Wake Forest Athletics
Deacon Sports Xtra: 2023 Wake Forest Baseball Pitching Outlook
12/27/2022 10:00:00 AM | Baseball
“So I look at our staff, and believe we can get 12-13 deep into our pitching staff and feel really, really good about it. When you add those transfer portal pieces, suddenly you're taking your guy that was your number four and he's now your number seven —that makes a huge difference in the quality and depth of your pitching staff top to bottom.”
While David F. Couch Ballpark is known for being a hitter's park, it was the impressive improvement on the mound in 2021 that fueled a 21-game improvement in the win-loss record a season ago for the Demon Deacons.
With new pitching coach Corey Muscara's leadership and the continued utilization of the state-of-the-art pitching lab, Wake Forest dropped its team ERA more than a full point on their way to earning an NCAA Tournament appearance.
With the weekend rotation and two of the top three relievers from last season returning, coupled with some key transfer additions, Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter is confident the best is yet to come.
"We brought in a transfer from Tulane, Michael Massey, who has had a great fall," Walter said. "We really like him and the work he has done. He's a 94-to-96 MPH kind of right hander who commands the ball really well, throws strikes to both sides of the plate, and has a good changeup and a good slider.
"Then you have the number one at Northwestern last year, Sean Sullivan, who's kind of a unique unicorn type guy. He's a lefty that throws from a kind of a funky arm slot but the ball rides. It's almost like a version of Josh Hader (San Diego Padres) to some degree because it's just really deceptive. It's not what the hitter expects. So he's had a good summer on the Cape and from all accounts he was the best pitcher in the Big 10 last year as a freshman."
Sullivan was 5-2 in 13 starts last season for Northwestern, finishing the year with a 4.45 ERA. Massey had a better than 3-1 strikeout to walk ratio while finishing the 2022 campaign with three wins for the Green Wave.
"So we add those two guys, and have (Rhett) Lowder, (Teddy) McGraw, (Josh) Hartle and (Cam) Minacci who have all taken a really big step forward," Walter said. "Seth Keener has also taken a really big step forward. Those are kind of our top seven guys and then you have guys like Reed Mascolo, who's kind of a proven guy who's just continuing to get better. You get Crawford Wade who had a good year for us last year, is now a year older. So that takes you to nine pitchers you can count on."
It's not just the talent on the mound that has Walter excited, but also the depth, and the ability to use that depth situationally during the 2023 season.
"Joe Ariola is a freshman lefty that got six-straight outs against Tennessee to close out the first nine innings (during the fall) there," Walter said. "You got Cole Roland, a grad transfer from Dartmouth who had a really good fall. He's got two really good pitches and really competes out there. Another freshman Zach Johnston is a lefty that we really like. Chase (Walter) obviously is in the mix somewhere — he's coming back off an injury and somebody whose early bullpens have been encouraging.
"So I look at our staff, and believe we can get 12-13 deep into our pitching staff and feel really, really good about it. When you add those transfer portal pieces, suddenly you're taking your guy that was your number four and he's now your number seven —that makes a huge difference in the quality and depth of your pitching staff top to bottom."
Of course, the weekend rotation will be anchored by reigning ACC Pitcher of the Year, Rhett Lowder, who was 11-3 with a 3.08 ERA a season ago. The first Wake Forest player to ever earn that award, Lowder struck out 105 while walking just 26 in 99.1 innings pitched. After that, what Walter does with the weekend rotation is still a little bit of a question mark, given the depth he has on the mound.
"One thing you could do is split the game on Saturday with two guys," he said, thinking out loud. "You could put Hartle in there and then Massey right in behind him, because those two guys kind of play off each other well. Then you could do the same thing the next day with McGraw and Sullivan. You could go to Lowder, Minacci and Keener on Friday; and then you could go to Hartle and Massey on Saturday; and McGraw and Sullivan on Sunday. That would be a pretty dangerous, pretty deadly combination."
With advanced analytics available to the staff, they can devise combinations that will be especially troubling for opposing offenses.
"With our lab, we have the analytics and we know which guys are similar and which guys play off each other," Walter said. "That's important, because you want to give hitters different looks. More than any year in the past, we've got the ability to do that.
"And again, I haven't even talked about Ariola, Cole Roland, Crawford Wade, Zach Johnston or Chase Walter — after those seven there's still five other pretty good guys there. So the point is that it's interesting and things can change quickly. You can have injuries or have guys not throw well, but it's good to have options."
While the staff excelled in roster management in the offseason, now the challenge will be keeping everyone engaged and sharp through the season.
"If you get into a situation where you've got your weekend starters start going seven-to-eight innings every week, every game, how do you get everybody enough work to keep them sharp and have the staff where you need it at the end of the year?" Walter said. "That's going to be the biggest challenge is managing that staff and making sure we're keeping everybody both fresh and sharp."
Wake Forest begins the 2023 season by hosting Youngstown State and Illinois Feb. 17-19, with the opening contest taking place at 4 p.m. against the Penguins at The Couch. The Deacs will wrap up the first weekend of play with a doubleheader, facing both teams Sunday, Feb. 18 starting at 8:30 a.m.
