TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — JP France has earned a level of trust beyond the conventional wisdom.
Mississippi State’s right-handed senior was in the dugout, four innings and over 40 pitches of work into his outing when third baseman Justin Foscue asked him if he would be back for the ninth inning. France, having thrown 45 pitches less than 48 hours prior, thought his workload combined with the 6-4 lead was the perfect situation for Blake Smith, the team’s leader with three saves.
Time continued, and MSU interim baseball coach Gary Henderson never worked his way to France for a chat. At some point in the isolation, France assumed he was expected to take the mound once more. The inning ended; Smith, Riley Self and Zach Neff had all warmed up to some degree in the bullpen in right-center field, yet France climbed the steps for another inning.
France pitched it in scoreless fashion, his five innings of one-run ball giving MSU a 6-4 win over Alabama (24-25, 6-18 Southeastern Conference) on Sunday and the series win with it, after winning with France on Friday and losing without him Saturday. The reason France is trusted in the team’s most pivotal innings is a simple one.
“Anytime someone’s being successful, there’s a really good they’re doing the absolute basics,” Henderson said. “He didn’t walk anybody today, he didn’t give up back-to-back hits, got most of the leadoff guys out, he was able to throw most of his secondary pitches below the strike zone and didn’t get punished but once with a secondary pitch.”
He’s also been here before.
It was after two weekends of settling into a once-per-three-days long relief role, throwing one three-inning stint against Ole Miss and a four-inning showing against Arkansas, that Henderson decided he needed more of France — an understandable hunch, given France’s 1.95 earned run average at the time. The new normal for France came to be two weeks ago against Texas A&M, when France threw one inning on Friday before taking on 79 pitches and 4 2/3 innings in the series finale. With a game just brought back to life on Elijah MacNamee’s two-run home run knocking the deficit down to one, the Bulldogs (25-21, 10-12 SEC) turned to France for a situation it knew he could handle.
After retiring five batters without an earned run on Friday, France did it even better the second time against the Crimson Tide.
“Slider was a little sharper, a little firmer, fastball was working at the knees and at both sides of the plate,” France said. “The only thing that changed was I got the ball down. I knew they didn’t see the best stuff I have, so it was going to be different for them.
“It all really depends on how my arm’s feeling. They were kind of questioning how my arm was going to feel and it felt good today, so I had a pretty good idea I was going to come in today. Pitching against the same team twice in the same weekend, they’ve seen your stuff, but if your stuff is good enough, a good pitcher beats a good hitter nine times out of 10.”
It takes a distinct skillset to handle that exact usage, and it was one France had to build. France’s first appearance as a Bulldog came in a midweek start, throwing three innings, but after that he came to mostly be used in a more traditional bullpen role, as five of his nine March appearances stopped at or below 30 pitches.
He got there by calling back on old days.
France came to MSU as a graduate transfer from Tulane, where he was a starter of significance for two seasons. His final two campaigns as a member of the Green Wave saw him start 27 times, with his 2017 season ending with a 3.84 earned run average over 96 innings and wins over Power 5 conference programs including West Virginia.
“I’m used to the heavy workload,” France said. “I finally started getting back in the groove of taking that heavy workload and I’m starting to come back a little faster.”
France is taking on more innings and growing more comfortable as he does it, and his teammates can see why.
“He throws hard, but he also has a curveball and a changeup that are disgusting,” MacNamee said. “He’s a veteran guy from Tulane, he knows how to handle himself on the mound and I think that’s what makes him very successful.
“We need him.”
Now MSU knows it can call on him whenever it wants and however it needs — even when he doesn’t expect it.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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