Ethan Stade draws MLB interest after standout season at BGSU

The pitcher experienced the best year of his career after transferring to BGSU, where he emerged as an All-MAC standout

By Nick Piotrowicz

Ethan Stade smiled as he paused. He needed an extra moment.

The Bowling Green State University pitcher befuddled hundreds of hitters in 2026, but when asked how he would even begin to describe the past 12 months of his life, Stade became the one searching for answers.

A year ago, Stade was not a starting pitcher at the college level. He had faced a series of bothersome injuries and had never been on a Division I baseball roster.

But now – following a season in which he emerged as the Falcons’ often dominant ace – he’s earning regular recognition, climbing leaderboards and drawing attention from Major League Baseball scouts.

“If you had told me one year ago that I would be in the position I am today, I would have honestly been shocked and told you there was just no way,” he said. “It’s been jaw-dropping. I never thought this would happen.”

Stade’s lone year in Bowling Green dramatically changed the course of his career.

He recorded 103 strikeouts in just 64 innings – his average of 14.5 strikeouts per nine innings is the sixth-highest rate in all of Division I baseball – and was a clear choice for the All-Mid-American Conference first team. Across his last nine starts, Stade struck out at least six hitters in every appearance and posted a 3.63 earned-run average.

He earned MAC Pitcher of the Week three times, finished in the top 30 in the country in strikeouts-to-walks ratio and had multiple stretches in which he looked unhittable. In one late-season start against Western Michigan, he faced 28 hitters and struck out 15 with four hits and no walks.

Despite being a 6-foot-4 left-hander, most college programs overlooked Stade. His junior season of high school baseball – often a pivotal summer for college recruits – was wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic, so he played only one season of varsity baseball in his native New Ulm, Minnesota. He ended up playing college baseball only when the coaching staff at Division II Minnesota State noticed him late in the recruiting process and signed him.

“At that point, I really had only one or two other schools even looking, so even that was very fortunate,” Stade said.

A year ago, the Falcons spotted Stade – who pitched out of the bullpen at Minnesota State – playing in a wooden-bat summer league. BGSU saw the same vision for Stade that he had long held for himself: that he could be a starter at the highest level of college baseball.

With no guarantees or promises, Stade signed with the Falcons for his last year of eligibility. While training during the winter months, BGSU head coach Kyle Hallock said Stade’s new teammates were having trouble tracking his fastball and unique delivery, leading to awkward swings and confused looks.

In time, many opponents followed the same path. After Stade's rocky second outing against Cincinnati, a top-25 team, Hallock said Stade made a “life decision that he wasn’t going out that way.” Four days later, Stade came out of the bullpen against Samford and struck out the side. In his next appearance, he struck out 11 Kent State hitters in four scoreless innings.

“That’s when it was like, ‘We’ve got something,’” Hallock said.

From the home dugout at Steller Field, Hallock said the Falcons often took great delight in seeing opposing right-handed hitters attempt to make sense of Stade. Particularly in the first few viewings of Stade’s fastball – full of life and delivered from an arm slot hitters don’t see frequently – Hallock said hitters often became visibly confused.

“When the ball leaves his hand, with that delivery and everything he has going on, and it enters the hitting zone, you just see their eyes and their face make an expression, like, ‘What is that?’ It’s not something you can set a pitching machine to do,” Hallock said. “It’s a special fastball, and he puts all of New Ulm, Minnesota, behind it every time you’re on the receiving end of it.”

Conversely, Stade unlocked his best version during his time at BGSU. In addition to clicking with the Falcons’ coaching staff and his teammates, Stade said the University provided a perfect home for his final year of college baseball.

“I really was surprised at how much of a family this whole University is,” Stade said. “It felt like every single staff member and student were connected. Our support staff wanted to make sure, at the end of the day, we were good people who were set up for success in the future. That’s a really special thing about Bowling Green.”

As a result of his year in orange and brown, Stade will be an intriguing name during the later rounds of the MLB Entry Draft in July. Already drawing tryout interest from MLB teams this spring, Stade possesses many characteristics teams favor.

“When you’re in the business of finding an arm to do that specific thing that he does, you find there aren’t a whole lot of them,” Hallock said. “That goes with all of the other things he does well: presence, composure, pace, poise. He checks a lot of the boxes.

“Because his arsenal was so dominant at this level, I think there are at least a few organizations out there that are wondering where this thing can go.”

Stade said he always believed he could do well in Division I baseball, but the chance to prove it at Bowling Green “meant everything” to him.

As he prepares for his next chapter, Stade said he’ll always be thankful for his time at BGSU.

“This season really secured that in my mind that if I can do it here, I can do it anywhere. I can just take that confidence with me throughout every stage for the rest of my career,” Stade said. “I’m very grateful this season happened, and this is part of my life. Coming to Bowling Green has been so awesome.

“It’s really been a dream.”