Inside what's made Brett Kerry so successful this season

Butch Thompson was watching as the bullpen door in right-center opened and as Kanye West’s “Amazing” started, saw a pitcher listed at 5-foot-11 carrying his 190-pound frame to the mound and thought this would be a chance to extend his lead.

At the time in that game, Thompson’s Auburn team was up four runs and he saw a chance to take advantage of an admittedly smaller pitcher but, like most of the coaches before and after him, left without scratching across a run off of Brett Kerry.

“Just looking at him it looks like you’re going to have more success,” Thompson said after that game. “I’m sure he’ll keep playing with (his spin rate) and growing but I think that’s why he’s having success right now.”

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Kerry’s arguably been the team’s best pitcher this season as a true freshman, leading the team in ERA among active pitchers and saves, is tied for the team lead in strikeouts, has the second-lowest batting average against and is third on the team in innings pitched behind starters Reid Morgan and Cam Tringali.

But to know why Kerry is in this position a little over halfway into the season is to know where he was—or wasn’t—this fall.

In November, Kerry was coming off a fall where he walked too many batters and was being too passive, pitching coach Skylar Meade said.

It’s usually an eye-opening experience for freshmen, so Kerry sat down with Meade and head coach Mark Kingston for a fairly serious meeting as fall scrimmages at the end of October.

“We thought he needed to be more serious in his work and his work ethic and maybe just how he was going about his business more or less. Sometimes people take offense to things but sometimes people want to know what they need to be better,” Meade said. “He looked us in the eyes and said, ‘OK, yes sir.’ And you know what? The kid did it. I think that’s a great lesson guys should see.”

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Kerry’s always been a hard worker and good baseball player, obviously dating back to his high school days where he was part of three state title teams at Wesleyan Christian (N.C.), striking out 111 in just shy of 70 innings his senior season when he went 10-1 with a 0.60 ERA.

In high school he tied current big-leaguer Wil Myers for career wins at Wesleyan Christian and was a Perfect Game All-American honorable mention in 2018.

So when Meade challenged him, that workman mindset kicked in again.

He continued to stay in shape and attacked his skill work in November before breaking for winter break where the work didn’t stop.

Over the next month before he arrived back on campus, he didn’t do much other than workout and try to put on as much good weight as possible.

Meade designed a throwing program for him with different long-toss and flat ground schedules, not devoting a lot of time other than to getting better for preseason scrimmages.

And once those started, it was nothing but up for Kerry.

“The very first day when we faced live hitters before team practice, we had him throw 28 pitches and he threw 23 strikes and every pitch was competitive,” Meade said. “We were like, ‘That pitch looks a little different. Man, that’s what he was showing us in his work in November.’ Everything looked a little crisper, and he carried that through preseason practices. I think he’s a poster child of taking advantage of an opportunity.”

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Kerry came in the first weekend of the year and didn’t allow a run with five strikeouts. He didn’t allow a run over his first 12.1 innings, until his first and only start this season and has only allowed five earned runs out in 13 relief appearances this season.

He’s earned a reputation on staff as a strike-thrower, one of the reasons Meade feels comfortable putting him out in high-leverage situations.

“Some pitches we call out of the zone the first pitch of the at-bat and they’re swinging at it,” Kerry said. “It helps you. You have to realize they know how you’re trying to throw against them. You have to use that to your advantage.”

He’s bounced around to different roles on the Gamecocks’ (22-15, 4-11 SEC) pitching staff from closer to setup man to starter but seems to have chiseled out his role as a back-of-the-bullpen arm.

Out of the bullpen Kerry has a 1.50 ERA, 0.83 WHIP and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 6.3. He’s only given up five earned runs, with those coming over just two games.

Kerry’s closed some big games for the Gamecocks this season, pitching 3.1 innings against Clemson and another 5.2 in a win against Alabama, a role Kerry’s worked hard to define for himself.

“I think he has that winner gene,” Meade said. “He never shows that he’s frazzled or that a moment is getting to him. I think that’s obviously a massive asset for him. He’s pitched in some very high-leverage spots and opportunities and he’s handled them all very well.”