Pitchers Eric and Patrick Peterson Transfer From Temple To NC State, Per Report

I don't know how Elliott Avent and company pulled this one off, but it is a move that has the potential to have a significant positive impact on State's 2014 season. The twins Eric and Patrick Peterson were both weekend starters for Temple last year, and they pitched well. So State just added two players who were fixtures at the top of a rotation (which wasn't going to change in 2014, either) ... you won't see that too often. Temple is planning to axe its baseball program after this season, which allows the pair to transfer without having to sit out a year.

Between the 2 of them, the Peterson bros from Temple will bring 57 appearances with them to Raleigh. 38 starts, 12-15 rec, 277.1 IP, 223 K

— Ryan Tice (@RyanTice) December 20, 2013

Eric, a righty, averaged 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings in 2013 while walking just 1.8 batters per nine. His park- and schedule-adjusted fielding-independent ERA was 3.35. Patrick, a southpaw, put up more modest numbers, but he was still solid: a 6.7 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, and 3.76 FIP. They are both considered 2014 MLB Draft prospects. They're also juniors, so they could theoretically be back in 2015.

Eric has better velocity with a fastball that can touch 92, according to Baseball America, while Patrick's heater runs in the 87-90 range. Both have been expanding their repertoires to include improved offspeed pitches. From BA's profile of them in October:

"I think that we're becoming more similar pitchers because I'm starting to throw a changeup a lot more and Pat's throwing his curveball more," said Eric, who features more of a power arsenal, capable of reaching 92 mph with run and sink.

"Yeah," Patrick agreed. "I've helped Eric out with his changeup and it's gotten better, and Eric has helped me with my curveball and it's gotten a lot better too, so now we are similar in the way we pitch, at least more than we were when we first got to school."

Now NC State's pitching depth is beginning to look like far less of a concern. These kids could end up in the bullpen, where the Wolfpack lost a lot of experienced arms, but given their track records, I could also see one of them earning some mid-week starts, or perhaps filling in for a struggling weekend starter at some point. I don't think this changes the Rodon-Jernigan-Stone weekend rotation at the outset, but it's good to know that we've got a couple guys who've been in those spots before and can handle them.

If they come out of the bullpen exclusively, that situation looks a whole lot better. They obviously would be capable of long relief, should the need arise.

Weekend starters:

Carlos Rodon
Logan Jernigan
Brad Stone

Primary relief (lotta conjecture here):

D.J. Thomas
Patrick Peterson
Travis Orwig
Johnny Piedmonte
Eric Peterson (setup)
Andrew Woeck (CL)

That's three RHPs and three LHPs in the pen, and some good power at the back end.