Davis Sharpe Looks To Lead Deep Tigers Staff

Last season when Clemson head coach Monte Lee needed someone to step up and fill a spot in the starting rotation, he turned to Davis Sharpe. The freshman hurler did not disappoint.

The right handed pitcher out of Georgia finished up 7-4 in 14 starts, with a 3.20 ERA in 84.1 IP. He was named a Freshman All American by Baseball America, D1 Baseball, and Perfect Game.

Over the first half of the season, Sharpe was dominant.

As the team got into the second half of the season and down the stretch however, Sharpe was not as effective, something he hopes to avoid in his second season.

"I’ve been just trying to take a lot better care of my body," Sharpe said. "Limited in practice, what I’m doing pitching and hitting wise, just trying to not wear my body down. A lot of things off the field, like trying to eat right, trying to stretch more in the weight room. Just doing the little things. I think they’ll play big later in the year."

After being inserted into the starting rotation early last season, it didn't take long before he was the Friday night starter. Sharpe is hoping to take that experience and build off of it, and regardless of which day he is starting on, is looking forward to competing.

"Just going out there," Sharpe said, "knowing what I’m capable of and just going there being confident, just like I was last year. Now, just a year of experience under my belt will be big for me, and I think it’ll play dividends for me, going out there earlier in the year, this year. Being more confident and just going out there and just competing."

Despite a disappointing 2019 season for the team and a lot of inexperienced players needing to step up in 2020, these players have high expectations of themselves. Not just for this season, but every season.

"Oh, the bar is always the same," Sharpe said. "We have high expectations every year. Clemson has a goal every year and that’s going to be the same now as it was 10 years ago. The new guys, we just really want them to compete and just go out there and play their best. Try to be the best version of yourself and everything else will take care of itself."

The depth that the pitching staff seems to have on paper this season has been talked about in length. Sharpe echoes that sentiment, and believes that the team not only has pitching depth, but quality depth, and that it will be a strength of the team. However, he also thinks it would be a mistake to sleep on the offense.

"I think we’re going to be super deep pitching," Sharpe said. "We might be very young offensively, but we’re all working hard. We’re all getting early work in. We’re all just banging balls in the cages, working super hard too. We’re going to rely on our pitchers a lot, but I think our offense can be super explosive, we’re going to have some speed. We’re going to need some older guys to step up and we’re going to need a lot of younger guys to step up, too. I think we’ll be fine there."

Not only does Sharpe contribute on the mound, he can also make a difference at the plate. Last season, the Tigers liked to use him as the DH, as well as using him some at first base.

This season, the thought is that Sharpe will see a lot of time at first base on days he isn't pitching. It will be up to the coaching staff to find that fine line when it comes to managing his time, and Sharpe is happy doing whatever is asked of him.

"Anything that helps the team win," Sharpe said. "Whatever Coach Lee wants me to do, I’ll do it. If he wants me to DH a couple days during the week and then play first the other days, I’m good with that. Whatever he wants me to do, whatever he thinks is best for me and the team, that’s what I’ll do."

After the teams disappointing finish in Oxford last season, the coaches wanted to put an emphasis on getting more out of the starting pitching. Head coach Monte Lee has specifically referenced guys going deeper into games and not putting as much strain on the bullpen.

"Starting pitching I think is going to be a lot better this year," Sharpe said. "I think that’s what we put a big emphasis on this fall. If everybody plays their role, I think we’ll be really good."

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