The RoundHouse | 2/12/2025 2:13:00 PM

By Paul Suellentrop
 
His nicknames suggest smarts and craftiness. Grant Adler throws a variety of pitches, none of them overpowering.
 
"We call him the "Professor," catcher Mauricio Millan said. "We call him the "Wizard," sometimes, too, because his ball will move in weird ways. It seems like he's got 15 pitches that move all different directions."
 
Fifteen might be an exaggeration. Then again, that's how a wizard works – deception and transformation. Adler, a senior from Derby High School, is one of WSU's likely starters this weekend for Wichita State in its season-opening series at McNeese State.

Two seasons ago, he went 5-4 with a 2.55 earned run average in 14 starts for the Shockers to earn American Athletic Conference Newcomer Pitcher of the Year honors. After a coaching change from interim Loren Hibbs to Brian Green, he transferred to Kansas. An injury limited him to four games in 2024.
 
He kept in touch with former Shocker teammates, especially cousin Nate Adler, who pitched for WSU last season. Given a look into the program under Green, Grant Adler happily returned.
 
"I got a lot of inside track on how this coaching staff works," he said. "Everyone here is bought in. With communication. With openness. I heard a lot before I decided to transfer back, and it sounded like a place I needed to be."
 
While last season's team enjoyed a good weekend rotation, Green is excited about improved depth on this team's pitching staff. Sophomores Brady Hamilton and lefty Tyler Dobbs return with starting experience. Lefty Jace Miner, who also returned to WSU after playing at Oklahoma in 2024, earned second-team All-AAC honors in 2023 as a reliever. Green has also mentioned sophomore Jeremiah Arnett and junior transfer Aaron Arnold in the mix.
 
Last season, Green leaned too heavily on relievers such as lefty Hunter Holmes and Caleb Anderson. A schedule packed with Tuesday-Wednesday games taxed the staff. This bullpen features better arms and a better mix of lefties and right-handers.
 
"We're definitely much longer on the mound," Green said. "You're looking at five, six guys we could slot to be potential starters."
 
Adler's return gives the Shockers an experienced weekend starter. He highlighted his 2023 season with a three-hitter against No. 7 ECU in an 8-0 win. In 2023, he featured his cutter. Two years later, he feels confident in his curve, slider and changeup.
 

"It's his craft that has really flourished," pitching coach Anthony Claggett said. "He's learned how to develop his other pitches. He's got command of them. They are all quality pitches."
 
Claggett sees Adler's trajectory similar to Caden Favors last season. Favors, a lefty, moved from a relief role to Friday starter and shined by also supplementing a cut fastball with other pitches. He earned second-team All-Central Region and All-AAC honors before Cleveland took him in the sixth round of the draft.
 
"I don't have anything overpowering – I've seen scouting reports on myself," Adler said. "My pitching is hitting spots, keeping people off-balance. I've been blessed to be able to throw five or six pitches and have decent command of them."
 
Claggett's instruction helped sharpen his technique and make his delivery more consistent. He encouraged Adler to simplify his bullpen work by focusing on a limited number of pitches, instead of cramming all of them into one session.
 
"That becomes overwhelming," he said. "He's taught me, you go into catch play and you don't need to throw everything. Work on one thing at a time. That helps when you don't have something in a game, and you can think back on the day you worked on that."
 
Using his curveball frequently, Adler said, is the biggest difference from his arsenal in 2023.
 
"My best games two years ago are when I had it," he said. "Curveball gives me something much slower than the rest of them. People have to acknowledge the curveball, because it's so much slower than everything else. It lets everything else work a lot better."
 
When the Shockers call Adler "Professor," it is also a shoutout to his academic strengths. He will graduate in May with a general studies - chemistry degree while continuing to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering. He will intern at Spirit AeroSystems for a second summer.
 
He earned a spot on the College of Engineering's Dean's Honor Roll College of Engineering three semesters at WSU, an honor for students with a 3.5 grade-point average or higher. In 2023, he was on the AAC's All-Academic team.
 
Paul Suellentrop writes about Wichita State athletics for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.