By: James Gravley | WV Sports Chat
For all the questions about how the West Virginia pitching staff will perform next season, there were two pitchers who impressed this summer in the Appalachian League.
Those two are Bryson Thacker and Tucker DeLisle.
Thacker finished with 34 strikeouts and 19 walks over 28.2 innings of work while DeLisle finished with 33 strikeouts and 16 walks over 27.2 innings of work. Both were rated as the No.1 and No. 3 pitchers in the Appalachian League stat data base.
Thacker, who appeared in five games for the Tennessee Volunteers last year, transferred to the Mountaineers program with 4.1 innings of work under his belt that produced seven strikeouts and four walks. Thacker, at one point was rated as a top pitcher within 100 rankings available in the Appalachian League.
As for DeLisle, he is returning to the Mountaineers after appearing in just two games last season where he posted a 9.00 ERA over one full inning of work allowing a home run on one hit. He struck out one and walked one along the way as well.
DeLisle was one of the shining stars for the Mountaineers in the Appalachian League all summer long. He produced stellar outings and eventually became Tri-State’s Wednesday afternoon starter including an outing where he struck out six over 3.2 innings of work.
Both will likely be key pieces in the bullpen for the Mountaineers as neither have any starting rotation experience. Plus, the rotation is going log-jammed next season.
WVU will have the experience of Chase Meyer, Ian Korn, Dawson Montesa Chansen Cole, and David Hagen as key rotational players. Also, Maxx Yehl coming back from Tommy John while JJ Glascock, a young arm, could lead the way alongside of Yehl out of the bullpen in 2026.
