cowb oy baseball
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from baseball powers North Carolina, TCU and LSU. Oklahoma’s No. 1 prospect and ESPN’s 30th overall, Hatch made his OSU debut in the Cowboys’ second game of the 2014 season a year later. He pitched six innings against Stephen F. Austin, striking out eight. It signified a strong start for Hatch, but soon, his innings faded as he suffered the common struggles and inconsistencies of a college freshman. “Baseball humbles you sometimes,” Hatch said. During the Big 12 tournament, a lack of arms because of the grind of the postseason forced Hatch back into a starting role. In the final start of his freshman year, he held Texas to one run in 4 1/3 innings in an OSU victory. Six days later, he pitched the ninth of the Cowboys’ opener of the Stillwater Regional against Binghamton. He didn’t pitch in another game at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium for 645 days. *** As the Cowboys began the 2015 season, Hatch was recovering from a platelet-rich plasma injection Andrews gave him into his elbow. The injection usually requires a three-month recovery, but within a month, Hatch felt comfortable enough to begin another throwing program. He was still sore and took two weeks off, but for the first time in eight months, he felt capable. The pain dulled. Throwing was possible. Health was in sight. Still, Hatch spent a spring without baseball. He felt disconnected. He felt out of rhythm. At times, he felt alienated. It wasn’t his teammates’ fault. “Guys last year were really good to me,” Hatch said. “Rob FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 2016
helped me a lot mentally, but my teammates really helped me through it, too.” It was only Hatch’s natural reaction to his inability to contribute. Already quiet, Hatch sunk into himself. He rooted for his teammates to succeed, of course, but the vocal cheers were rare. His voice on the team seemed meaningless as he struggled to contribute with words, the same way he did on the mound. After the UCL sprain cost Hatch the 2015 season, he returned to Florida in the summer when Andrews gave him another PRP injection. This time, Hatch took the full three months to recover. He rested for a month and a half before beginning another throwing program. In the fall, he finally returned to the mound. “My stuff was as good as it’s ever been,” Hatch said. “Throughout that whole process, it was more just a mental grind than anything. You know you’re going to get back. It’s just the fact that I wasn’t diagnosed that was really the most disappointing, really than anything.” The injury, though, gave Hatch a changed perspective. When he returned from 15 lost months, each round of catch, each bullpen carried significance. Simplicities of the game he had taken for granted growing up meant much more. Without the ability to pitch in a game, Hatch spent most of his time out developing mentally rather than physically. He watched how the other pitchers on the Cowboys’ staff handled themselves emotionally, how they varied their times to home plate, how they decided which spots of the strike zone to attack. He became a student rather than a player. Walton compared it to an NFL quarterback who spends a year as a backup before taking over under center. Hatch became
more mentally prepared to take the mound. “You look at me freshman year, and I’ve made a lot of advancements in my head, really, and I think that’s the biggest part of my success, and it’s coming from my injury,” Hatch said. “I think I had the most development on the mental side.” Fifteen months lost, but a perspective gained. “I’m just happy anytime I get to pitch,” Hatch said. “I can’t take it for granted now.” *** Batters aren’t ready for the movement. A fastball in the mid-90s surges toward them, seemingly destined for the heart of the strike zone. They swing, expecting the ball to connect with the sweet spot of the bat and not reconnect with the ground for hundreds of feet. Instead, the ball dives at the last moment. The batters barely make contact, producing another quick out in Hatch’s pursuit of efficiency. The sinker is Hatch’s greatest weapon. As a freshman, his low90s fastball had a tendency to be straight, leaving little confusion for hitters. A drop in Hatch’s arm angle added velocity and movement to his fastball, creating a sinker few college teams have heading their rotation. Factor in a slider on the verge of dominance and a high-ceiling changeup in development, and Hatch’s repertoire features three pitches that limit hitters’ successful contact. “He shows the ability to mature and adapt with some adversity,” Holliday said. “It shows a guy that, once healthy, was able to work really hard and recapture kind of what it was that got him started in the right direction. “… Physically, he came to us a talented arm, but he’s now grown into being a talented pitcher.” OCOLLY.COM
kurt steiss/O’COLLY Thomas Hatch, far left, stands still during the national anthem before a game in early April. Hatch missed 15 months with a right UCL sprain.
Despite his tendency to be quiet, Hatch sets a tone. As OSU’s Friday night starter, he serves as the leadoff man of the Cowboys’ pitching staff. In three-game series this season, the Cowboys are 8-2 on Saturday and Sunday when they win on Friday. If they lose the opening game of the series, they are 1-5 in the next two. Hatch’s assertion has proved critical. “Thomas is just an absolute dog on the mound,” catcher Collin Theroux said. “The guy has strikeout stuff, but I don’t think he strikes out as many guys as he can because he’s so commanding of the strike zone. With a power sinker like his, guys are swinging at good pitches, but they’re not squaring them up because his ball’s moving so much that they just pound them into the ground.” *** Hatch is quiet, but his return has not been. Through nine starts, Hatch has a 1.98 ERA, averages more than six innings per start and allows less than one hit an inning. Each pitch has a greater mean-
ing. “It was a blessing in disguise,” Hatch said. “I came back stronger. I got to just sit back and watch the game for a year and just really appreciate what it’s like to be healthy.” Whatever anger, whatever pain he felt during his time off has transformed to power and control. His teammates have seen his frustrations become motivations. When he is pitching, he does not speak, and only those who don’t want to be heard speak to him. He is naturally reserved, capable of a laugh or a joke at an opportune moment, but not with a ball in his hand. Friday night, Hatch will quietly take the mound at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium, set to fire the first pitch of a pivotal series against TCU. The crowd will roar. The national anthem will play. The dugouts will chirp. For Hatch, though, it will be quiet. f o l l o w n at h a n : @ n at h a n s r u i z
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