On April 29, 2025, Oregon baseball pitcher Will Sanford just didn’t have it.

The freshman starter lasted just two innings against Oregon State, walking five batters, allowing three runs and failing to record a strikeout. Sanford wouldn’t be seen again after that 10th start in the 2025 season, but returned to Eugene for his sophomore season penciled into Oregon’s Friday night role. The Ducks’ ace entered the season with his freshman ERA of 6.39 looming over preseason expectations, but Sanford’s 1.44 ERA across 31.1 innings through his first six starts has eliminated any lower-end projections, leaving only questions about his ceiling.

Sanford earned the third spot in Oregon’s rotation as a freshman thanks to his deceptive mechanics, which hid the ball until late in his delivery, and a low-90s fastball with unique spin that could work up to 95 mph, traits that showed clear potential in his 10 starts. That potential was clouded by command struggles, which resulted in an average of 9.2 walks per nine innings and the loss of his starting role in late April 2025.

Sanford has shown a refined version of his game through six starts as a sophomore, using an elite fastball and imposing 12-6 curveball to eclipse his freshman strikeout total of 42 in 6.2 fewer innings, with 44. When hitters do make contact, their frequent off-balance swings feed the Ducks’ strong defense.

“(Having) that ability and trust in myself to just know that my fastball can get on guys and beat guys, I think that’s something I didn’t take advantage of last year, and I was kind of timid with how I threw it,” Sanford said in preseason. “This year has been more so just being on the attack right away with it and then having that secondary to go off it, so they’re just guessing the whole time.”

Sanford rode 14.2 scoreless innings into Big Ten play after cruising through his first two starts against George Mason University and Youngstown State University in a combined 11 innings, then battling through 3.2 innings without his best command against Arizona.

The only real knock on Sanford through his excellent first six starts has been efficiency, as he has shown impressive fortitude to win long at-bats, but left room to preserve the Ducks’ bullpen better.

Oregon’s Big Ten opener brought the end of Sanford’s scoreless streak, as Purdue pushed across two runs in his five innings of work, but Sanford put together another ace-level start, striking out eight Boilermakers, including a max-effort high fastball on his 100th pitch to hand the game over to the bullpen. Sanford’s best start in an Oregon uniform came the next week against Indiana, as he struck out ten Hoosiers on 111 pitches over 6.2 innings, allowing two runs on three walks and three hits.

“I just thought I was mixing (pitches) well, just landing off-speeds in hitter’s counts and keeping them off balance, and that’s how I got my fastball on them,” Sanford said.

The overpowering strikeout stuff from Sanford’s last two starts once again came through against Northwestern, as he struck out eight batters and allowed one run across five innings.

Now midway through conference play, the path for Oregon’s Friday night starter is coming into view. Sanford has the stuff to achieve elite run-prevention, but his two-pitch sequencing can become precarious. Increased usage of the slider or kick changeup he experimented with in the offseason could unlock another gear for the sophomore, but his results through six starts don’t warrant much urgency.

While Oregon has a lot of baseball left to play in 2026, Sanford’s first six games represent the fully-realized version of the high-ceiling freshman with projectable traits whom the Ducks bet on last season.