Patrick Pridgen

A fifth-year sophomore thanks to three years at Northern Iowa Area JC (one of which was the pandemic season that didn’t count for eligibility purposes) and a redshirt year at Oregon, Pridgen has a plus fastball that sits 91-94 mph and has touched 97. He has bouts of wildness, which is why he piled up heavy pitch counts all year—he generally threw between 100-115 pitches to get through five or six innings. But with his fastball and his above-average 80-83 mph slider, he also piles up strikeouts. He reached double digits in strikeouts in six of his 14 starts. His 14.1 strikeouts per nine innings were second most among Division I starters. Prigden’s command of his low-80s changeup is inconsistent, but it’s effective when he keeps it down.