Beaver pitching: Velo, veterans and va va voom
Rich Dorman believes this is the most complete team OSU has fielded in the six years he has served as pitching coach (courtesy Dominic Cusimano)
(Second of two parts. Read part one here)
The favorite pitcher of my youth, Warren Spahn, had a simple theme about his craft.
“Hitting is timing,” the Hall of Fame southpaw for the Braves used to say. “Pitching is upsetting timing.”
Rich Dorman is of the belief that he has a full load of upsetters on his Oregon State pitching staff this season.
Even with the loss of 1-2 starters Aiden May and Jacob Kmatz and All-America closer Bridger Holmes to the pros, Dorman seems to have all the roles covered with talent for a 2025 season that opens Friday against Xavier in Surprise, Ariz.
“It’s an exciting group of pitchers,” says Dorman, beginning his sixth season as the Beavers pitching coach. “We have power and a good combination of off-speed guys as well. And they are chomping at the bit to face some different competition.”
Power seems the byword for Oregon State’s current crew. Dorman says he has 10 pitchers who have hit 94 miles per hour on the radar gun since the fall. Among the fireballers: Freshman Dax Whitney (98), Nelson Keljo and Matthew Morrell (96) and Drew Talavs and Laif Palmer (95).
“The other team I have had here that might have had as many power arms was the 2021 club,” Dorman says. That staff featured starters Kevin Abel, Cooper Hjerpe, Jake Pfennigs and Will Frisch and relievers Bryant Salgado, Jack Washburn, Chase Watkins, Nathan Burns, Joey Mundt, Mitchell Verburg and Jake Mulholland.
Dorman considers this sophomore group the most talented he has had at OSU. The second-year guys include Ethan Kleinschmit, Eric Segura, Palmer, Morrell, Talavs, Wyatt Queen and Max Fraser.
Oregon State’s four games at Surprise will be against Xavier (twice), Nevada-Las Vegas and Indiana. OSU’s starters in the first three games, in order, will be Keljo, Whitney and Kleinschmit. Dorman declined to announce Monday’s starter but said it would not be Segura, who was last year’s Sunday starter.
Keljo blossomed last season as an electric-armed left-hander used mostly in relief, with three starts in 20 appearances. The 6-4, 230-pound junior from Jesuit was 3-0 with a 3.98 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 43 innings.
“Nelson is primarily a fastball guy with an occasional spike slider in the dirt,” Dorman says with a chuckle. “Now he is throwing a changeup in the zone, which is much improved from a year ago.”
Keljo’s conversion from the bullpen to a starting role could take a little time. His longest outing last season was four innings in a win against Arizona State. “I would say he probably gets five innings out of the gate (in Surprise),” Dorman says.
Whitney was one of the nation’s premier prep hurlers as a senior at Blackfoot (Idaho) High, sporting a 10-0 record with an 0.27 ERA and 130 strikeouts in 52 2/3 innings. The Golden Spikes Award watch list has the 6-5 right-hander — up to about 210 pounds now — as the nation’s No. 5 impact freshman. Whitney was projected to be a late first-round or second-round pick in the MLB draft last season; slot bonus money for the No. 30 (last) selection in the first round was $2.97 million.
“Dax is pretty polished for a first-year guy,” Dorman says. “He has a good mix of a heater, changeup, curveball and a little slider. He has put on some good weight since he has been with us in the fall and is primed to take the ball and go deep in a ballgame, we hope.”
Kleinschmit was a standout at Linn-Benton CC last season with a 6-1 record and an NWAC-leading 120 strikeouts in 78 2/3 innings. The 6-3, 200-pound southpaw had an ERA of 1.03, second in the league to Everett’s Queen at 0.94. Kleinschmit prepped at Kennedy High in Mount Angel (enrollment 126), leading the Trojans to back-to-back state 2A championships in 2023 and ’24.
“Ethan is well-equipped with a slider, fastball and change,” Dorman says. “He is a guy we see as a more prototypical type starter. He came to our pitching camp as a junior (at JFK High) and his velocity was 84 to 86. It has constantly been picking up since then.”
Queen and Palmer are among the pitchers who could get the call to start on Monday.
Queen, a 6-2, 200-pound right-hander, was 9-1 and had 65 strikeouts in 57 1/3 innings at Everett last season. Palmer, a 6-6, 205-pound sophomore slowed by injury last season, impressed Dorman with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, striking out two, against Kentucky at the Lexington Super Regional.
Among others expected to help in the bullpen are Morrell and Talavs, both 6-3, 200-pound right-handers; righties Kellan Oakes (6-2, 200 junior), Noah Ferguson (5-10, 190 senior) and Chase Reynolds (6-1, 210 senior) and lefty Max Fraser, a 6-1, 185-pound transfer from Washington.
Three pitchers are likely to vie for the closer role — AJ Hutcheson, a 5-11, 185-pound junior right-hander; Tanner Douglas, a 6-2, 205-pound junior left-hander, and Joey Mundt, a 6-4, 225-pound senior right-hander.
Junior sidewinder AJ Hutcheson will be an important piece of the Beavers’ bullpen this season (courtesy OSU sports communications)
Hutcheson had his moments last season but also had control issues, going 4-2 with a 5.96 ERA with a mostly sidewinding style.
“Hutch has had a really good run up to this point in the fall and winter,” Dorman says. “He is keeping the ball down and mixing in sliders and adjusting arm angles, going over the top and underneath. He has been doing a good job of building his repertoire.”
Douglas was 4-0 with a 3.34 ERA, 10 saves and a .218 opponents batting average for the Pilots last season.
Yes, Mundt, 25, is still around. The big guy who began his OSU career in 2019 was 2-0 with a 2.67 ERA in 30 1/3 innings last season, holding the opposition to a .173 batting average. If nothing else, he will have an important leadership role on the staff.
“We could use a little closer-by-committee action with those three,” Dorman says. “They are older guys who can handle it, who can throw strikes and keep the pressure on the opposing offense by getting ahead, suffocating the strike zone and using our defense.”
There are youngsters to watch, all right-handers. True freshmen Zach Edwards (6-2, 215) and Zach Kmatz (6-3, 215, the younger brother of Jacob Kmatz) and redshirt freshmen James DeCremer (6-2, 205) and Bryce Johnson (6-3, 210) all stand in waiting. Then there is Adam Haight, a 6-2, 190-pound true freshman from Snohomish, Wash., who will also see some duty in the outfield. Haight turned down a chance to turn pro with the New York Mets, who took him in the 20th round of the draft.
“Adam is in a two-way role for us,” Dorman says. “He will be a one-inning guy for me. He has a good mix, a good changeup, slider has gotten a lot better. He can run it up to 93. It will be a matter of him proving that he is ready to go.”
That is the way it will be for a good portion of Dorman’s staff in 2025.
“It is so hard to tell until the season begins,” he says. “You want to see who shows up when they are going against the guys in another color in that other dugout. We have depth. It is just figuring out where everyone belongs. A lot of that is up to them based on how they perform. It is a matter of them separating themselves with their opportunities and them etching their own roles.”
Dorman is high on the potential of his staff to more than carry its weight for the Beavers this season.
“I truly believe this is the most complete team we have had since I have been here, both in pitching and with our offense,” he says. “Last year’s team was offensive-oriented, and we didn’t have enough depth on the mound. There aren’t really holes this year.
“Our freshmen from last year have a year under their belt. They are more experienced and hungry. With the starters we have, we have to continue to build on each start and see where it all lines up.”
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