In the middle of final exams two weeks ago, Tulane junior center fielder Grant Witherspoon sat down for a 25-minute interview. This is probably going to be his final season at Tulane--Baseball America recently ranked him the No. 154 prospect in the Major League draft--and he wants to end what has been an outstanding individual year with a bang.
Here is the transcript:
You have a decision to make about going pro or returning for your senior year. What are your thoughts right now?
"Going in this offseason, a lot of people try not to think about it that much, but I want to play at the next level and what can I do to get myself better so that not only can I get to the next level, but I want to do well at the next level. Sometimes my mind starts to drift towards that when I see people in the stands, but all I can do is play. I think about when I’m training so that I can get better. I want to be good once I start my pro career."
Have you decided to leave?
"I hired an advisor, so he pretty much handles all that. I’m definitely looking forward to the next step."
What helped you the most in the offseason?
"I feel like freshman and sophomore year I was all right, but I was pretty streaky. Then I got an opportunity to play in the Cape (Cod League), and when I got there the pitching was a lot better. I just made a lot of adjustments based off of that, and I made adjustments in my swing during the season in the Cape, which is probably something you shouldn’t do when there are a bunch of scouts at every game. I feel like I needed it, and after the Cape I was feeling better and better, and in the offseason every single day I worked on it with (student assistant) Jarret DeHart and just got really comfortable with it, and now it’s just showing up because I’m seeing pitches better and am really confident."
You look like a complete player, taking pitches when they are not over the plate instead of getting impatient. How hard is that to do when pitchers are pitching around you?
“Well, last year I wasn’t the best hitter on the team. I got pitched around a little bit, but now I’m really starting to get pitched around. It’s definitely an adjustment, but I’m happy about it. It’s tough sometimes. You feel like you’re at this level and you should be putting out this production, but you have to take what’s given to you and just rely on the guys behind you. All I can do is swing at good pitches and hopefully put good swings on them.
Your on-base percentage (currently .434) is higher than any Tulane regular since 2012. How much do you pride yourself on that?
“In the past I was always looking at daily average, but now if I go 0 for 1 with a couple walks, that’s as good as 2 for 3 for me. I’m trying to look at it like that. Oh for 2 with two walks isn’t as bad.”
The run production this year is almost exactly the same as two years ago, when you played in the Oxford regional. Winning sometimes is out of your control, but do you feel like you’ve done everything possible to help this team win?
“I feel like I’ve been doing pretty well. I feel like as a hitter you’re always trying to do better. I don’t think I’ve been surprised at all because of the work I’ve been putting into this. I really love this stuff. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Some of it’s showing, but I feel like I still have a long way to go.”
What did you change in your swing?
“The biggest change, and I’m getting mechanical here, was in the summer. I’ve always been really aggressive like lunging at it. I’ve just been holding my coil in my load and my back hip, and I feel like that makes you see the ball a lot better when you’re not trying to hit going like this (demonstrates lunge). I’m usually looking for a fastball away, but me holding my coil allows me if I see a curveball, I can hit it to right, or a fastball away I can hit it to left or middle of the field.”
How do you end up at Tulane, coming from Colorado?
“All the scouts ask me this, too. I was going to play basketball in college all the way until my senior year. In baseball, they have you commit now when you’re a freshman or sophomore in high school, so I missed like all of the circuit stuff. I had some college offers here and there, but I just decided to wait until after the draft my senior season for money to free up for these colleges. After the draft I started to get a lot of interest. I had it narrowed down to here or Loyola Marymount. Actually how I got here was the (assistant) coach from McNeese State, Corey Barton (now the pitching coach at Louisiana Tech), I hit for him in Colorado and he offered me, and then I looked at it and it wasn’t really the place I wanted to be. He kind of knew that, so he called (former Tulane assistant) coach (Sean) Allen and was like, ‘Hey, this guy can play,’ so coach Allen offered me. That’s how I got here. I’m happy I did.”
What changed in high school to make you choose baseball over basketball?
“Looking at me, I don’t look like the prototypical basketball star, but I went to a 3-on-3 national team tryout and my team made it to the finals, and whoever won that was going to represent the USA in China in this big tournament. It was a pretty big deal, and we had players from Colorado who were pretty good, but we went up against players from Kentucky who were all the top guys and obviously bigger and more athletic than me. That was the summer of my junior year. After that, I thought I want to play at the top-level competition I can, and I don’t know if I can contribute that much in the way I want to. I feel like I’d just be at the end of the bench. I’d always been pretty good at baseball and I always loved baseball. Right after that, I was just like baseball’s what I want to do for the rest of my life.”
What position did you play in basketball and baseball in high school?
“Point guard in basketball. I was center field and pitcher in baseball. I pitched a lot actually (Witherspoon pitched twice for Tulane last year in relief).”
How close to Denver is Lakewood, Colorado (his hometown)?
“It’s like a suburb of Denver. It’s 15 minutes from downtown. It’s between downtown and the mountains. It’s awesome. I love it there. There’s so much to do out there. The air out there feels so fresh, a lot different than here. The roads aren’t all potholes.”
You didn’t start the first two games as a freshman and then they put you at first base for the third game. Other than injury or suspension, you’ve never come out of the lineup since then. What are your memories of that first start?
“I just remember freshman year going into the season knowing that I was good enough and I was going to get the chance somehow and all I had to do was play like I knew I was going to. They gave Hunter (Williams) off that Sunday or they had him DH (Williams actually pinch hit and moved to first base, with Witherspoon going to left field) and I got a chance. I remember coming in Friday night, and they had a draft guy throwing (Illinois pitcher Cody Sedlock, who would go in the first round to the Baltimore Orioles), and I was like, all right, this is what college baseball is like. This is pretty cool. I’d never seen an environment like that before, and I was just thinking, I’m not in there right now but it’s going to be awesome once I get my chance and start to play. They threw me in there Sunday and then we went to California and Hunter broke his hand and I got put in on an 0-2 at-bat and from then on I just played. I played first base and left field and center field.”
Here is the transcript:
You have a decision to make about going pro or returning for your senior year. What are your thoughts right now?
"Going in this offseason, a lot of people try not to think about it that much, but I want to play at the next level and what can I do to get myself better so that not only can I get to the next level, but I want to do well at the next level. Sometimes my mind starts to drift towards that when I see people in the stands, but all I can do is play. I think about when I’m training so that I can get better. I want to be good once I start my pro career."
Have you decided to leave?
"I hired an advisor, so he pretty much handles all that. I’m definitely looking forward to the next step."
What helped you the most in the offseason?
"I feel like freshman and sophomore year I was all right, but I was pretty streaky. Then I got an opportunity to play in the Cape (Cod League), and when I got there the pitching was a lot better. I just made a lot of adjustments based off of that, and I made adjustments in my swing during the season in the Cape, which is probably something you shouldn’t do when there are a bunch of scouts at every game. I feel like I needed it, and after the Cape I was feeling better and better, and in the offseason every single day I worked on it with (student assistant) Jarret DeHart and just got really comfortable with it, and now it’s just showing up because I’m seeing pitches better and am really confident."
You look like a complete player, taking pitches when they are not over the plate instead of getting impatient. How hard is that to do when pitchers are pitching around you?
“Well, last year I wasn’t the best hitter on the team. I got pitched around a little bit, but now I’m really starting to get pitched around. It’s definitely an adjustment, but I’m happy about it. It’s tough sometimes. You feel like you’re at this level and you should be putting out this production, but you have to take what’s given to you and just rely on the guys behind you. All I can do is swing at good pitches and hopefully put good swings on them.
Your on-base percentage (currently .434) is higher than any Tulane regular since 2012. How much do you pride yourself on that?
“In the past I was always looking at daily average, but now if I go 0 for 1 with a couple walks, that’s as good as 2 for 3 for me. I’m trying to look at it like that. Oh for 2 with two walks isn’t as bad.”
The run production this year is almost exactly the same as two years ago, when you played in the Oxford regional. Winning sometimes is out of your control, but do you feel like you’ve done everything possible to help this team win?
“I feel like I’ve been doing pretty well. I feel like as a hitter you’re always trying to do better. I don’t think I’ve been surprised at all because of the work I’ve been putting into this. I really love this stuff. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Some of it’s showing, but I feel like I still have a long way to go.”
What did you change in your swing?
“The biggest change, and I’m getting mechanical here, was in the summer. I’ve always been really aggressive like lunging at it. I’ve just been holding my coil in my load and my back hip, and I feel like that makes you see the ball a lot better when you’re not trying to hit going like this (demonstrates lunge). I’m usually looking for a fastball away, but me holding my coil allows me if I see a curveball, I can hit it to right, or a fastball away I can hit it to left or middle of the field.”
How do you end up at Tulane, coming from Colorado?
“All the scouts ask me this, too. I was going to play basketball in college all the way until my senior year. In baseball, they have you commit now when you’re a freshman or sophomore in high school, so I missed like all of the circuit stuff. I had some college offers here and there, but I just decided to wait until after the draft my senior season for money to free up for these colleges. After the draft I started to get a lot of interest. I had it narrowed down to here or Loyola Marymount. Actually how I got here was the (assistant) coach from McNeese State, Corey Barton (now the pitching coach at Louisiana Tech), I hit for him in Colorado and he offered me, and then I looked at it and it wasn’t really the place I wanted to be. He kind of knew that, so he called (former Tulane assistant) coach (Sean) Allen and was like, ‘Hey, this guy can play,’ so coach Allen offered me. That’s how I got here. I’m happy I did.”
What changed in high school to make you choose baseball over basketball?
“Looking at me, I don’t look like the prototypical basketball star, but I went to a 3-on-3 national team tryout and my team made it to the finals, and whoever won that was going to represent the USA in China in this big tournament. It was a pretty big deal, and we had players from Colorado who were pretty good, but we went up against players from Kentucky who were all the top guys and obviously bigger and more athletic than me. That was the summer of my junior year. After that, I thought I want to play at the top-level competition I can, and I don’t know if I can contribute that much in the way I want to. I feel like I’d just be at the end of the bench. I’d always been pretty good at baseball and I always loved baseball. Right after that, I was just like baseball’s what I want to do for the rest of my life.”
What position did you play in basketball and baseball in high school?
“Point guard in basketball. I was center field and pitcher in baseball. I pitched a lot actually (Witherspoon pitched twice for Tulane last year in relief).”
How close to Denver is Lakewood, Colorado (his hometown)?
“It’s like a suburb of Denver. It’s 15 minutes from downtown. It’s between downtown and the mountains. It’s awesome. I love it there. There’s so much to do out there. The air out there feels so fresh, a lot different than here. The roads aren’t all potholes.”
You didn’t start the first two games as a freshman and then they put you at first base for the third game. Other than injury or suspension, you’ve never come out of the lineup since then. What are your memories of that first start?
“I just remember freshman year going into the season knowing that I was good enough and I was going to get the chance somehow and all I had to do was play like I knew I was going to. They gave Hunter (Williams) off that Sunday or they had him DH (Williams actually pinch hit and moved to first base, with Witherspoon going to left field) and I got a chance. I remember coming in Friday night, and they had a draft guy throwing (Illinois pitcher Cody Sedlock, who would go in the first round to the Baltimore Orioles), and I was like, all right, this is what college baseball is like. This is pretty cool. I’d never seen an environment like that before, and I was just thinking, I’m not in there right now but it’s going to be awesome once I get my chance and start to play. They threw me in there Sunday and then we went to California and Hunter broke his hand and I got put in on an 0-2 at-bat and from then on I just played. I played first base and left field and center field.”