Maryland baseball’s coaches were optimistic about its freshman pitchers heading into the season. So far, Jake Yeager and Logan Hastings have justified that confidence.
Despite inconsistent play from the pitching staff, the freshman pair has established itself early for Maryland. Yeager began the season as the Terps’ midweek starter, while Hastings worked his way into the role.
“The portal is a huge thing for everybody now … [But] at the end of the day, we’re still going to base everything off development. We want guys for three to four years,” pitching coach Jimmy Jackson said in February. “They’re without a doubt the future of the staff.”
Maryland’s pitching staff has a 5.60 ERA, a bottom-half mark in the Big Ten. Multiple key pitchers and upperclassmen have underperformed to open the year. But the freshman duo each hold a 3.86 ERA — the second-best among Terps pitchers with more than one start.
Yeager’s most recent start came Tuesday against Virginia. He threw a season-high 84 pitches and matched his season-low of one earned run. The performance marked his third start and first against a ranked opponent.
“I thought he was really good,” Swope said. “[I’m] really happy about what he’s done so far. I think it’s going to bode well for him if he can keep putting up good starts against really good teams.”
[Maryland baseball loses to No. 23 Virginia on walk-off wild pitch, 7-6]
The Terps worried that Yeager — last year’s Maryland Gatorade Player of the Year — would be selected in the MLB draft. Instead, he went undrafted and fulfilled his commitment to Maryand.
While Yeager was highly-touted, Hastings flew under the radar despite an impressive career at Huntingtown High School. The four-year varsity player and two-time All-Southern Maryland Athletic Conference selection didn’t receive his Maryland offer until March of his senior year.
The offer came a week after James Madison made an offer to Hastings — Jackson’s previous coaching spot. The right-hander said he chose Maryland because of the confidence Jackson showed in extending him a late collegiate offer.
“Jimmy took a chance on me,” Hastings said. “Just showing that he believed in me from day one made me really want to come play for him.”
Hastings added a slider to his repertoire while working with Jackson in the offseason. He also throws a mid-to-high-80s fastball, changeup and curveball
Hastings opened the season in a relief role, tossing 5 ⅓ innings against Ball State, Western Carolina and Delaware. The Terps were particularly impressed with his outing against the Blue Hens on Feb. 25, when he allowed just one hit through the seventh and eighth innings before Delaware plated two runs in the ninth.
His performance earned him a starting role in February during Maryland’s four-game weekend series in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Hastings delivered a five-inning start against then-No. 12 Wake Forest, limiting the Demon Deacons to one run while striking out seven on March 2.
The next week, he joined the regular weekend rotation as Maryland’s Saturday starter against UCLA. He tossed six innings, allowing three runs in the Terps’ lone win of the weekend.
[Maryland baseball unravels early against UCLA, drops rubber match 11-5]
“[He’s] someone that maybe from a metric standpoint, doesn’t necessarily stand out. But he just pounds the zone and doesn’t get hit,” Swope said after the 13-3 win over UCLA on March 8. “When he’s pounding the zone and working ahead, he’s hard to hit.”
Freshman Cristofer Cespedes has exclusively pitched in relief for Maryland. The former top-ranked right-hander from New York has logged 4 ⅔ innings across five appearances with a 1.93 ERA.
After walking four batters without recording an out in his debut against Western Carolina on Feb. 22, Cespedes hasn’t issued a walk in his last four outings. Swope called him a “high-leverage,” situational pitcher.
Freshman Ryan Bailey made his first collegiate start Wednesday against Mount St. Mary’s, exiting after one inning with two earned runs. The freshman left with a 16.20 ERA through three appearances. Swope wants to see him work on getting ahead of counts.
“There’s no secret we needed more depth on the pitching … We definitely need these young guys to be good,” Swope said. “[I’m] excited about the young arms and we’ll continue to try to make an emphasis of that in recruiting and set them up for success.”
