The Indiana Hoosiers are sitting on top of the college football world this week, but the school’s baseball program received some good news as well.
Left-handed pitcher Ty Bothwell left the Indiana program in 2024 with the fifth-most strikeouts in Hoosier history, a 16-9 record, and a 4.68 ERA. He wasn’t selected in that year’s Major League Baseball Draft, so he went the independent route and has played for the Glacier Range Riders of the Pioneer League for the past two seasons.
Clearly, Bothwell still believed he was good enough to pitch in affiliated ball, and this week, he received that opportunity for the first time.
According to Tread Athletics, Bothwell’s offseason training facility, the 26-year-old lefty signed a minor-league deal with the Washington Nationals on Wednesday. Bothwell recently participated in Tread’s Pro Day, a clip of which can be seen below.
At his pro day, Bothwell ramped his fastball up to 93.9 mph and featured good arm-side action, to pair with two solid breaking balls.
Beginning an affiliated ball career at age 26 automatically puts a player at a disadvantage to eventually make it to the majors, so Bothwell will have to hit the ground running this season. As of Thursday, the Nationals had not announced the signing or assigned him to any of their minor-league affiliates, and the final decision presumably won’t be made on which level to send him to until after spring training.
It’s a great week to be from the state of Indiana, and Bothwell, the Hebron native, will look to do all Hoosiers proud when he laces them up for the Nationals come spring.
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