CJ Smith’s competitiveness fuels transition to new role for Georgia baseball

Competitors hate missing out on playing time.

So when C.J. Smith felt some pain in his back about halfway through the 2019 Georgia baseball season, he kept it to himself. The sophomore two-way player had already seen his at-bats dwindle after early struggles at the plate. A back injury would take him from the mound and off the field entirely.

Smith didn’t think it was too serious, just a tight muscle that required him to fight through. It got progressively worse, however, really flaring up in a start against Mississippi State on April 26 in which he gave up eight runs and eight walks. He didn’t pitch again in 2019, requiring an epidural in the fall to treat what was eventually diagnosed as a herniated disk, bulging disk and a stress reaction.

“My competitiveness kind of got a little bit too much of me last year,” Smith said.

Now, Smith is back and fully healed from his injury. One of the most intense competitors on the team is adjusting to a new role: After playing the field and pitching his first two years, the junior from Royston is exclusively a pitcher.

The decision was made shortly after the 2019 season ended. Smith met with head coach Scott Stricklin, and the pair agreed that switching to pitching full-time would be best.

“I think it was a pretty easy decision for him,” Stricklin said. “He wants to be healthy, he wants to help this team, and the only way that anyone can help this team is if they’re healthy.”

There’s also Smith’s baseball future to consider. Smith and Stricklin agreed that he has the higher ceiling on the mound. In order to reach his goal of being drafted, it was time to focus solely on pitching.

However, Smith wasn’t able to experience full “PO” (pitcher only) status until the winter. He didn’t throw while rehabbing his back. The workouts he’s done while in Athens have been tailored more to keep stress of his throwing arm anyway, so those didn’t change too much either.

But now that he’s living that life, there’s one thing that stands out.

“I’ve got a lot more time on my hands,” Smith said. “I’m enjoying being able to focus on pitching, being able to tinker with different pitches, being able to work on different things I wasn’t able to.”

More time leads to more intense observation. In the dugout, Smith can focus more on the individual tendencies of his teammates at the plate and on the mound, seeing how hitters work and pitchers attack.

Smith now also has the ability to dive deep into his preparation for the lineups he will face in his starts. After all, last year he had to go over scouting reports for both opposing batters and pitchers. Now, he can more closely hone into tendencies such as “this guy likes this pitch, this guy likes to swing in this count, that sort of thing.”

The crafty left-hander slots into Georgia’s rotation right now as the Sunday starter behind a pair of potential first-round MLB draft picks, fireballing righties Emerson Hancock and Cole Wilcox. Smith tries to emulate them as much as possible, he said, both in how they prepare and how they go about attacking batters on the mound.

“I love watching them,” Smith said. “It’s kind of nice being able to follow up those two in the weekends that way. Obviously, I attack them completely different because we pitch completely different, just because I don’t throw 100 miles per hour like both of them.”

Smith still shags fly balls in the outfield during batting practice, something he enjoys and a skillset he still has. Hitting, however, might be a different story.

“I can tell I’ve lost the hitting part,” Smith said. “Watching pitchers, I’m like, ‘Dang, that looks way faster than it used to.’”

Smith has been a little rusty in his first two starts of 2020 — that’s to be expected. He’s given up five runs, three of which have been earned, in 8.2 innings. He’s also walked seven batters and hit two more, and he’s failed to make it out of the fifth in either appearance.

Smith was hard on himself after his second start, saying that him still looking to get into a groove wasn’t an excuse.

“I also think that at this point, I hold myself to a higher standard,” Smith said. “I feel like I need to bounce back a little bit faster than I am. I think that’s part of why I’m so frustrated with myself is I know I’m better than what I’m showing right now.”

While it hasn’t been perfect on the mound, Smith is already feeling the benefits of focusing on pitching. After a weekend series last year, he said he wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep. But that’s not the case early in 2020.

“I feel much fresher already,” Smith said. “I can feel the difference between it, just in the recovery, as far as when I’m done after my start I feel good. I’m ready to go the next day. I go lift and I feel good.”

Stricklin isn’t worried about Smith. He said once the junior gets a feel for all his pitches again, he has a chance to be one of the best No. 3 starters in all of college baseball. The head coach also said he hasn’t ruled out Smith seeing some time in the outfield if needed.

For now, Smith’s competitive energy resides on the mound, focusing 60 feet and six inches away.

Georgia vs. Georgia Tech baseball series

Georgia (8-1) vs Georgia Tech (7-1)

Game 1 — 5 pm Friday, Foley Field in Athens (streaming on SEC Network Plus)

Game 2 — 2 pm Saturday, Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta (streaming on ACC Network Extra)

Game 3 — 2 pm Sunday, Coolray Field in Lawrenceville