North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Baseball Hires Chris Roberts As Pitching Coach
7/23/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
July 23, 2003
RALEIGH, N.C. - NC State baseball coach Elliott Avent today hired Chris Roberts as the Wolfpack's new pitching coach. Roberts, a two-time All-American at Florida State, comes to NC State after two years as pitching coach at Western Carolina, where he had a profound impact on the Catamounts pitching staff.
In just two years under Roberts, Western Carolina's pitchers saw their staff ERA fall from 6.06 in 2001 to 4.59 in 2002 and 3.77 in 2003. That last number was good enough to rank second in the Southern Conference and 28th nationally.
"Chris Roberts comes to NC State very highly recommended," Avent said. "I took my time in making this hire because I wanted to get the guy who was just the right fit for our program. After careful consideration, I believe that Chris Roberts is the right man for the job. Everyone I spoke with about Chris, from [Florida State coach] Mike Martin to [WCU coach] Todd Raleigh, had nothing but great things to say about him. We're very excited to be adding him to our program."
A native of Middleburg, Fla., Roberts played outfield and pitched for the Seminoles from 1990-92. He was a third-team All-American and Metro Conference Player of the Year as a sophomore in 1991 after hitting .321 with 14 home runs and 77 RBIs as an outfielder, and going 7-2 with a 3.52 ERA on the mound. He earned second-team All-America honors as a junior in '92 after posting an 8-4 record with a 2.34 ERA in 14 appearances as a hurler, and batting .286 with 12 homers and 59 RBIs. In his three seasons in Tallahassee, Roberts went 23-8 with a 3.30 ERA as a pitcher, while batting .301 with 32 home runs and 175 RBIs in three years in the outfield. He helped lead Florida State to the College World Series in 1991 and '92.
Roberts played for Team USA in the 1991 Pan Am Games in Havana, Cuba, and then was the starting left fielder for the USA Olympic baseball team in Barcelona, Spain, in 1992.
The New York Mets picked Roberts in the first round of Major League Baseball's June draft in '92, and he played in the Mets organization from 1993-97 before moving on to one-year minor league stints with the Oakland Athletics (1998), the Colorado Rockies (1999), and the Milwaukee Brewers (2001). Roberts spent the 2000 season with the Chiba Lotte Marines in the Japanese Pacific League.
Roberts had immediate success with the Mets, winning 13 games each of his first two full seasons and advancing to Triple-A Norfolk of the International League in 1995. Shoulder sugery in 1996 slowed his progress, however, and the Mets moved him to Oakland following the 1997 season. He spent his last three professional seasons in the bullpen playing for Edmonton of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League, Carolina of the Double-A Southern League, and Indianapolis of the Triple-A International League.
As Roberts was finishing up his playing he career with the Brewers, he was simultaneously beginning his coaching career, working in the offseason as a volunteer assistant at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Fla., from 2000-01. He joined Todd Raleigh's staff in Cullowhee in September 2001.
Roberts made an immediate impact on the Catamount pitching staff. In addition to slicing more than two runs off of the staff ERA, WCU pitchers reduced their hits allowed per nine innings from 11.62 in 2001, to 10.30, in 2002 to 9.49 in 2003, and reduced their walks per nine innings from 3.41 in '01, to 2.91 in '02, to 2.81 in '03.
Roberts also sent pitchers on to the professional ranks. In 2002, his first year on the job, Oakland drafted Jared Burton in the eighth round of the Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft. The Atlanta Braves took Brian Basner in the seventh round in 2003. They were the first two WCU hurlers drafted since 1999.
Roberts will inherit a strong pitching staff at NC State. The Wolfpack posted a 4.14 staff ERA, and strong pitching helped lead the Wolfpack to a 45-18 record and a berth in the NCAA Super Regionals in Coral Gables, Fla. Three NC State pitchers - senior righthander Vern Sterry, redshirt-freshman righthander Michael Rogers, and freshman righthander Joey Devine - earned All-America honors, the first time an ACC school has ever had three pitchers make All-America.
With all three returning, Roberts will be the first ACC pitching coach ever with three returning All-Americans on his staff. In addition, six other lettermen return from the 2003 staff, and senior righthanders Daniel Caldwell and Derek McKee, the two most experienced pitchers on the staff, are on schedule to be back after missing the '03 season due to arm surgery. In their college careers, NC State's returning returning pitchers have combined to win 75 games with 18 saves. They have made 309 appearances, including 135 starts, and have worked 1,133 innings.
"Having all that experience on hand should certainly make the transition easier for me," Roberts said. "With some of those guys I'll try not to get in their way, and at the same time try to bring some of the other guys along. It's a tremendous staff, and they had a great season. I got to see some of those guys first-hand when we played them, and they have some tremendous arms, yet there is still some upside. That's exciting."
Roberts said he would approach each Wolfpack pitcher individually and try to maximize the potential of everyone on the staff.
"I played nine years of professional baseball, plus three years of college, and I try to take bits and pieces from everyone I've worked with over the years," Roberts said. "There are usually 12-15 guys on a staff, and they're all different. They all need different instruction, and I try to work with each guy as an individual. As for my own philosophy, I believe in preparation, in getting our guys ready for anything that might happen on that field. Whether its watching film or going over scouting reports or conditioning, I want them to be ready for anything that can happen out there."
If Western Carolina's performance in the postseason is any indication, NC State's pitchers should be in great hands. WCU pitchers allowed just nine earned runs on 20 hits in 32 innings in the regional (2.53 ERA), and took NC State to 14 innings in the championship game before losing 6-4. Seeing the Catamount pitching staff up close and personal definitely caught Avent's attention.
"In putting together our scouting reports, we had heard from several people that Western Carolina's pitching staff was outstanding," Avent said. "And they were just as good as advertised when we finally did see them face-to-face. They threw strikes, worked ahead in the count, and made quality pitches when they needed to. It was obvious that their pitchers were very well-coached. It would have been hard to miss that."
