CHATHAM, Mass. — Ahead of his Cape Cod Baseball League debut, Kyson Witherspoon reflected on his goals for the season with Chatham Anglers pitching coach Eric Beattie. Following a stretch where he walked 21 batters in 28.2 innings in his final five appearances for Oklahoma in 2024, the right-hander said he wanted to establish himself well in the zone.
Despite being on the Cape for just a few days, Witherspoon felt Beattie helped improve his command leading up to his start versus Bourne Monday. Using his dominant slider and fastball — which reached 97 miles per hour — Witherspoon saw the results in-game against the two-time defending Cape League champions.
In Chatham’s (2-1, East) 5-1 win over Bourne (1-2, West), Witherspoon struck out six Braves while surrendering no walks across his four innings pitched. Although he gave up a run and trailed when he exited the game, the Anglers scored five unanswered runs en route to first-year skipper Jeremy “Sheets” Sheetinger’s first win at Veterans Field.
“He's been tested this season at Oklahoma so we knew he was ready for anything that was thrown at him,” Sheetinger said of Witherspoon.
Witherspoon transferred into the Big 12 after pitching at Northwest Florida State College as a freshman. With the Raiders, he pitched 69.2 innings and notched a 3.10 ERA with 72 strikeouts. Amid his success, he jumped from JUCO to the Power Five.
Despite the massive jump, Witherspoon quickly became one of the Sooners’ top starting pitchers; establishing himself as the Sooners' No. 2 starter for the last half of 2024. He experienced ups and downs throughout the season but turned in a 3.79 ERA across 76.0 innings pitched.
Anchored by his lethal fastball-slider combination, Witherspoon smoothly transitioned to college baseball’s highest division. It’s also what helped him thrive in his Cape League debut.
Witherspoon started the game silencing the Braves in the top of the first inning with the help of right fielder Will Gasparino and catcher Ike Irish. Following a leadoff single and stolen base from Bourne leadoff hitter Chris Stanfield, Marek Houston sliced a ball into right field.
Stanfield tried scoring from second, but Gasparino ignited a perfect relay to nab Bourne’s center fielder at the plate. Against the ensuing batter, Caden Bodine, Witherspoon notched his first strikeout, freezing the switch-hitter with a pitch at the bottom of the zone followed by Irish later nabbing Houston at second base to end the inning.
Though Witherspoon surrendered a leadoff bloop single to Braden Holcomb and a passed ball advanced him to scoring position with no outs, Chatham escaped the inning unscathed. To do so, Witherspoon relied on his slider. On a 2-2 count against Camden Kozeal, Witherspoon froze the designated hitter with a backdoor slider to record the first out. Then, a slider forced Garrett Michel to ground out before the side was retired when Jack Penney flew out on the same pitch.
“That pitch makes me shudder in the dugout,” Sheetinger said of Witherspoon’s slider.
Witherspoon surrendered his third consecutive leadoff hit in the third inning when Davis Gillespie smoked a 96-mile-per-hour faster to the opposite field for a double. Still, he remained in control on the mound and filled the strike zone.
To record the first out of the inning, Witherspoon put Clay Grady away with a filthy slider that landed in the dirt low and away. Three pitches later, he forced weak contact from Stanfield, resulting in a 6-3 putout for the second inning.
Against Houston, it appeared Witherspoon retired the side when he painted the outside corner with a slider, which was called a ball. Houston untied the game a pitch later by fighting off a heater on his hands that barely squeaked by second baseman Kyle Lodise for a base hit. Despite hitting Bodine on the ensuing pitch, Witherspoon escaped the inning by buckling Holcomb with a slider for a punchout.
“It’s the Cape Cod League, I know I’m gonna go up against dudes,” Witherspoon said. “I had some weak contact hits, like the broken bat hit, but I feel like I still trust myself. I know I’m a guy.”
In a 1-2-3 fourth inning, Witherspoon showcased his confidence. But unlike the previous innings, he leaned more on his fastball late in counts to put hitters away. Despite seeing his velocity drop down to 94 miles per hour, Witherspoon’s fastball played up because of how much his slider kept the Braves off balance.
Facing Kozeal in a 3-2 count to begin the fourth, a scenario where he mostly relied on his slider throughout the first three innings, Witherspoon painted a fastball that retired Kozeal looking. Then in a two-strike count against Michel, Witherspoon again opted to throw a fastball which forced a sword in the batter’s box — indicating Michel was likely sitting on a slider. A pitch later, the right-hander wrapped up his outing by forcing a weak ground out from Penney.
According to Sheetinger, Witherspoon’s fastball-slider combination is lethal because hitters can’t sit on either pitch. If they try sitting on a slider and Witherspoon throws a fastball, its velocity will overpower them before an adjustment can be made. And if hitters sit on a fastball and get a slider, which Sheetinger called a plus-plus offspeed pitch, it’ll likely result in swings like Michel’s.
In addition to his two main pitches, Witherspoon also mixed in a couple of changeups and cutters. The right-hander said that getting more comfortable with those two pitches is something he’s focussing on while playing in the Cape League. Regardless of which pitch Witherspoon fires to the plate, Monday’s outing showed how dominant he can be.
“We're excited about him and what he can do this summer, but we're more excited about what his career is going to be as he gets going,” Sheetinger said. “He's got a long career ahead of him because that kid's blessed with a really good arm.”
(Photograph by Kyndall Williams)
