Jackets looking for added pitching depth to pay dividends

Georgia Tech’s bats have done a lot of the heavy lifting over the last few years while the pitching staff’s success has been a bit of a roller coaster. If the many projections and predictions are close to being accurate going into 2026, this could be the spring that changes that trajectory for the Yellow Jackets.

Heading into his first season at the helm, Georgia Tech head coach James Ramsey has a stable of arms that includes several impact returnees from last season to go with a pair of prized transfer portal additions and multiple highly-touted freshmen. For a team that seemed to run thin on pitching last June when it was eliminated from postseason play at the Oxford Regional, the depth and talent this Jackets’ roster has gives Ramsey and his staff numerous possibilities on how to put the puzzle pieces together.

Georgia Tech returning star center fielder Drew Burress gave his opinion on what he’s seen from the pitching staff this past Fall and in the preseason, having to face it in practice, as he has high expectations for his teammates on the mound.

“I think the big thing that comes to mind when I look at our pitching staff is just the versatility. I mean we have every different type of pitcher,” said Burress during a recent preseason media availability. “We have the guys that can really pitch. We have the guys with good changeups, the guys with good fastballs…righties, lefties. And there’s been times, especially the last couple of years, where we kind of get pigeonholed into ‘this is really the only five guys we have or we only have a certain type of pitching.’ I think we can do everything on the mound this year, and it’s just going to kind of be a matter of getting everybody into their roles and being comfortable where they’re at. I think it’s really incredible. Obviously we don’t really know what we’re going to do rotation or bullpen-wise or anything else right now, but it’s not due to a lack of options. It’s due to too many options. I mean there’s so many guys that could be doing anything on this staff, and I think it’s going to be fun to see how it plays out.”

How the pitching staff shakes out between starters and bullpen…

Among the “many options” Burress mentioned above is returning Friday starter Tate McKee, who is expected to assume that role now in his junior season on The Flats.

After that the weekend rotation slots will be a competition between several candidates, including Tennessee transfer Dylan Loy (who has experience pitching in the College World Series), returnees Mason Patel, Porter Buursema, Adam McKelvey, Jackson Blakely and Caden Spivey and maybe even freshmen Charlie Willcox and Cooper Underwood.

With Patel possibly getting his shot as a weekend starter to shift from his relief role in 2025, where he was named by several outlets as the “National Stopper of the Year,” those bullpen spots are also up in the air with those not immediately earning a weekend or midweek starting role being thrown into the mix. Experienced relievers Kayden Campbell and Brett Barfield will be called upon in big situations and the other impact transfer, former Rutgers Justin Shadek is expected to anchor the back end of the pen with his potential 100 MPH velocity and others like Underwood, Spivey, Caden Gaudette, Jake Lankie and Jamie Vicens will also contribute.

Loy and/or Carson Ballard could inherit Patel’s long reliever/stopper role as well if they aren’t called upon to be starters. The combinations of responsibilities are many, but Ramsey said he feels confident they can find the right recipe for success no matter how things shake out.

“We’re as deep as we’ve been,” Ramsey said during the preseason media availability back in January. “We have six guys or more that I would feel comfortable rolling out there at any given moment in the seven years I’ve been here. And so if you told me those guys were pitching on the weekend, I’d say we got a really good chance to win a lot of games. So I would say there’s a lot of right answers to the test. I think we haven’t figured out exactly what that formula looks like. These couple weeks of scrimmages (before the season starts) are going to be critical.”

Catcher Lackey gives his thoughts on Tech’s pitching staff…

Georgia Tech has one of the top catcher prospects for the 2026 MLB Draft set to be half of the battery in Vahn Lackey as well as other backup options at the position when he needs a day off. He has gotten the chance to catch the current staff during the Fall and preseason, and he said he believes this team has the pitching to make a deep postseason run.

“For sure. I mean, we definitely have all the arm guys,” said Lackey during preseason media availability. “Tate McKee starting us off. I mean we have all the guys who really need. Especially with this Fall and this pre-Spring, like they’re facing us. So it’s kind of like they’re getting better every day. (Pitching coach) Matt (Taylor)’s done a great job with arm care and all the stuff like they do. So I have full confidence that our pitching can take us there for sure.”

Lackey added some insight on what it’s been like to be around the two transfer pitchers, Loy and Shadek, as well.

“It’s been great catching them. They’re just experienced guys,” said Lackey. “Loy’s had experience pitching in Omaha, so catching him, he basically just dots up wherever so it’s good with him. And then Shadek, he’s just a guy full of energy. I mean he’s going to give you 110 percent whenever you want it, so that’s all I can ask for him. It’s been great.”

Georgia Tech, which has been ranked no lower than No. 6 in three major preseason polls, selected by the ACC’s coaches to finish atop the conference and was picked as a regional host and No. 4 national seed on Wednesday in the Baseball America Field of 64 preseason projections, will open the highly-anticipated 2026 regular season next Friday, Feb. 13 when it hosts Bowling Green at 4 p.m. for the first of a three-game opening weekend series at Mac Nease Ballpark at Russ Chandler Stadium.