Bell set to sign six on Wednesday
Mike Bell’s first recruiting class at Pitt will sign on Wednesday, and the group will feature a half-dozen players split evenly between high-schoolers and junior-college prospects.
Bell, the Panthers’ first-year head coach, was hired in July to replace long-time coach Joe Jordano. He came to Pitt from Florida State, where he was the associate head coach and pitching coach for the last seven years.
With a background in pitching - and the retention of Pitt pitching coach Jerry Oakes from Jordano’s staff - Bell is looking to build his first class from the mound. As such, headlining the class are three JUCO pitchers who will join Pitt’s staff next summer.
Matt Gilbertson is a right-handed pitcher at College of Southern Nevada. As a freshman for the Coyotes last spring, the 6’0” 190-pound native of Henderson (Nev.) threw 64 strikeouts in 56.1 innings to post a 5-2 record and a 1.76 ERA while also grabbing two saves.
Dylan Lester will arrive at Pitt next summer after following a more unique path. The No. 26 RHP prospect in the state of Texas for the class of 2016 according to PerfectGame.org, Lester played two years at the University of Houston before transferring to San Jacinto Junior College in Pasadena (Tex.).
Lester missed all of his freshman season at Houston with an injury to his throwing arm but appeared in six games out of the bullpen this past season, striking out four batters in five innings pitched. He transferred to San Jacinto this summer and will play one season for the Ravens with two years of eligibility remaining.
The third junior college pitcher to join Pitt in the 2019 class is also the latest recruit to commit to Pitt: Florida Southwestern State College right-hander Mitch Myers. A native of Alabama, where he was the No. 5 RHP prospect in the state for the class of 2017 according to PerfectGame.org (he was also a top-150 RHP prospect nationally), Myers started 14 games for FSW last spring, posting a 5-6 record with 62 strikeouts in 73.2 innings pitched.
In addition to the three junior-college players, Bell is also expected to sign three high-school prospects on Wednesday, with one pitcher and two position players in the group.
The pitcher is Jarrett Bach, a left-hander from nearby Yough High School who committed to Bell roughly a month after he was hired at Pitt. A 6’4” 175-pound hurler, Bach struck out 77 batters in 42 innings last season while posting an ERA of 1.66 and a WHIP of 0.90.
Bell has another commitment from an in-state prospect in outfielder Zion Spearman from Philadelphia. Spearman is the No. 6 outfielder in the state of Pennsylvania for the class of 2019, according to PerfectGame.org; he’s a right-handed outfielder with power and he committed to Pitt last November when Jordano was the head coach.
The third high-school prospect signing with Pitt on Wednesday is catcher Nick Vera from Miramar High School in Florida. According to PerfectGame.org, he is a top-150 catcher prospect nationally, and his profile on MaxPreps indicates he hit .348 last season with 25 RBI on 23 hits and just on nine strikeouts in 86 plate appearances.