Top Clemson baseball transfer signs with MLB team, won’t play for Tigers
As expected, a top Clemson baseball transfer won’t make it to campus.
Third-round pick Ryan Wideman announced late Wednesday he had signed his rookie contract with the MLB’s San Diego Padres. Wideman, a former All American outfielder at Western Kentucky, had been committed to Clemson as a transfer.
But Wideman, a draft-eligible junior, had openly said playing pro baseball was his “dream” and got a solid pay day from the Padres to boot. The slot value for Wideman’s pick (third round, No. 99 overall) was $773,100, per MLB.com.
Wideman (6-5, 204) was the star of a WKU team that made the NCAA Tournament last year. As a junior, he started all 60 games in center field and led Conference USA in batting average (.398), hits (97), triples (6) and stolen bases (45).
His 45 stolen bases were a WKU single-season record and his 97 hits were third-best in program history. Wideman was also named CUSA’s Player of the Year.
Wideman, 21, was also a Clemson legacy whose father, Tom, was a four-year starting center for Clemson men’s basketball from 1995-99. Ryan Wideman grew up about two hours away from Clemson’s campus in Marietta, Georgia.
He had verbally committed to the Tigers on June 11 and would’ve been a major get for a Clemson team that needs power hitters heading into the 2026 season.
But Clemson coach Erik Bakich viewed getting Wideman to campus as a long shot and said his staff went into the draft expecting Wideman to go in the top five rounds.
“If (he) slipped further than that, then we’d be very happy,” Bakich said in June.
Clemson high school shortstop signee Dax Kilby also won’t make it to campus after he formally signed with the New York Yankees last week. Kilby, from Newnan (Georgia) High school, was the draft’s No. 39 overall pick (slot value $2,509,500).
Past those two departures, which were major but expected, Clemson wasn’t impacted and saw multiple draft-eligible players get picked late or not at all.
Mercer transfer outfielder Ty Dalley and starting catcher Jacob Jarrell were both draft-eligible, but neither was selected. High school pitcher signee Nick Frusco (a 20th round pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates) also figures to stay with the Tigers.
