KCC’s Peyton Niksch signs with Milwaukee as undrafted free agent

After a stellar season with the Kankakee Community College baseball team, pitcher Peyton Niksch will be moving on to the professional ranks.

A graduate of Andrean High School in Merrillville, Indiana, where he won a state championship, Niksch was not selected in the MLB Draft earlier in the week. Instead, he signed with the Milwaukee Brewers organization as an undrafted free agent to realize the dream many players have of playing professional baseball.

“I don’t think I’ve stopped smiling the past 24 hours since it happened,” Niksch said. “I just always knew that I wanted to play professional baseball. I never knew when that was going to happen, but I always believed in myself and my abilities to get it done.”

In 2025 for the Cavaliers, Niksch went 8-2 with an ERA of 1.36, ranking third among NJCAA Division II players. He had 107 strikeouts in 72⅔ innings, ranking seventh in the nation.

On March 2 against Olney Central College, he threw the second perfect game in KCC history, striking out 16 of the 21 batters he retired.

He was committed to Purdue as well as entering the draft, but Niksch said the opportunity to play professionally as soon as possible was something he could not pass up. He will head to Phoenix this weekend to join the Brewers’ Arizona Complex League squad to start his professional career.