June 3, 2011
At 6’5″, Grayson Garvin is used to standing out in a crowd. But halfway through his sophomore season in 2010 Garvin was having a difficult time standing out in Vanderbilt’s bullpen for anything besides his height.
As a freshman Garvin was a sparsely used middle reliever who had a 7.82 ERA in nine appearances, including one start. Just when he thought his college career couldn’t get any worse, it did. Garvin missed the first half of his sophomore season due to stress fracture in his pitching elbow and did not make his debut until March 30.
Because of his freshman funk and unfortunate injury to begin his sophomore season, Garvin was mostly a forgotten man amongst the Commodore faithful.
Fast-forward to this season and the only thing forgotten now by Commodore fans is inauspicious start to Garvin’s career.
Just last week the same Grayson Garvin who began his career lost among a bevy of talented arms on the roster took home SEC Pitcher of the Year honors and on Thursday he was named a Louisville Slugger All-American. (Seriously, he was.)
Garvin’s dramatic ascent from a mid-tier reliever to an All-America starter in one season has come as just as much of a surprise to Garvin himself as it has to college baseball fans.
“I’m just floored by the amount of success I’ve had,” said the soft-spoken Garvin. “It is hard to believe how far I’ve come because there were points last year when I didn’t know if I was going to throw at all.”
Garvin’s point of ascension began immediately after returning from injury last season. He struck out the side in his first two appearances of the season and carried an ERA below 2.0 for the entire season.
His season came to a climax approximately this time a year ago when Vanderbilt’s coaching staff tabbed the little-known southpaw to start the NCAA Regional Championship Game at Louisville.
Garvin had made just one previous start that season, but had pitched remarkably well in relief a few days earlier against Illinois State in the NCAA Regional, scattering four hits and allowing one run over 4.1 innings.
With his team facing elimination, Garvin tossed what was the best game of his career, as he guided the Commodores to the NCAA Super Regional by allowing just one run on three hits in 6.0 innings of work.
Just as reaching last year’s Super Regional helped this year’s squad begin the 2011 season as if it were shot out of a cannon, Garvin’s start against the Cardinals acted as a springboard for what has been quick climb to the top of the pitching ranks.
“It was definitely a growing point for me,” Garvin said. “Louisville has a great program and just going out there and having success against them gave me confidence that I could have success against anybody.”
Given Garvin’s play since stymieing the Cardinals, it is clear his confidence level has remained sky high. The Suwannee, Ga., native followed his sophomore season with a dazzling performance last summer in the Cape Cod League where he was named Pitcher of the Year after posting a 5-0 record with a 0.74 ERA.
Garvin began his junior year just as he had left off the summer. He earned a spot as Vanderbilt’s Saturday starter and has performed better than anyone could have expected. He began the season 10-0 and came within one win of becoming the first pitcher in SEC history to win all 11 of his starts.
“Grayson has probably had the largest transformation on the team,” said senior catcher Curt Casali. “He works hard and he has an edge to him that makes him competitive on the mound. He’s a special player and he’s going to have a long playing career.”
Garvin credits his success to being healthy and continuing to gain confidence with every start in a sport known for humbling even the most elite players.
“The biggest thing for me is confidence,” Garvin said. “In baseball, confidence is such a huge issue because it is such a game of failure and your ability to bounce back. Gaining confidence by having success has been very important to my career.”
So far this season, Garvin has a 12-1 record to go along with a 2.35 ERA. Garvin will look for win No. 13 on Saturday when he again takes the ball in the NCAA Regionals against either Oklahoma State or Troy. Garvin’s start will be approximately a year since his breakthrough moment as a starter at Louisville, which was an experience he plans on using to his advantage this postseason.
“It is great to have that experience of starting an NCAA Regional game,” Garvin said. “It was a big help going forward having pitched in a big game and pitching in a pressure situation in front of a lot of people. The ability to draw from that experience in my library of experiences is big.”
It is a library Garvin and the Commodores hope continues to expand well into June.
