Ole Miss veteran pitcher Josh Mallitz out for the season following Tommy John surgery
Ole Miss baseball will have to defend its national championship without one of its top bullpen arms.
Veteran right-hander Josh Mallitz recently underwent Tommy John surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow. Mallitz announced the successful surgery this week.
“I’m kind of doing a different style of pitching,” Mallitz said previously, in detailing his remarkable Ole Miss turnaround. “Last year, I threw a three-pitch mix. Heavy fastball, heavy slider, heavy change-up.
“This year I’ve kind of shifted to a little more slider-heavy. I realized that was one of my best pitches. If I have a good bullet in my arsenal, I might as well use that a lot more than if I have an average bullet.”
Mallitz was instrumental in helping the Rebels secure their first-ever national championship.
He had a team-best 1.45 ERA over his 17 appearances (31.0 innings), including 48 strikeouts to 12 walks. He allowed just five earned runs and held opposing hitters to a collective .171 batting average.
Ole Miss was the last team named to the NCAA Tournament. The Rebels won 10 of their 11 postseason games, capped by two-game sweep of Oklahoma to clinch the College World Series title in Omaha, Nebraska, back in June.
The Rebels were 7-14 in the SEC in May. However, Mallitz and his pitching mates helped engineer a championship-caliber turnaround. There’s hope Mallitz could return for a final Ole Miss season in 2024, but he’s sure to consider his draft position before making any kind of decision.
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“Just getting stronger, eating better and lifting more,” Mallitz said previously of his growth. “Kind of just getting older. I never really velo-trained. It’s come naturally, I guess.”
Ole Miss wrapped its fall intrasquad season earlier this month.
Mallitz suffered the injury around the last weekend, despite having never shown any signs of damage beforehand. He was touching 95 mph with his fastball, only to have one of his very next pitches result in the tear.
Mallitz was widely expected to take over as Ole Miss closer — a climb made more remarkable following a forgettable 2021 season. Mallitz that year compiled a 7.33 ERA over 17 appearances (six starts) and 27 innings as a freshman. He joins fellow Rebel Riley Maddox on the shelf following Tommy John. Maddox had his own successful surgery in May.
It’s unclear where Ole Miss will now turn to finish out games. Sophomore Mason Nichols is a candidate, but he’s also competing to start, and the bullpen depth behind him is relatively unproven.
Ole Miss could get a boost from its incoming class.
“Generally speaking, we really like the class,” Ole Miss hitting coach Mike Clement recently told the Ole Miss Spirit. “I like the offensive players in it, and we have a couple of high-end pitchers, too. It’s an exciting group, as it has been the last few years.
“As we sit here in November, our lineup is going to be as good as it has been. I think it will just continue to roll and be really, really good. We’ll be one of the best lineups in the SEC. There’s a bunch of star power in there, and I think there’s a lot of depth in our lineup.”
