Cowboy Pitching Staff In Great Shape Heading Into 2020
Today marked the confirmation that baseball season is right around the corner. Head Coach Josh Holliday and seven of his players took part in the 2020 Baseball Media Day.
The Cowboys are coming off a successful season in 2019 and are set up to make a run for Omaha. Last year, they were 6 outs away from an appearance in Omaha for the College World Series and everyone that spoke today said they feel they have some unfinished business to take care of.
A big part of that business to take care of will fall on the shoulders of the Cowboy pitching staff, which is a mix of both veterans and newcomers.
Some of the familiar faces that will be seen in the rotation will be Brett Standlee and Parker Scott.
Standlee, who was in attendance for the media day is one of the teams key components coming off of his redshirt freshman season. This season he is able to come in more confident and prepared than he ever has. He served primarily as a starter last year, pitching 72.2 innings while collecting 55 strikeouts. Even as a redshirt freshman, Standlee was given the nod to start the Big 12 Championship title game vs. West Virginia and recorded the win by allowing just one run over seven innings.
Even with these veteran arms coming back strong and healthy, there is legitimate hype around the young arms that will be on the mound. The 2019 recruiting class is arguably one of the best to ever step foot on campus, rankings wise. Inside the recruiting class came several elite arms that will have a chance to earn playing time very early.
Three of the higher profile freshman arms this year are Bryce Osmond, Justin Campbell, and Colton Bowman.
Osmond, a native of Jenks, OK went 7-1 with a 1.64 ERA and tallied 89 strikeouts in 51 innings of work as a senior. He was named to the 2018 Perfect Game All-American Classic West roster and finished the year rated the No. 53 overall prospect in the 2019 Major League Baseball Draft by MLB Pipeline. Even with his high ranking, Osmond decided he wanted to spend the next few years in Stillwater.
Justin Campbell starred at Simi Valley High School (CA), where he went 8-2 with a 1.17 ERA as a senior for the Pioneers while hitting .409 with 11 doubles, three home runs and 21 RBI. He chose Oklahoma State over LSU, Tulane, Washington and USC, some of the bigger names in college baseball. Campbell was also an MLB prospect, selected as an 18th-round pick of the Houston Astros in the 2019 MLB Draft.
Bowman is one of the higher decorated freshman in this class in terms of his district honors. He was a three-time District Pitcher of the Year at Bullard High School, earning the honor in 15-4A as a sophomore and junior and in 16-4A as a senior. He posted some insane stats, ending his senior season with a 6-2 record with 126 strikeouts in 59 1/3 innings. 2.1 strikeouts and inning is absolutely ridiculous and if he can find a similar rhythm, he will undoubtedly find himself in the weekly staff.
Head coach Josh Holliday expressed his confidence in his young pitchers and said that 5 or 6 of them will get significant innings fairly early.
Oklahoma State starts the season playing some very tough opponents, especially on the offensive side of the ball and I asked Holliday how long he expects it to take for his freshman to settle in facing top college talent.
“Well hopefully it’s pretty soon”, Holliday said with a laugh. “We don’t know exactly how long it will take them but we have complete confidence in every one of them to go out there and succeed. I just think it’s important for them to know we trust them, knowing that helps them out mentally and helps them get comfortable.”
Holliday also mentioned the veteran guys who have been thrown in the fire as well are a big piece in communicating with the freshman to become acclimated to the college game.
The Oklahoma State baseball team is in line and has the talent to win the Big 12, host through regionals and supers, and eventually make it back to Omaha, a location they are very familiar with.
The pitching staff will be front and center for that run they hope to make and if everyone can stay healthy and strong, this pitching staff will be one of the strongest in the conference, if not the best.
