Scott Forbes reaffirms 'extremely high' confidence in Aidan Haugh

It’s been a rocky stretch for North Carolina Tar Heels pitcher Aidan Haugh. Despite that, head coach Scott Forbes is still confident in his starting pitcher.

In his last time out, Aidan Haugh was only able to go four innings in what turned out to be a loss to NC State. That’s part of what has been a key series between the Tar Heels and one of their biggest ACC rivals.

“I think his confidence is high,” Scott Forbes said. “My confidence is extremely high.”

Aidan Haugh’s disappointing starts go back to the Virginia Tech series and his start on April 19th. That time out, he only pitched 1.2 innings and gave up seven earned runs. That would go on to be a loss, one of three in a row with games going sideways against Pitt and NC State too. During that three-game run, he’s pitched 10.2 innings, given up 21 hits and 14 earned runs, and walked seven while striking out 12.

“Virginia Tech. That was just one of those. You know? I still think he had really good stuff. I thought he was extremely aggressive. But again, unless you’re Jake Knapp and you have that type of fastball,” Forbes said. “Which, not many — I don’t know if anybody does in this league, you have to have your off-speed pitch. He just didn’t have that changeup. So, we’ll get that changeup back, but, man, he’s been one of our best, and we’re gonna keep rolling him out there.”

In all of those bad starts, Scott Forbes sees Aidan Haugh struggling with his offspeed pitches to be a common theme. Once he gets his changeup back, he should find improved results too.

“Yeah, I would say, golly, I know they got the one run but I thought his stuff top to bottom today was really good. The changeup was coming out of his hand good. It was just a ball, usually right out of the hand. I’d have to go back and look, but that’s probably the most common thing,” Forbes said.

“Aidan has to pitch. He’s not a fastball challenge guy right down the middle. So, all of a sudden, that fastball is spiking like that, you try to be who you’re not. So, we’ll just get him back to giving and taking a little bit more. I say giving and taking, that’s changing speeds.”

This season, Aidan Haugh has a 3.66 ERA in 59 innings pitched. That’s with 68 strikeouts, 23 walks, and a .230 batting average against him. With the season still in progress, he’s already pitched more innings than last season with better numbers across the board.

Scott Forbes knows he’ll need Aidan Haugh for the final stretch of the season. At 37-11 overall and 16-10 in ACC play, North Carolina is third in the current conference standings. It’s a tight race, and the Tar Heels still need to finish up the NC State series before wrapping up with another tough series against Florida State.