Despite pulling out an impressive series win over Washington State, Oregon baseball still has a problem to address.
It’s the same problem that plagued the Ducks for much of last year: pitching — particularly starters, and their continuous issue with walks. The rotation seemed to be fairly locked into place three weeks into the season, but recently, a few noticeably rough outings have thrown the whole mix into question.
“When you give up hits, that’s one thing,” head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “And I’d actually encourage them to give up more hits.”
Oregon’s opponent batting average has sat in the low .200s all year, and currently stands at .229. But in 159 innings, the Ducks have issued a whopping 100 walks, to go along with 26 hit batters. It’s resulted in a pedestrian 4.58 team ERA, despite the success at limiting hits.
“Shoot, throw the ball over the plate and let’s go,” Wasikowski said. “Well, they’re trying to throw the ball over the plate… When you see a guy dance around the zone and not throwing the ball over the plate because he’s pitching timid, that’s not gonna be accepted.”
It’s almost striking how similar the parallels are to last year. Not only is the walk problem still an issue, but the starter-reliever discrepancy is apparent as well. In fact, the bullpen was a saving grace last weekend. The relievers combined for three runs allowed in 19 innings — good for a 1.42 ERA. Dallas led the way with five scoreless innings, including four on Sunday, which earned him Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week honors.
“It’s huge for our young guys to be able to see an older guy lead the way he’s been leading,” Wasikowski said of Dallas. “And pounding the strike zone, and doing it with his commitment. It’s not just on the field. His commitment off the field towards improving his game and leading has been tremendous, and I’m happy he was rewarded.”
The starters, on the other hand, surrendered 19 runs (17 earned) in seven innings, amounting to a catastrophic 21.86 ERA — which obviously doesn’t even include the two additional unearned runs Jackson Pace gave up.
Speaking of Pace, the 6-foot-5 freshman has lost the magic touch he carried in his first two starts. After giving up only one run over 12 innings in those two outings, he’s allowed 15 runs (12 earned) over 1 2/3 innings in his last two. His initial performance earned him a promotion to Oregon’s No. 3 starter, but now, with an 8.10 ERA on the season, his spot in the rotation is in jeopardy.
Probably the most likely candidate to step into Pace’s shoes is Matthew Grabmann, Oregon’s most highly rated freshman pitcher who started the season ahead of Pace in the pecking order. Grabmann has been far from perfect, issuing 21 free passes in 16 2/3 innings, but he’s done a nice job of limiting opponents to just seven hits. His fastball carries a lot of movement, and he’s had trouble locating it. But when he throws strikes, he’s clearly difficult to hit.
Grabmann’s outing on Sunday began with a bases-loaded walk, but he went on to throw three innings of one-hit ball while striking out four.
“He’s got a tremendous arm, and he’s learning how to do it,” Wasikowski said of Grabmann. “The thing that I was most impressed with last weekend was he just got after guys. He came in in a really tough spot… He had the determination and the fire that you were looking for.”
This weekend, Oregon has Jace Stoffal, Logan Mercado, Leo Uelmen and a pitcher to be determined lined up to start. Stoffal and Uelmen both struggled last weekend, though not to the degree of Pace. Stoffal has had trouble limiting deep counts and putting hitters away, while Uelmen has simply been hit hard — he actually didn’t walk anyone on Saturday, but he gave up 11 hits in 3 1/3 innings.
“I can live with mistakes as long as they’re made out of the right mindset,” Wasikowski said. “It’s the things that I see that look timid, look bashful; those are the things that I’m not going to accept. And so if I see a guy getting after it and making a mistake, I’m gonna have grace for him because of their youth.”
Mercado, meanwhile, started on opening day for the Ducks and has been utilized in long relief since then. This will be his first start back in the rotation. He views his role as somewhat of a Swiss Army Knife, bouncing between starts and long relief outings. Mercado got off to a relatively shaky start this season, but he has experience and was Oregon’s most effective reliever last year.
Josh Mollerus has quietly but dominantly been the anchor of the Ducks’ bullpen; Oregon’s closer is yet to give up a run in 10 innings of work. Along with Dallas, transfer Austin Anderson has also helped hold things down in the late innings. Additionally, the bullpen has seen contributions from freshmen Grayson Grinsell, Ian Umlandt, Turner Spoljaric and Logan Olson. They’ve all had their ups and downs, just like the starters, but they’ve been able to bond as a unit and feed off each other.
Grinsell has certainly experienced this as the first lefty out of the ‘pen. He’s struck out 17 but also issued eight free passes in 10 1/3 innings.
“We all know we’re young,” Grinsell said. “We all know struggles are a part of the game, but we all just tell each other we’re here for a reason. We just do what we know how to do and have our faith in coach [Jake] Angier and the rest of the coaches, and we’ll be fine.”
The Ducks will get a break from Pac-12 play against non-conference opponent Northwestern State this weekend. It’ll still be a test for Oregon, to see if the starters can lock things down and assure the trust of their coaches and fans.
Game 4’s starter will likely depend on what happens in the first three games; it could very well be Grabmann, but it could also be Pace or Spoljaric if they need to use Grabmann in long relief earlier in the series.
The series starts Friday at PK Park with first pitch set for 4 p.m.
