Paul Farley may be labeled as a newcomer on the mound for Georgia baseball this year, but the truth is that he is far from that. With only a sheet of paper and a pencil, Farley became one of Georgia’s biggest assets last season.
As a redshirt recovering from injury, Farley quickly picked up one of the most important jobs on the team – charting pitches.
Tracking pitch types and analyzing their location may not seem all that important from an outside perspective. But, it allows a team to examine certain patterns, strengths, or weaknesses of a pitcher in order to develop hitting tactics for their own team.
“Every single pitch I get, whether it’s a fastball, breaking ball or something, I just keep tabs,” Farley said. “And we kind of look to see sequences on hitters, and we keep it throughout the weekend, just so we can build off of what we know.”
Though he wasn’t playing the game, Farley sat next to head coach Wes Johnson in the dugout, locked into each and every pitch that flew across the plate. It was a chance to experience pitching from a completely new perspective.
“I’ve learned more last year than I have in any of my years in baseball,” Farley said.
Aside from the deeper insight he gained from charting, Farley also had the opportunity to learn from Johnson, who is a former collegiate and MLB pitching coach.
“Just being able to be by Wes’ side last year and to learn through that, and just to see how everything works, it was a good first step,” Farley said.
A year later, Farley is no longer charting pitches – he is throwing them.
Farley has already found himself on the mound twice throughout Georgia’s eight games – the first of which was in Georgia’s season opener against Quinnipiac. Farley threw five scoreless innings, allowing only one hit and striking out three batters en route to the Bulldogs’ 9-1 victory.
Johnson has made it clear that there is no shortage of talented pitchers on the team this year, but he has also been quick to point out that Farley is one of them. Though only a redshirt freshman now, Farley has already begun to make a name for himself and to prove that he is a competitor both on and off the mound.
“Paul is going to pitch a lot for us and pitch a lot in big moments,” Johnson said.
