The pitch this offseason is simple: Auburn needs pitching. After a league-worst 7.57 ERA in SEC games this season, head coach Butch Thompson closed the year saying the answer to the struggles may not be on the roster he had, and would use Auburn’s failure to make the postseason as a head start on recruiting.

On Monday, the final day of sitting at home to watch Super Regionals, Auburn brought in its first new pitcher. Ryan Hetzler, who just finished his freshman year at Cal Baptist, announced Monday he’d picked Auburn.

Hetzler on the surface doesn’t appear to solve Auburn’s problematic starting pitching, but his stats as a freshman are a significant upgrade from most pitchers on Auburn’s 2024 roster regardless of role.

Hetzler made 25 appearances in 2024 all out of the bullpen and pitched a total of 41.1 innings. He had a 5-1 record with a 2.59 ERA. He had four saves. Opponents hit .284 against him.

On May 24, Hetzler pitched six innings in relief and threw 95 pitches after the starting pitcher in that game gave up five runs in 0.2 innings. That long relief appearance, however, was by far Hetzler’s longest appearance of the season. His next longest was three innings.

It’s too early to say the role Auburn plans to use Hetzler in. Assuming he is kept in the bullpen, he is an immediate upgrade. Rising senior John Armstrong and Hayden Murphy were Auburn’s best two relief pitchers in 2024 but both had ERAs greater than four.

Auburn still is looking for starting pitching help and it’s unlikely Hetzler will be the only transfer portal pitcher Auburn adds. Its incoming freshman class this fall is built on pitching, but its two highest-ranked arms — Connor Gatwood and Christian Chatterton — could receive MLB Draft consideration this summer.

Auburn also added two former freshman All-American hitters who had regressing stats as sophomores in 2024.

Lucas Steele, a catcher, will transfer to Auburn from Samford. Steele played high school ball at Hoover.

In 2023, Steele was the SoCon freshman of the year and a Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American. He hit .315 at a freshman with 16 home runs and 51 RBIs. He started 57 games and played in 61.

As a sophomore, Steele’s batting average dropped significantly to .245. But he still had 13 home runs and boosted his RBI total to 61. His slugging and on base percentage both dropped, too.

Auburn won’t be expecting Steele to start as much as he did at Samford where he had 111 starts in two seasons. Steele plays catcher and first base. Auburn has catching options already in its star, Ike Irish, and rising sophomore Cale Stricklin who had some good flashes at the end of the 2024 season. First base could be a faster track to the field for Steele especially as Auburn has not gotten a public decision from first basemen Cooper McMurray on his status for next season.

Auburn also finds a similar situation with USF transfer Eric Snow.

In 2023, Snow was the AAC defensive player of the year and a unanimous first team All-AAC selection. He too was a Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American.

In 2023, Snow hit .327. In 2024, he hit .248. In 2023 he hit six home runs with 36 RBIs. IN 2024 he had one home run and 10 RBIs. He made five more errors in 2024 than 2023.

Snow played shortstop at USF, where Auburn doesn’t have an immediate starter with previous shortstop Cooper Weiss now out of eligibility. Deric Fabian, who played primarily third base, could play shortstop, too.

Snow and Steele are both players who performed extremely well as freshmen and Auburn hopes to get them back to that and not the statistical downturns they had in 2024. Both fill, at a minimum, depth spots that should see the lineup in 2025.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]