Three new FSU pitchers to know

Last week, Tomahawk Nation’s Curt Weiler covered three new FSU position players to know ahead of the Seminole baseball season kicking off on February 13th.

Today, the focus shifts to the mound.

Last season, the Seminoles were buoyed by their weekend rotation of Jamie Arnold, Joey Volini and Wes Mendes. Outside of Arnold being scratched for one start, head coach Link Jarrett did not have to change his rotation one time, and their consistency propelled FSU to a second-straight trip to the Super Regionals. For the staff as a whole, Florida State’s pitching ranked third in the ACC in ERA a season ago and had six arms drafted in the 2025 MLB Draft, including the No. 11 pick, Arnold.

The 2026 pitching staff will look completely different.

While Mendes returns, Arnold and Volini have turned pro, as have trusted bullpen options such as Peyton Prescott and Joe Charles. Seeking to rebuild his pitching staff, Jarrett aggressively pursued reliable veteran arms via the portal, landing FAU LHP Trey Beard, the No. 7 player in the portal according to On3. Beard appears to be a shoo-in for a weekend rotation spot, and his changeup may be the best pitch on anyone on the staff this season. But outside of Beard, here are three pitchers to know ahead of the 2026 baseball season.

No. 1: RHP Bryson Moore

Heading into the final weeks of camp, Moore appears to be in a battle with LHP Payton Manca for the final spot in the weekend rotation, and both have drawn rave reviews from Jarrett. Moore, who spent his last two seasons at Virginia, entered the transfer portal after Mississippi State poached former UVA head coach Brian O’Conner, but did not follow him to Starkville and instead came to Tallahassee. Moore has a commanding physical presence on the bump, standing 6’3” and weighing 215 pounds with a three-pitch mix, fastball, changeup and curveball.

The main concern with Moore is how he will hold up throughout the season. During the 2025 campaign, Moore only threw 18.1 innings and did not appear in a game from March 2nd to April 29th. However, early on in the season, the righty fired five innings of two-run ball (one earned) on 83 pitches, so he does have the capability to start and throw late in games. But 31.1 innings over two seasons does give cause for concern.

Moore was the 159th-ranked recruit in Perfect Game’s 2023 class and was the D.C. Gatorade Player of the Year for baseball in his senior year of high school. The talent is obvious, but the question will be whether Florida State can get a full season out of the junior right-handed arm. Here is Jarrett on Moore in his mid-preseason press conference with the local Tallahassee media on Thursday.

“Bryson Moore, start to finish, from fall to where we are right now, has been very, very consistent. It’s a good mix of a variety of pitches. He’s very conscious of how he works. He’s been spot on, and we need to keep him headed in that direction.”

No. 2: RHP Gabe Nard

In the last two seasons, the lack of consistent options out of the bullpen has been the downfall of the Florida State season. While throughout the year, the arms out in the ‘pen have been good enough, in the biggest spots, they faultered and FSU’s seasons have ended because of it.

Enter Duke transfer Gabe Nard, who could be the slow-heartbeat, reliable, shutdown bullpen arm the Seminole staff has desperately needed. Nard transferred from Duke, which lost their head coach to Virginia, and joined the FSU program in the spring after finishing his degree in Durham over the fall. In his junior season with the Blue Devils, the righty made 29 appearances with only two starts, but fired 50.2 innings with a 4.62 ERA and a 45:17 K:BB ratio. Nard spent three seasons with the Blue Devils, making 20 or more appearances in every campaign and racking up 120.2 innings pitched across his college career.

The one question mark about Nard will be where Jarrett decides to use him. Even though he has spent most of his career out of the bullpen, Nard has never recorded a save. Will he be a multi-innings eater in the seventh and eighth and give way to someone in the ninth, or will there be a different plan for him in his senior season in Tallahassee? Here was Jarrett on Nard:

“Different profile of fastball, tremendous sink-and-run, that’s going to help us. He’s still acclimating to the program, but he’s well on his way to being a serviceable piece of this thing for us.”

No. 3: RHP Cole Stokes

Florida State has a trio of flame-throwing, right-handed relievers, Cade O’Leary, Ben Barrett and Cole Stokes. All three face similar control issues, but if Stokes gets it right, he could be the dominant closer FSU has lacked under Jarrett.

Stokes transferred to Florida State after two seasons at Oregon. In his sophomore season, the 6’6” RHP was tied for the team lead in appearances with 24, but struggled with consistency as he handed out more free passes (31, 16 walks and 15 HBPs) than he had innings pitched (20.1). Stokes made only one appearance in Oregon’s regional last year and did not record an out while allowing two walks against Utah Valley.

As mentioned, though, what makes Stokes’ potential so great is his fastball. The junior consistently sat at 96, with the ability to reach 98-99, and is working on a slider to pair with the heater. Here is what Jarrett had to say on Thursday on Stokes’ most recent appearance in practice:

“The last outing he had was as good an outing as a right-handed pitcher I’ve seen on a college field. It was dynamic; it was 98. The slider profile was unbelievably good. That was a phenomenal outing. It was fun to watch.”

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