Cam Walty, who blanked Wildcats last year, looks to boost Arizona baseball's pitching staff

The biggest priority for Chip Hale and the rest of Arizona’s coaches this offseason was upgrading the pitching staff. The Wildcats ranked sixth in the Pac-12 with a 5.04 team ERA, and they basically ran out of viable arms at the end of a taxing postseason.

Arizona was able to do that, in part, by bringing in Cam Walty through the transfer portal. Walty threw a shutout for Nevada against the Wildcats in Tucson last season — the first time Arizona had been shut out since 2018.

“When the summer hit, with the coaching change at the University of Nevada, we saw that he was in the portal, which was probably a few weeks removed from when he threw a complete-game shutout, so his performance was pretty fresh in our mind,” UA pitching coach Dave Lawn said.

Walty was pitching in the Cape Cod League when he made the decision official that he would be transferring to Arizona.

Originally from Elk Grove, California, Walty already knew a number of players on the Arizona roster who are from the same area, which helped make his decision that much easier.

“I have known Chase (Davis) since I was seven,” Walty said. “I’ve known Anthony Susac since high school, and I’ve known a couple of those other guys just from being around the same area. I think having familiar faces definitely makes it a little bit easier of a transition.”

In Walty’s start against Arizona last season, he not only threw a complete game but allowed just three hits. One of those hits came from shortstop Nik McClaughry.

“He is not an overpowering guy, but he’ll make good pitches and make you get yourself out,” McClaughry said. “I think that’s what we did a poor job of against him last year. We tried to do too much, and when you face a guy like him, that will get you in trouble.

“I hope that will happen to a lot of other teams this year with him on the mound for us.”

Hale and Lawn weren’t just looking for experience on the mound this past offseason but also pitchers who can fill the strike zone. That is exactly what Walty did against Arizona last season, walking just two hitters across nine innings.

“We make it sound simple on our side of it,” Hale said. “If you just throw strikes, you can probably have pretty good success. It is true, and he is proving that .”

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Hale noted that Walty is among five or six pitchers competing to be part of the weekend rotation.

“The important thing about the Friday-night starter is he has to be able to pitch deep into a game, so to do that you have to throw strikes to limit your pitch count,” Hale said. “ He is fighting to be at the top of the rotation.”

In the short amount of time they have been working together, Lawn has already helped improve Walty’s pitch arsenal.

“I think we have added to what he is,” Lawn said. “He was primarily a four-seam fastball and slider, occasional slider, and threw a curveball. Now he is four-seam, two-seam, curve, slider and changeup.”

Walty focused on improvement this offseason. That was another reason he chose to transfer to Arizona.

“I worked on understanding the type of pitcher I am and just realizing what I bring and the best ways I can maximize my opportunities,” Walty said. “For me, that would be fine-tuning the pitches, understanding my body, learning what body style and kind of what I would need for my own sake to perform the best. Building into coming here, that was one of the main things that pushed that effort because I knew they were going to do that for me.”

The Wildcats fell short in the Coral Gables Regional last year in part because the depth of the pitching staff simply wasn’t there. That showed in the final game of the season, when eventual national champion Ole Miss routed Arizona 22-6. The Wildcats went through seven pitchers that night.

“I think last year we were able to win games with decent pitching, but just not enough depth of it,” Hale said. “This year, I feel like it is going to be a strength of ours. If we have those games where we aren’t scoring runs, we’re facing a knockout pitcher on the other side, we can stay in the game and maybe get something late. Whereas last year, we felt at times we had to outscore people.”