Nazareth’s McMullen strikes out 21, ties record

Noah McMullen said that no one was counting pitches on Opening Day, April 25, when he was the starting pitcher for the Nazareth River Otters in their first game of the Lehigh Valley Baseball League season at Tuskes Park in Nazareth.

In today’s hyper-conscious era of pitch counts, McMullen, a soon-to-be 22-year-old and 2017 Nazareth Area High School graduate, had the freedom

to pitch as long as he felt strong against the East Penn Rockies in a AA Division game.

McMullen felt great from start to finish and it showed.

He finished with 21 strikeouts, tied for an LVBL record, in a 5-0 win over the Rockies. McMullen has since continued to play and pitch well. He leads the LVBL in strikeouts with 50 and leads his team (4-4) in batting average (.474), home runs (1) and RBIs (6).

This is not bad, considering his career was in question almost two years ago. He needed Tommy John surgery from reputed surgeon Dr. Michael Ciccotti in August of 2019. Things went well, needless to say, after the procedure. He said that he was up and throwing in less than nine months post-op and even returned to play last summer in the LVBL’s COVID-shortened season.

So by April 2021, McMullen said that he was feeling about as healthy as he possibly could. What he did not know is he could pitch that well.

“We weren’t keeping count, but I probably threw over 130 pitches,” McMullen said. “I don’t go off pitch count. I go on how my arm feels. I felt pretty great, so I kept going.”

And going.

“It was the first game of the season for us,” he said. “I was so excited to get out on that field. I had been working really hard in the weight room and playing catch and getting in shape. I was trying to do the best for my team and have fun. Everything kind of worked out. My breaking pitches were super-sharp. I was hitting all of the spots I wanted.”

A right-hander, McMullen said that he has reached 86 miles per hour on his fastball, which is remarkable under the circumstances. Nazareth player-coach Anthony Keifer — who watched the game from center field — said that he was ready to pull McMullen after each inning starting the fifth, but McMullen gave him no reason to make a change.

“We knew he had arm surgery so we were skeptical about how he could actually throw,” Keifer said. “This year you can see the improvement in him. He’s definitely a better pitcher than a couple years ago when he came into the league.

“After the fifth, I was asking him inning-by-inning how he felt. I had two other pitchers I could have pitched as well. I like to get everybody out there. (McMullen) does a lot of stretches and a lot of pregame work. I made sure that he was 100% before he started because he’s very cautious about his arm.”

McMullen initially went to Lancaster Bible College and then transferred to Pitt-Bradford.

He now is working on teaching certification at East Stroudsburg University and earning some money as a DoorDash driver. He may try out for the Warriors in the fall and still has aspirations of signing with a major league affiliate, even if that means going through an independent team first.

“I would absolutely love a shot at professional baseball,” he said. “I want a shot at trying out. I would like a shot at an independent team; I’m probably not good enough to go the affiliate route. I would love a shot at Indy ball.

“I guess we’ll see what happens. I have to keep putting up statistics like that.”