Reliever Michael Massey:
Well, Deac fans, we've gotten to the nitty gritty part of our 2023 player rankings. From this point forward until about the top five or six players, the rankings become extremely tight and contested.
Michael Massey was one of many bright spots out of the Wake Forest bullpen this past season. Due to his flexibility to work in any type of role, Massey proved to be one of the biggest under-the-radar transfers in all of the NCAA. As most of you probably know, Massey came over to Winston-Salem from Tulane, where he posted a 3-4 record with a 5.03 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 15 appearances (11 starts) and 68 innings in 2022.
Seemingly a product of the monster that is the Wake Forest pitching lab, Massey improved his numbers to a 3-1 record, 2.59 ERA and 76 strikeouts in 26.1 less innings pitched.
As previously mentioned, Massey was somewhat of a utility man in the form of a pitcher. He provided the Deacs with a plethora of impressive outings, whether that be a spot start, multi-inning relief outing, or just a simple one-two-three inning as a setup man. While Massey was very impressive during the season, he captivated national attention with his performance in four postseason games. His first two appearances in the postseason were against Maryland and Alabama. In both, he pitched hitless innings with one walk in each outing. Against Maryland, he struck out the side. Against Alabama, he struck out two. He faced LSU twice in the College World Series, pitching a scoreless two-thirds of an inning in the first matchup. In the second game Wake played against LSU, Massey pitched two and two-thirds innings for the Deacs and allowed a hit, walk, run, and impressed with five strikeouts.
There are still two high leverage relievers we've yet to rank, but there's no doubt it was difficult to leave Massey behind those two at number 13. Again, every rank until player five or six is so tightly contested.
As I previously stated, Massey transferred over to Wake Forest from Tulane, along with catcher Bennett Lee. He was a 2023 All-ACC Academic Team Selection and a part of the 2023 Winston-Salem Regional All-Tournament Team. Massey is projected to be one of Wake Forest's three dominant starters next year, and is likely to join Chase Burns and Josh Hartle.
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