Former UNC Pitcher Caden O’Brien Signs With Independent League Team
The left-hander made his pro debut Thursday
On the heels of a memorable five-year collegiate career, Caden O’Brien became the latest North Carolina baseball player to join the professional ranks, signing with the Frontier League's Joliet Slammers last Tuesday.
The left-hander wasted little time making an impact, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out two in two innings of relief Thursday. He then struck out one in a perfect sixth inning on Sunday.
O’Brien is the sixth member of UNC’s 2022 team to enter professional baseball, joining MLB Draft picks Danny Serretti, Davis Palermo, Angel Zarate, Brandon Schaeffer and Shawn Rapp.
A true freshman in 2018, O’Brien helped the Tar Heels reach the College World Series, going 7-0 with a 2.63 ERA in 48 innings over 30 appearances. In doing so, he became just the ninth pitcher in school history to win at least seven decisions without a loss in a single season and earned second-team freshman All-America honors from D1Baseball. As noteworthy as those accomplishments were, neither carried as much significance as his performance in UNC’s CWS elimination game against Oregon State, when he struck out five while giving up two hits and one run in 4 1/3 stellar innings of relief.
As it turned out, that proved to be a sign of things to come, as O’Brien developed a reputation for consistently stepping up in big moments. Over the next four years — which included an injury-plagued 2019 season, the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season and a 2021 campaign in which he started strong before catching COVID — he logged 10 saves, including five this spring.
O’Brien kicked off his final season in Chapel Hill by allowing just one earned run over his first 14 appearances. But beginning with the Tar Heels’ 14-inning loss at Louisville on April 10, he surrendered eight earned runs in four games. The Maiden, N.C., native didn’t make another appearance until May 10, but that layoff turned out to be critical, as he bounced back to allow three earned runs in 10 2/3 innings over his final seven appearances. That included his clutch one-out save in an elimination game against Georgia in the Chapel Hill Regional. O’Brien ultimately finished the season with a 3.86 ERA in 28 innings over 25 games.
For his career, O’Brien was 14-3 with a 3.91 ERA and a 25.3% strikeout rate in 158 2/3 innings over 112 appearances — the fifth most in UNC history.