Oregon Ducks News: Duck big leaguer emerges as D-Backs mound ace

Pro Duck Ryne Nelson starts with five perfect innings, pitches D-Backs to another win

Former Oregon pitcher Ryne Nelson pitched Saturday for the Diamondbacks, earning another win to run his season record to 5-2 as Arizona beat Kansas City 7-1 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

The win ended a three-game losing streak for the D-Backs, in fourth place in the NL West with a 44-45 record.

Nelson carried a perfect game into the sixth inning before giving up a one-out single to Royals catcher Freddy Fermin. He wound up pitching seven strong innings, allowing just one run and striking out five, walking none.

The team is 3-7 over their last ten, but when Nelson starts, they've won their last five. Since the All-Star break last season he's been the ace of the staff, a 4-0 record with a 3.23 ERA after the break last year.

He nearly pitched the team into the playoffs before shoulder inflammation kept him out of the lineup last September, just missing the wild card round at 89-73.

Team doctors shut him down for two weeks during the playoff chase, and he's on a strict pitch count this season. Over his last five starts, 29 innings, he's posted a 1.55 ERA with 26 strikeouts, just six walks.

A 6-3 righthander from Henderson, Nevada, Ryne Nelson came to the Oregon Ducks in 2017 as a pitcher and shortstop.

He hit just .167 as a freshman, moving to the bullpen the following year. By his junior season he'd found his game, earned All-PAC-12 after striking out 104 batters in 65 innings with four starts and four saves as the team went 27-29 in their last year under George Horton.

The Diamondbacks picked Nelson in the second round that summer, starting his minor league career two hours up the road in Hillsboro with the Hops. Like most minor leaguers he lost the 2020 season to Covid, had eye surgery over the winter, making his way to the big leagues in 2022 with a September start versus the Padres.

He bounced between AAA Reno and the big club for another year before sticking in 2023, finishing the season with an 8-8 record and a 5.31 ERA.

Then at 26 he seemed to find his groove as a major league pitcher, gaining command of his 99 mph four-seam fastball and a filthy curveball. He's learned to change speeds and get the first-pitch fastball over for strikes, get ahead of hitters and send them to the bench with high heat.

Asked to explain his approach after his great run last season,Nelson told Aaron Hughes of Sports Illustrated, "I think it's going to be the same kind of mentality I had last offseason. Just work super hard, better myself, and keep improving on myself as a pitcher."

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