Jason Bahr

Bahr was one of college baseball's most unlikely heroes in 2017. Under Central Florida's previous coaching staff, he got one appearance in three years, lasting 2/3 of an inning while redshirting once and being cut. He kept grinding, pitching in the Florida Collegiate Southern League in 2015 and '16 (totaling 74 strikeouts and 34 walks in 54 innings). First-year head coach Greg Lovelady and his staff saw Bahr over the summer and put him back on the team for fall 2016, and Bahr rewarded him with a strong 2017 season to help the Knights tie for first in the American Athletic Conference. Bahr started four games but evolved into the team's go-to middle reliever, with 84 strikeouts in 53.2 innings. His 14.1 K/9 IP average would rank second in the nation if he had enough innings to qualify. Bahr sat in the 90-91 mph range as a starter early but has ramped it up consistently to 94 mph as a reliever, and he throws quality strikes with the pitch with a high spin rate thanks to good extension out front in his delivery. Bahr has a clean arm action and a feel for pitching off his fastball. That's a must, because his slurvy breaking ball and changeup grade as fringy or below-average.