THE NEW ‘OLD GUYS’ BULLPEN
5/31/2019 9:39:00 AM | Baseball
Trio of Relievers Step Up to Get the Ball to Closer
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Much like Troy Montemayor, last year's senior closer, Kyle Hill wants the ball in his hands every time the game is on the line.
Hill has certainly made the most of those opportunities this season, compiling a 6-0 record with seven saves and a perfect 0.00 ERA, giving up just 10 hits in 28 1/3 innings. He was a unanimous All-Big 12 pick and was named a first-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball.
After losing Montemayor, Drew Robertson, Joe Heineman and Alex Phillips – last year's "Old Guys" bullpen – Baylor pitching coach Jon Strauss had "no doubt in my mind" that Hill could thrive in the closer's role.
"I didn't worry about him finishing," Strauss said. "I was just worried about how am I going to get there. . . . Troy, all those guys were great, but Hill was always the guy I looked to when we were in trouble. He was my go-to guy."
Just as important as Hill's role, if not more so, has been the emergence of relievers Ryan Leckich, Daniel Caruso and Luke Boyd. They're the ones who have allowed the Bears (34-17) to get the ball to Hill in closing situations and earn a third consecutive NCAA regional bid.
Seeded second, Baylor faces third-seeded Loyola Marymount (32-23) at 3 p.m. CDT Friday at the UCLA Regional in Los Angeles.
"Coming to the ballpark every day, knowing I have those guys that are going to get the ball to me, they're reliable," Hill said. "Last year, with the guys we had, they didn't get many opportunities. I knew they had the stuff. The key is do they have the mental state to do that, to come into a bases-loaded situation in the eighth, the seventh, whenever it is? And they've stepped up big-time. They're a key part of our success this year, even if they don't realize it."
As hard as he tried, Boyd couldn't get away from the endless negative press about the bullpen being the biggest Achilles' heel on a Baylor team that was otherwise loaded.
"We had our full nine (everyday starters) returning, and at the time our full weekend rotation returning," said Boyd, a junior right-hander who is 2-0 with a 2.60 ERA in 21 relief appearances this season. "I knew it was going to be on the guys who have stepped up this year. I came into the season thinking, if we're going to be good, I'm going to need to be good,' or it's going to put a lot of stress on other people's arms."
Their "stuff" has never been a question or concern. They just hadn't done it until this year.
Leckich was the best of the three a year ago, going 3-2 with a 5.62 ERA and coming out of the bullpen for 17 of his 20 appearances. Boyd threw just 10 1/3 innings with a 6.97 ERA as a sophomore, while Caruso had labrum surgery in December 2017 after making just five relief appearances as a freshman and giving up seven earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.
"We had other guys," Strauss said. "Once they had a chance, and if it didn't work out, then we would go with our strengths with Heineman, Phillips, Robertson and Hill. This year, there wasn't anybody else. They're going to keep getting the ball. I had to learn how to use them, because (last year) I knew how to use those other guys. So, it was just trying to figure out how to use Ryan and Luke and Caruso. They all have weapons."
Leckich, a junior left-hander from Port Neches, Texas, came back from summer baseball with a two-seam fastball that's made him a different pitcher.
"Last year, Ryan just tried to throw his fastball by guys, and that didn't always work out," Strauss said. "Now, he can move the ball, spot the ball up; his breaking ball has gotten better. He's got some weapons that he didn't really know how to use."
In a team-high 27 relief appearances, Leckich is 4-1 with a 1.11 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 40 2/3 innings.
"This year, I really worked on just hitting spots as well as being able to throw it by them," he said. "Just being more mature as a pitcher, you learn that you can try to throw it by them all the time, but it's not always going to work. But, if you hit your spots, it's going to work out better for you more times than not."
Strauss sees Leckich as his "earlier in the game guy," as he did in throwing the middle three innings in a 5-4 loss at Oklahoma State. In the 8-2 win over Oklahoma at last week's Big 12 tournament, Leckich relieved starter Paul Dickens in the seventh and recorded four outs.
"We know that when our number is called, we're going to be ready to go out there and compete," Leckich said. "Whatever inning, whatever game, whatever the score is, we're going to go out there and compete. If it's called once or none, we're ready."
Caruso's role is less defined. The redshirt sophomore from Los Angeles has been thrown out there in any and all situations, going 2-1 with a 1.77 ERA in 24 relief appearances with 35 strikeouts in 35 2/3 innings.
"You just have to kind of make your own adrenaline," he said. "It's just like, 'All right, I've got to put up a zero this inning.' And if it doesn't happen, just wipe it. I've come in and walked and hit the first two batters. My freshman year, if that happened, there's no way I would put up a zero that inning. But this year, I've just had the mentality, 'All right, next pitch, one pitch at a time.' And when something goes bad, just keep going."
Having the labrum surgery and sitting out last year was "really taxing, especially mentally," Caruso said.
But, looking at in the long term, he said "it was definitely the best thing that's ever happened to me, because I got to sit out and just kind of enjoy baseball from watching it and just learning instead of pressing, like, 'Oh, I have to do this and that.' It was just working on myself and working on my mentality and working on my faith. It just helped a ton."
Like the other three, Boyd said he benefitted from watching the "Old Guys" do their thing last year, "coming in with the game-winning run on second base in the eighth inning. They just take it one pitch at a time."
Now, he loves being in those situations with the game on the line.
"Honestly, my freshman year, going into games when we were either up by 10 or down by 10, it's hard to create your own adrenaline," Boyd said. "Last year, my role was being in the dugout the whole time, being the hype guy. But, I absolutely love coming in when the game is on the line, because I trust myself more than anyone, and I love being a part of the team that way. I love the stressful situations."
After recording his first save of the season in Baylor's opening weekend, an 8-5 win over Holy Cross, Hill sent Montemayor a quick text and said, "It's a little harder than it looks."
"In the beginning, it was more of let me get my feet wet and see what it is," said Hill, who was 4-1 with a 2.62 ERA as more of a middle reliever last season. "After that first save, I was like, 'OK, this is three outs, but it's three big outs.' As the season has gone on, I've gotten more and more confidence. When the game is on the line, I want to the ball in my hands. I want to end the game. And I think it fits me, but it wouldn't be possible without those three guys."
Collectively, Hill, Boyd, Leckich and Caruso are a combined 14-2 with a 1.36 ERA out of the bullpen (1.51 overall). By comparison, the "Old Guys," including Hill, were 14-3 with a 2.30 ERA.
"When the game is on the line, everyone's on their toes, so focused and locked-in," Boyd said. "That's what I love about it."
Going back to California, Caruso and Boyd will get a little extra lift this weekend. Boyd, in particular, will have a special fan in the stands.
"My dad (Bob Boyd) just had heart surgery, getting a new valve," said Luke, who hails from Ojai, a short drive from Los Angeles. "So, he wasn't going to be able to travel to any of the (regionals in the Southeast). But, going to UCLA, he's going to be able to make that. That was pretty exciting. I'm excited to see him, for sure."
