While the Nebraska baseball team is having - at best - an up and down season in 2025, two former Huskers are going to be starting their own seasons in Major League Baseball team rotations. The second of those two former Nebraska Cornhuskers was made officially on Sunday morning.
The Baltimore Orioles announced, and MASN reporter Roch Kubatko reported that the team named Cade Povich their fifth starter. As it happens, that means the second year player will get the ball for the O’s home opener.
With Povich officially named to the Orioles’ roster, that marks two former Nebraska baseball starting pitchers in Major League rosters on opening day for the first time in quite some time. The other, Spencer Schwellenbach, is not only a member of the Atlanta Braves’ starting rotation, but he was recently named as being among a small group of pitchers fans should keep their eyes on by Baseball America.
Former Nebraska Cornhuskers making names for themselves at the Major League level
“There were starts where it looked like he could get all 27 outs, and Atlanta may ask more out of him this season after losing veteran starters Max Fried and Charlie Morton,” Baseball America wrote about the Braves’ sophomore starter. “Schwellenbach is up for the task after brandishing six average-or-better pitches and showing one of the best first-pitch strike and swinging-strike rates among 25-and-under starters in 2024.”
There were almost three starting pitchers on MLB rosters to start the year that were former Nebraska Cornhuskers this season if not for an oblique injury that will likely see the San Diego Padres’ Matt Waldron start the season on the IL. However, he is expect to join his squad in early April.
Last season, Povich posted a less than fantastic 3-9 record with a 5.20 ERA, but he has pitched well this spring, including having more strikeouts than innings pitched. Schwellenbach posted an 8-7 record with a 3.35 ERA and 127 Ks in 123.2 innings. Waldron went 7-11 with a 4.91 earned run average as he continued his transition to a knuckleballer.
In all, early in the season, there will be five former Nebraska baseball stars on Major League rosters with Aaron Bummer manning the Atlanta Braves bullpen and Jake Meyers patrolling the Houston Astros’ center field.