Carlisle Koestler thought it was over.
Told his elbow injury would require surgery, the Southeastern Louisiana pitcher knew his senior season had come to an end after just four starts.
Koestler knew there was a chance his time in college baseball had just run out.
“I really thought, ‘Man, this might be it,’” he said.
But Koestler’s story — and his unique career — was far from over.
Now in his seventh year of college, the Mississippi State right-hander has taken a rare path to the school he grew up wanting to play for. It took three schools, two transfers, a position change, an injury and a pandemic, but Koestler has found his home in Starkville as the Bulldogs’ 2021 regular season nears its end.
“Who in the world would have ever written that story?” Hinds Community College baseball coach Sam Temple said. “That’s just amazing.”
Making the switch
Like Koestler, Temple grew up in Vicksburg, dreaming about playing for the Bulldogs.
Ultimately, Temple never did. He spent his first two years playing for Hinds Community College before going on to catch for Delta State. Now, Temple is back at the JUCO level in his 16th — and final — season coaching his alma mater in Raymond.
In 2014, Koestler graduated from Warren Central High School and joined Temple’s program at Hinds. For the infielder and pitcher, becoming part of a team that went to the 2014 NJCAA World Series was a bit of a “culture shock.”
“Coming from high school, you think you’re the best, and you get there and there’s 20 people just as good or better than you,” Koestler said.
After spending the fall with the Eagles’ football team, Koestler came over to baseball during Hinds’ fall slate of scrimmages. Temple knew the freshman had the talent necessary to pitch, but with the talent on the roster, they reached a decision: Koestler would be a non-participant for the 2015 season, saving him a year of eligibility but keeping him off the field.
As his sophomore season neared, Koestler felt the strain of playing both ways on the diamond. His bat lagged behind, and his pitching was better but not quite where he wanted it to be. Temple laid it out for the sophomore: A change was needed.
“I was doing better at throwing the ball than hitting the ball, so he made it pretty clear that if I want to go on and play Division I ball, I would probably be better suited as a pitcher,” Koestler said.
Hinds pitching coach Wes Thigpen, now the head coach at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, said two-way players typically have the athleticism needed to make the switch permanently. Koestler was no exception, improving his low-80s slider and upping his fastball velocity from the mid-80s to the low 90s.
“The more time he spent on the mound, the more the velocity went up, and his breaking ball got better,” Thigpen said.
Thigpen called Koestler “the ultimate competitor,” perpetually looking to win the Eagles’ weightlifting and endurance competitions and wont to throw a controller if an Xbox game against a teammate didn’t go his way.
“In anything you do, he’s trying to win,” Thigpen said. “Whether it’s working out, whether it’s running, whether it’s video games, he’s trying to beat you. That’s always the edge you’re looking for in a player.”
That edge, Koestler said, was honed in a household where everything became a competition.
“You can’t play too many card games without somebody getting mad,” he said.
It served him well in 2016 with the Eagles. After a few starts, Temple moved Koestler to the bullpen, realizing Hinds didn’t have a reliable closer.
Koestler filled a back-end role perfectly. He appeared in 25 games, earning the win in 10 of them and saving three more. He struck out 63 batters in 55 innings pitched.
“He got the ball at the most important time — up one, down one — and the team found a way to win when he was on the mound,” Thigpen said.
Finishing at 25-22, Hinds had a relative down season, losing to Northwest Mississippi Community College in the first round of the state playoffs. Koestler’s JUCO career was over, but he was grateful for the experience.
“I think junior college really helped me take a step back and look at how good I actually was and helped me develop as a player and a person,” Koestler said.
‘A Mississippi boy’
Before he even threw a pitch for the Eagles, Koestler already had his sights set on his next destination.
In December 2015, he signed with Southeastern Louisiana of the Southland Conference, getting his chance at playing Division I ball.
For most players, Temple said, heading to the D-I level would have been the culmination to a solid collegiate tenure.
“He comes to Hinds, goes through the JUCO process, goes to Southeastern Louisiana which is a great program in itself,” Temple said. “Right there, you’re going to spend your career at Southeastern Louisiana and play.”
Ultimately, life had other plans for Koestler.
As a sophomore at SELA, he appeared in 17 games, starting 13 and winning four. The following year, he pitched to a 2.68 ERA and won seven games, leading his team in both categories and earning second-team all-Southland honors.
But for years, Koestler’s right elbow nagged him. He pitched through the pain, until he couldn’t.
Koestler made just four starts in 2019 before shutting things down for the season. Late in the spring, he was told he’d need surgery.
The bad news came with a sudden realization: He was human after all.
“It does help you realize that you’re not going to pitch forever, so you might as well make every one of them count because you never know when your last one’s going to be,” Koestler said.
Fortunately, Koestler found out that final pitch wouldn’t be his last. Granted a medical redshirt, his fourth year of eligibility was restored. Since he had graduated from Southeastern with his bachelor’s degree, it would have to be played elsewhere.
With 18 seniors in his class at Southeastern also set to graduate, Koestler entered his name into the transfer portal, a relatively new invention for college baseball. He didn’t know what to expect, but he ultimately learned coaches would be able to access his contact information and reach out to him through the portal.
In June 2019, during Mississippi State’s time at the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, Koestler got a phone call. On the other end, Bulldogs assistant Jake Gautreau introduced himself. He gauged the pitcher’s interest in coming to Starkville.
Of course, Koestler was already plenty familiar with the program he was being asked to join.
“I grew up in Mississippi,” he said. “I’m a Mississippi boy. I know all about the history and tradition at Mississippi State.”
Whereas early in his career Koestler might have tried to find a school that would allow him to play a starring role, by then, he had a different goal: to use his experience in a supporting role.
“I bring a skill set far different from other players,” Koestler said. “I may not be the fastest thrower or whatever, but I’ve seen the game at a bunch of different levels for a lot of years. I feel like I can help the young players in that way.”
In July 2019, he made his transfer to Mississippi State official. The goal was simple: help the Bulldogs get back to Omaha.
“I just picked State because I thought that was the best opportunity for us as a team to win the championship, because it’s always been a dream to go to the College World Series and everything,” Koestler said.
A ‘no-brainer’
As soon as Koestler came to Starkville, his recovery took priority. He underwent an arthroscopic debridement of his balky elbow, having the joint cleaned out so it could once again move the same way.
Unable to throw for two months — not bad as arm surgeries go — Koestler didn’t get much of a first offseason with the Bulldogs. Still, he played his way into a swingman spot, eventually earning three starts as he filled the role of the injured JT Ginn. On March 11, Koestler drew the start against Texas Tech in Biloxi, pitching five strong innings and allowing just one run.
It was the last game Mississippi State played in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic put the season on pause the following day, and play never resumed.
The cancellation was an outcome Koestler said he never thought would come to pass.
“I thought we really were coming together there as a team and really had everything we needed to compete at the highest level,” he said. “It didn’t even feel real. It took a couple months to really feel like the season was over.”
When he got word the NCAA would give spring-sport athletes an extra year of competition, it was a “no-brainer”: Year 7 of college was in the works.
“I knew I wanted to come back and finish what we started the year before,” Koestler said.
The decision made him the only member of the high school graduating class of 2014 in the Southeastern Conference. Koestler, who turned 25 in December, is the unquestioned elder statesman of the Bulldogs’ staff.
It’s not something that hits him often, but there are times when Koestler has to question it. Once, he was asked about a fellow Warren Central product on the Bulldogs’ roster, infielder Shane Lewis. The two never played together in Vicksburg, though — the year Koestler was a senior, Lewis was in sixth grade.
“When you’re in it, to me it doesn’t seem like there’s that big of an age difference, but when you really think about it, it’s kinda crazy,” Koestler said.
But he’s proud to be the veteran of what he called “the most talented staff I’ve ever been a part of” in Starkville. From standout starters Christian MacLeod and Will Bednar to lockdown late-inning reliever Landon Sims, the Bulldogs have perhaps the best pitchers in the country, leading to immense competition for time on the mound.
“There’s only one baseball that gets to be thrown, and there’s 25 of us and we’re all competing for the same job,” Koestler said. “That just elevates everybody’s game.”
The 2020 offseason — the best Koestler said he’s ever had — did wonders for his own game. Pitching coach Scott Foxhall helped him develop a throwing program, and weightlifting with strength and conditioning coach Seth Diters helped him bulk up. With a full offseason to work out, long toss and throw in the bullpen, Koestler upped his velocity by a couple miles per hour, cleaned up his mechanics and improved the horizontal break on his slider.
So far in 2021, he’s made 10 appearances, including two starts. With the depth the Bulldogs possess, Koestler has never been called on for more than three innings, but he’s pitched to a 4.00 ERA and earned three wins on the season.
“He gives us the ability to do a couple of different things,” Mississippi State coach Chris Lemonis said. “For us, a lot of times he’s that long guy. He can throw in relief, but he has starter-type stuff where he can pitch for a while.”
Koestler said the Bulldogs’ 2021 season has been filled with the same promise last year’s team had before the shutdown, and he hopes this year will end where the 2018 and 2019 Bulldogs did and where the 2020 squad could have been poised to wind up: Omaha.
Thigpen knows those dreams well. As a player for the Bulldogs, he and his team came up six outs short of that ultimate goal. Watching Koestler get there, he said, would mean the world.
“Just getting to see guys you’ve coached being able to live out that dream is something special,” Thigpen said. “It’s something every kid grows up wanting to do. Hopefully he gets that opportunity.”
But no matter how it ends, Koestler said he’s thankful for one thing: His story isn’t over yet.
“Just having as much time as I can playing the game is a blessing,” he said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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