It's no secret that WVU baseball has more room for improvement this offseason with their pitching staff than at any other position.
One area in particular that could use some work is the team's consistency when it comes to tossing strikes -- the Mountaineers managed to rank just 126th nationally in walks allowed per game, with WVU giving up 270 walks for an average of 4.55 per contest in 2025.
A little over a week ago, the Mountaineers made a transfer portal move that will look to solve that issue as they added Division 2 All-American and East Region Pitcher of the Year Dawson Montesa to the roster. Montesa becomes the third D2 pitcher to join the Mountaineers this offseason, in addition to Ian Korn and Chansen Cole.
Our top pitcher for D2 making the jump to the Big 12 in ‘26. Best of luck to him in Morgantown. https://t.co/EUaTjDrsqp
— 64Analytics (@64Analytics) June 22, 2025
Coming into the WVU program from Adelphi University, Montesa offers consistency on the mound in terms of his ability to toss strikes. One of the most impressive parts of Montesa’s 2025 stat line was how well he limited walks against the competition, especially given his high output. In 72.1 innings, the right-handed pitcher tossed 105 strikeouts, but only allowed 24 walks.
The previous season, Montesa walked 29 batters as a freshman while only pitching in 44 innings. Throwing 28 more innings while dropping his number of walks allowed by five shows significant development from Montesa while also displaying an impressive ability to keep free runners off the bases.
Another eye-popping area of Montesa’s 2025 season was his opponents' batting average -- he only allowed a .207 batting average for those tasked with facing him. With his low walk ratio and the low batting average against, Montesa was a key part of his team's rotation -- he boasted an 8-1 record and a 1.99 ERA on the season.