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2026 Roster Discussion

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Da Jumbo Mutombo said:


Would be a great addition. Played at Doral Academy, hes from Hialeah. Pitched 7 innings last year, 1 run, 12ks.

High potential pickup.

2025 (Sophomore):
Made five relief appearances for Florida before suffering a season-ending arm injury
Was dominant in limited action, going 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and .185 batting average against
Struck out 12 batters against three walks in seven innings
Posted a 15.4 K/9, 3.9 BB/9 and 4.0 K-to-BB ratio
Did not allow a single extra-base hit to the 31 batters he faced, surrendering just five hits overall
Strung together three-consecutive scoreless outings spanning 4 1/3 innings to open the season, fanning eight batters without issuing a walk in that span
Retired nine of 10 batters he faced to complete three shutout frames with one hit allowed and five strikeouts to zero walks to earn the win against Dayton on Feb. 22
Fanned three batters in a shutout inning vs. Miami on Feb. 28
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Miami got him. Nice addition.

He made big jumps over the Fall:

Menendez had a 4.96 ERA in 16.1 innings as a short reliever during the 2024 season using a low-90s fastball, a high-70s slider and a low-80s changeup. But this fall, his velocity has jumped in a big way, sometimes pushing into the high 90s. He’s healthy but was held out of the USF exhibition because he was under the weather.
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I built out a WAR calculator for baseball because D1Baseball has a bug in theirs. To summarize their bug, they haven't adjusted it for the run environment for whatever reason, resulting in the total WAR for all pitchers in Division 1 this year coming in at -212.35. Obviously that doesn't make sense so I built my own using TangoTiger's approach (lead data scientist at MLB and basically the GOAT surpassing Bill James). I added my own tweaks to account for college baseball run environment and differences. My total WAR is Division 1 baseball for pitchers is 2,565.95, so obviously you can see the difference.

Here is a quick recap of the transfer pitchers for Miami as well as a scouting summary to close the loop with "eyes on" and "analytics."

Frank Menendez- LHP with an elite profile all the way around. 0.33 WAR in 7 IP, 1.55 FIP (Fielder Independent Pitching) and a 1.54 SIERA (Situation Independent ERA). FIP is more descriptive (tells us what happened) and SIERA is more predictive (what will happen based on profile).

Also overpowered hitters and has a groundball profile with 81.3% ground balls (this is unsustainable and off-the-charts, but supports the above that the dude had an elite performance in his small sample size). This is one of the very best portal additions we have made this offseason in my humble view.

Menendez had a 4.96 ERA in 16.1 innings as a short reliever during the 2024 season using a low-90s fastball, a high-70s slider and a low-80s changeup. But this fall, his velocity has jumped in a big way, sometimes pushing into the high 90s. He’s healthy but was held out of the USF exhibition because he was under the weather.
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Lyndon Glidewell- Juco from Austin Peay who went out and took the Friday role after initially expected to be the closer. He's a pitch to contact guy who will compete for that Carson Fischer role.

8-0, 3.36 ERA, 14-13 GS, 77.67 IP, 61 H, 29 ER, 34 BB/64 K, 14 HBP

3.12 WAR based mainly on the fact he pitched bulk innings and Austin Peay has a park factor of 119, meaning it's a massive hitters park and regresses pitcher metrics.

5.05 FIP and 4.33 SIERA means he probably is more solid than spectacular, but a nice late addition after losing some transfers/recruit to draft.

Glidewell hails from Orange Coast CC in California, who effectively mixes between a sinking upper-80s to low-90s fastball and a changeup.
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***** Bradley-Cooney- Double transfer who moved from Campbell closer to Alabama afterthought. Control/Command have been a huge issue for him and last year it kept him off-the-field in the SEC. Campbell he could get a lot more chase off-the-plate on three ball counts whereas SEC took the pitches. If they can get him to find the zone a bit more he does have stuff.

2-0, 6.38 ERA, 31 G, 42.33 IP, 30 H, 30 ER, 35 BB/58 K, 7 HBP in college career (only 3.1 IP last year and was awful).

0.00 WAR, 7.00 FIP, 6.42 SIERA last season

Bradley-Cooney, another stocky righty, sat 90-91 against Clemson this fall, but he can run it up to 94, and he has a real out pitch in his big-breaking 81-83 slider, which he can throw to lefties as well as righties.
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***** Bradley-Cooney, another junior college transfer, is a 6-foot-2, 210-pound righthander from CC of Baltimore County-Essex (Md.). He struggled with his control in his Scout Day outing, but his stuff was impressive. He worked with a fastball from 92-95 mph, a mid-to-high-80s slider that spun at nearly 2,900 rpm and a high-80s changeup.
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TJ Coats- Big frame, stocky starter-look. Was a freshman Juco transfer, so has two years of eligibility.

0-0, 7.15 ERA, 8 G, 11.33 IP, 9 H, 9 ER, 13 BB/15 K, 3 HBP

0.01 WAR, 8.23 FIP, 4.89 SIERA at Nebraska

Sophomore TJ Coats is a very physical righty (6-3, 220) with a good arm; he was up to 94 with a decent slider, and he worked one impressive 1-2-3 inning before running into trouble in his second frame Sunday. That’s an exciting high-upside arm.
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Ryan Bilka- Another two-time transfer, Bilka has seen excellent results wherever he has been. High-slot righty is a control artist (69% strike % is one of highest in country) who limits hard contact. But do not mistake the fact that Bilka also has really good stuff. I think he would be an excellent weekend starter and he went 5+ IP multiple this season for Richmond. This was a home park with a 127 park factor, so he was pitching in a very hitter friendly environment as well.

6-2, 2.18 ERA, 18 G, 62 IP, 43 H, 15 ER, 13 BB/57 K, 5 HBP

3.24 WAR, 3.68 FIP, 3.06 SIERA at Richmond

The Wagner transfer gave up just two hits and no free passes while striking out five, attacking with a 93-94 fastball that touched 95. Bilka also featured a pair of offspeed offerings that got swings and misses, a slider to both sides of the plate and an 82-mph splitter that he used to get lefties waving.

Ryan is a strike thrower, first and foremost. I think he’s got really good stuff,” Aoki said. “The slider has been a pitch that’s been there for him most times. The split when he’s thrown it well is a pitch that can really neutralize lefties. He’s just really competitive, and he’s got good stuff, and he’s not afraid to just give it to you. Like, here it is. Here’s my stuff. Go get it.
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Michael Taylor- Two-time transfer as well. Former position player who is getting acclimated with full-time pitching. Good stuff with great athleticism and twitch. Two years remaining.

2-1, 3.86 ERA, 16 G, 21 IP, 18 H, 9 ER, 13 BB/27 K, 2 HBP

0.53 WAR, 4.42 FIP, 3.47 SIERA at UNLV

Taylor, is 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, fastball sits 90-93 mph t94, 86-88 cutter t90. Working to find a usable 2S, changeup or sweeper.
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If anyone wants to see how they compare:

Easton Marks- At this point I should say they are not two-time transfers rather than noting they are. Reno is one of the ballparks most similar to Coors Field if you want an indication of what it's like to pitch there, so it's no surprise he has improved dramatically with FIU.

2-3, 3.49 ERA, 14 G, 67 IP, 59 H, 26 ER, 35 BB/72 K, 7 HBP

2.47 WAR, 4.94 FIP, 3.84 SIERA

Easton Marks is the Friday night starter. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound physical bodied righthander has taken a liking to the humid air of south Florida after transferring from the altitude of Reno (Nev.) where he walked 42 in 46.2 innings last spring. His strike rate last year was 15th percentile at 54.4%, this season it has improved to the 58th percentile with a 62.1% strike rate. The most significant improvement has come from his secondaries that include a 83-85 mph changeup that has jumped from a 48.2% rate to a current season 68.9% and a low-80s curve that has made similar progress – 46.3% to 66.3%. With a long arm action to an over-the-top release point his fastball tops at 95 and has averaged 92.6 mph this spring, up from 91.8 mph last year.
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Danny Macchiarola- Competitive righty who works to keep the ball on the ground and attack hitters in the zone.

9-5, 3.27 ERA, 16 G, 93.67 IP, 81 H, 34 ER, 28 BB/92 K, 7 HBP

3.75 WAR, 3.80 FIP, 3.18 SIERA

RHP Danny Macchiarola had a 5.68 ERA in 12.2 innings over two stints with Harwich (Cape Cod) this summer, earning progressively more important innings as time went on. With a short arm three-quarters release, he shows a fastball that reaches the low 90s, a slider that averages about 80 mph and a changeup in the low-to-mid-80s.
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Bilka and Menendez highlight the group making it to campus for me and both could compete for weekend duties if the staff wants to go that way, or both could work in a hybrid, multi-inning relief role that bridges games.
 
@scane time to update the roster list now that we know who's staying and probably done in portal.... some tough cuts gonna be made
 
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HurricanePhilly said:
He is so out of wack right now he needs to go to a Juco where they can basically start over and see if they can rebuild him from the ground up.
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He's been out of whack since he lost Velo from his JR-SR of HS. I have him on the cut list because. He did not live up to his ranking or expectations in year 1. He didn't make the NCAA Tournament roster. Now he is having a bad Cape Cod summer.

If he does not perform in the fall, it will be hard for him to stay on this roster, in my opinion.
 
Sebastian Font said:
Fyi, Tate was up to 98 at tread earlier today
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So glad he skipped the summer and put in work. Now just add some weight the next few months.

he just needs to to stay out of the flat zone. (Vertical and horizontal break are equal) which tends to be his issue when he gets hit. He is a Friday type arm who got thrown into the fire and learned from it.

This years Jersey arm, Jake Lodgek is just a hair lower velo wise than Tate last year but has a plus slider and sneaky fb with a pretty high spin rate. He could be a real asset for 1-2 inning out of the pen if he puts it together mentally as a freshman.
 
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Jake Dorn just struck up Vance Sheahan….
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