Kentucky adds second catcher to portal class

Kentucky's portal class grew to 11 on Saturday with the commitment of Houston transfer Riley Jackson. Jackson is the second catcher in the Wildcats' class, joining Indiana C/DH Brayden Ricketts. Jackson also played at first base in 2026.

A native of Melbourne, Florida, Jackson was a top 150 player out of Eau Gallie High School. He signed with Florida State but transferred to Houston after his freshman season. After slashing just .182/.359/.364 with six home runs as a sophomore, Jackson took a leap as a junior and slashed .271/387/.512 with 13 doubles, nine home runs, 29 RBIs and a 112 wRC+.

Jackson has played in 98 career games over three seasons. He appeared in just five games as a freshman at Florida State before playing in 42 games as a sophomore and 51 games as a junior. His best game in 2026 came on March 6 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Jackson went 4-5 with two homers. He also drove in three runs in an April 17 game against West Virginia.

Jackson is playing in the Cape Cod League this summer for Falmouth.

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Incoming transfer portal commitments (11)

OF Brody Chrisman* (Akron)
UTIL JP Peltier (Wright State)
LHP Kale Hammer (Seattle University)
RHP Logan Hastings (Maryland)
RHP PJ Craig (Rider)
INF Owen Lee (Tennessee Tech)
RHP Mason Snyder (Western Carolina)
CF Alex Kelsey (Saint Joseph's)
C/DH Brayden Ricketts (Indiana)
LHP Cooper Corkrean (New Mexico)
C Riley Jackson (Houston)

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Written by

Derek Terry

Derek Terry is the founder of Bat Cats Central, a leading source for Kentucky baseball coverage. Before leaving full-time sportswriting, Derek worked for The Cats' Pause (2017-22) and Cats Illustrated (2015-17), and interned with D1baseball.com.

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