Arizona State outfielder Landon Hairston was named the Big 12 Player of the Year and West Virginia’s Maxx Yehl was tabbed the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year as the Conference unveiled its 2026 All-Big 12 Baseball Awards. The honorees were selected in a vote by the league’s head coaches, who could not vote for their own players.
Baylor’s Tyce Armstrong earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Year honors, while Cincinnati’s Enzo Infelise was named Freshman of the Year and BYU’s Ashton Johnson was tabbed as the Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Kansas’ Dan Fitzgerald was picked as Coach of the Year, for a second consecutive season, after guiding the Jayhawks to their first Big 12 regular season title in program history.
A total of 19 student-athletes were named to the All-Big 12 First Team, headlined by the unanimously-selected Hairston and Yehl, while an additional 19 gained All-Big 12 Second Team recognition.
Hairston earned Player of the Year recognition after leading the Big 12 in batting average (.421), on-base percentage (.526), slugging percentage (.911), total bases (195), hits (90) and runs (77). The sophomore also recorded the fifth-most home runs in the country and third-most in the Big 12 with 27 and added 77 RBIs (the second-most in the Conference and the fourth-most nationally).
Yehl recorded the lowest ERA in the Conference with a 2.10, good for the seventh-best mark nationally. The redshirt junior tied for the second-most wins in the Conference with seven this season and boasted the third-best WHIP among Big 12 pitchers. He is the third Mountaineer in program history and first since Alek Manoah did so in 2019, to be named Big 12 Pitcher of the Year.
Armstrong led the Bears in slugging percentage (.770), total bases (157), RBIs (64), runs (47) and home runs (24), as well as being one of four Big 12 players inside the top 10 nationally in home runs. Armstrong ranked inside the top four of all Big 12 players in home runs, slugging percentage and total bases. He is the third Bear to earn the accolade and first since Montana Parsons in 2017.
Infelise became the second Bearcat to be tabbed with a Big 12 yearly accolade and the first Big 12 Freshman of the Year in program history. The freshman from New Lenox, Illinois recorded the fourth-most hits in the Conference with 79 in his first year in Cincinnati.
Johnson was named the Big 12 Baseball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, becoming the first Cougar to garner a Big 12 yearly award. The senior from Holladay, Utah appeared in 22 games for the Cougars and owns a 3.80 GPA while pursuing his degree in neuroscience. Johnson also pitched the fourth-most innings for the program, while recording 45 strikeouts en route to a team-leading five saves.
Fitzgerald became the third coach in Conference history to win consecutive Big 12 Coach of the Year honors. He joins Mark Johnson (1998-99) and Augie Garrido (2006-07 and 2010-11) as the only three coaches to earn a share of the award in consecutive seasons. Under Fitzgerald’s leadership this season, KU extended the program record for Conference wins in a season to 22 and recorded at least 39 wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1993-94 and only the second time in program history.
Of the Year
Player – Landon Hairston, Arizona State
Pitcher – Maxx Yehl, West Virginia
Newcomer – Tyce Armstrong, Baylor
Freshman – Enzo Infelise, Cincinnati
Scholar-Athlete – Ashton Johnson, BYU
Coach – Dan Fitzgerald, Kansas
All-Big 12 First Team
C: Gavin Kelly, West Virginia
IF: Nu’u Contrades, Arizona State
IF: Tyce Armstrong, Baylor
IF: Quinton Coats, Cincinnati
IF: Tyson LeBlanc, Kansas
IF: Dee Kennedy, Kansas State
OF: Landon Hairston, Arizona State*
OF: Alex Conover, Oklahoma State
OF: Kollin Ritchie, Oklahoma State
OF: Logan Hughes, Texas Tech
DH: Enzo Infelise, Cincinnati
UT: Connor Shouse, Texas Tech
SP: Cole Carlon, Arizona State
SP: Nathan Taylor, Cincinnati
SP: Chansen Cole, West Virginia
SP: Maxx Yehl, West Virginia*
RP: Boede Rahe, Kansas
RP: Tanner Sagouspe, TCU
RP: Ian Korn, West Virginia
*- unanimous selection
All-Big 12 Second Team
C: Jack Natili, Cincinnati
IF: Dominic Smaldino, Arizona State
IF: Travis Sanders, Baylor
IF: Ezra McNaughton, BYU
IF: Josh Dykhoff, Kansas
IF: Aidan Meola, Oklahoma State
OF: John Smith III, UCF
OF: Andrew Williamson, UCF
OF: Jake Long, Utah
OF: Paul Schoenfeld, West Virginia
DH: Caden Ferraro, Texas Tech
UT: Cade Baldridge, Kansas
SP: Camden Wicker, UCF
SP: Dominic Voegele, Kansas
SP: Ethan Lund, Oklahoma State
SP: Lance Davis, TCU
RP: Caleb Bunch, Baylor
RP: Ashton Johnson, BYU
RP: Adam Buczkowski, Cincinnati
All- Freshman Team (12)
Tony Lira, Arizona*
Nate Novitske, Arizona
Brady Janusek, Baylor
Jordan Lodise, UCF
Max Murray, UCF
Connor Blue, Cincinnati
Enzo Infelise, Cincinnati*
Ryan Tyranski, Cincinnati
Brady Dallimore, TCU
Linkin Garcia, Texas Tech
Jesse Rusinek, Texas Tech
Cal Miller, Utah
*-unanimous selection
All-Big 12 Honorable Mention
Arizona: Garrett Hicks, Tony Lira
Arizona State: Sean Fitzpatrick, Taylor Penn, Dean Toigo
Baylor: Lucas Davenport
UCF: Evan Jones, Kris Sosnowski, Zak Skinner
Houston: Tre Broussard, Cade Climie, Ryne Rodriguez
Kansas: Brady Ballinger, Mason Cook
Kansas State: Bear Madliak
Oklahoma State: Stormy Rhodes, Brock Thompson
TCU: Chase Brunson, Cole Cramer, Zack James
Texas Tech: Tracer Lopez, Jesse Rusinek (OF, UT)
Utah: Jet Gilliam, Cameron Gurney, Cal Miller
West Virginia: Reese Bassinger, Carson Estridge, Armani Guzman, Matt Ineich, Sean Smith