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After just one Cowboy left the board on Saturday, several more heard their names called on Sunday.

Oklahoma State saw four players drafted on Day 2 of the 2026 MLB Draft. Here’s a look at who was drafted and where they’re going.

Cowboy outfielder Alex Conover was taken by the San Diego Padres on Day 1. 

Hudson Barrett | Colorado Rockies | Round 8

The Cowboys’ ace southpaw was the first Poke off the board on Sunday, being taken No. 224 overall by the Rockies.

The 6-foot-5 lefty spent three years at UC Santa Barbara before coming to Stillwater last offseason. In one year with the Pokes, he logged a 2.58 ERA and was 6-1 in 13 appearances and nine starts. He lands in a listed slot value of $258,400.

Marios Pesca | Cleveland Guardians | Round 9

The Pokes’ right-handed pitcher was taken with the No. 273 pick to Cleveland on Sunday.

After two seasons at St. Johns, Pesca spent his junior and senior seasons in Stillwater, posting a 14-8 record. In 2026, he logged a 5.86 ERA with 80 strikeouts in 19 appearances and 10 starts. His listed slot value is $205,800.

Avery Ortiz | Washington Nationals | Round 18

Ortiz was taken by Washington with the No. 526 pick overall.

The junior infielder has made 92 appearances over the last three seasons for the Cowboys, dealing with injury throughout his time in Stillwater.

Kollin Ritchie | St. Louis Cardinals | Round 20

Ritchie slid all the way to the No. 594 pick overall, but that might have been due to a decision that was soon announced.

The Big 12’s leading bomber announced that he was returning for his senior season at OSU shortly after being drafted.

 

 

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One Cowboy went off the board on Day 1.

Oklahoma State outfielder Alex Conover was selected by the San Diego Padres in the fourth round of the 2026 MLB Draft. He was taken 134th overall.

The Tuttle, Okla. native came to OSU as a sophomore after spending his freshman season at Cowley Community College before spending the last two season in Stillwater. As a junior this past season, he went .357/.476/.625 with 14 home runs and 16 steals. He had as many walks as he did strikeouts (44).

He started 56 of his 58 appearances in 2026. In 99 games over two years for the Cowboys, Conover batted .322 and had 20 home runs.

Conover was the only Cowboy selected during Day 1 of the draft. His pick value is slotted at $563,900 according to MLB.com.

There are still a number of Pokes still on the board including outfielder Kollin Ritchie and pitcher Hudson Barrett. Day 2 (Rounds 5-20) will start at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

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Mike Boynton’s interim tag didn’t last long.

The University of Michigan announced Friday that Boynton has agreed to a two-year contract to lead the Wolverines’ program following Dusty May’s departure to the NBA.

“I’m grateful to Warde (Manuel, Michigan’s AD) for his confidence and thankful for the opportunity to lead this program,” Boynton said in Michigan’s release. “We have built a championship culture and a standard that everyone associated with this program takes great pride in. We have an outstanding group of players, and I’m excited to get to work and continue the success we’ve established together.”

This marks the second college program Boynton has been in charge of after spending seven seasons as Oklahoma State’s coach following the abrupt departure of Brad Underwood.

After his firing from OSU in 2024, Boynton joined May’s staff in Ann Arbor and put together the top defense in the nation as the Wolverines went on to win an NCAA title this past season.

When the Dallas Mavericks hired May late last month, Boynton was initially given the interim tag. In the weeks since, he’s kept that Michigan squad together despite a late portal window opening up because of May’s exit. Michigan also had the No. 2 recruiting class in the country when May left, and Boynton was able to keep them all.

“Mike is a veteran assistant with strong head coaching experience and a clear understanding of the standard we expect at Michigan,” Manuel said. “Over the past two seasons, he has been an invaluable member of our staff, bringing stability, leadership and perspective during an important period of success. Our players and staff believe in his vision, are committed to his leadership and are excited for the opportunity to pursue great success together this season.”

Boynton’s tenure in Stillwater was a roller coaster. He went 119-109 in his seven seasons, making a lone NCAA Tournament appearance. But, shortly after he took the OSU job, the FBI’s probe into college basketball put the program under sanctions. His tenure also saw the pandemic and the introduction of NIL into college sports. There were also some ups, like that NCAA Tournament run led by eventual No. 1-pick Cade Cunningham — a season that took place in limited-capacity arenas.

It’ll be interesting to see what a Boynton program could look like flush with resources in this modern world.

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The Cowboys may have both the Xs and Os and the Jimmys and Joes, but there is another very important ingredient for a successful football team: chemistry.

Some of Oklahoma State’s new stars shared the spotlight in Frisco this week at Big 12 Media Days. It was the first opportunity for media and fans to get some facetime with the new faces of Cowboy football.

As freshmen at North Texas last season, Drew Mestemaker led the nation in passing, and Caleb Hawkins scored more touchdowns than any other tailback in the FBS. But when it came to talking about this fall, they seemed more like seasoned vets ready to run it back than a pair of sophomores heading into a new locker room.

When asked about his prep this offseason, Mestemaker talked about OSU’s offense improving on “our weaknesses from last year.” Hawkins talked about “getting to see these new guys and especially the old guys coming back.”

With the huge Mean Green contingent that followed Eric Morris to Stillwater — both players and staff — it might be easy for these two to confuse OSU for North Texas 2.0, but I’m not sure these were slips of the tongue.

It’s also natural for players to group up with those they are comfortable with, but Morris knew he needed to do something drastic. He started his time in the job with a concerted effort to integrate all the incoming pieces with those returning to establish a new OSU. He touched on this point in an interview with WWLS from Media Days.

“It was very important for me the first month of two to make sure we didn’t have a North Texas crowd and Oklahoma State guys that stay crowd, and then all these guys funneling in and they’re going to pick which side,” Morris said. “That was really important for me to squash. The first team meeting [I] squashed it. … I looked up in the meeting, you know, North Texas kids are here, Oklahoma State here and I’m like before I even start this meeting, we’re not starting it off this way.

“I think trying to build everybody and bring them in together that ‘Hey this isn’t all these old teams, this is Oklahoma State ’26 team. We need everybody to come together, and winning footballs is freaking hard.'”

Mestemaker echoed that experience and said the whole team is bought in.

“In the first team meeting, Coach Morris made us sit next to someone we didn’t know, and you’re introducing yourself to everyone,” said Mestemaker. “You have a season to play in half a year, like eight months or whatever it was. The strides we’ve made in the past two to three months have been huge. Even since the start of spring, I think this team came together a lot, and we can be really special.”

Although he and his former Mean Green teammates are coming into a new situation, that culture under Morris helped direct Mestemaker and his teammates as they gel in Stillwater.

“Whatever we got to do to win,” said Mestemaker. “Even those guys who have been here and been through those not great seasons here at Oklahoma State, they’ve been here for a long time, so they’ve been a part of the great seasons at Oklahoma State, too. I feel like we have a lot of guys on our team who have played a lot of football and who have won a lot of games. I really do think that’ll help us once we get into the season in those tough games.”

We’ve listed all the reasons, on paper, that OSU could have success, but Morris knew the challenges that could arise from a bifurcated locker room as well as the step up in competition to the Big 12. For the new-look Pokes to live up to their potential, it had to be all hands-on-deck, as Cowboys.

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Justin Southwell, Nathan Gilsleider and Marshall Scott recap Oklahoma State’s time at Big 12 Media Days.

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