Chase Shugart is in a new role this season for the Longhorns.
Instead of jogging in from the bullpen like he did his first two seasons to, as David Pierce said, clean up some mess, the junior righthander from Orange, Texas is in the weekend rotation. So, his approach, thanks to a few starts and a summer in the Cape Cod League, is different.
“Probably facing the talent that I faced in the batter’s box this summer showed me you’re not going to strike everyone out,” said Shugart about transitioning from reliever to starter. “You have to find ways to get outs without doing it yourself. So, that’s when I started trusting my defense and letting things work for me and getting weak contact instead of just trying to strike everyone out. Feel that switch clicked after that second start, and I was like, ‘Alright, this is how you get deeper into games. Make your pitches and let your defense get after it.”
Now in the weekend rotation, Shugart is poised for a big season.
He’s learned more about pitching, and he’s tweaked his repertoire to attack hitters with a more diverse set of offerings. Shugart has always been able to spin a tight breaking ball. Now, he’s started to flash a plus curve, and is also throwing a true slider; rather than a hard or softer slurve, the talented righthander is beginning to distinguish between the two and throw two distinctively different pitches to make life tougher on hitters.
“Yeah, that’s always been the thing – trying to distinguish between two pitches. I’ve been working on a changeup, but that goes off my sinker. So, really building off my sinker, my changeup building off that then having my curve and slider build off one another. We want two different, distinct pitches; two different movements; two different things to do to hitters,” said Shugart about his breaking stuff. “One is get me over and here’s a put you away pitch. I’ve always been able to spin a breaking ball. This summer I started throwing the curve again and I went right back into it. Haven’t used it since I was a sophomore in high school. I feel like I’ve always had a real good feel and be able to spin it.”
If Shugart’s fall offseason, preseason, and first start (6.2 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 3 SO) forecast what’s ahead, hitters aren’t going to enjoy their trips to the batter’s box very often. Being on his own at the Cape Cod League taught Shugart some valuable lessons about himself too.
“I feel like going to Cape Cod gave me an opportunity to grow as an individual, and also a teammate. It’s a lot of individual stuff going on up there, but it’s also a team-oriented thing,” the junior righthander said. “Get my workouts in by myself; make sure my bullpens are right and how I needed to be. Basically, tuning everything up by yourself really helps you grow and I’ve been able to bring that from the summer into the fall and had a successful fall and now bringing it into the early spring.
“I want to be able to build on every outing, and that was the goal this summer. Even though I was in the pen the first half then getting my first start it showed that through 3.2 innings and 86 pitches I was like, ‘Alright, that’s not efficient.’ Building off those starts and they got better and I was able to get deeper into games.”
Now, the righthander will need to place even more emphasis on aspects like making adjustments pitch-to-pitch on the mound over the course of a long outing as opposed to just an inning or two.
“It’s more my frontside because whenever I face adversity it’s always throw harder, faster, do more when it shouldn’t be like that,” he said when asked about tips in his mechanics that let him know he's not right. “My front shoulder flies open, then I leave the ball up instead of hitting my spots down. It happened to me my last start… that’s when I really faced adversity and that was good for me. Looking at it now, I know I have to do this, this, and this to get that spot back.”
All of that is different for Shugart.
Chase Shugart has always pitched with a lot of competitiveness on the mound.
But most importantly, his mentality is the same.
“Whenever I get on the mound, I’m doing the same thing whether I’m starting or relieving. I’m coming right at you. I’m going to give you the best I have, and if you beat me, I tip my cap and I’ll go on to the next guy and try to beat him,” stated Shugart. “It’s really a mentality thing and trying to stay with that.”
That mentality Shugart takes the mound with didn’t just happen by accident.
Everybody comes from somewhere, and that somewhere Shugart is from could have sent someone weaker down a different path or discouraged the pursuit of success at the highest collegiate level. Instead, the hard-throwing righthander uses it as motivation.
Some of it comes from his football background. Despite being undersized, Shugart - who unsurprisingly played some quarterback, which shows when he spins a curveball – loved playing football and hitting people.
“Yeah. I played football from when I was five until my junior year of high school, then I messed up my shoulder and couldn’t play. Playing football was helping build the mentality of being a bulldog,” the junior righthander said. “I loved hitting people and I loved getting hit. I loved competing. I try to bring that mentality to a baseball field and if I get punched in the mouth, I can take it and come right back at you and punch you in the mouth.”
But that mentality Shugart brings to the mound runs deeper than just hitting people on the football field. For the 5-10, 180-pound righthander, baseball has served as an escape for as long as he’s played, and he’s used his background to fuel a competitive passion.
“Growing up, baseball has always been my getaway, and it’s always been my way out. I come from a shaky background, but thanks to my grandparents I was able to have a really good childhood and easy high school career,” said Shugart. “Just the adversity I faced as a young kid and the stuff I saw… just takes me to my getaway place, which is on the mound or anywhere on the diamond. Every time I get on there, I don’t want to take it for granted. Whether I’m not doing well, or I’m lights out, I want to compete. I want to win, and get to the next level and keep winning and competing.”
Now more than ever, he has his sights set on making his grandparents, Ronnie and Wanda Shugart, proud. Through adversity, they’ve been there every step of the way. And that next step is Shugart's rise as one of the Big 12's best starters and eventually him hearing his name called during the next Major League Baseball Draft.
“I lived with my grandparents ever since I was born, and they’ve had custody ever since. Every weekend series we have here (Austin), they’re here. They travel to the Big 12 Tournament. They’re going to go to Baton Rouge this weekend. Being able to have my grandparents to lean on… I always want to make them proud.”
Shugart wouldn’t be the person he is or the baseball player he is without the support from his grandparents – all the hours, all the travel, all the endless love. When the highly competitive, hard-throwing righty grabs the ball, pulls his hat down to near eye-level and peers towards home plate ready to attack, his grandparents are on the mound with him.
“That’s another reason why I’m a competitor on the mound. I want to be able to help them out, and show them they weren’t wasting time whenever we were travel three hours to-and-from on a weekend and playing six games then coming back home and going to school,” stated Shugart. “And my grandpa still works and he’s 70-years-old. He works construction. I want to be able to help them out and show them it wasn’t wasted time or money, and that I’m going to do this and give them something to be proud of.”
Starter or reliever, Shugart's mentality is the same.
Now a junior coming off his best offseason and preseason at Texas, Shugart is poised to have a breakout season in a new role. He’s in a position to lead, and eventually realize his professional dream.
“I want to help lead this team… we want to win five championships. Good leadership is how you’re successful in those types of situations and how you’re molded through the preseason and offseason really defines who you are in the postseason,” said the product of Bridge City High School. “We want to be the best postseason team we can be, and I feel like there are three or four guys that have really stepped up and understand that. After getting a taste of the regional last year, it’s like, ‘Alright, here’s what we need to do to be successful and win that game.’ I’ve taken on a leadership role, and I feel like people around me have to. We’re all growing as a team really well and blending together like we need to.”
However, when he strides towards the mound from the visitor’s dugout this weekend, he’ll still take his usual mentality with him; he’ll still grab the ball, and toe the rubber in his getaway place; he’ll still tap into his competitive character built off the adversity he’s faced.
Shugart’s grandparents will proudly watch their grandson’s start from the stands of Alex Box Stadium this weekend, and as that start unfolds and the season progresses, they’ll have plenty more to be proud of.
Instead of jogging in from the bullpen like he did his first two seasons to, as David Pierce said, clean up some mess, the junior righthander from Orange, Texas is in the weekend rotation. So, his approach, thanks to a few starts and a summer in the Cape Cod League, is different.
“Probably facing the talent that I faced in the batter’s box this summer showed me you’re not going to strike everyone out,” said Shugart about transitioning from reliever to starter. “You have to find ways to get outs without doing it yourself. So, that’s when I started trusting my defense and letting things work for me and getting weak contact instead of just trying to strike everyone out. Feel that switch clicked after that second start, and I was like, ‘Alright, this is how you get deeper into games. Make your pitches and let your defense get after it.”
Now in the weekend rotation, Shugart is poised for a big season.
He’s learned more about pitching, and he’s tweaked his repertoire to attack hitters with a more diverse set of offerings. Shugart has always been able to spin a tight breaking ball. Now, he’s started to flash a plus curve, and is also throwing a true slider; rather than a hard or softer slurve, the talented righthander is beginning to distinguish between the two and throw two distinctively different pitches to make life tougher on hitters.
“Yeah, that’s always been the thing – trying to distinguish between two pitches. I’ve been working on a changeup, but that goes off my sinker. So, really building off my sinker, my changeup building off that then having my curve and slider build off one another. We want two different, distinct pitches; two different movements; two different things to do to hitters,” said Shugart about his breaking stuff. “One is get me over and here’s a put you away pitch. I’ve always been able to spin a breaking ball. This summer I started throwing the curve again and I went right back into it. Haven’t used it since I was a sophomore in high school. I feel like I’ve always had a real good feel and be able to spin it.”
If Shugart’s fall offseason, preseason, and first start (6.2 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 3 SO) forecast what’s ahead, hitters aren’t going to enjoy their trips to the batter’s box very often. Being on his own at the Cape Cod League taught Shugart some valuable lessons about himself too.
“I feel like going to Cape Cod gave me an opportunity to grow as an individual, and also a teammate. It’s a lot of individual stuff going on up there, but it’s also a team-oriented thing,” the junior righthander said. “Get my workouts in by myself; make sure my bullpens are right and how I needed to be. Basically, tuning everything up by yourself really helps you grow and I’ve been able to bring that from the summer into the fall and had a successful fall and now bringing it into the early spring.
“I want to be able to build on every outing, and that was the goal this summer. Even though I was in the pen the first half then getting my first start it showed that through 3.2 innings and 86 pitches I was like, ‘Alright, that’s not efficient.’ Building off those starts and they got better and I was able to get deeper into games.”
Now, the righthander will need to place even more emphasis on aspects like making adjustments pitch-to-pitch on the mound over the course of a long outing as opposed to just an inning or two.
“It’s more my frontside because whenever I face adversity it’s always throw harder, faster, do more when it shouldn’t be like that,” he said when asked about tips in his mechanics that let him know he's not right. “My front shoulder flies open, then I leave the ball up instead of hitting my spots down. It happened to me my last start… that’s when I really faced adversity and that was good for me. Looking at it now, I know I have to do this, this, and this to get that spot back.”
All of that is different for Shugart.
Chase Shugart has always pitched with a lot of competitiveness on the mound.
But most importantly, his mentality is the same.
“Whenever I get on the mound, I’m doing the same thing whether I’m starting or relieving. I’m coming right at you. I’m going to give you the best I have, and if you beat me, I tip my cap and I’ll go on to the next guy and try to beat him,” stated Shugart. “It’s really a mentality thing and trying to stay with that.”
That mentality Shugart takes the mound with didn’t just happen by accident.
Everybody comes from somewhere, and that somewhere Shugart is from could have sent someone weaker down a different path or discouraged the pursuit of success at the highest collegiate level. Instead, the hard-throwing righthander uses it as motivation.
Some of it comes from his football background. Despite being undersized, Shugart - who unsurprisingly played some quarterback, which shows when he spins a curveball – loved playing football and hitting people.
“Yeah. I played football from when I was five until my junior year of high school, then I messed up my shoulder and couldn’t play. Playing football was helping build the mentality of being a bulldog,” the junior righthander said. “I loved hitting people and I loved getting hit. I loved competing. I try to bring that mentality to a baseball field and if I get punched in the mouth, I can take it and come right back at you and punch you in the mouth.”
But that mentality Shugart brings to the mound runs deeper than just hitting people on the football field. For the 5-10, 180-pound righthander, baseball has served as an escape for as long as he’s played, and he’s used his background to fuel a competitive passion.
“Growing up, baseball has always been my getaway, and it’s always been my way out. I come from a shaky background, but thanks to my grandparents I was able to have a really good childhood and easy high school career,” said Shugart. “Just the adversity I faced as a young kid and the stuff I saw… just takes me to my getaway place, which is on the mound or anywhere on the diamond. Every time I get on there, I don’t want to take it for granted. Whether I’m not doing well, or I’m lights out, I want to compete. I want to win, and get to the next level and keep winning and competing.”
Now more than ever, he has his sights set on making his grandparents, Ronnie and Wanda Shugart, proud. Through adversity, they’ve been there every step of the way. And that next step is Shugart's rise as one of the Big 12's best starters and eventually him hearing his name called during the next Major League Baseball Draft.
“I lived with my grandparents ever since I was born, and they’ve had custody ever since. Every weekend series we have here (Austin), they’re here. They travel to the Big 12 Tournament. They’re going to go to Baton Rouge this weekend. Being able to have my grandparents to lean on… I always want to make them proud.”
Shugart wouldn’t be the person he is or the baseball player he is without the support from his grandparents – all the hours, all the travel, all the endless love. When the highly competitive, hard-throwing righty grabs the ball, pulls his hat down to near eye-level and peers towards home plate ready to attack, his grandparents are on the mound with him.
“That’s another reason why I’m a competitor on the mound. I want to be able to help them out, and show them they weren’t wasting time whenever we were travel three hours to-and-from on a weekend and playing six games then coming back home and going to school,” stated Shugart. “And my grandpa still works and he’s 70-years-old. He works construction. I want to be able to help them out and show them it wasn’t wasted time or money, and that I’m going to do this and give them something to be proud of.”
Starter or reliever, Shugart's mentality is the same.
Now a junior coming off his best offseason and preseason at Texas, Shugart is poised to have a breakout season in a new role. He’s in a position to lead, and eventually realize his professional dream.
“I want to help lead this team… we want to win five championships. Good leadership is how you’re successful in those types of situations and how you’re molded through the preseason and offseason really defines who you are in the postseason,” said the product of Bridge City High School. “We want to be the best postseason team we can be, and I feel like there are three or four guys that have really stepped up and understand that. After getting a taste of the regional last year, it’s like, ‘Alright, here’s what we need to do to be successful and win that game.’ I’ve taken on a leadership role, and I feel like people around me have to. We’re all growing as a team really well and blending together like we need to.”
However, when he strides towards the mound from the visitor’s dugout this weekend, he’ll still take his usual mentality with him; he’ll still grab the ball, and toe the rubber in his getaway place; he’ll still tap into his competitive character built off the adversity he’s faced.
Shugart’s grandparents will proudly watch their grandson’s start from the stands of Alex Box Stadium this weekend, and as that start unfolds and the season progresses, they’ll have plenty more to be proud of.
