Brett Kerry never showed it in the moment, but sitting on that couch the room began to spin.
It was the fall of 2018 and Kerry had just made it through arguably the only bad stretch of his baseball career ever, piecing together an inconsistent and very forgettable few weeks of scrimmages.
A freshman understanding some guys here in the fall wouldn’t be back in the spring, Kerry’s thoughts jumped to the worst possible scenario.
“I thought I was getting cut,” Kerry said. “I’m sitting in front of five grown men and the room was spinning…I thought I was going to pass out I was so nervous.”
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He ultimately wasn’t cut, but it wasn’t a forgone conclusion entering the meeting Kerry wouldn’t have been. Instead what happened was a blunt conversation that sparked an eventual All-American career at South Carolina.
To know what Kerry was feeling is to know just how much he struggled his first few months on campus.
The right-handed pitcher arrived to Columbia in 2018, an All-State pitcher who went 10-1 as a senior with a 0.60 ERA, priding himself on command more than anything else.
When he began throwing to live college hitters, Kerry wouldn’t be able to control the ball and his numbers reflected that. He would have strings of tough outings in intrasquad scrimmages despite showing flashes of talent there.
“He didn’t maybe at the time realize the seriousness. He had the hat popped up on his head,” pitching coach Skylar Meade said. “He’d go out there and throw a fastball 0-0 at 90 and get in a 2-0 count and just lollipop it in at 84…You’re trying to tell him, ‘Hey, that doesn’t work at this level like it worked in high school.’”
It hit rock bottom for Kerry in a fall scrimmage against Georgia Tech.
In a 13-inning game that saw nine different arms throw, Kerry was the last to even pitch and, as he described it, the outing turned into a “mess.” Kerry only threw an inning but gave up two runs on a hit but walked three to no strikeouts.
“It felt whenever I was on the mound I didn’t feel like myself. I would throw the ball and have no idea where it was going,” he said. “I felt like I lost who I was as a pitcher. It was a mess. It felt like chaos every time I stepped on it.”
So, when he went up to meet with the Gamecocks’ coaching staff, there were valid reasons why he thought his days in the garnet and black were numbered.
Instead what happened was a frank and honest conversation with the coaching staff; Mark Kingston told him if the team was traveling for a game tomorrow Kerry wouldn’t be on the travel roster, and Meade told him the level he was working at wasn’t good enough to be successful at this level.
“He just didn’t appreciate at the time how hard it is,” Meade said. “But that is probably exactly what the doctor order for him."
And, with the same cool, calm and collectiveness Kerry became known for during his three years at South Carolina, he responded the way Meade wanted him to.
“He looked me dead in the eyes and said, ‘OK, I can do that.’ I will admit at the time I’m like, ‘Wait, he sounds serious? He’s going to do it,’” Meade said. “But at the same time you’re like, ‘Is he just saying that?’ It was so matter of fact I couldn’t believe it.”
Kerry used parts of November and December to decompress from his first semester and really attack the weight room and his throwing program.
When the team reconvened in January, Kerry was purposefully the last pitcher to throw to live hitters during a weekend workout. The pitcher who couldn’t command the ball in the fall threw 28 pitches, 23 of those strikes.
“I felt like I was a new pitcher, just refreshed” Kerry said. “I know I walked off the mound and thought, ‘That felt good.’
A few weeks later, as the Gamecocks were up big on Liberty in the second game of the year, Kerry’s number was called and the rest is history.
Kerry threw 12 pitches in a scoreless inning with two strikeouts. Less than 24 hours later, it was Kerry called on again in a tie game, striking out three in two perfect innings in a game South Carolina ultimately won.
Kerry’s coming out party was two weeks later.
It was a Friday night against Clemson and Kerry entered the game in the sixth inning, the Gamecocks clinging to a one-run lead.
He motored through the first 2.1 innings, giving up one hit and punctuating a scoreless eighth with three straight strikeouts. Then, Meade had a decision to make: keep Kerry, a freshman, in with the top of the order due up or turn things over to closer Sawyer Bridges.
In that moment, talking with Kerry between innings, Meade saw what made Kerry special.
“I say, ‘What do you think about the ninth? They have one, two, three; right, left, left.’ He looked me dead in the eyes and goes, ‘What do you mean?’ I’m like, ‘Are you good?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, why? What do you mean?’ I go, ‘Well, OK. You got the ninth.’ I walked off and was like, ‘King he’s got it,’” Meade said. “He looked at me as if it was the dumbest question ever asked.”
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Kerry went out and gave up a one-out single before rearing back to strike out Grayson Byrd and Davis Sharpe to end the game.
“I wanted to go to Clemson at the time but they told me they didn’t have a spot for me. I was disappointed but I’m so glad I went to South Carolina instead. I felt like I had something to prove against them,” Kerry said. “I remember that last out and exploding with emotion.”
It was that quiet brashness and confidence Kerry carried with him his entire career, something he became known for in three seasons with South Carolina.
He ended up a Freshman All-American, going 4-1 with a 2.62 ERA in 58.1 innings. He would start in the rotation as a sophomore before moving to the bullpen later during a COVID-shortened season.
This year, Kerry began as the team’s closer, quickly morphing into a do-it-all pitcher, posting a 2.15 ERA and a meager .226 batting average against with dominant pitching performances out of the pen.
He’d become the first Gamecock to throw a shutout in league play in over a decade, only needing 94 pitches to strike out 10 in nine full against Kentucky. He followed that up giving up two runs in seven innings in a win over a top five Tennessee team.
Kerry made 17 appearances in 2021. The Gamecocks won 15 of those games.
“He’ll be the first pitcher in the history of collegiate baseball to never have a bad outing. He never had a bad outing. Three years of college baseball and never had a bad outing. It’s one of the more unbelievable things,” Meade said. “I think he’s just a unicorn. He’s the unicorn of unicorns of what he can handle mentally and process of a pitcher.”
What carried him, more than a deceptive fastball and a tight breaking ball, was the confidence to, as Meade calls it, “assault” hitters and keep his foot on the gas regardless of the score or count with an unnerving level of serenity on the mound.
“I definitely think I have a God-given ability to stay calm in pressure filled situations,” Kerry said. “That peace on that mound comes from knowing I am good enough to do it. Obviously my faith is huge. I feel like I don’t have anything to prove to anybody.”
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With the MLB Draft continuing this week, Kerry will likely hear his named called and is a few days away from potentially beginning his professional career. If his college career ends the next two days, Kerry leaves statistically as one of the best pitchers recently to come through the program.
Over the course of his 45 career appearances, Kerry has a 2.54 ERA and struck out 167 batters to just 26 walks. Teams hit .214 off of him in 127.2 innings.
“I hope when people talk about Brett, I honestly hope they say, ‘Tyler Johnson had the greatest fastball ever. Michael Roth was the greatest pitcher ever,’” Meade said. “I hope the next category is Brett Kerry was the most trusted pitcher I’ve ever seen.”
A dazzling collegiate career mixed with a fastball now touching 96 miles per hour certainly has the look of a professional ballplayer.
“It’s ben a long time coming and I’m just ready for whatever happens,” Kerry said. “I’ll be a little nervous when the day comes but at the same time I’ll find peace in knowing it’s out of my control and I’ve done all I can do.”
When he does ultimately go play professionally, he’ll leave a big void in the Gamecocks’ pitching staff not only because of his on-field performance but the mental edge he brought each time on the mound.
Meade, in talking about Kerry, summed it up to perfection.
“He’s just not normal.”
