Is Oregon State junior left-hander Nelson Keljo the Beavers' new Friday night starter?

CORVALLIS — The Oregon State Beavers will begin a new era of college baseball on Friday, when they hold their first practice of the 2025 season at Goss Stadium in Corvallis.

There is a cornucopia of new surrounding the program — from an independent schedule to an overhauled pitching rotation to a retooled lineup — but one thing remains the same: The Beavers enter the year with national championship expectations.

The perennial college baseball power boasts a No. 7 preseason ranking, despite losing the No. 1 overall selection of the 2024 MLB draft, two-thirds of its weekend rotation and multiple starters from a club that reached the super regionals. Insiders believe the Beavers have the talent for a special season.

After checking in with players and coaches multiple times since the fall, here’s a look at what we’re hearing about the Beavers’ pitching staff heading into 2025:

FRESHMAN ‘PHENOM’

Every year, it seems, an instant-impact freshman arrives in Corvallis, often rejecting the allure of professional baseball to play for coach Mitch Canham. Garret Forester, Travis Bazzana, Gavin Turley and Trent Caraway each landed on campus as Day 1 difference-makers — the latter two rebuffed lucrative professional baseball signing bonuses to do so — delivering the roster with an unexpected gift.

This season’s gift stands 6-foot-5 and throws 98 mph fastballs.

Right-hander Dax Whitney has been as good as advertised since he stepped foot in Corvallis, and the freshman from Blackfoot, Idaho, is expected to fill an immediate — and potentially dominant — role in the Beavers’ weekend rotation, most likely as the Saturday starter.

“Dax is a young phenom, let’s put it that way,” OSU pitching coach Rich Dorman said. “I hate putting that phenom tag to him, but he’s that talented. He could be very special in three years.”

How special? Whitney, who went 10-0 with a 0.27 ERA and 130 strikeouts in 52 2/3 innings during his senior year of high school, could mature into a top 10 MLB draft selection before he leaves Corvallis.

“That’s why he came here,” Dorman said of a player who threw a perfect game and a no-hitter last season.

Whitney was expected to be a high pick last year, but the combination of his asking price and strong desire to play for the Beavers, changed that. Regardless, he possesses Major League talent, featuring a four-pitch arsenal — including a fastball that touched 98 in the fall and a knee-buckling curveball — intimidating frame and intelligence. Dorman gushed about Whitney’s maturity and ability to process information quickly, pointing to the fall and Whitney’s quest to adjust his curveball.

Whitney had been struggling to land his secondary pitch, when Dorman suggested that he tweak his grip. After just two weeks of tinkering, the freshman was consistently painting the pitch in the zone.

“Dax Whitney, man, that would not be a comfy at-bat,” OSU hitting coach Ryan Gipson said. “He has an insane quick release … throws 98 and has a breaking ball that would start over my head and then drop into the zone. That’s an auto take for me and if he could land that, I would have no chance.”

Junior left-hander Nelson Keljo, who rocketed up MLB draft boards over the summer, will receive every opportunity to become the Beavers’ ace (see below). But if he can’t make the jump from reliever to starter, the Beavers believe Whitney is more than ready to fill the role.

“Any other school in the country, Dax is a Friday night guy,” Dorman said.

KELJO’S CHANCE

The Beavers sent three pitchers — starters Aiden May and Jacob Kmatz and closer Bridger Holmes — to the 2024 MLB draft. But no one on the staff closed last season stronger than Keljo.

In four postseason appearances, he tossed 11 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and recording 15 strikeouts, to help push the Beavers to the doorstep of a College World Series appearance. After two seasons of fits and starts, Keljo finally showed an extended glimpse of his promise. And the Beavers think the best is yet to come.

Keljo spent the fall grooming himself to make the jump from reliever to starter and he will be given every chance to become the Friday night starter.

His late-season rise came, not coincidently, after Keljo finally paired a reliable secondary pitch — a slider — with his electric fastball. He went on to excel at USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team training camp over the summer and build up his stamina and arm strength in the fall, in preparation for a starting role. Along the way, Keljo encountered a pleasant surprise: His changeup blossomed.

After throwing the pitch here and there to keep hitters honest, he became one with his changeup in the fall. Now, the 6-4, 228-pound left-hander features a pair of off-speed pitches to go with a fastball that touched 96.6 in the fall.

“We put a lot of time into the changeup,” Dorman said. “And it jumped the slider. It’s looking good.”

There are questions about Keljo’s endurance, how he will adjust to a starting role and whether he can make the leap from middle reliever to ace. But there is no doubt about the quality of his stuff. Keljo enters the season ranked No. 89 on MLB.com’s top 100 prospect list.

THE GREAT UNKNOWN

Despite the promise and talent Whitney and Keljo bring to the top of the rotation, it’s not lost on Dorman and Oregon State coaches that the Beavers’ staff is riddled with inexperience and question marks. That tends to happen when a team loses two-thirds of its starting rotation to the MLB draft.

May and Kmatz combined for 14 victories, 161 2/3 innings and 180 strikeouts last season, leaving a gigantic void — and a great unknown — at the top of the weekend rotation.

“But I like the potential of the unknown,” Dorman said. “There’s a little bit of, we don’t know who’s going to do what yet, but the talent is there. It’s up to them. At the end of the day, the pitchers decide who falls where … just based on if they’re ready for it, not only skill wise, but also mentally ready. What role are they ready to take on? We’ll see.”

The good news is that Oregon State features the best collection of arms and the most depth in Dorman’s time at Oregon State.

If everything plays out the way he thinks it will, Dorman said, the Beavers could have a program-record eight pitchers selected in the 2027 MLB draft class. Yes, eight.

The list includes right-handers Eric Segura, Laif Palmer, Matthew Morrell, James DeCremer, Drew Talavs, Wyatt Queen and left-handers Ethan Kleinschmit and Max Fraser.

Segura, who went 6-1 last season as a freshman, is expected to be the Beavers’ Sunday starter again this season. Kleinschmit, a transfer from Linn-Benton Community College, could be a breakout star (see below). Palmer, Morrell, DeCremer and Talavs are expected to fill important roles.

What roles? That will be decided in preseason camp. But Dorman is giddy about the group’s potential.

“I think our sophomore class could be the most talented sophomore class we’ve had,” he said. “We’ve got a bunch of guys with big stuff that nobody knows yet. So it’s a huge year. We’re good on paper.”

If Keljo can fulfill his promise and emerge as the ace, the Beavers’ season-opening rotation likely goes as follows: Keljo, Whitney, Segura and Kleinschmit. But it will be written in pencil and the likes of Palmer, Morrell, DeCremer and Talavs will be given plenty of chances in preseason camp — and beyond.

Among all the unknowns on the staff, one thing is not up for debate: The Beavers can bring the heat. Dorman said 10 different pitchers hit 94.0 mph or higher in the fall, with Whitney (98.0), Keljo (96.6), Morrell (96.0), Talavs (95.5) and Palmer (95.0) setting the pace.

It’s a far cry from where things stood just two seasons ago.

“I remember my freshman year, I was like the only guy that would throw 95-plus,” Keljo said in the fall. “The average velocity was probably, like, 88 to 90. And now … you have a lot of electric arms with some sharp breaking balls and sliders and stuff. So I’m excited to see where our staff will take us this year.”

THE SECRET

Sophomore slugger Trent Caraway was standing in the doorway of the OSU coaches office last week, when someone shouted an unexpected question his way: Name a pitcher on the staff that you don’t like facing?

“Kleinschmit,” Caraway said, without giving it a second thought.

The biggest surprise on the Beavers’ staff could be the 6-3, 200-pound left-hander, who dazzled in the fall after arriving from Linn-Benton. Kleinschmit, who mixes a low-90s fastball with a slider and changeup, features a deceptive delivery — a la Cooper Hjerpe — that challenges hitters to pick up the ball out of his hand.

He was dominant at Linn-Benton, finishing with a 6-1 record and 1.03 ERA in 78 1/3 innings, during which he recorded 120 strikeouts — an average of 13.8 per nine innings.

Kleinschmit likely will open the season as a midweek starter, but he could work his way into the weekend rotation. The Beavers are also considering pairing Kleinschmit with Whitney (or another starter) to form an imposing single-game tandem of starters that would split an outing in half.

“You can easily pop him with any of the three starters … for a full game,” Canham said. “It keeps guys fresh and, analytics-wise, that four-or-five inning zone is when you’re reaching your peak before stuff can start to drift. That would help with that.”

Either way, Kleinschmit, who is from Mount Angel, is poised to fill an important role this season.

“Kleinschmidt could be the guy that makes everyone say, ‘Who the hell is this? Mount Angel? JC guy?’” Dorman said. “Most of the time, with JC guys, you’re like, we’ll see. But this kid … the ball jumps out of his hand.

“He’s our little secret.”

A NEW CLOSER

Among all the unknowns on the staff, perhaps none features more mystery than who will replace Holmes as closer. The All-American sidewinder was a revelation last season, when he ranked third nationally in saves (13) and emerged as a finalist for the Stopper of the Year award, and his departure leaves a sizable void at the back-end of the bullpen.

Veteran Joey Mundt, who has been in the program longer than the coaching staff, and Tanner Douglas, a transfer from the University of Portland, are the leading candidates to fill the role. But Morrell and Palmer also are in the mix.

Dorman said Mundt, a 6-4 right-hander, is throwing better than he has at any point since undergoing Tommy John surgery in March 2022. And Douglas, a 6-2 junior left-hander, went 4-0 with 10 saves last season for the Pilots. The veterans bring more experience and big-game moxie than their younger teammates, but are not among those 10 names on the roster with 95-mph fastballs; Mundt consistently hits 91, while Douglas lives in the high 80s.

Conversely, Morrell (15) and Palmer (six) have made just 21 combined appearances in their college careers … but would bring mid-90s late-game heat.

Palmer arrived in Corvallis with much fanfare and, if not for a fluke injury (he tore a ligament in his thumb last January) would have been in contention for a starting role. The setback delayed his debut by two months and he struggled to catch up when he finally pitched, allowing 12 hits and nine runs in 12 appearances. But Palmer left an impressive last impression, striking out a pair in 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief against Kentucky in Game 1 of the super regionals.

“I love what I saw when he came in against Kentucky,” Dorman said. “He showed up.”

But there’s something to be said about experience. And the most prolific closer in program history — Jake Mulholland — used movement and pinpoint control, rather than blazing heat, to accumulate 43 career saves for the Beavers, proving that successful closers come in a variety of forms.

Will Dorman and Canham go with experience? Or will they go with potential and power?

Holmes didn’t lock down the closer job until early March last season, so Dorman isn’t stressed about the uncertainty of the back-end of his staff in January.

“I would say it’s exciting,” Dorman said. “Because we’ve got a lot of great players in that pen. We know what Mundt can do. We know what Douglas can do. They’ve kind of done it and I’m confident in them. But there’s also the, how big of a jump are the younger guys going to make? I think it’s just a matter of putting the right guys in the right spot. And they’re going to decide that for us. We’ll see who’s ready for it.”

ROTATION PREDICTION

The Beavers don’t play their first game until Feb. 14 and — like Dorman said — it is largely a staff of unknowns. That said, here’s my best guess at what the rotation will look like at the start of the season:

Friday: Nelson Keljo

Saturday: Dax Whitney

Sunday: Eric Segura

Midweek: Ethan Kleinschmit

— Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman | @freemanjoe.bsky.social | Subscribe to The Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.