Talked to Braden Olthoff and Daniel Latham yesterday. Southern is a decent team that was tied with Mississippi State in the seventh inning of its regional opener last year, beat LSU 8-2 in the regular season and can play with Tulane. Probably not as good as Florida Gulf Coast, which Tulane swept, but close. Tulane may need better pitching on Saturday and Sunday to sweep. We'll see. Southern' Sunday starter threw a no-hitter against Prairie View five days ago.
OLTHOFF
Did you feel like you fit in the first day you got here?
“Oh yeah. This summer was definitely an interesting first day. It was very humid. I kind of didn’t know where I was going, but I met a few of the guys in the dorm and we hit it off right away. What they always do here is bring their incoming freshmen and a lot of their juco guys in early in the summer, and that gives us a chance to get used to it and get a feel for things.”
Did you imagine starting off this well (21 innings, 34 strikeouts, one earned run)?
"Definitely not. I've always prided myself on pounding the strike zone and just attacking hitters, and it's gone very well so far. I've got great teammates behind me. I trust giving the ball up to the pen. I've got guys in the field who can make big plays."
Daniel Latham told me you were pretty new to pitching when you went to junior college. What is the history there?
"Yeah, so I actually didn't start pitching until my senior year (of high school), so that's why I didn't really have anyone looking at me out of high school. I wasn't surprised by that at all. I just had two JUCOs that I was kind of talking to, and then my freshman year there (at Palomar College) my pitching coach, Bobby Shore, really just changed all of my mechanics completely and then by my sophomore year I got more comfortable with them and was getting into the flow of things, but I'm still learning stuff all the time."
How have you gotten better from last year (when he had a 2.51 ERA at Palomar)?
"Two things that definitely have helped me was I learned my slider with about five games left of last year, so I didn't really have that pitch at all. That's a big pitch for me this year. And then I also threw my changeup a few times each game last year and didn't really feel confident in it, and this year I feel very confident in it, so those two pitches definitely help me."
What is the key for you to be successful?
"I think it's just attack first pitch. I feel confident once I get 0-1. Then I can have the pitcher right where I want him and can go with any pitch at any time. So it's getting ahead of the hitters and then really 0-1, 0-2, just expanding (the zone), not throwing anything too fine but also staying around the zone where it looks good and they'll still get a lot of swings."
You have your personal catcher in Haydan Hastings, who was with you at Palomar.
"Yeah, it's been great how that's worked out. He's caught all of my starts so far. He caught every single one of my games last year except for one, so he knows exactly what I want to throw when I want to throw it, so that helps a lot."
Did you guys want to go to the same school together, or did it just work out that way?
"No, that wasn't the plan. It just kind of worked out that way. I talked to Tulane earlier in the fall and then the coaches reached out and said they were looking at me and I told them about Haydan. They came out and saw him and then he had committed, too, so that just worked out really well. I don't think it happens very often, so it was very cool."
How does he help you the most?
"He just really knows how each one of my pitches works and just from last year, when one pitch isn't working, there are a few cues that get me right back on track, so it's nice having someone who is so familiar with me."
DANIEL LATHAM
You mentioned in the preseason that Olthoff got better almost too soon but it ended up working out that you could still get him.
"Yeah. At junior college he didn't use his changeup a lot. He didn't throw the slider he's throwing now until like four games left in the season or something like that, so the pitch repertoire is a little bit enhanced this year, and the way he's commanding all four pitches is just uncanny. It's pretty ridiculous what he's doing right now."
He also has his personal catcher. How did that work out?
"We had a need for a catcher. We had need for a junior college catcher that could come in and be defensive for us. It just so happens that we had seen that guy catching great and it just kind of worked out that way. A little bit of dumb luck for us to have a need and him to have interest and availability, so it worked out for us that way. I was joking the other day. They are all too young, but it's Eddie Perez for Greg Maddox. They've got Javie Lopez, but he doesn't catch Maddox. That's his guy, so it kind of worked out that way."
You told me you've gotten players from Heartland Community College, which is where you got Clifton Slagel, who has not given up a run. Who were they?
"I've had a pitcher and a catcher from there. I had a guy named Pat Cashman (who started and performed well against Tulane twice in 2016, when Southeastern swept two from David Pierce's AAC champions, but took both losses when the Wave swept Southeastern in 2015), who was a midweek starter for us and got drafted from there, and then another guy named Daniel Wasinger, who was a catcher for us and got drafted by the Diamonbacks and is a catcher in pro ball now. Just had a little bit of history with some of their guys, knowing what they are about. I had a little cheat sheet in how he would transition."
What was your recruiting philosophy in identifying JUCO pitchers who could be successful for you?
"With JUCO guys it's not a lot of projection. What you see if what you get, and if they get better, that's an added bonus, but you have to see if what they're doing currently is going to slide into what your plans are on the mound. You start looking at how they are performing and the actions of their balls but also what are their numbers, how competitive are they, what type of situations are they pitching in, how have they handed big moments. A lot of things like that will give you a little bit of an idea about how they are going to come across as it goes. I had those feelings about Braden and Jack (Aldrich) and Donovan (Benoit) and Slagel."
You said in the preseason when you recruited the three weekend starters your vision for them was Aldrich as the sandwich guy on Saturday between Olthoff and Benoit. How often does the vision work out like this?
"You always have a plan. Usually it doesn't play out exactly how you see it, but so far, so good on that. A ways to go."
Benoit walked seven in three innings last Sunday. What was causing the issue?
"That's certainly not characteristic for him. He just had a couple of mechanical things going on that were getting him off line a little bit and limiting his chance to throw strikes, stuff that we've been working this week to address and clean up. I think you'll see a better version of Donovan this week going forward. I'm excited about the opportunity for him to get back out there. I know he's itching to get back out on the mound and get going again."
OLTHOFF
Did you feel like you fit in the first day you got here?
“Oh yeah. This summer was definitely an interesting first day. It was very humid. I kind of didn’t know where I was going, but I met a few of the guys in the dorm and we hit it off right away. What they always do here is bring their incoming freshmen and a lot of their juco guys in early in the summer, and that gives us a chance to get used to it and get a feel for things.”
Did you imagine starting off this well (21 innings, 34 strikeouts, one earned run)?
"Definitely not. I've always prided myself on pounding the strike zone and just attacking hitters, and it's gone very well so far. I've got great teammates behind me. I trust giving the ball up to the pen. I've got guys in the field who can make big plays."
Daniel Latham told me you were pretty new to pitching when you went to junior college. What is the history there?
"Yeah, so I actually didn't start pitching until my senior year (of high school), so that's why I didn't really have anyone looking at me out of high school. I wasn't surprised by that at all. I just had two JUCOs that I was kind of talking to, and then my freshman year there (at Palomar College) my pitching coach, Bobby Shore, really just changed all of my mechanics completely and then by my sophomore year I got more comfortable with them and was getting into the flow of things, but I'm still learning stuff all the time."
How have you gotten better from last year (when he had a 2.51 ERA at Palomar)?
"Two things that definitely have helped me was I learned my slider with about five games left of last year, so I didn't really have that pitch at all. That's a big pitch for me this year. And then I also threw my changeup a few times each game last year and didn't really feel confident in it, and this year I feel very confident in it, so those two pitches definitely help me."
What is the key for you to be successful?
"I think it's just attack first pitch. I feel confident once I get 0-1. Then I can have the pitcher right where I want him and can go with any pitch at any time. So it's getting ahead of the hitters and then really 0-1, 0-2, just expanding (the zone), not throwing anything too fine but also staying around the zone where it looks good and they'll still get a lot of swings."
You have your personal catcher in Haydan Hastings, who was with you at Palomar.
"Yeah, it's been great how that's worked out. He's caught all of my starts so far. He caught every single one of my games last year except for one, so he knows exactly what I want to throw when I want to throw it, so that helps a lot."
Did you guys want to go to the same school together, or did it just work out that way?
"No, that wasn't the plan. It just kind of worked out that way. I talked to Tulane earlier in the fall and then the coaches reached out and said they were looking at me and I told them about Haydan. They came out and saw him and then he had committed, too, so that just worked out really well. I don't think it happens very often, so it was very cool."
How does he help you the most?
"He just really knows how each one of my pitches works and just from last year, when one pitch isn't working, there are a few cues that get me right back on track, so it's nice having someone who is so familiar with me."
DANIEL LATHAM
You mentioned in the preseason that Olthoff got better almost too soon but it ended up working out that you could still get him.
"Yeah. At junior college he didn't use his changeup a lot. He didn't throw the slider he's throwing now until like four games left in the season or something like that, so the pitch repertoire is a little bit enhanced this year, and the way he's commanding all four pitches is just uncanny. It's pretty ridiculous what he's doing right now."
He also has his personal catcher. How did that work out?
"We had a need for a catcher. We had need for a junior college catcher that could come in and be defensive for us. It just so happens that we had seen that guy catching great and it just kind of worked out that way. A little bit of dumb luck for us to have a need and him to have interest and availability, so it worked out for us that way. I was joking the other day. They are all too young, but it's Eddie Perez for Greg Maddox. They've got Javie Lopez, but he doesn't catch Maddox. That's his guy, so it kind of worked out that way."
You told me you've gotten players from Heartland Community College, which is where you got Clifton Slagel, who has not given up a run. Who were they?
"I've had a pitcher and a catcher from there. I had a guy named Pat Cashman (who started and performed well against Tulane twice in 2016, when Southeastern swept two from David Pierce's AAC champions, but took both losses when the Wave swept Southeastern in 2015), who was a midweek starter for us and got drafted from there, and then another guy named Daniel Wasinger, who was a catcher for us and got drafted by the Diamonbacks and is a catcher in pro ball now. Just had a little bit of history with some of their guys, knowing what they are about. I had a little cheat sheet in how he would transition."
What was your recruiting philosophy in identifying JUCO pitchers who could be successful for you?
"With JUCO guys it's not a lot of projection. What you see if what you get, and if they get better, that's an added bonus, but you have to see if what they're doing currently is going to slide into what your plans are on the mound. You start looking at how they are performing and the actions of their balls but also what are their numbers, how competitive are they, what type of situations are they pitching in, how have they handed big moments. A lot of things like that will give you a little bit of an idea about how they are going to come across as it goes. I had those feelings about Braden and Jack (Aldrich) and Donovan (Benoit) and Slagel."
You said in the preseason when you recruited the three weekend starters your vision for them was Aldrich as the sandwich guy on Saturday between Olthoff and Benoit. How often does the vision work out like this?
"You always have a plan. Usually it doesn't play out exactly how you see it, but so far, so good on that. A ways to go."
Benoit walked seven in three innings last Sunday. What was causing the issue?
"That's certainly not characteristic for him. He just had a couple of mechanical things going on that were getting him off line a little bit and limiting his chance to throw strikes, stuff that we've been working this week to address and clean up. I think you'll see a better version of Donovan this week going forward. I'm excited about the opportunity for him to get back out there. I know he's itching to get back out on the mound and get going again."
