Third Notre Dame baseball pitcher enters NCAA transfer portal this week
A third Notre Dame pitcher has entered the NCAA transfer portal this week. If this one decides to leave, it’ll be arguably the biggest loss of any of them.
Senior Alex Rao popped up in the portal Friday.
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Rao was one of Notre Dame’s most heavily used pitchers in 2022. He appeared in 25 games, ranking second to only fellow senior Aidan Tyrell. Tyrell started five times. Rao never started. He was always one of former Notre Dame head coach Link Jarrett‘s first options out of the bullpen. He has one year of eligibility remaining.
Rao went 3-1 with a 3.83 ERA. Opposing batters were hitting just .188 off him. That mark is lower than ace John Michael Bertrand’s opposing batting average of .234 and No. 2 starter Austin Temple’s figure of .200. The .188 number tied for the lowest on the team of anyone who pitched at least 10 innings with junior Liam Simon.
Rao joined rising sophomores Caden Aoki and Roman Kimball as Fighting Irish transfer portal entrants this week. It’s important to note they can all still return to Notre Dame. July 1 is the deadline to enter the transfer portal and play at a new destination. If the Fighting Irish hire a head coach whose vision aligns with theirs, they could decide to exit the portal and stay in South Bend.
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Time is ticking, though. It’s always of the essence.
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Obviously, the best way to lessen the blow of defections — and to limit them entirely — is to hire Jarrett’s replacement as swiftly as possible. It’s unclear which direction the Irish will go with their next hire. It could be internal candidate Chuck Ristano, Notre Dame’s pitching coach of the last 12 years. But athletic director Jack Swarbrick could also look to bring someone with head coaching experience into the fold.
Amid the calls for Notre Dame to join the Big Ten in football in the wake of USC and UCLA ditching the Pac-12 to do so, Swarbrick has been interviewing candidates for the baseball head coaching vacancy. July used to be a quiet time in collegiate athletics. Not anymore. Especially at Notre Dame in 2022.
