After becoming the highest-drafted Hoosier in the 2015 Major League Baseball Draft, junior pitcher Jake Kelzer is moving to the back end of the bullpen.
In the wake of losing pitchers Ryan Halstead and Luke Harrison, the Hoosiers needed an arm to close games, and Kelzer seems to be the one for the job.
“Those are tough guys to replace, but we have a lot of depth in there,” IU Coach Chris Lemonis said. “We’re going to pitch Jake Kelzer at the back of the game. Last year he was one of our mid-week starters.”
Lemonis penned the then-sophomore into the Saturday spot in the 2015 rotation, where Kelzer posted a 4-5 record and a 3.95 ERA. Through 11 starts, he pitched 73 innings while allowing just four home runs.
When Kelzer came to IU in 2014, he pitched out of the bullpen as a freshman set-up man, in which he tossed 31.2 innings and allowed 27 hits.
“The back part of the game is kind of where I started my career,” Kelzer said. “It was a place I was comfortable in. I’m happy to be back there, I’m not mad about being back there. It’s going to be a fun year.”
Last season, IU recorded a total of 16 saves, 10 of which were earned by Halstead. That’s a lot of saves leaving the program, and now the responsibility falls on Kelzer and junior pitcher Thomas Belcher, who Lemonis said could pitch from anywhere in the bullpen.
While starting pitching and relieving are two different positions, Halstead still had a walks plus hits per inning pitched of 0.97, while Kelzer managed a 1.32 from the rotation. Halstead struck out 50 batters in 41.2 innings, while Kelzer struck out 57 in 73.
“Baseball is about starting pitching and pitching in general, and we had some great pitching experience last year,” Lemonis said. “The hardest part is getting everybody innings.”
To Kelzer, though, closing is a whole different position.
He’s proven he has a strong enough arm to anchor the back of the bullpen, as he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 14th round last season.
“It’s a mindset,” Kelzer said about closing. “You gotta know you’re the man. You gotta know that coach can give you the ball and you can shut it down and walk off that field with a W.”
In his one save of 2015, Kelzer shut out Ohio State in three innings of work, and allowed just one hit, while his longest outing was eight innings against Rutgers.
Lemonis said the bullpen, including Belcher and others, has the depth to adapt to most situations, and he said he is high on the pitchers’ potential.
“We have a bunch of different options, our left-handed options, our right-handed options,” Lemonis said. “We have guys in our bullpen that we think we can match up very well.”
