Tim Kurkjian on Alek Manoah – The Gold and Blue Nation Podcast

Longtime ESPN baseball analyst Tim Kurkjian is the latest guest on The Gold and Blue Nation Podcast, and he's a big fan of former Mountaineer Alek Manoah. In this interview with Ryan Decker, Kurkjian breaks down Manoah's presence on the mound, and explains why the pitcher's career with the Blue Jays has begun with so much success.  Kurkjian also dishes on another former Mountaineer, John Means, who will miss the remainder of the MLB season due to injury. The Orioles ace is the only former Mountaineer to throw a big league no-hitter. 

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It may be college baseball’s offseason, but the Mountaineers remain busy.

West Virginia received a verbal commitment from a pitching prospect that has a lot of potential over the weekend.

Aiden Cody is a 6-foot, 175-pound right-handed pitcher who recently wrapped up his sophomore season at St. John Vianney High School in Holmdel, New Jersey.

Cody, part of the 2024 recruiting cycle, announced his commitment to the Mountaineers via Twitter on Friday.

“I am very blessed and excited to announce that I am furthering my academic and baseball career at West Virginia University,” he said in the tweet.

Cody has a Perfect Game rating of nine, according to his player profile on the website. That score is a nine out of 10, meaning it’s the second-highest grade that Perfect Game gives prep players.

By Perfect Game’s standards, a nine means its evaluators see Cody as a “Potential top 10 round pick and/or highest level college prospect.”

Cody’s fastball has topped out at 90 miles per hour, according to the site.

Cody is the eighth commitment to West Virginia’s 2024 recruiting class, and the third that is firmly inside of Perfect Game’s Top 500 players in the country. He is rated as the No. 221 player in the country by the site.

Twice he has been named a Perfect Game Preseason Underclassmen All-American as part of the Northeast Region.