Taylor Sondgeroth/Auburn Athletics
Breakdown: John Armstrong's return to the bullpen provides depth and competitiveness
Auburn freshman pitcher John Armstrong had been so focused on finding ways to help his team after a seven-week layoff that he didn’t even realize he had just won his first career collegiate game.
Sitting for his first postgame interview sporting his trademark glasses and the black and gold “Top Gun” hat, an honorific given out to the pitcher of the game, the freshman was told he officially was the winning pitcher and was at a momentary loss for words. “Yeah, I didn’t even think about it, but I guess I did. I didn’t even realize I did that, but that’s pretty cool.”
It's a situation that no one would have expected Armstrong to be in just two weeks ago. After ten appearances across February and March to open the season, including two of the season’s first three games in Arlington, TX in the State Farm College Baseball Showdown, Armstrong was “put in the garage” by head coach Butch Thompson to work on some mechanical issues.
He reappeared against Arkansas on May 8th, seven weeks after his last appearance against Jacksonville State on March 29th, and gave Auburn 2.2 innings of no-hit, shutout ball with four strikeouts and one walk in 40 pitches. Not to be outdone, he came back five days later against Alabama and looked even better, going another 2.2 innings of shutout ball with one hit, no walks, and three strikeouts, this on only 29 pitches.
Thompson discussed some of the changes Armstrong made with local media after the game one victory against Alabama. “He’s been in the garage, changed many things, and has been spot-on for two weeks. It’s good, it’s really good stuff.” Armstrong downplayed the time off but acknowledged that he's a different pitcher after the seven weeks of work. “I just feel more controlled. It’s a lot more simple, just keeping my head still. That’s really it. Been dominating part of the zone, that’s what I’m supposed to do and it’s a lot easier to do that now.”
Thompson went into more detail about some of the work the sidearm-throwing Armstrong put in: “Just like, if you're on the rubber as a pitcher and you're right-handed (and) you throw from a little lower slot: Well, if your head goes to third base initially, before it goes to the plate, now your energy flow is off. So if you move towards third base before you deliver the ball to the plate...he was all over the place and scattered, and he's able to really center himself, setting in and his head, just directly working to the plate, more efficient. Absolutely more directional, gathering energy and delivering a straight line.”
The new efficiency is evident in the results - five of Armstrong’s seven total walks came across three outings in March - two in 1/3rd of an inning against Middle Tennessee, two (and a wild pitch) against Ole Miss in an outing where he faced five batters and did not record an out, and one against Jacksonville State where he faced six batters with only one hit and one walk, but threw almost thirty pitches to do it. His two most recent outings, both in conference play, had a combined one walk across 5.1 innings of work with seven strikeouts in 69 pitches.
Another mechanical change, slowing down his delivery, has also contributed to his improved performance over the last two weekends. Explained Thompson, “We've also tried to slow him down a little bit too and that's been good. So he's gathered over his backside, head’s going straight to the mitt instead of the third, then to the plate and it's absolutely opened up all of this stuff again. And yes, not a fluke, those are competitive pitches, they’ve got a good finish on them and this is (him) really just gathering energy and delivering in a straight line.”
It’s really easy, when you go from ten appearances the first two months of the season to no appearances for seven weeks, to get discouraged and lose the faith about your ability to contribute this season, but Armstrong was focused and determined to get back and help his team in 2022. “No, I definitely wanted to come back this year. It was...it was hard, but it worked out. It’s a lot of simple things that I fixed and hopefully can keep it going.”
Thompson deferred most of the credit to Armstrong for having the initiative and determination to fix this issue and get back into competitive situations in 2022. “And ultimately in our deal, it goes to the players, but everybody's tried to help and work and I give the most to John, to go ‘this is an issue and I've been out for seven weeks' and he's the one who held it together. Tim (Hudson, pitching coach) always gives good tips but ultimately somebody, to take that much of a break and be that young of a player and come back out and attack the way he is, I give it (credit) to the player.”
Armstrong’s work and changes have been an effort to simplify the game, and distill it down to one basic tenet: “As long as I keep the ball down, I think everything will be okay.”
For a true freshman, Armstrong’s sure saying all of the right things. Interviewed by Brad Law on the Regions Bank Postgame Show after Game One, he downplayed his contributions to the game one victory, “It feels pretty good, but as long as we get a win, that’s all that matters. So if we keep winning, then nothing else matters.” When asked about getting awarded the Top Gun hat for his performance, though, he had to take a minute and enjoy it. “Yes, I did. It does feel pretty good.“
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