SEATTLE – Joining a long line of Sharks who have seen success at the professional level after their time at Nova Southeastern University baseball, it was announced that former Sharks pitching coach Pete Woodworth has been named pitching coach for the main franchise of the Seattle Mariners.
 
"I am extremely excited for the opportunity to join the Seattle Mariners Major League staff as the pitching coach in 2020," Woodworth told NSUSharks.com. "I am forever grateful to Greg Brown and Nova Southeastern University for helping start my coaching career and setting the foundation and environment to develop student-athletes. The NSU athletic department, strength staff, athletic trainers, coaches and athletes played a large role in my early development as a coach, leader and person. Go Sharks!"
 
Woodworth coached for the Sharks during the 2014 season and had an immediate impact, NSU finishing fourth among Sunshine State Conference teams with a 3.22 ERA, despite a very young pitching rotation with only two seniors. In addition, Woodworth guided Dillon Frye and Mitchel Buerosse to the first perfect game in program history.
 
That season under Woodworth, relievers Drew Packard and Ronald Patella both sat under 2.00 ERA in a combined 32 appearances, recording ERAs of 1.84 and 1.88, respectively. Meanwhile, Patella combined with Josh Glick to record nine of the team's 11 saves.
 
"Woody is an exceptional coach and an even better person," NSU head baseball coach Greg Brown said. "Watching his growth to this point has been inspiring. I was fortunate to be able to hire him in his first full-time pitching coach role in the summer of 2013, and to be able to see the humble beginnings of a star in our industry. Our Shark Family continues to branch out and influence the baseball world and I am so proud of Woody to be our first Major League coach."
 
Woodworth came to NSU with experience at both the collegiate and professional levels. First playing in the Tampa Bay Rays professional system before returning to his alma mater, Florida Gulf Coast, as a volunteer assistant coach. Directly before coming to the Sharks, he was an area scout for the Rays' organization, also an assistant coach at the Florida Diamond Club and the Rays' scout team.
 
Woodworth spent the 2019 season as the pitching coach for the Arkansas Travelers, the Mariners affiliate in the AA Texas League. Following the season, Woodworth was named the Texas League Coach of the Year. The Travelers pitching staff finished the season with 1,324 strikeouts, the second-highest total in the history of the Texas League. The 2020 season will be his fifth in the Mariners organization. He spent 2017 and 2018 as the pitching coach for the High-A Modesto Nuts after joining the Mariners on June 22, 2016 as the pitching coach at A Clinton LumberKings. He came to the Seattle organization after returning to FGCU as the pitching coach after NSU.
 
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