FSU baseball adds UNC transfer Joseph Charles to pitching staff

Florida State baseball’s recruiting has been on full display since the end of the season. Last week, the Seminoles picked up commitments from a productive JUCO bat and an athletic middle infielder from Tennessee Tech. FSU has also added North Carolina transfer Joseph Charles to their 2021 class.

Charles spent his first two years of college at UNC. Due to an injury and entering the transfer portal, he only threw 1.1 innings in Chapel Hill. But Charles, who will come to Tallahassee as a redshirt sophomore, is expected to be fully healthy when he gets to FSU. Charles is from from Celebration, Florida. The Florida native is a 6’3, 200-pound right-handed pitcher.

The righty possesses the arm talent to be a dominant college arm. Coming out of high school, Charles was the third best RHP and 10th overall prospect to reach campus in 2019, per Perfect Game. Charles’ fastball is a premium pitch. He sits in the mid-90’s and can reach up to 97 MPH on the mound. Charles can also put run on the fastball when he wants to. Here is the fastball:

The right-handed pitcher possesses two breaking balls. The first is a mid-70’s curveball. Going into the 2019 draft, Perfect Game rated Charles’ curveball as the third best in the prep class. He has the ability to land the pitch in any count. It is a knee-buckling pitch. Here is the curveball:

Here is an overlay of the fastball and curveball:

Charles also throws a slider. The slider has more bite to it and can be his swing-and-miss pitch against right-handed hitters. He throws the slider in the low to mid-80’s. Here is the slider:

The power stuff is evident in the fastball, but Charles likes to be aggressive with his off-speed as well. When speaking to Charles about his game on the mound, he said, “I would say that I’m a power pitcher. Every pitch that I throw, I’m trying to throw it hard and go right after hitters.”

Charles comes out of TNXL Academy in Orlando. The RHP will be the eighth TNXL alum to come to Florida State in the last four classes. That tie between FSU and TNXL had an influence on his decision to come to Florida State, “I think being on the same team as Doug (Kirkland) and a lot of other guys that I’ve been friends with for a while was a big part of me coming to FSU.”

The RHP will be the fourth generation of his family to attend Florida State. When he entered the transfer portal, many teams were quick to contact Charles, but FSU’s coaching staff and his connection to Tallahassee made the difference. “The portal process was pretty crazy. The second you’re in, coaches from all types of schools are reaching out in different ways all day and night for the first week or so. I really liked FSU from the start. After talking to the coaches it was a really easy decision for me. I feel like they create a great environment for their players to succeed and getting to come back to Florida was a big thing for me.”

With two years of college baseball in hand, Charles feels that he can bring some more experience to a potentially young FSU team. He said, “I think I bring a lot of experience that I’ll be able to use and just be a positive presence in the locker room.”

All videos in this article are via Kyler Peterson. For Charles’ full outing vs. IMG Academy in 2019, see below: