Florida State Baseball adds two more transfer arms to pitching staff; assistant coach takes UCF job
Following the worst season in school history, it was imperative Florida State head baseball coach Link Jarrett added some major pieces to the Seminoles’ pitching staff.
And after landing two UCF pitcher transfers earlier this month, Jarrett and his staff have gotten two more verbal commitments from college pitchers in recent days.
First was UNC-Wilmington’s Ethan Chenault, a 6-foot-5 junior who announced on Sunday his intentions to transfer to FSU. That was followed late Monday by Florida’s Yoel Tejeda Jr., a 6-foot-8 rising sophomore who pitched in eight games for the Gators in 2023.
They join the aforementioned duo from Orlando, Cam Leiter and Jacob Marlowe.
Chenault was 5-2 with a 4.91 ERA for UNC-Wilmington in 2023, working part time as a starter and a reliever. The right-hander struck out 53 batters in 39 innings of work. In his last 20.1 innings on the season, all out of the bullpen, Chenault allowed just four earned runs (an ERA of 1.79) and 12 hits while striking out 22.
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Because Chenault is a junior, he is draft-eligible, meaning the Seminoles will have to see how the draft process goes next month before finding out if he will definitely be on the Florida State roster in 2023-24.
Tejeda didn’t get nearly as much work for the College World Series-bound Gators this season, but he has a chance to be a big part of the Seminoles’ plans in 2024. He was a 19th-round draft pick out of North Broward Prep, and though he was used solely as a pitcher in Gainesville, he came into college as a two-way player. He was ranked by Perfect Game as the No. 3 outfielder in Florida and the No. 12 player overall.
The right-handed Tejeda was 2-0 with a 5.56 ERA in eight games (six starts) for the Gators.
The Seminoles struggled to find any consistency on the mound in 2023 once star Wyatt Crowell went down with an injury early in the season. Florida State’s 5.75 team ERA ranked 126th in the nation and was the 12th best in the ACC.
Click here to see the running list of FSU transfer commitments this offseason.
Florida State assistant hired as UCF head coach
The Seminoles have gotten commitments from three UCF players in recent weeks and, well, the Knights returned the favor by taking one of the Florida State assistant coaches.
Central Florida announced on Monday it has hired FSU recruiting coordinator Rich Wallace as its next head coach. Wallace, who just finished his first year with the Seminoles, had served as an assistant for Jarrett for four years total, including the previous three at Notre Dame. He is a UCF alum and former assistant coach there.
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