HOOVER, Ala. — A single mound meeting did the trick Saturday.
Mississippi State University baseball coach John Cohen and left-handed pitcher Nick Routt got together in the seventh inning on the mound at Regions Park in the 2012 Southeastern Conference tournament semifinal to talk about how they wanted to attack Kentucky power hitter Thomas McCarthy.
Nothing genius was spoken but something registered with Bulldogs junior left-hander that had nearly been an afterthought in what had been a disappointing 2012 season to date.
Routt (3-5) was able to work 3.1 innings of three-hit shutout relief to keep Kentucky’s high-powered offense quiet.
“One of things (MSU pitching coach) Butch Thompson and I are trying to preach is trust your instincts and run your own deal and that’s one of the things that’s so key with Nick,” Cohen said.
Routt, who didn’t allow more than three earned runs in a start during May last year, was in a 2-1 count when Cohen’s mound visit demanded McCarthy not getting any pitches to hit. Routt immediately went to what Baseball America rated two years ago as the best changeup in the entire SEC.
“It was just about getting back to the confident level that I used to have with it and I like throwing (the changeup) when it’s working because as we all know fastball-changeup is a devastating combo,” Routt said. “It’s a circle change and a little bit different than I’d thrown before.”
Instead of twisting or pronating his arm the opposite way of normal at the end, Routt now says he “chokes” the ball with his grip similarly to way Philadelphia Phillies ace pitcher Roy Halladay throws his changeup. A circle change grip normally is when the pitcher makes a circle with his pointer finger and thumb creating some movement on the pitch.
“I was thumbing through the latest issue of Baseball America and the coaches in the SEC still think Nick Routt throws the best changeup,” MSU pitching coach Butch Thompson said last year. “We’re talking about changing what a national publication is calling his best pitch in the best conference in America.”
In the fifth inning, with a one-run lead and two Wildcats on base, Routt got Kentucky cleanup hitter A.J. Reed to buckle on a backdoor curveball on a 3-2 count for a strikeout, looking to end the threat.
“That 3-2 curveball was such a huge pitch there because I thought he threw that sucker right down the middle and left no doubt. He was not walking that guy. Man, he threw that with so much confidence and that was fun to watch.”
It was Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., that told Routt last year he’d done significant damage to his flexor muscle throwing that pronated changeup that looked like a screwball, and he was looking at career-threatening Tommy John surgery to the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow.
For the first three months of the season, Routt found it difficult to trust his new out pitch in two-strike counts and struggled severely on the mound because of this tentative behavior. The 6-foot-4 southpaw would eventually be removed from the rotation after compiling a 6.97 earned run average in SEC play with an 0-3 record.
After throwing a complete game victory in the 2011 Atlanta Regional championship game against Georgia Tech University, Cohen and the MSU coaching staff may be finding out this time of the year just suits Routt perfectly.
“We’d love for that to be the case and he’s certainly showing all the indications of that,” Cohen said. “This time of the year when you have new guys stepping forward it’s beneficial because of situations like this with five games in five days.”
n MSU’s Woodruff will get second start in Hoover in SEC championship game: Freshman right-handed pitcher Brandon Woodruff (0-2, 3.46) will get his second start in Hoover when he is handed the baseball today in the Southeastern Conference tournament championship game.
The start against Vanderbilt University, which will be on four days rest, will be his sixth start of the 2012 season. Woodruff threw a bullpen session at Hoover (Ala.) High School before MSU’s 2-1 victory Saturday in the SEC tournament semifinal round against the University of Kentucky convincing the coaching staff the 18-year-old would be ready to start if MSU advanced to the title game.
“With Woody I think it’s like this – he’s got to go play catch and get it fired up and say ‘well, I don’t know’ or ‘hey coach it feels great’ because that’s where the communication comes in,” Cohen said Saturday.
“Most of our pitchers will come to (MSU pitching coach) Butch Thompson and say ‘hey, it’s not happening today’ or ‘hey I can really do this today’ and those are the things you have to know if you’re going to win one-run games.”
In his first ever SEC start Tuesday, Woodruff (1-2, 2.90) tossed five scoreless innings in the 24th-ranked Bulldogs 9-1 victory over the University of Arkansas to open the tournament play for both schools.
“If he really jams the strike zone, he’s really good,” Cohen said Tuesday. “It does two things because while it’s economical and allows him to get through deeper in a game but it’s also power pitches at well. His ability to throw it down in the zone is really coming along.”
The Wheeler native that was an Under Armour All-American selection mixed in a 92-93 miles-per-hour fastball Tuesday with a devastating overhand curveball to get five strikeouts in a 72-pitch effort.
“What I was trying to do is work in on the right-handed hitters just to show them I wasn’t afraid to pitch inside and then come back with slider or another breaking pitch away,” Woodruff said Tuesday. “I really think working both sides of the plate really helped me out today.”
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