Charlotte Baseball Coach Robert Woodard Names A New Pitching Coach
Charlotte 49ers baseball head coach Robert Woodard announced Monday afternoon (Jan. 22) that staff member Michael Oh has been promoted from pitching coordinator to pitching coach, ahead of the 2024 season.
“I am excited to elevate Michael Oh today from pitching coordinator to our program’s pitching coach,” Woodard said. “He has checked all of the boxes within our program for having the ability to lead a high-caliber pitching staff. Coach Oh has been instrumental in continuing our push as a program to recruit, train, develop, and perform at a national level. In his first year as our pitching coordinator, he played an integral role in our return to the NCAA Tournament and in the overall pitch quality improvement on our pitching staff. This resulted in our pitching staff yet again setting a program record for strikeouts, alongside high performance with other metrics that we value. Throughout that process, we were able to have four CLT pitchers drafted or sign professional contracts last summer after our season. The future is bright for Michael, and we greatly appreciate everything that he does for both our pitching staff and program on a daily basis.”
Oh joined the CLT coaching staff in the fall of 2022 and the Niners’ pitching staff turned in one of its best years in program history in his first season. The Green and White tossed 619 strikeouts last season to set a program record, ranking 16th in the country and one of just 22 programs in Division I baseball to punch out at least 600. Charlotte also ranked in the top 30 in the country for both strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.60, 23rd) and strikeouts per nine innings (9.96, 26th), setting a program record for best K/9 rate in a single season.
Other top-five program benchmarks achieved by the 2023 Charlotte pitching staff under Oh’s tutelage include the most looking strikeouts in a single season (189), the second-most batters faced (2,477), and the fourth-lowest opponent batting average (.246). The Niners also set the single-game strikeout record with 20 Ks in the second weekend of the 2023 season against Army.
Individually, the Niners produced two MLB draft picks on the mound last season in Wyatt Hudepohl (Rd. 4, Pick 123 – NYM) and Donye Evans (Rd. 16, Pick 470 – DET), marking the first draft since 2014 that had multiple Niner pitchers selected. Hudepohl was a First Team All-Conference USA selection in 2023 and set the individual single-game strikeout record for CLT and matched the conference record with 17 strikeouts against Old Dominion – tied for the most any D1 pitcher had in a single game in 2023. He ended the season with 129 strikeouts for the fourth-most any Niner has had in a single season and his 42 looking Ks are the most from a Charlotte pitcher. Also going pro following the 2023 season were Hale Sims and Paxton Thompson, who signed as free agents with the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, respectively.
Oh joined the Charlotte baseball staff after finishing his playing career in the Queen City in 2022. He made 18 appearances with one start that season, posting a 4.81 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 24.1 innings of work. Before transferring to Charlotte, Oh spent two seasons playing for North Carolina in Chapel Hill after transferring to UNC from North Iowa Area Community College.