AUSTIN — Bryce Elder’s growth earned him the honor of starting the Texas Baseball season opener & the role of Friday night starting pitcher to start the season.
Predominantly a reliever a year ago, Elder moved to a starting spot during the summer and fall and continued to impress all the way on into the spring.
The sophomore righty always had the mentality to start, and has shifted his mindset to mirror his new position for 2019.
“I’m truly working inning by inning, pitch by pitch, rather than coming in and I have to have a strikeout now (as a reliever),” Elder said. “I’m trying to get one hitter out at a time and go from there.”
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What’s above the shoulders led head coach David Pierce to trust Elder to shoulder the load as the opening day starter and all that entails.
“He’s just earned it … I thought you could see that in him in spurts last year, he’s got this cerebral approach,” Pierce said. “He reminds me of Ryan Berry (who Pierce coached at Rice) — he was always a pitch ahead of guys, two pitches ahead of guys, knew the lineup. And I just think (Elder) knows what he’s doing, knows what he wants to do and knows who he is.”
Elder said he is ready to take the ball at the start of the series against Louisiana Friday night, and the rest of the season should the role stick.
“It means a lot, it’s what I worked for the past couple years,” Elder said. “I think the routine — I’ve been talking to (assistant coach) Steve Whalen a lot, and I think I’m gonna benefit a lot from it because I’m able to get into a routine rather than of not ever knowing when I’m gonna pitch so I think that routine is gonna help me a lot.”
Now sporting four different pitches, Elder like to go right after hitters and establish a pitcher’s count right off the bat in order to utilize his full arsenal of pitches.
“I’ve always pitched that way, growing up I’ve always learned to get ahead and at this level I think getting ahead is so much better,” Elder said. “An 0-1 count is a lot better than 1-0 as a pitcher for sure … if you got him 0-1 you can throw the slider there, curveball there, anything you want.”
As a starter at Decatur High School Elder went 7-2 with a 0.60 ERA during his senior season, including tossing back-to-back no hitters in the playoffs. Last year as a reliever for UT, he wound up 6-1 with two saves and a 5.55 ERA over 35.2 innings.
The 6-foot-2 Elder again credited coaching with helping his development over the summer and with gaining more pitches to work with.
“(Volunteer) coach (Phil) Haig showed me how to throw a sinker and I’m really comfortable with that, that just made me a lot better because I have more options,” Elder said. “The curveball and changeup have always been there, now I’m able to use them better.”
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