of time on the mound. Bolton, a right-hander and the third Liberty transfer to make his way to Chapel Hill this offseason, was a key reliever for the Flames last season. He’s a two pitch guy with a low 90s fastball and an above average slider.
Like Chmielewski, Weber is a left-hander that spent most of last season as a starter. He’s another Tar Heel making the jump from Division III, where he dominated by going 9-2 with a 1.66 ERA and 140 strikeouts in 97.1 innings. He also had 3 saves.
Scott Forbes’ pitching staff also brings back uber-talented sophomores Boston Flannery, Olin Johnson, and Francesco Capocci. Flannery and Capocci both feature power fastballs that sit in the mid-90s but have struggled with command so far in their college careers. Olin Johnson is the most experienced of the three after starting six games and amassing 16.1 innings last season. He’s still susceptible to the high walk rate, but glimmers of greatness have peeked through over the summer and fall.
Camron Seagraves, Walker McDuffie, and Ryan Lynch are right-handed freshman who could have an impact early in their careers while redshirt freshmen Mason Yokum and Harrison Lewis could get opportunities after developing their abilities over the past year.
Projected Staff
Outlook
The North Carolina Tar Heels are rearmed, reloaded, and set to compete for a second straight trip to Omaha. If Knapp and Boaz are able to return to form alongside DeCaro, then UNC will have the best rotation in the country. Their entire pitching staff is deep and they enjoy a favorable schedule that should see them excel at the Bosh once again. There may be concern about the depth or lack of power in the lineup, but those fears are unwarranted. Although Bass, Kellis, and Angelo are making major jumps in competition level, they’re going to hit the ball hard and they’re going to steal bases. While UNC is ranked #9 in our Top 25 poll and fourth in our ACC Preseason Power Rankings, don’t be surprised if UNC wins the regular season conference championship again on their way to Omaha.
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