Wills Montgomerie has received much attention for his strikeout totals this season. Still, it is interesting to note that Montgomerie does not lead the Huskies in strikeouts per innings. John Russell does, with an amazing 25 strikeouts in 12 innings.
This is not to suggest that Russell is a better pitcher than Montgomerie, not when Russell possesses a 5.25 ERA. Still, Russell has a rather interesting collection of stats to go along with the 25 strikeouts. Also on the plus side, the opposition is hitting .178 against him, and he does have 5 saves. On the down side, Russell has 9 walks (in 12 innings) 4 wild pitches which leads the team, 2 hit by pitches, 2 home runs given up, and the ability to drive Husky fans crazy in a similar fashion that Randy Polonia did last year.
While the bad stuff is quite annoying, the plus side of him is quite interesting, considering how little he pitched for the Huskies last season. In summer ball Russell pitched for the Edenton Steamers of the Coastal Plains League, where he pitched 34.1 innings, struck out 51 batters, and had an ERA of 2.88. He also had 15 walks, which is certainly a better ratio than what he currently has with UConn. I don't know how well regarded the Coastal Plains League is in terms of summer ball leagues, but that is a nice little eye opener. Still, if Russell comes to show the growth that Montgomerie has where he is able to reduce or limit all the walks, hit by pitches, wild pitches and other bad stuff, than UConn will have quite a pitcher on their hands. I'm inclined to think this is not out of the question, considering Russell has pretty much come out of nowhere to claim a major stake in the UConn bullpen this season.
Queue up Keith Law diatribe.