The time for tune-ups and tinkering with pitch mixes is officially over. On Friday, Northwestern will kick off conference play against undefeated USC and unfortunately, the Wildcats couldn’t capture any momentum as they prepare to host the Big Ten’s best. Rather than analyzing the ‘Cats performances in the losses to South Dakota State and UNLV, the win against Omaha, or the tie (how does a Big Ten baseball stadium not have lights in 2026) in the home opener against UIC, let’s assess Northwestern’s
overall performance through their first 13 games.
Frustratingly for Northwestern baseball fans, it feels like the 2026 squad is, in some ways, just an augmented version of the team that went 13-17 in conference play a year ago. Don’t get me wrong, the offense is leaps and bounds ahead of last year’s team; the lineup hosts a genuinely capable and balanced 1-9. But it was ultimately pitching that did the Wildcats in last year and the improvements on the mound have been marginal so far in 2026. Unless the arms find more length and consistency, cracking the .500 mark in conference play for the first time since 2017 will require some serious offensive juice.
The Good
If it indeed will take superb run production for this team to excel, they have the necessary personnel and talent in the dugout. Out of the nine Wildcats with 20 or more at-bats, six tout OPS numbers greater than .800. Two of the three players below that .800 threshold, Ryan Kucherak and Owen McElfatrick, were the team’s two most reliable bats in 2025 and will no doubt heat up as the season progresses. What is so compelling about Northwestern’s offensive profile is simply how solid they are in all facets. Take counting stats this early in the season with a grain of salt, as Northwestern is tied for the fewest games in the Big Ten, but there is no denying that this offense can hang with the better teams in the conference.
As a new-age baseball fan, I heavily prioritize impact over contact and don’t mind strikeouts much at all if walks come with them. The Wildcats own the seventh best SLG in the Big Ten and the fourth best ISO (Slugging – Batting Average). Two squads with higher ISO statistics than the ‘Cats, UCLA and Oregon, are by far the two best teams in the conference. In the plate discipline department, the ‘Cats are middle of the pack in walks and one of the better Big Ten teams at avoiding the punchout. All of that to say, Northwestern can confidently hang their hat on a winning offensive formula, one with enough pop to build leads and the discipline necessary to keep games close when they trail.
The Bad
There are two methods of analyzing Northwestern’s pitching shortcomings: the straightforward and the intricate. The straightforward explanation tells a simple statistical story. Northwestern has allowed the most home runs in the Big Ten (tied, interestingly enough, with UCLA) and owns the conference’s lowest K/9 rate. It’s important to note that the offensive onslaught Georgia Tech put on the ‘Cats inflates these numbers, but the sentiment is clear that it is not difficult to put up some monstrous innings on Northwestern’s pitchers.
The more detailed explanation is one that highlights the lack of execution with secondary pitches. After the opening series against Rice, I stated my concern for the overall pitching outlook as I noted that Northwestern pitchers could not get strikeouts when they needed and left far too many breaking pitches over the heart of the plate trying to sneakily get strikes when behind in the count. A few weeks later, very little has changed. The team has not been able to find much rhythm at all, rather, there’s been a dangerous pattern where Wildcats pitchers cannot effectively miss with their slow stuff to generate whiffs. Besides Ryan Weaver’s start against Rice and Matt Kouser’s four inning relief bout against Georgia Tech, no Northwestern pitcher’s stuff has felt truly overpowering. They’ve left a significant number of breaking balls in the zone that just get pummeled, leading to the exceptionally high number of home runs allowed. I hate to make it seem like I am ragging on one position group, because I genuinely think this squad has a handful of talented arms that can make an impact in the conference, but the time to finally prove that is now.
The Best
Jackson Freeman. I could end this column there because he’s been just that fantastic. In 59 at-bats the Junior is hitting .441 with three bombs and is 12th in the Big Ten in total bases. His average is good for fourth best in the conference, but what makes Freeman so absurdly impressive is his consistency. He has hits in all but one game this season, a contest in which walked twice. To cap it off, Freeman has multi-hit games in half of the 14 Northwestern’s played so far, he’s just ridiculously productive.
Freeman, I dare say, has even more in the tank. He likely won’t be hitting tanks in the coming months, he hit six all of last year, but his ability to pepper the right-field line combined with his athleticism should lend itself to more extra-base hits. Don’t be shocked if he climbs up the Big Ten doubles and triples leaderboards this season.
No doubt, the jury is still out on Northwestern’s 2026 outlook. Ben Greenspan has brought overwhelming positive change to the program and I doubt we will see a season as brutal as 2024 for quite some time, but the height of the ceiling for his squad this year is questionable. This offense is legit, if the pitching can come around they can give the Big Ten’s best some fits.
The Wildcats will get their first opportunity in conference this weekend at home against USC. The Trojans pitching staff’s conference leading 1.47 ERA against the Wildcats lineup should make for some wildly entertaining baseball.
