If Christian Morris’ departure for the pros a week ago dealt a blow to Indiana’s pitching rotation, then that wound was at least partially healed Tuesday when Jake Kelzer announced his intention to return.

Kelzer, a 6-8 redshirt sophomore who was picked by the Cubs in the 14th round of this summer’s Major League draft, made his announcement on Twitter.

Indiana’s highest selection in this year’s draft, Kelzer was picked by the Yankees in the 22nd round last summer.

His long frame and potential velocity make Kelzer a tantalizing professional prospect. And despite his relative baseball youth – Kelzer split time between several sports at Bloomington High School South and swam at IU first, before switching to baseball full-time – his 2.54 ERA in Big Ten games currently sits fifth all-time at Indiana.

Morris’ departure undoubtedly hurts Indiana’s weekend rotation for 2016. The decisions of juniors drafted in the 30s and 40s (Morris was taken by the Yankees in the 33rd round) are often hard to forecast; some return to school and some decide to go ahead to the pros.

But losing Morris is offset by retaining a pitcher who led the Hoosiers with 73 innings pitched a year ago, and started 11 games.

Kyle Hart will anchor IU’s weekend three next season. That’s as certain as anything relating to the Hoosiers’ makeup in 2016.

If Kelzer has anything resembling an Aaron Slegers-level jump in him, then he gives Indiana a counterpunch behind the veteran lefty in the starting rotation. He’s also done some closing in college, and he’s pitched from several different roles.

Ultimately, Kelzer gives Indiana options, and his return bolsters a rotation that’s now lost Morris, Scott Effross, Ryan Halstead and Luke Harrison. Indiana needed to reload its pitching staff, and bringing Kelzer back eases that burden.

From Kelzer’s perspective, it’s a gamble, but not a massive one.

He still has two years of eligibility left because of the late start to his baseball career, so he’s draft-eligible one more time with the option of returning to school – for negotiating purposes – on the table.

And while he’s certainly not a finished product, another year at IU likely brings him closer to that, while retaining the relative comfort of college baseball.

He handled more than double the innings from two seasons ago to this past spring, significantly increasing his strikeout totals and keeping his ERA under 4. Another jump in performance, given similar production, would be a serious boost to IU’s hopes for a fourth-consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.

Whatever next year holds, today’s news is good for Indiana.

Follow Star reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.