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Rice Baseball 2025 Season Review: Starting Pitching

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The Rice baseball starting rotation kept the Owls afloat, grinding through ups and downs and giving the team a chance more often than not.

The pitching staff went through many shifts and changes as David Pierce took over for Jose Cruz Jr. as the ice baseball head coach midseason. Pitching coach Parker Bangs did his best to piece things together, ultimately settling on a few different variations for the weekend rotation as the year progressed.

More: Rice Baseball embarks on crucial offseason

For the purposes of this discussion, the two pitchers who were mainstays in the weekend rotation, with three others seeing a meaningful run as starters that warranted inclusion in this discussion. Here’s a rundown of how those starters fared this season.

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** Photo credit: Maria Lysaker **

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Rice Baseball 2025: MLB Owls Update – May 28

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The 2025 MLB season is underway and Rice baseball alums are making the most of their time in The Show. Here’s the latest from the MLB Owls.

Dane Myers – Miami Marlins

Myers has been on the injured list since May 12 after suffering an oblique injury, but his big league return might be coming soon. Myers began a rehab assignment with the Marlins’ AAA affiliate in Jacksonville on Tuesday, going 1-for-4 with an RBI in his debut. If all goes well, he will be on track to return to the Marlins soon.

Through May 28, Myers is hitting .337 with six extra-base hits, five walks and 21 strikeouts. His OPS is .857 and he’s collected 14 RBI.

Injured List

Anthony Rendon – Los Angeles Angels

Rendon is slated to miss a significant amount of time following him surgery this spring. The bad news is another bump in an injury-plagued stint with the Angels; Rendon missed a chunk of last season with an oblique strain.

Matt Canterino – Twins AAA

Canterino was thought to have a real chance to crack the big league roster at some point this season, converting himself to a reliver this offseason in hopes of limiting the stress on his arm and preserving his health. Unfortunately, he’s set to miss a third consecutive season, undergoing shoulder surgery in early March. The Twins since released him and signed him to a minor league contract while he rehabs.

Knocking on the Door

The following Owls began the season in AAA:

  • Tristan Gray – Charlotte Knights (White Sox)
  • Evan Kravetz – Louisville Bats (Reds)
  • Glenn Otto – Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Astros)
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Rice Baseball: 2025 MiLB May Update

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While several Rice Baseball alums are producing at the highest level, others are working their way up the ladder. Here’s the latest on the MiLB Owls.

Triple-A

Tristan Gray (White Sox) is off to a strong start to the season, slashing .278/.338/.500 through his first 37 games, all of which would represent his highest marks as a professional at any level. That should help make his case for a promotion at some point this year.

Evan Kravetz (Reds) was moved the development list in mid-May after an up-and-down beginning to his 2025 season. He holds a 9.39 ERA in 7.2 innings of work, primarily as an opener. He’s struck out eight while allowing opposing batters to hit .395 against him, a mark well above his career norms.

More on Rice Baseball: Latest from the MLB Owls

Glenn Otto (Astros) signed with the Astros this past offseason but has yet to appear in any competitions for the organization across any level. He’s been on the injured list with the Space Cowboys since March.

Matt Canterino (Twins) was released and subsequently resigned by the Twins to a minor league contract after injuries forced him to miss the entirety of the 2025 season. He remains on the full-season injured list.

Roel Garcia (Rays) was promoted to AA this week after making nine appearances at the AA level this season, striking out 16 batters in 15.2 innings of work.

Double-A

Trei Cruz (Tigers) has truly found his groove in his fifth season as a minor leaguer and could be on the cusp of another promotion soon if he keeps up his 2025 pace. His .849 OPS is the highest of his career and through 39 games, the sample size is starting to grow.

Single-A

Hayden Durke (Diamondbacks) has been red-hot to begin the year, sporting a jaw-dropping 0.89 ERA through 15 games with five saves in five opportunities. He’s struck out 36 batters in just 20.1 innings of work.

Justin Long (Braves) has impressed in his early work this season, earning a 1.42 ERA in six appearances, all in relief. He’s allowed just four hits in 6.2 innings.

Rookie

Parker Smith (Astros) made his first professional appearance last week, pitching 1.2 innings in his debut, allowing two hits and one run while striking out two and walking one.

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Rice Athletics Roundup: May Subscriber Q&A

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Rice Football transfers, Rice baseball offseason and updates on The Roost Podcast make up this month’s edition of our subscriber Q&A.

The whirlwind of Rice Athletic events hasn’t slowed down with as the academic calendar comes to a close. Rice football is adding transfers and Rice baseball is beginning a very important offseason. This month’s Q&A focuses on those two areas as well as providing a quick update on plans for The Roost Podcast this summer.

Questions were edited briefly for clarity. Want to get your questions answered? Subscribe on Patreon for our monthly mailbag.

For those checking in for the first time, or those returning, a quick programming note. Special features like this are reserved for our subscribers. Have questions? You can get those answered in our monthly Q&As and get access to all practice notes, recruiting updates and features like this one when you subscribe on Patreon today.

Q: Any sleepers on the new transfer signings?

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“So Many Things to Address”: Rice Baseball and David Pierce Embark on Crucial Offseason

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Months removed from his midseason start, Rice baseball head coach David Pierce will finally get his first chance to step back and assess his new program.

For better or worse, Rice baseball head coach David Pierce has just endured the most chaotic months of his coaching career. When the spring began, he was an assistant at Texas State. A few short months later he was at the helm of a program someone else had built and which was careening toward a lost season.

That Pierce was able to right the ship and get this team to the postseason was remarkable in itself. That the Owls were sent home winless from the AAC Tournament further demonstrates how much more work still needs to be done.

Pierce began his closing remarks in Clearwater on Wednesday following the Owls’ elimination at the hands of Florida Atlantic with a sense or earned pride. “At the end of the day, I feel like this program’s gotten better he said,” adding later that he was “really proud of our team.”

In the same breath, the list of to-do’s was already on the top of his mind.

More: 59 Minutes — David Pierce Challenges Rice baseball to grow

“There’s just so many things that we just gotta address,” he said, looking ahead to what promises to be a crucial offseason, his first with the program as its head coach.

“We’ve got to address the structure of how we run some things within the program. We’ve got to address just our team itself, keep building our culture, understanding the standard. And then we got to look at a lot of options with the portal, potentially, because it’s available. And then we gotta get on the recruiting trail , start camps, recruit, the thing that happens at this time of the year.”

The list goes on and on. There’s so much to do.

But as Pierce embarks on that list, it’s worth reflecting on the work already done.

Rice had a .190 winning percentage before Pierce arrived this season. Pierce finished with a .361 winning percentage and went .500 across his last 20 games, which included four losses to top-seeded UTSA in the span of six days.

Pierce rediscovered the vintage form of Davion Hickson that had gone dormant through the first three months of the year. He salvaged cast-off bullpen piece Jack Ben-Shoshan and turned him into the most reliable reliever on the team. On the shoulders (and bats) of five freshmen, Pierce discovered a viable offensive identity. He got this team to believe again.

More: Jack Ben-Shoshan’s circuitous path to the top of the Rice Baseball bullpen

That belief is what Pierce and the Rice administration was banking on when they made the perhaps unprecedented decision to implement a midseason hiring, a shotgun wedding on the diamond which all parties hoped would produce a lasting romance between this once great program and a coach who remembers those glories days and who yearns to bring them back.

But at that podium in Clearwater, Pierce wasn’t thinking about those aspirations, not yet.

“This is my least favorite time of the year,” he admitted. “The first three weeks of transition from the end of the season, moving into the off season, it’s really kind of a tough transition. It is because you just put so much into it, you’re drained. You’re always working off adrenaline, and then you gotta switch gears.”

The man who just poured his heart and soul into a team assembled by someone else is finally going to sit down and put his own stamp on things. He mentioned changes to baserunning, defense, their approach at the plate, the short game and the program’s pitching philosophy. All things better suited to groom in the fall, not in the middle of a season.

Yes, for Rice baseball and David Pierce, the offseason has arrived. The first wave of chaos has subsided, and the next storm is brewing on deck. He and everyone invested in this program are banking on smoother waters next spring and a new, better tomorrow for a program that’s been long searching for that brighter tomorrow and believes it finally has the right captain to get it there.

** Photo credit: Maria Lysaker **

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