Nick Meyer is coming off season-high, league second-best outing in dominant start for the Crosscutters
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The Crosscutters' arms have been the highlight of the club's strength on the other side of the MLB Draft. But if there's one performance that might illustrate what Williamsport's pitchers have been capable of in the second half, look no further than Nick Meyer.
The 5-foot-10, 215-pound righty is fresh off a season-high 11-strikeout performance after tossing 6.1 scoreless innings against State College on Tuesday with just three hits allowed, only one of which came the entire first six frames.
Those numbers speak for themselves, but Meyer still sees plenty of room for improvement.
"There are definitely things I need to work on in terms of trying to get to that next level. I think being able to do what I've done here so far is definitely a proving ground that I can play professionally," Meyer said. "There's that velocity side that's a glamor of playing affiliate ball and I don't quite fit in there yet, but it's something I can keep working on and building. Just being able to play here and have the success I've had, it goes onto the resume."
Through the 2022 college baseball season, Meyer struck out 28 with 23 hits and six runs allowed over 23 innings of work for the University of Dayton in Ohio.
Prior to his stint for Dayton, Meyer played for Otterbein University where he posted a 2.95 ERA in 21.1 innings and recorded three saves in 2021.
It was one thing to jump from Division I to the talent pool of the Draft League. But in his first taste of professional baseball in the second half, Meyer knows what he needs to work on.
Against players who are older and more experienced, the Cincinnati native is trying to not only put more sauce on his velo, but improve his placement as well.
"Definitely just trying to execute pitches better, like down in the zone," Meyer said. "I know I have a good ride to my fastball, so I'll miss a lot more bats up in the zone, but I know executing down in the zone is harder for hitters to hit, especially guys who want to elevate the ball looking kind of in the middle, top of the zone to try and put something out."
Meyer added, "That goes back to that power side. That's what MLB teams are looking for. Being able to execute fastballs down, executing my changeup down too, it plays really well into my strengths. Being able to mix in my new curveball to keep guys off of it, that's been what's able to keep me through the lineup a couple times, being able to have three pitches I can show that those guys have to respect."
Meyer's 11-strikeout performance against the Spikes was the second best outing in the MLB Draft League all summer behind only West Virginia's Jeremy Cook, who fanned 13 against Trenton on July 27.
On the season, Meyer is 3-2 with 29 strikeouts, eight hits and eight runs alike with a 3.43 ERA. Meyer is looking to improve on that base one start at a time while dialing up his arm strength.
"I've been up to 90 so far on the year. I think I probably got up to 89 (on Tuesday), but my goal moving forward is to sit at 88-91," Meyer said. "Being able to have the same success I had this week and add a little bit of velocity. I think that comes with adding a couple things to my weekly routine."
Of course, Meyer's dominance wasn't an isolated event among the pitching staff. The Crosscutters' arms collectively hold the second lowest ERA in the league at 4.60. State College has the lowest at 3.81.
Much of that production has been within the last 10 games. At one point, Williamsport held the worst ERA in the MLB Draft League despite going to the wire with West Virginia in a race to first place in the first-half standings. But since the break, it's been lights-out.
"Guys are definitely executing, throwing strikes. We've been having starters being able to get into the fifth, sixth innings on multiple occasions," Meyer said. "Behind that, we’ve had a bullpen that can shut it down pretty easily too. All that combined, it's been the success story for us."
If there's another aspect to the success of the Crosscutters' arms in the second half, Meyer, along with Cristian Lopez and Colin Kennedy, are three returning pitchers from the first half.
Coupled with first-half hitters Travis Holt and Daniel Harris, there's already a solid nucleus to help continue the culture that manager Jesse Litsch and his staff have established.
"It's definitely nice having some familiarity, especially in the first week when you don't really know a lot of these guys and you have four guys who you've been around for a week and start to get to know them," Meyer said. "It especially helps the new guys coming in, we kinda know how things roll and we're able to take these guys in and say, 'Hey, this is how we do it.' It's big, I think these guys have a lot more comfort now they've been here and seen it."