Texas had confidence in junior righthanded pitcher Matteo Bocchi today as it did when it started him the first game of the Big 12 Tournament because recently, something clicked for the big, 6-4 native of Parma, Italy. In the biggest outing of his life, Tennessee Tech was rudely introduced to a pitcher undoubtedly different from whatever scouting report it received earlier in the season. And it showed.
Bocchi was up to 94 MPH, and generated uncomfortable swings against his lively fastball and snapped off some of his better sliders of the season. In particular, the fastball created some poor hacks because it was more explosive than Tennessee Tech anticipated.
“He adjusted his lower half a little bit, and eventually messed with his release enough to be behind the ball and jumped 150-200 RPM,” said pitching coach Phil Haig about the increased spin rate on Bocchi’s fastball. “Now, that ball up in the top of the zone that used to be squared up is by you. It’s enough to miss that barrel or a foul ball. We’re fired up for him. That guy is big.”
An increase in spin rate on his fastball and more extension (releasing the ball closer to home plate) not only made Bocchi's actual velocity jump, but to hitters they were seeing a fastball even harder than the listed MPH because of the spin and where it was coming at them. Thus, Tennessee Tech saw a pitcher much different than the one that threw in midweek games earlier in the season.
“We lengthened it out a little bit. Get off that rubber and just drive with the back half. If you see him play long toss, he’ll throw it 430 feet with ease. We were trying to get more out of his lower half. There are videos of him up to 102 MPH crow-hopping. I was like, ‘Hey, we have to pitch like that.’ It’s been a work-in-progress all year and finally and these last three starts he’s been up to 94-95 MPH, and it clicked. Something in there just clicked in his lower half.”
Against Tennessee Tech, Bocchi threw a career-high 5.0 innings and gave up just one run on four hits, one walk, and struck out three. He was constantly in control, competed well, and kept the nation’s most prolific offense in check.
Still new to baseball, especially at this level, and pitching in general, Bocchi is a sponge always trying to absorb any bit of information from any source to improve his performance on the mound. In the fall, observers could see the wheels in his head spinning pitch-to-pitch as he worked 86-88 MPH and tried to get the most out of his physical, 6-4 frame. Since then, he’s constantly yearned to learn and work.
Late at night recently, Bocchi, as he often does, was scanning the internet looking at pitching videos. He saw Jordan Hicks from the St. Louis Cardinals throw 105 MPH.
“I was like I want to throw 105 MPH,” he said.
So, he tried.
“I was in bed at 10:00 p.m. and I was watching Jordan Hicks throw 105 MPH, and I noticed how hard he was pitching with his backleg. He was almost jumping off the rubber. I was like, ‘Why not? I can try to do that.’ Because I knew my backleg was not working well. I tried in my room before going to sleep. Next day, I showed up to the field and told coach, ‘Something clicked. I feel like it works.’ I tried with a towel in the bullpen, and it felt good again. The day after I threw three innings in an intersquad, and I’ve never been up to 93 MPH all year. And I was 90-91 MPH, up to 93 MPH.”
Haig recalls meeting with Bocchi following the young pitcher’s introduction to Hicks, and noticing something had changed. For the first time, Bocchi was starting to get more of his back half and length into his pitching.
“What’s funny… he’s always on YouTube, Twitter and he saw a .gif of Jordan Hicks and his lower half… that’s everything we’ve been talking about all year,” said Haig. “And he’s like, ‘I got it.’ And he started doing towel drills one day out of nowhere, and he said, ‘Coach, I got it.’ And he threw a bullpen and was up to 93 MPH and we were like, ‘Yeah, you did really figure it out!’ It was right before conference tournament. That’s what gave us, ‘Hey let’s start Matteo after this.”
From that point on, Bocchi continued to replicate the change in his delivery, and the results followd.
“Then, I threw against Texas Southern last week and I was up to 94 MPH. That was my best ever, and during my release gained like 10 inches, spin rate on the fastball went up and got more swings and misses. Today, I was not even thinking about it, but I was throwing 90-94 MPH. It’s working.”
Today, he’s the winning pitcher for the nation’s most storied program in an Omaha-clinching Super Regional. I’d say it’s working alright.
Bocchi was up to 94 MPH, and generated uncomfortable swings against his lively fastball and snapped off some of his better sliders of the season. In particular, the fastball created some poor hacks because it was more explosive than Tennessee Tech anticipated.
“He adjusted his lower half a little bit, and eventually messed with his release enough to be behind the ball and jumped 150-200 RPM,” said pitching coach Phil Haig about the increased spin rate on Bocchi’s fastball. “Now, that ball up in the top of the zone that used to be squared up is by you. It’s enough to miss that barrel or a foul ball. We’re fired up for him. That guy is big.”
An increase in spin rate on his fastball and more extension (releasing the ball closer to home plate) not only made Bocchi's actual velocity jump, but to hitters they were seeing a fastball even harder than the listed MPH because of the spin and where it was coming at them. Thus, Tennessee Tech saw a pitcher much different than the one that threw in midweek games earlier in the season.
“We lengthened it out a little bit. Get off that rubber and just drive with the back half. If you see him play long toss, he’ll throw it 430 feet with ease. We were trying to get more out of his lower half. There are videos of him up to 102 MPH crow-hopping. I was like, ‘Hey, we have to pitch like that.’ It’s been a work-in-progress all year and finally and these last three starts he’s been up to 94-95 MPH, and it clicked. Something in there just clicked in his lower half.”
Against Tennessee Tech, Bocchi threw a career-high 5.0 innings and gave up just one run on four hits, one walk, and struck out three. He was constantly in control, competed well, and kept the nation’s most prolific offense in check.
Still new to baseball, especially at this level, and pitching in general, Bocchi is a sponge always trying to absorb any bit of information from any source to improve his performance on the mound. In the fall, observers could see the wheels in his head spinning pitch-to-pitch as he worked 86-88 MPH and tried to get the most out of his physical, 6-4 frame. Since then, he’s constantly yearned to learn and work.
Late at night recently, Bocchi, as he often does, was scanning the internet looking at pitching videos. He saw Jordan Hicks from the St. Louis Cardinals throw 105 MPH.
“I was like I want to throw 105 MPH,” he said.
So, he tried.
“I was in bed at 10:00 p.m. and I was watching Jordan Hicks throw 105 MPH, and I noticed how hard he was pitching with his backleg. He was almost jumping off the rubber. I was like, ‘Why not? I can try to do that.’ Because I knew my backleg was not working well. I tried in my room before going to sleep. Next day, I showed up to the field and told coach, ‘Something clicked. I feel like it works.’ I tried with a towel in the bullpen, and it felt good again. The day after I threw three innings in an intersquad, and I’ve never been up to 93 MPH all year. And I was 90-91 MPH, up to 93 MPH.”
Haig recalls meeting with Bocchi following the young pitcher’s introduction to Hicks, and noticing something had changed. For the first time, Bocchi was starting to get more of his back half and length into his pitching.
“What’s funny… he’s always on YouTube, Twitter and he saw a .gif of Jordan Hicks and his lower half… that’s everything we’ve been talking about all year,” said Haig. “And he’s like, ‘I got it.’ And he started doing towel drills one day out of nowhere, and he said, ‘Coach, I got it.’ And he threw a bullpen and was up to 93 MPH and we were like, ‘Yeah, you did really figure it out!’ It was right before conference tournament. That’s what gave us, ‘Hey let’s start Matteo after this.”
From that point on, Bocchi continued to replicate the change in his delivery, and the results followd.
“Then, I threw against Texas Southern last week and I was up to 94 MPH. That was my best ever, and during my release gained like 10 inches, spin rate on the fastball went up and got more swings and misses. Today, I was not even thinking about it, but I was throwing 90-94 MPH. It’s working.”
Today, he’s the winning pitcher for the nation’s most storied program in an Omaha-clinching Super Regional. I’d say it’s working alright.
