In a time of college athletics where things are constantly changing, it’s hard to think of a baseball program that saw more change than the Duke Blue Devils this summer. Former Head Coach Chris Pollard announced he had found himself a new home with the University of Virginia. The following week, Duke announced they were hiring Wake Forest Pitching Coach Corey Muscara to take over the reigns of their program.
While an exciting time for sure, Coach Muscara didn’t have much time to celebrate the new position seeing as he currently had about nine players on the roster with just 18 days left in the portal window to field a team.
“It was chaos, we were just calling people left and right, trying to figure out how to get guys in. We were committing guys without having seen them, just trying to get a team together,” said Muscara.
The summer was tumultuous for the new Head Coach, but he was fortunate in knowing who he would have on staff and in his corner right away. “I think the key was we had everybody on board really quick, so I knew the whole staff, and they were all guys I’d worked with in the past.”
Muscara and team were able to work incredibly fast while still picking up a lot of talent and veteran leadership out of the portal, making what I think will be one of the more fun teams to follow in the 2026 season. Let’s take a look at their 21st Ranked Portal Class.
From a position player side of things they were able to bring in a good amount of talent with an extra focus on who could contribute right away from a defensive standpoint. In this regard, one of the biggest additions to the Blue Devils will be Illinois grad transfer Coltin Quagliano, who in his three seasons at Illinois hit .285 with 24 doubles, 13 home runs and picking up 87 RBI. Though he will definitely contribute with the bat, his real skill lies in what he is able to do with the glove.
“He’s got a really good leadership quality and he’s been playing a hell of a third base. I really love what he brings to the table defensively,” said Muscara. “He’s a guy that’s been really holding down the left side of the infield for us.”
Another big time transfer for the Blue Devils comes in form of first basemen Bobby Marsh, who in his three years of college ball has hit .290 with 32 doubles, and 19 home runs while picking up 121 RBI. His three years include stops at both Penn State and Miami. Advertised as “probably their best left handed bat” with those offensive numbers it’s clear that he will be a big contributor in 2026.
Joining Bobby transferring from Miami to Duke, we have first baseman and catcher Nolan Johnson. Standing a casual 6’6 Johnson makes for a great target over at first base, however he is currently their best defensive catcher as well. He had very limited playing time at Miami, but with how highly touted he was out of high school I’d expect big things out of him this upcoming season.
From the outfield transfer side of things there is a lot to be excited about with a pair of Dayton transfers Adin Zorn and Michael Dimartini. Last season at Dayton Zorn hit .321 with 15 doubles and nine home runs. He’s joined by Dimartini, who last season for the Flyers hit .403 with 11 doubles, seven triples and 14 home runs. Not only do they get to stay teammates, they both also get to stay with a familiar face in Coach Scott Loiseau, who was at the helm of the Flyer program for the 2025 season prior to joining Muscara’s staff.
On the mound there were a number of guys who made the decision to transfer to Duke this portal season. To kick things off the Blue Devils picked up Drew Bryan, a transfer from the University of Chicago who spent one season with ECU in 2024 before returning to Chicago for the 2025 season. Across his career he has amassed 192 innings pitched holding a 3.66 ERA while picking up 247 strikeouts. Most notably his freshman year he tossed 29 shutout innings, only surrendering nine hits and 11 walks while striking out 47.
Another big time addition on the mound for the Blue Devils comes in form of SUNY Courtland transfer Matt Nochowitz, who last season in 45 innings held a 3.80 ERA with an insane 59/7 strikeout to walk ratio. He did all this while using his fastball 80% of the time. At Duke they’re focused on polishing up his secondaries to make him even more dynamic on the mound.
“He’s a low-slot supinator. We’ve got him to buy into the four seam, two seam, cutter, slider, and change-up. He’s got five pitches now and he fills it up,” Muscara said.
Dayton transfer Ben Dean is another who looks to make a big impact on the bump for Duke this season. Over summer playing for the Keene Swampbats Dean held a 1.50 ERA in 18 innings, in which he racked up 28 strikeouts while only surrendering 6 hits.
“A huge pick up,” Muscara described the righty. “He’s got a really good heater, change up, and breaking ball.”
When he’s working with all of these different speeds in the zone he’ll make for one of the more uncomfortable at-bats for guys in the ACC.
A player I’m personally excited to watch for Duke this spring is Caleb Anderson from Wichita State. He’s the type of guy who I felt his numbers have never really reflected his talent level. However with a few tweaks on the mound and with pitch selection, he looks poised to really have a breakout year. He has a four seam and two seam fastball with a lot of life that he pairs with a sharp cutter, bigger sweeper and a solid change up.
“He was on the wrong side of the rubber, but we moved him to the third base side of the rubber and he had a really nice fall for us,” said Muscara.
For Coach Muscara it certainly was a summer to remember. While the location may have changed, the same principles remain the same: he’s looking for guys who can go out there, fill up the strike zone with multiple speeds, and compete. On the position player side of things they did a great job of finding those guys in the portal with great gloves that can also swing it a bit too. I personally can’t wait to see the Blue Devils in action this upcoming season.