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Nearly as fast as the coconut wireless is the baseball buzz.
Soon after Cade Halemanu’s fastball clocked at 96 mph on May 2, word spread to Major League Baseball scouting departments about the University of Hawaii’s right-corner-trending, right-handed pitcher.
“I had one scout tell me there will probably be a representative from every single team at Northridge,” said UH coach Mike Trapasso, whose Rainbow Warriors open a four-game road series against Cal State Northridge on Friday. “There probably will be 30 scouts to see him.”
Halemanu will pitch the second game of the Big West series. Aaron Davenport pitches on Friday; Halemanu and Austin Teixeira in Saturday’s doubleheader, and Logan Pouelsen in Sunday’s finale.
“We’ll see what happens the next couple outings,” said Trapasso, who envisions Halemanu being selected in the 20-round draft in July. As a third-year sophomore, Halemanu is draft eligible based on his three years at a Division I school.
Scouts flooded to a May 1 game to watch a pitcher’s duel between UH’s Aaron Davenport and Cal State Fullerton’s Tanner Bibee. Only a few scouts returned the next day to evaluate Halemanu’s mesmerizing outing in which he struck out a career-high 10 and allowed one earned run in 82⁄3 innings.
“When Cade lit up the radar gun, they were buzzing,” Trapasso said. “My phone blew up. He’s got the size (6-4, 215 pounds) and the plus pitch in the changeup. Now that he’s thrown with plus velocity, now you’re looking at a guy who can be a prospect. I’ve been saying for a year there’s 98 in that arm. It’s just a matter of when.”
As a Pearl City High senior in 2018, Halemanu already mastered a changeup. As a UH freshman in 2019, when he did not allow a run in nine of 10 relief appearances, Halemanu was touching 88 mph. In last year’s abbreviated season, Halemanu’s velocity was at 90-91 mph.
“That’s what prompted us to make him a starter,” Trapasso said. “The first two years, he was really a bullpen guy. He would come in and pitch off the changeup. But with the improvement in velocity, I said, ‘we’re going to make the change. Now that you’re throwing 90, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be a weekend starter, being a power guy pitching off the fastball and using the changeup as a hammer.”
In early starts this season, Halemanu struggled to hit the lower tier of the strike zone. Halemanu worked to smooth a hitch and to tune his delivery. “It was a mechanical thing,” said Trapasso, who doubles as the pitching coach. “We made the adjustment to free him up to get out front better.”
The adjustment had a twofold result: hit the lower part of the zone consistently and increase the fastball’s oomph. “We saw the spike in velocity,” Trapasso said. “It came quickly.”
In two starts before the Fullerton series, Halemanu’s fastball topped at 94 mph. Hitting 96 mph, Trapasso said, “wasn’t a surprise.”
Trapasso said Halemanu also has developed a trusted curveball. “There are few guys out there who work harder than him,” Trapasso said. “He really dedicated himself to making the (curveball) better. Now he’s a legit three-pitch guy. … He’s an unbelievable kid, an incredibly positive person.”
Teixiera is set to rejoin the starting rotation after recovering from discomfort in his left (pitching) triceps. Teixeira recently threw 45 pitches — without discomfort — in a live simulation setting.
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