Multiple impact players on the University of Hawai‘i baseball team are set to depart the program via the NCAA transfer portal.
The summer window for college baseball players to enter the transfer portal began on Monday and runs through July 1.
As of Tuesday, 12 Rainbow Warriors have already entered the NCAA transfer portal, including Big West Conference Freshman Pitcher of the Year Cooper Walls and All-Big West first-team member Itsuki Takemoto.
Walls, a native of Carlsbad, Calif., emerged as the team's top starting pitcher in the tail end of the 2025 season. He finished with a 3-3 record and 3,73 ERA, striking out 45 hitters in 60.1 innings.
Takemoto, who hails from Wakayama, Japan, went 2-6 on the mound while hitting .256 at the plate with a home run in 2025. Although most Division I college baseball players are not eligible for the MLB Draft until their junior seasons, Takemoto will be able to get selected because he is three years removed from high school. His first year in Mānoa was spent acclimating to life in the United States and learning the English language.
Redshirt freshman reliever Ethan Thomas also entered the transfer portal after a promising debut season in which he struck out 37 in 25 innings with a 0.96 WHIP.
"Thankful for Hawai‘i," a post from Thomas on X read. "With that being said I am entering the transfer portal."
The NCAA transfer portal was launched in the fall of 2018. Prior to that, collegiate athletes were required to reach out to schools on their own and sit out a year in academic residence as a redshirt.
In 2021, the NCAA instituted automatic eligibility for first-time transfers.
In May 2024, a ruling allowed NCAA athletes to transfer and be automatically eligible at their next school regardless of how many times they transferred.
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
