Bell's first class splits JUCO's and high school players

Mike Bell’s first recruiting class at Pitt addressed needs at pitching, brought in a battery mate for those hurlers and added an outfield power bat.

The class, which Bell and company signed last week, consists of six recruits on an even split: three junior-college players and three from the high school ranks. That’s not necessarily the kind of split Bell envisions in future Pitt classes, but for his first set of additions to the roster, the former Florida State assistant got a 50/50 split.

“I think it was more of a need of where we’re at right now,” Bell told Panther-Lair.com. “In an ideal situation, you’d love to go more 70/30 of high school/junior college, maybe 60/40. It just so happened in this class [that 50/50 was the split] when we got through evaluating the current roster as well as where we’ll be next year.”

The recruits who signed last week are part of the class of 2019, so they won’t be playing for Pitt until the 2020 season after enrolling next summer. By that time, the roster could look considerably different, primarily at pitcher where the Panthers could be without right-handed starters Dan Hammer and Derek West after this spring.

“We felt like we needed to bring in a couple seasoned guys, guys who could step in and pitch in this league right away, and hopefully we identified a couple of those guys who can do that,” Bell said.

For that need, the first-year Pitt head coach signed a trio of right-handed JUCO pitchers: Dylan Lester (San Jacinto Junior College), Mitch Myers (Florida Southwestern State College) and Matt Gilbertson (College of Southern Nevada).

Lester has experience in college baseball, having gone to the University of Houston out of high school. But after an injury and a coaching change, he decided to go to a junior college while looking for a new home, which he found at Pitt.

“He was a profile kid coming out of a powerhouse area in Texas with high school ball and travel ball, and he was a guy who used to come to our camps at Florida State when he was younger,” Bell said. “He kind of slipped past TCU and Texas and ended up in Houston. They had a coaching change on the pitching side of things and he had an injury, and he made a jump this summer; he was ranked in a lot of things this summer and he’s going to be in the rotation for San Jac this year, which is, year in and year out, one of the top two or three junior colleges in the country.

“I mean, they compete for a national championship every year. So for him to be in their rotation, he’s made a jump coming back from the Tommy John surgery and we’re hoping to get him two years out from that surgery if he can bypass the draft and be where we need him to be. He’s in the low 90’s with a power breaking ball.”

Myers followed a similar path. He didn’t play at a Division I school, but he was close before another coaching change altered his plans.

“SEC arm,” Bell said. “He was recruited and signed with Alabama out of high school. When they had a coaching change, he kind of got caught in a numbers game, so he went to junior college last year, which was really an opportunity for him in the Sun Coast Conference - which is the most powerful junior college conference in the state of Florida - it was a chance for him to get his innings and develop and continue to develop. And he has shown a velo jump as of late; typically 87 or 88 or 89 who’s now throwing it 91-93.”

While Lester and Myers project as starters, Gilbertson is a little more flexible. He has worked out of the bullpen and in the rotation at College of Southern Nevada, and that versatility is a big part of the appeal for Bell and his staff.

“I think the best way to describe him is he’s a true pitcher,” Bell said. “Three pitches for strikes, but more importantly, he does not walk guys; he’s always been a strike-thrower in his career. He’s at a nationally-ranked junior college program, and I think that’s a common theme, not just with the JUCO guys but the high school guys; these guys are competing at a high level and they’re coming from championship programs. But his strikeout-to-walk ratio is ridiculous. He’s like a single-digit walk guy each year. He really knows how to attack the zone and he’s the true definition of a pitcher.”

On the high school side, Bell found three players who fill specific roles in how he wants to build the roster at Pitt as the Panthers signed left-handed pitcher Jarrett Bach from Yough, outfielder Zion Spearman from Philadelphia and catcher Nick Vera from St. Thomas Aquinas in Florida.

Bell said that local recruits will always be priorities for Pitt, and he felt he was fortunate to find Bach still available.

“Good things come in small packages, but good things come in big packages, too, and he’s a guy that, just in the last six or 10 months, he’s grown from about 5’10” to 6’3”,” Bell said. “He’s a plus student but also he has the gift to throw that thing from the left side. You’re talking about a 6’3” lefty that can run it up to 88; I think he pitches in the 85-87 range, but I think his best baseball is ahead of him. He has a knack for the strikeout.

“I thought it was important to have a local touch to the class, but I also think we were very lucky that he was still available and he kept blossoming during the summer and late in the summer. It was right around the time that I got hired and we got in here, and Coach Oakes did a good job of continuing to follow him as he continued to get better.”

Bell’s other in-state signing is Spearman, an outfielder who draws some lofty comparisons.

“The name that we’re going to hear a lot when you think of Zion is - for those guys who remember - Kirby Puckett from the Twins back in the 80’s,” Bell said. “Kirby brought two things: he brought a lot of power and always a beautiful smile. When you meet Zion and you see pictures of him, he just brings energy each and every day through his smile and through who he is. He’s a force to be reckoned with. He’s got plus bat speed and we expect some power out of him.

“He was actually a 2020 that reclassified to the 2019 class. Their family is very big on academics and they were ready to get their career started at the collegiate level; there’s no better way to do that than graduate early and get going at a prime situation for three or four years.”

And finally, Pitt signed Vera, a 5’11” 185-pound catcher from a school that is known for producing Division I athletes in multiple sports.

“He was a starting catcher as a sophomore and last year on a state championship team,” Bell said. “He’s a very advanced catch-and-throw guy. He’s a communicator, a leader; he really knows how to handle pitching staffs. But his biggest attribute is catch-and-throw. He’s a short-stature, compact guy, kind of like a Pudge Rodriguez back in the day. A-plus personality, a lot of leadership qualities, outgoing personality. One of his teammates last year went to North Carolina and he was a catcher but he was converted to third because this guy was there.”

Bell is taking over for long-time coach Pitt baseball coach Joe Jordano, who last spring led the Panthers to a 29-26 record and a No. 12 seed in the ACC Championship but upset both teams in its pool - Georgia Tech and North Carolina - before losing to Louisville in the semifinals.

Pitt Athletic Director Heather Lyke hired Bell to replace Jordano over the summer.