2025 KSHSAA Team Preview: Manhattan Indians
March 12, 2025
The Kansas high school baseball season kicks off on Mar. 20, opening day for regular season action under KSHSAA regulations. Leading up to opening day, we’ll be publishing our team previews ahead of the 2025 spring season, touching on programs spanning all state classifications, counting down to the official Prep Baseball Kansas Preseason Power 25 Rankings.
Perennially, we’ve submitted a preseason questionnaire to high school head coaches across the entire state. Their responses have been flooding in and we’re using the detailed insight they’ve provided in our team-by-team preseason analysis.
Our 2025 preseason coverage continues today.
Head Coach: Don Hess (28 years)
Classification: 6A
2024 Record (Finish): 17-7 (Regional Runner-Up)
2025 SEASON OUTLOOK
No. of Returning Position Players: 9
No. of Returning Pitchers: 5
Top Returners:
- OF Carter Aslin (2025) - L/R
- Catalyst for everything we do
- C Jackson Goos (2026) - R/R
- Poised to have tremendous success
- SS Sawyer Newton (2026) - L/R
- Breakthrough season this year, great athleticism
- INF/P Brayson Gnirk (2026) - R/R
- Very versatile and has improved his strength
- P/1B Sam Spiegel (2025) - R/R
- Best pitcher and consistent hitter
Top Newcomers:
- P Tanner Lang
- OF Hunter Austin
- INF Tyson Kratochvil (2027)
Key Players Lost:
- Jake Wolcott (Hutchinson CC)
- Owen Goode (Emporia St.)
Coach’s Insight: “This team has great versatility and hopefully we have gone from a young team to one that has very high aspirations. If we have improved since last season, we have a shot to succeed. We will really need to spend our time working on pitching and chemistry. Any time that you start a season, these are the two key areas. ” – Don Hess, head coach
Find more information on the 2025 Manhattan program below:
+ Follow them on X: @MHS_Baseball
+ Visit Prep Baseball Kansas’ 2025 KSHSAA Team Previews page to learn more.
+ If you are a high school coach and didn’t receive our questionnaire, please click HERE to fill out the form