Before we take a look at Mr. Wetherbee, 2018’s top starter, here is the list of top starters since this series began in 2007:
2017- Zach Peek, Strasburg
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2016- Erne Valdes, Front Royal
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2015- Hayden McCutcheon, Charlottesville
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2014- Keegan Long, Front Royal
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2013- Ricky Winters, Woodstock
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2012- Jansen Carr, Winchester
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2011- Aaron Luchterhand, Harrisonburg
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2010- Greg Nappo, Haymarket
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2009- Grant Sasser, Haymarket
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2008- Drew Rucinski, Luray
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2007- Dustin Umberger, Luray
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We’ve seen many good pitchers throughout the years, but I’m not sure we’ve seen one give up as few hits as our top starter in 2018, Charlottesville’s Jared Wetherbee.
Jared, a 5-10 lefthanded sophomore from Elon, gave up just 7 hits in 25 1/3 regular season innings. Let’s take a look at the whole line:
Char | ERA | W | L | G | GS | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | B/AVG | WHIP | BB/9 | K/9 |
2018 | 1.06 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 3 | 25.3 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 44 | 0.085 | 0.830 | 5.0 | 15.7 |
Play | 2.25 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4.0 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 0.313 | 1.750 | 4.5 | 15.8 |
Of pitchers on the starters list, Jared finished 1st in ERA, K’s, K/9, batting average against, and WHIP. First in all of those categories! He was ATVL’s pitcher of the day three times, was first team All-Valley, and, of course, the Pitcher of the Year. He was also named Baseball America’s 10th best prospect in the league.
He had two starts that were his best: the first was on July 10th against Staunton, when he threw 5 shutout innings while allowing 1 hit, 1 walk, and struck out 9. It was the 14th best in the VBL, according to game score. The second one was on July 22 at Winchester, when he again threw 5 shutout innings of 1-hit ball. In this one, he walked 2 and struck out 8. The start was 19th best.
Jared also had a solid true freshman season at Elon:
Elon | ERA | W | L | G | GS | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | B/AVG | WHIP | BB/9 | K/9 |
2018 | 4.07 | 2 | 1 | 23 | 0 | 24.3 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 29 | 45 | 0.136 | 1.646 | 10.7 | 16.7 |
The BB/9 is a little high, but he was almost as unhittable as he was during the summer. He was named to the 2018 CAA All-Rookie team, and his team’s Freshman of the Year.
Congratulations on your excellent summer, Jared!