Price makes move to starting role after closing in 2011
When pitchers Michael Roth and Matt Price decided to return for their senior seasons and spurn the MLB draft, Gamecock fans took a sigh of relief, instantly circling the starting pitching as a strength for the upcoming season.
And while the talent may be back, question marks still remain in the case of Price moving from the bullpen to a starting role.
Though Roth has experience in moving from a role in the bullpen to a starting spot, he didn’t have many words of wisdom for Price.
“There’s not a cookie cutter approach to it,” Roth said. “Price and I are two very different pitchers, and two very different individuals in the way we work out and in the way we approach things. Really, just as a starter, it’s just endurance. That’s arm endurance, but also leg endurance. I think he’ll do fine. I think he’ll do great in the transition.”
Price has had success in the transition before, as he came into the program as a starting pitcher and became a closer after experiment. South Carolina coach Ray Tanner has Price as a starter on an experimental basis, joking that if it doesn’t work out, it was an assistant coach’s idea.
“Price has always been a starter, as far as entering this program,” Tanner said. “He’s a four pitch guy, but as a closer he has never been able to use all of his pitches. I think he can be an outstanding starter. I hope it doesn’t leave us with a void at the end. (Forrest) Koumas is a high emotion guy with good stuff and a former football player, which I like. We’ll see how it works. If it is not a situation that works for us, we will go back to the way we were.”
For Price, the adjustment has involved bullpen sessions that are twice as long to build up his arm strength, as well as adjusting to a different pace as a starter. Roth said that, “as a pitcher go you out there and you try to get outs,” saying there’s not much of a difference in mentality from a starter and a reliever, and Price agreed with that sentiment.
“People say that your adrenaline won’t be there,” Price said. “I think for me it’s going to be there just because I’m excited to get back on the mound against another team.”
And while Roth won’t be making any transitions this season as he’s to start game one of weekend series, he faces the challenge of maintaining the standard that he’s set over the last season.
“I know there’s all the things about whether I can live up to what I did last year,” Roth said. “You don’t try to do that. You don’t go out there and try to have a 1 ERA or whatever. You go out there and try to give your team a quality start every night, and that’s what I’m going to try to do.”
Tanner said that an asset for Roth is his ability to not sweat the small stuff, which Roth attributes to not taking the game too seriously and the atmosphere that he’s surrounded by.
“It just comes from not getting too wrapped up in it — we’re lucky enough to play in front of six- or eight-thousand every game,” Roth said. “I guess when you get used to a situation like that you don’t get too high on your high’s or too low on your low’s. You stay pretty even. That’s really the key to this game, and life, really.”
The duo of Price and Roth is completed by sophomore Colby Holmes, who typically pitched game two of weekend series. Though Holmes may get overlooked by fans in comparison to Roth and Price, he’s not underappreciated by Tanner.
“He has been solid and sometimes he does get overshadowed,” Tanner said. “His sinker was working, his velocity has gotten better, his change-up is good, his left-hander — I’d like to see him get into that double digit win category. He’s got a chance because he’s a good one. He had to pitch against a lot of the better teams, so we’re looking forward to a good year out of Colby.”
With new bats limiting offense, Tanner understands the importance of pitching, as it was the bread and butter for the Gamecocks last season.
“Our game has turned into pitching and defense, when a few years back it might have been about how many runs you could score in college baseball,” Tanner said. “We have to prove that we’re good enough. I think we’re good, but with that being said, there are a lot of good teams.”