Hunter Furtado Could Be the Missing Piece in Alabama Baseball’s Postseason Rotation

Furtado has been a tremendous boost to an injury-riddled Alabama pitching rotation.

Will Miller | May 23, 2023

HOOVER, Ala. — In postseason baseball, pitching is the key.

With Alabama baseball on the rise, set to enter the double-elimination segment of the SEC Tournament bracket, a rotation with its share of injured hurlers is a question mark. Thanks to two strong starts in May, including a five-inning performance against Kentucky in Hoover, Hunter Furtado has emerged as a potential answer to that question.

Furtado took the ball against the Wildcats in a game that had a lot on the line, not the least of such stakes being his team’s conference tournament fate. On May 9 against Troy, he went 3.2 innings with seven strikeouts and only two runs allowed. That helped give interim head coach Jason Jackson the confidence to send the Wake Forest transfer to the bump on Tuesday evening.

“When this opportunity came up, not wanting to throw some of those weekend guys on short rest, the opportunity presented itself for Hunter,” Jackson said. “The matchup looked good, throwing a left-handed pitcher against them, so we went to Hunter. I said, ‘Hey dude, it’s yours if you want it,’ and he said, ‘Heck yeah, I want to.’”

Jackson’s initial expectation was two or three strong innings of shutout work to set the tone and get the game off to a productive start defensively. Those expectations were exceeded, with a two-hit day and a zero in the run category on 77 pitches.

“I love having the ball and I love starting games,” Furtado said. “Having [Jackson] trust me with the ball with a big game like this, I just had the confidence and knew that I was going to give the best I could out there.”

He struck out a pair and got some help from his defense, including a second-inning laser from Andrew Pinckney to get a Kentucky runner at home in an early contender for defensive play of the tournament. Furtado got the outs he needed to get, setting Kade Woods and Alton Davis II up to finish the game and send the Crimson Tide forward. Ultimately, the zero in the Wildcats’ scoring column stayed the same throughout the duration.

Furtado’s recent performances have been exactly what Jackson and the rest of the team were hoping for, and Jackson said those outings have him in the running to make future starts to complement the top three pitchers on the staff.

“He’s definitely a guy in the mix,” Jackson said. “With what Hunter has done in his last two starts, it definitely helps having a guy that you think you can go to as a fourth starter […] Hunter has done a great job for us his last two starts, so going forward, it’s nice.”

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