Oregon baseball coach Mark Wasikowski named the pitching rotation on Tuesday for the Ducks’ opening series against Xavier. It comes with some surprises; Logan Mercado will be getting the opening day start, and three freshmen will follow him: Leo Uelmen, Matthew Grabmann and Jackson Pace.
Mercado had a team-best 2.61 earned run average out of the bullpen last year. Over the offseason, he’s been building up his endurance and developing his changeup to be a viable third pitch. Not only is he a starter now, but he’s starting the season as the Friday night guy.
“He’s just done well,” Wasikowski said of Mercado. “He probably was the most reliable guy we had last year. You knew that he was gonna go out there and be really good.”
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the rotation is the lack of Jace Stoffal, who some were projecting to be Oregon’s Friday night starter. Stoffal met with the media a few weeks ago and said he’s been working in the weight room to get his velocity up from 88 to 94 miles per hour, and D1Baseball’s Aaron Fitt named Stoffal his “pick to click.” So for him to not be in the opening rotation is a curious omission.
RJ Gordon is also not in the starting four, though the Oregon game notes clarified that he’s sidelined to start the season, along with Isaac Ayon. No specifics have been given on a potential injury.
In terms of national rankings, Grabmann and Turner Spoljaric are the two most hyped freshmen pitchers for Oregon. Spoljaric, son of former MLB pitcher Paul Spoljaric, lacked consistency this fall, according to Fitt.
“I didn’t think we pitched at the level that we wanted to pitch at [in 2022],” Wasikowski said. “We’ve got some really talented young pitchers now in our program. Ideally I’d love to be able to roll out three First Team All-Americans on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And we’re not doing that right now, not yet; these kids are freshmen and they need to earn those honors. But they’ve pitched incredibly well.”
Grabmann has hit the mid-90s with his fastball and is ranked by Perfect Game as the No. 188 overall recruit from Canada. Uelmen and Pace are both relative surprises, but both have received encouraging reports. Stoffal named Uelmen as the young pitcher who’s stuck out to him most, and his brother Erich recently made his MLB debut for the Cubs. Pace, meanwhile, is 6-foot-5 and reached 94 mph with his fastball in the fall.
“Regardless of whether it’s a freshman or an old guy or whatever, it’s the game that shows up, and can they manage it? Can they handle it? You can’t predict that,” Wasikowski said.
He’s certainly right that baseball is an unpredictable game. Freshman Tommy Brandenburg cracked Oregon’s opening rotation last year, but he struggled and only lasted a few starts. A lot can change; Stoffal in particular will likely still be in contention for a spot eventually.
The bullpen carries a similar level of inexperience. It should be anchored, though, by closer Josh Mollerus, who transferred after four years at the University of San Francisco. Mollerus spoke highly of what he’s seen from this young staff so far.
“They’re very, very mature for such a young group,” Mollerus said. “I know guys like Grabmann, Pace, Leo Uelmen; it seems like they’ve been doing this for two or three years now. And if they have had anything, they haven’t been afraid to come up to me. I’m more than happy to help them out. I think we have a really talented young squad.”
Wasikowski said there will be a pitch count on his starters, as they’re still in a buildup phase. It’s a much different look than last year’s rotation, which mostly consisted of Ayon, Gordon, Stoffal and Christian Ciuffetelli. The way this roster is set up, it’s in direct contrast to the lineup, which consists of more established veterans.
What Oregon’s pitching staff lacks in experience, it makes up for with competitiveness.
“It’s two really different polar opposites from our hitting and our pitching,” fifth-year outfielder Tanner Smith said. “The one thing in common is the character. I think both sides of the ball have the passion to win, the passion to compete. I’m really excited to see what these newcomers can do on the mound and take away from an offense that might be a little bit more experienced.”
Oregon will certainly be looking for this young pitching staff to step up. The Ducks have been successful in the first two full years of the Wasikowski era, but they’re still yet to get over that postseason hump after back-to-back regional exits.
“It’s definitely a bad taste in the mouth, for sure. Two years in a row, just ending like that,” Smith said. “Like I’ve been telling so many of these new guys, once you get that experience and that taste of postseason play, it’s addictive. You want to keep going. You want to see what it’s like at the next step, and eventually Omaha and see what that’s like.”
Oregon begins its season Friday at 3 p.m. against Xavier in PK Park.
