2023 Wake Forest Baseball Player Rankings: #12

Reliever Cole Roland:

One of the many high profile transfers Wake Forest picked up last summer was senior Cole Roland. Roland helped solidify the back-end of Wake Forest's stacked bullpen.

Roland captivated national attention with his funky delivery and pre-pitch routine against LSU in the College World Series. He was also known for having one of the nastiest offspeed pitches in all of the NCAA last season.

Roland pitched to the tune of a 2.15 ERA with two wins, two saves, 50 strikeouts and a .149 opponents' BAVG in 29.1 innings pitched. He was impressive at limiting baserunners, posting a WHIP below 1.000, allowing a combined 28 hits and walks. 21 of his 25 appearances were scoreless.

Roland excelled in the postseason, pitching 4.1 innings and allowing two hits, three walks, and only one run. Looking at Roland's season in total, he only really faltered in one aspect of the game and just had one performance out of the 25 that was a head scratcher. He had a .600 fielding percentage and gave up 2 runs versus Coastal Carolina in the first matchup between the two teams. You really have to grasp for straws to find places where Roland wasn't rock solid. This is a true indication of how good he was, and why he will likely be the closer in the upcoming season.

Roland transferred to Wake from Dartmouth, where he only pitched in the 2021 season, posting a 3.90 ERA out of the bullpen with two wins and four saves. He was a 2023 All-ACC Academic Team Selection.