Diamond Bearcat week #1 fall baseball top pitching stats: Top Pitch Speed and Top Spin Rate -RHP Connor Blue #1 velocity at 98 mph. The sophomore’s velocity certainly jumped off the page to me. Blue was recruited by some very highly regarded programs, and ultimately chose UC over perennially strong baseball school, Dallas Baptist. He’s UC’s lone returning weekend starter from last season and is off to a great start this fall after having his Cape Cod summer cut short. I think he’s outgrown the “Baby Bull” nickname. He may be growing into “The Bison” this season with his size and tenacity on the mound. -RHP Connor Osier #2 velocity at 95 mph, #2 rpm at 3,022 and #8 spin rate at 2,773 rpm. The juco transfer entered the UC portal transfer class under cover of night. No one knew about him until weeks later, but he obviously made a good impression last week. He’s one of two pitchers occupying three of the fifteen spots on velocity and spin rate released yesterday by UC. -True freshman RHP Sebastian Shulsky is the other pitcher mentioned three times (#3 velocity at 94.6 mph, #3 spin rate at 2,943 rpm and #5 spin rate at 2,816 rpm). That certainly deserves mention. Despite being ranked as the #311 best high schooler in the country in last year’s rankings, Shulsky certainly served notice that he might be underrated. He’s part of what might be UC’s best collection of young pitchers in one recruiting class, and some of those eight freshmen will likely be expected to help this season. *Fellow freshman RHP Harrison Pollina was right behind Shulsky in spin rate at 2,927 rpm. Pollina’s national ranking was #240 in the country, and he got considerable interest from several MLB teams last July. -After missing the last two seasons, it’s nice to see “The Return of the Boba” (should be stated with the music of Mark Morrison). The 5th year RHP had the #7 spin rate at 2,800 and #10 spin rate at 2,736 rpm. Boba’s return to the mound took two years, two surgeries, a ton of rehab and a summer in Arizona working with experts to get to where he is now. RHP Boba has made 27 college starts and appeared in 32 college games. His experience could be invaluable this season with so many new pitchers at UC. Boba served as a Saturday starter in 2024. -RHP Alex Gonzalez continues his penchant for spin rate topping the group at 3,062 rpm. As a freshman last year. Gonzalez was a regular on that list. Gonzalez appeared in ten games last season after Carson Marsh’s injury. He’ll hope to build on that in 2027. **I’ll keep this quote anonymous, but a pitching newcomer gave me a very strong endorsement of the UC staff recently: “It’s been better than I could have imagined. The staff has been amazing in helping me out.”