The change fueling Harley's success

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASEBALL

Three weeks into the season, Dylan Harley found himself in a spot he probably didn’t think he’d be in a month ago.

The freshman, who lit up the team’s preseason scrimmages, found himself after three starts bounced out of the weekend rotation and trying to adjust to life in the bullpen.

After stringing together a few good performances out of the bullpen, it seems like he’s acclimating quite well.

“It wasn’t really that my confidence was down, it just I wasn’t catching good breaks, my fastball wasn’t there,” Harley said after South Carolina’s 12-7 win Tuesday. “But over the last few outings my feel for it has been through the roof. Today I felt like I could throw a fastball by anybody.”

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Harley earned the team’s No. 2 starter spot entering the season but after three appearances had a 9.64 ERA and a 1.8 WHIP, with 13 strikeouts and eight walks.

Since transitioning to the bullpen his numbers are pretty comparable—6.75 ERA, 1.9 WHIP, 11.25 K/9—but over Harley’s last three starts it seems like things are really starting to fall into place.

Over his last three outings Harley’s given up just one earned run over 5.2 innings—a 1.40 ERA—and has walked just three batters compared to eight strikeouts. He’s pounding the zone more, throwing 63 percent strikes compared to just 59 percent as a starter.

There have been a few mechanical reasons why he’s pitched a little bit better—he’s not dropping his arm as much and shortened his leg kick throwing from the stretch—but one of the biggest has been the addition of a slider into his arsenal.

“I think that’s helping him for sure. One, it’s becoming a better pitch but he’s also throwing it for strikes. And that makes the fastball better. He got to the point where all he was throwing for strikes was the fastball and teams were able to figure that out and sit on it,” Mark Kingston said. “When you have a secondary pitch that they have to respect then the fastball plays up. His ability now to throw the slider as a legitimate pitch has really helped guys get off his fastball. I think that’s a big part of his development.”

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Harley came to South Carolina from Cane Bay where he led the state in strikeouts throwing mainly a fastball, changeup and knuckle-curve, three pitches he went into the season throwing.

It took roughly three starts before Harley scrapped the knuckle-curve and started throwing his slider almost exclusively, working in the fastball and changeup as well.

Not only is it working on swings and misses, but Harley’s throwing it for strikes even when hitters are keeping the bat on their shoulders.

“When I’ve thrown it to lefties it’s worked way more than my breaking ball,” he said. “I have a lot of confidence in that pitch.”

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The Gamecocks (15-6, 0-3 SEC) are still trying to figure out their starting pitching with Wes Sweatt and Reid Morgan the two givens on each weekend and Sunday still a TBA heading into this weekend’s series with Tennessee.

Kingston said it’s still “too early” to see if Harley can work back into his weekend role but said if the freshman continues to pitch like he has been his role could “expand from there.”

Despite the slow start, Harley will have to be an impact on the team’s pitching staff this season with limited arms due to injuries and his teammates are confident he can be.

TJ Hopkins, who grew up in the same area as Harley likened the freshman to a former teammate of his now playing in the New York Mets organization.

“He’s going to be a good pitcher; he’s as talented as they come. Carlos Cortes, I plaYed with him, and he started off really slow as a freshman and turned into Carlos Cortes,” Hopkins said. “I told Harley to keep pushing through it. He’s the type of kid where it doesn’t bother him or at least it doesn’t show. Harley’s going to be really good this year and the next few years.”