Former Fox Chapel pitcher Pat Monteverde emerges as ace for No. 7 Texas Tech

Almost a month ago, former Fox Chapel southpaw Patrick Monteverde stood in right field of Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, a day before Texas Tech’s season opener against the Arkansas Razorbacks and just took everything in.

Six months earlier, the Los Angeles Dodgers had beaten the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series in the same stadium.

“I was just like, ‘This is where Mookie Betts robbed that home run, and this is where he made the final out,’” Monteverde said, recalling the night before his first start for Texas Tech. “I was like, ‘Wow, this is pretty cool. I get to throw on this mound tomorrow. There’s already been history here, and this ballpark is only six months old. It was pretty cool.”

A day later, Monteverde became the first Texas Tech opening-day starter to record a scoreless outing in eight years. He pitched four innings, allowed just one hit and struck out five.

His performance was a long time coming.

Since graduating from Fox Chapel in 2016, Monteverde has gone from being the star freshman at Division III Virginia Wesleyan, where he recorded a 1.96 ERA in 82⅔ inning pitched, to recovering from Tommy John surgery, to his current spot as No. 1 starter on the seventh-ranked team in the country with Texas Tech.

“It’s not where I expected to be. I can tell you that much,” Monteverde said.

Monteverde had Tommy John surgery in 2019 after making just three starts for Seton Hill, and he had to grow through a recovery process that forced him to miss the rest of the year. Then, after one start in 2020, where he threw 2⅔ innings, struck out two and allowed just one hit, the coronavirus pandemic hit and Monteverde’s bounce-back season was canceled.

Monteverde took advantage of the cancellation. He put in the work to build his arm strength back up and entered the transfer portal to see if he could find another home.

“I always heard people say, ‘Oh, this is going to be the worst year of my life,’ but I was like, ‘This is going to be the best year of my life,’” Monteverde said. “I made leaps and bounds as a person, as a ballplayer and as a son that I wanted to make, and corona gave me an opportunity to do it, and that’s all it was. It was an opportunity to get better.”

Through four starts in Lubbock, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound lefty is showing that his hard work over the past year has paid off.

He started the season throwing 20 consecutive scoreless innings until UConn tagged him for two earned runs in his last start on March 13. Through his first four starts, Monteverde has an 0.78 ERA with 27 strikeouts in 23 innings while allowing just 10 hits and two earned runs.

Against Houston Baptist and Sam Houston, Monteverde threw 14 scoreless innings while allowing just five hits and striking out 18. He was truly on a tear to start the season, and he hasn’t been shocked by his performance either.

“I can’t say I’m surprised by it. I know my potential and I know my pitchability is plus,” Monteverde said. “I know if I control my pitches and execute them while having a good sequence and hitting spots that I’d be good. Twenty innings with no runs is kind of nice, though. Especially with this offense, they are easy to pitch behind.”

Back in the fall, Monteverde had to face the Texas Tech offense quite often during intrasquad scrimmages and said that he didn’t exactly have the type of success he’s having now. But it also helped him learn how to throw at the Division I level.

“We have the best offense in the country, so I didn’t exactly shove during the fall and I got hit around a little bit,” Monteverde said. “That’s expected, though. The whole fall I didn’t really have my stuff, and I kind of learned that on the days that I’m not on my best, I figured out what I have to do to still get outs and that really helped me with Arkansas.”

During his first start against Arkansas, Monteverde said he didn’t have his “bread and butter” pitch, which is his changeup. But, leading up to his next two starts, he worked on it tirelessly and it showed against Houston Baptist and Sam Houston.

His success early on at Texas Tech has been a confidence boost for Monteverde, but he’s not done yet. He’s still looking to improve, and his fastball velocity is one thing he’s targeting. He said he is sitting between 88-92 mph and has been clocked between 93-95 before.

If he gets a couple of extra ticks on the gun, Monteverde believes he can be one of the best in the Big 12, if not the country.

“I figured if I can be 93-95 from the left side with my off-speed stuff, I think I’ll be one of the toughest guys to face in the country on any given day,” Monteverde said. “That’s what I’m working towards. I just want to help this team get back to Omaha and win the whole thing.”