STARKVILLE – Mississippi State pitching coach Butch Thompson didn’t know what the meeting was going to be about.
During MSU’s fall baseball practice, MSU pitcher Trevor Fitts pulled his position coach to the side and told him the two needed to talk about something.
Once behind closed doors, the senior from Birmingham, Alabama laid his idea out for Thompson to hear.
“I went to coach and said ‘If I’m not going to pitch deep into SEC games as a starter, and if I can help the team another way, I think we should do it,’ ” said Fitts on Friday afternoon. “I really felt like, with my stuff, I could possibly help the team from the bullpen.”
Thompson agreed, because he had been thinking the same thing.
“He came to me with the idea, and I just smiled because I had been thinking along those same lines,” said Thompson of Fitts. “He’s a guy with a good head on his shoulders, and he doesn’t take anything lightly.”
With that, Fitts immediately became MSU’s closer, a position he will play for the first time when the Bulldogs open the 2015 season on Feb. 13 against Cincinnati. And like Thompson said, it’s a position switch that Fitts doesn’t take lightly.
“I know how big our bullpen has been lately,” said Fitts, who pitched in 16 games for MSU as a junior, all as a starter. “That’s been one of the big keys to our success. It has won a lot of games for us. We lost a lot of great pitchers, guys who meant a lot to this program. If I could make us a better team by moving back there, why wouldn’t I do it?”
The opportunity was there. Gone is former MSU closer Johnathan Holder, who held down the role of stopper for the Bulldogs for the past three seasons, racking up 37 saves with an earned run average of 1.67 during that span. It was Holder who was on the mound to close out some of the most important games in MSU history, helping the Bulldogs reach the College World Series finals in 2013.
That’s a spot that Thompson could see Fitts inheriting.
“I trust him,” said Thompson. “With the game on the line, in the ninth inning of the College World Series, I would want the ball in his hands. That’s what you want as your closer.”
Though his repertoire of pitches lacks the explosiveness of Holder’s, Fitts profiles as a similar reliever. Both have fastballs that top out near 90 MPH, and both have outstanding breaking pitches, fitting the description sought by MSU head coach John Cohen when he said “What we are looking for is a late-inning guy who can go out there and spin a breaking ball to get people out. That’s what we’ve had in the past and what we’re going to need this year.”
Enter Fitts. Through three seasons, the former starter has gone 8-4 during his career. As a freshman in 2012, he was 3-0 with a 3.21 ERA. As a sophomore, he started six games and turned in a record of 0-1 with a 3.00 ERA. And last year, he started all 16 games that he appeared in and posted a 2.57 ERA against a 5-3 record.
Further, he has shown the ability to keep the ball in the park, giving up just four home runs during his three-year career. He also ranked second in the SEC as a starter last year by allowing just 15 walks in 69.2 innings of work.
He also has big-game experience, dating back to his starting MSU’s opening game of the CWS Championship Series, a 3-1 loss to UCLA.
“You don’t get any more experienced than that,” said Thompson.
But more than his pitching ability, Fitts brings plenty of experience and leadership to the bullpen. Voted as one of three team captains by his teammates, it’s that intangible that could prepare the 6-foot-2, 223-pounder for the pressure-packed role of closer.
“The first time I met him last year, I knew right away that he was a leader on this team,” said MSU sophomore catcher Gavin Collins. “The way he carries himself on and off the field, his mentality, the way he fights on every pitch, he’s one of those guys that leads this team by example.”
While the moves by Fitts to closer and teammate Vance Tatum to the eight-inning role, MSU’s starting rotation would naturally seem to take a hit. Not so, according to Fitts.
I feel like people outside the program have no idea how good our starters can be,” said Fitts. “We have a lot of great arms, guys people may not know about yet. It’s going to be fun to watch that rotation take shape this season.”
For his part, though, the view as a senior will be different than the one he’s had for several years. Instead of toeing the rubber from the outset, Fitts will be biding his time, patiently waiting for the opportunity to finish off an MSU win.
That’s just fine with him.
“At the end of the day, it’s about getting outs,” said Fitts. “Whether you do that at the end of the game or the beginning, you are helping your team win games. That’s what we are all about as a team.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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