WVU Lands Massive Hard-Throwing Right-Handed Pitcher for 2028 Recruiting Class

On Saturday, the West Virginia Mountaineers picked up their first commitment in the 2028 recruiting class with right-handed pitcher Tyler Puffer (6'8", 205 lbs) of McKees Rocks, PA, announcing his pledge to the program on social media.

Puffer is a Mountaineer

"I’m beyond excited and grateful to announce that I have officially committed to continue my academic and baseball career at West Virginia University!

"First and foremost, I want to thank God for blessing me with this opportunity and guiding me every step of the way. None of this would be possible without Him.

"I want to thank my family for their unconditional love and support, my coaches for believing in me and helping me develop both on and off the field, and my teammates for pushing me to become the best player and person I can be.

"A special thank you to Montour Baseball for helping lay the foundation for my career and believing in me throughout my journey.

"I also want to give a huge thank you to the Marucci Spikes organization, especially Chase Rowe and Josh Sharpless. Thank you for believing in me, investing in my development, and giving me the opportunity to compete at a high level. Your guidance, support, and confidence in me have played a major role in helping me reach this point.

"Thank you to Coach Sabins and the coaching staff at West Virginia for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to be a Mountaineer. I can’t wait to get to work and represent this incredible program."

The rundown on Puffer

Puffer has a four-pitch mix: four-seam fastball, curveball, slider, and changeup. Right now, his fastball is sitting right around 90 mph, but with that frame, he will be throwing gas the older and stronger he gets. Throwing 90 at just 16 years old is a pretty good indicator that he will be a flamethrower at the next level. It's reasonable to think that by the time he reaches campus in a couple of years, he will be touching mid-90s. He saw a 6 mph increase in his fastball over the last year, so there's clearly more room for him to grow. The spin rates on his curve and slider are well over 2400, which is pretty solid. As the velo increases, those rates will increase, making his breaking balls even nastier. It's pretty far out to project his role with the Mountaineers, but he definitely has the stuff to be a weekend arm and potentially a Friday night guy if all goes well with his development.

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