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Big League Prospects

Joe Pistorese posted a 4-3 record and team-best 2.44 ERA in 15 appearances as a freshman at WSU

By Beacon Staff

Where’s Joe?

That was the first question his coach asked during an interview last week, more curious than anything, but still anxious for the answer.

Joe hadn’t returned home to Kalispell for the summer. He was still in Pullman, Wash.

And … ?

Joe was in the gym lifting weights and training, fixated on baseball, inspired by his teammates and opponents recently drafted into the pros, as well as the competitors still playing in the College World Series.

That was the answer Washington State University head coach Donnie Marbut hoped to hear.

Last season was a challenging one for the young Cougars. It was the type of demoralizing travail that can lead players one of two ways — toward frustration or motivation.

No doubt, Joe Pistorese is motivated. And no one better than Marbut knows what that could mean for the 20-year-old pitcher from Kalispell.

“He is as good a competitor in the game as anybody I’ve coached, and I’ve been doing this for 15 years,” Marbut said.

“As he learns to devote himself to the weight room and training like a true professional and prepare like a true pro, he will be one of the best guys in our conference, and in turn one of the best in the country.”

Pistorese is more driven than ever. Since opting to play baseball in college instead of the minor leagues, he’s grown into his natural abilities and tapped into his greater potential.

He recently finished his sophomore season, where he led Washington State in innings pitched (100), wins (5) and strikeouts (61). He had an earned run average of 2.78.

The Cougars struggled in the competitive Pac 12 conference, ending near the bottom of the standings with a 23-32 record. Still, the season wasn’t without its bright spots, many of them courtesy of Pistorese.

On March 28, the Kalispell product went pitch for pitch with the best hurler in the country, Mark Appel from Stanford, the No. 1 pick in this year’s Major League Baseball draft. Pistorese lasted all nine innings against Appel, facing 38 batters, striking out four while allowing nine hits. Appel held WSU to only four hits and struck out 10. A brief hiccup in the second inning, when Stanford scored three runs on two errors and an RBI single, doomed the Cougars to a 3-0 loss.

On April 19 against Cal, Pistorese fanned 11 batters. In the second to last game of the season, on May 25, he held Oregon State to one run through six innings before letting a few pitches slip in the seventh that turned into three runs. Oregon State went on to advance to this week’s eight-team College World Series in Omaha, Neb., along with fellow Pac 12 competitor UCLA.

Last week Pistorese was back in the gym in Pullman, already training for next season. He had a list that Marbut gave him with the names of all the other Pac 12 pitchers. This time next year he wants to see his name atop that list.

“I have a lot to learn,” Pistorese said. “I feel like I could’ve done better this season. Every day you look at stats across the Pac 12 and the people you’re facing, like Appel. That’s a lot of motivation.”

Joe Pistorese on the mound for Washington State University. | Photo courtesy WSU Athletic Communications

More motivation came two weeks ago, when more than 1,200 young men earned the rare shot at playing professionally, including one from Montana.

The Kansas City Royals picked 19-year-old Riley King from Missoula in the 24th round of the MLB first-year player draft. King became the sixth Montana product selected since 2011 and 62nd overall since the June draft started in 1965.

As a hot prospect on the Kalispell Lakers a couple years ago, Pistorese was taken by the Chicago White Sox in the 44th round of the 2011 draft. He became the eighth player from the Flathead Valley drafted and first since 1998, when Ryan Wardinsky of Kalispell was selected by the Colorado Rockies in the 37th round.

But after graduating from Flathead High that spring, Pistorese chose another route. It appears to have been the right one.

As a freshman at WSU, he posted a 4-3 record and team-best 2.44 ERA in 15 appearances, including 12 starts. During his final three starts he gave up only one run on 10 hits. At the end of the season, his ERA ranked fourth all-time among WSU freshmen; his number of starts ranked fifth; and his innings pitched ranked ninth.

“You knew there was potential in him. When he came as a freshman he was here on pure talent alone,” Marbut said. “All he’s done is gotten better every year. He’s just maturing and growing up and it’s fun to watch. Every time Joe Pistorese pitches, we got a chance to win. That’s the best definition of a true competitor.”

Two years later, Pistorese said he made the right decision to forgo the minor leagues right out of high school.

“Now that I think of it, it would’ve been such a ridiculous jump to go from high school to playing pro ball in Florida or somewhere like it,” he said. “I’m definitely glad I came to college. There are a lot of lessons that I’ve learned.”

That includes learning what it takes to hold your own at the next level, and what it takes to pursue a job in the big leagues someday. That dream —donning a MLB uniform — is still alive. After next season, Pistorese will be eligible to be re-drafted in the MLB, and another decision will need to be made.

Will he be ready? His coach, after finding out Joe was in the gym right after the season, has no doubt.

“The sky is the limit for him,” Marbut said.