Jack Radel Leads Notre Dame Baseball into High-Expectations for 2026 Season

There’s no secret that Notre Dame baseball enters the 2026 season with postseason expectations after a strong close to the 2025 campaign.

Head coach Shawn Stiffler isn’t shying away from the belief that junior RHP Jack Radel could be the guy to lead a return to the NCAA Tournament.

“What I do like is we feel very, very confident when Jack takes the mound on Friday nights,” Stiffler stated. “We're going to be as good as anybody in the country.” 

That confidence is rooted in production. Radel finished his sophomore season with a 7-4 record, a 3.58 ERA and 60 strikeouts across 70.1 innings, while holding opposing hitters to a .218 average.

But as impressive as the numbers are, Radel has focused on expanding his arsenal this offseason. Improvements to his curveball and breaking ball have caught the attention of both Stiffler and pitching coach Seth Voltz.

“You have a lot of conversations with your pitching coach throughout the year, especially last year, I did,” explained Radel. “I learned a lot about myself and who I was as a pitcher more so than a person.

“It gave me a lot of confidence knowing that he had confidence in me to throw it and that Stiffler had confidence in all my teammates. Now the jump from that is just making sure it's fine-tuned and ready to go for the season and being able to throw it whenever I want to.” 

Stiffler believes Radel’s growth has been both intentional and natural as he enters his third year of college baseball.

“Well, that's just refinement,” said Stiffler. “I think that's the biggest thing that I've seen from him over the last couple months is just the refinement of his stuff.

“The fastball, his command, both up and down in the zone. He can attack and whip with it. The breaking pitch, adding confidence with the curveball, is really something I've been impressed with.” 

Radel’s offseason gains weren’t limited to pitch development. Despite adding significant weight, he maintained and in some cases improved all of his force metrics.

Listed at 210 pounds a year ago, Radel now checks in at a healthy 250. The added strength has translated directly to velocity, with his fastball consistently sitting above 95 mph this winter.

“I've been around that 95-97 range,” stated Radel. “I hit 98 once or twice in the fall. Just feeling good that day. It was really nice out, so that was pretty cool. It's kind of the range I want to sit in and kind of stay there so I can keep it going throughout an outing.” 

With Radel looking like a defensive end in Marcus Freeman’s program and every tool at his disposal, Stiffler isn’t bashful about placing expectations on his ace.

“You're seeing him much more polished and I think you're going to see a much more polished piece of him,” Stiffler stated. “His work is as good as anyone's work I've seen to this point.” 

The 6-foot-5, 250-pounder is quick to credit Notre Dame’s staff for his physical and technical development.

“It has a lot to do with Voltz,” Radel explained. “He's taught me a lot about how my body moves. Also, with Zach (Korten), our strength guy, he taught me a lot about what movements I need to be doing to put on more muscle and things like that.” 

The South Dakota native has also embraced an enhanced leadership role heading into what could be his final season in South Bend. 

As one of the faces of the program, he’s expected to lead a young pitching staff, with the development of freshmen Caden Crowell and Dylan Singleton potentially determining how far the Irish go this season.

Radel’s message to the program’s youth is shaped by experience. As a freshman, he was thrown into the fire and endured his share of growing pains.

“My big deal was that if I had a bad outing, it would ruin my week, which is never a good thing,” Radel said. “I let them know that things are going to happen. It's baseball. You can throw your best stuff that day and get hit around. That's just how it works. 

“I’m making sure that they're confident in themselves every time they go out there. Having the right mentality and then just being a good friend. Just making sure that they're okay with everything they do.” 

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