THE FLATS – Senior RHP Mason Patel (Knoxville, Tenn.) was named a semifinalist for the 2025 Pitcher of the Year award, the College Baseball Foundation announced today. Patel has anchored the Georgia Tech bullpen all season and was named All-ACC for the first time in his career earlier in the week and becomes the first Yellow Jacket since 2013 (Buck Farmer) to earn a semifinalist recognition.
Patel was nothing short of dominant all season, earning his first-career All-ACC honor. The Knoxville, Tenn. native holds a 2.85 ERA over 19 appearances and became the first Yellow Jacket pitcher this century to win each of his first six starts, finishing with an 11-1 record, tied for the most wins of any Power 4 pitcher despite not starting a single game. He is now tied for the 13th most wins in a single season in GT history, the most since Kyle Bakker posted 13 wins in 2002. Patel is one on only four pitchers across Division I with double-digit wins and the only pitcher in Division I with at least eight wins and five saves.
He pitched the first 22.2 innings of the season without allowing a run and has posted career-bests in wins (11), saves (5), innings pitched (60.0), strikeouts (57) and opponent’s batting average (.207), the fourth lowest in the ACC.
He is one of 16 pitchers from around the nation to be named a semifinalist and one of three in the ACC. Patel is the third Yellow Jacket to be named a semifinalist for this award, joining Buck Farmer (2013) and Deck McGuire (2009).
Finalists for the National Pitcher of the Year Award will be announced on June 4, with the 2025 winner to be announced at a date to be finalized later that month. Hagen Smith of the University of Arkansas was the 2024 National Pitcher of the Year.
The National Pitcher of the Year Award was first awarded in 2009. Previous winners of the award are Stephen Strasburg, RHP, San Diego State, 2009; Alex Wimmers, RHP, Ohio State, 2010; Trevor Bauer, UCLA, RHP, 2011; Mark Appel, RHP, Stanford, 2012; Jonathan Gray, RHP, Oklahoma, 2013; Aaron Nola, RHP, LSU, 2014; Carson Fulmer, RHP, Vanderbilt, 2015; Eric Lauer, LHP, Kent State, 2016; Steven Gingery, LHP, Texas Tech, 2017; Luke Heimlich, LHP, Oregon State, 2018; Ethan Small, LHP, Mississippi State, 2019; Kevin Kopps, RHP, Arkansas, 2021; Cooper Hjerpe, LHP, Oregon State, 2022; Paul Skenes, RHP, LSU, 2023 and Hagen Smith, LHP, Arkansas, 2024.
For more information on the Pitcher of the Year Award, visit the College Baseball Foundation website at www.collegebaseballhall.org.
Patel and the Top-seeded Yellow Jackets have a double-bye in this week’s ACC Tournament and open postseason play on Thursday at 3 p.m. against No. 16-seeded California. The single-elimination tournament will be held at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C. For more information on the 2025 ACC Baseball Championship, including tickets and schedule, click HERE
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
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