The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Perry senior fourth in state in strikeouts
While leading the News-Herald area in strikeouts is no easy feat, Perry senior Nathan Smith knew he could take it a step further.
While leading the News-Herald area in strikeouts is no easy feat, Perry senior Nathan Smith knew that he had the ability to take it a step further.
“As soon as the batter steps in the box I know I can strike them out,” said Smith. “I can look them in the eyes and know that it doesn’t matter who the batter is, I have the ability to strike them out.”
Smith sits fourth in Ohio for strikeouts on the season with 87 through his 10 appearances. Smith has also been accountable for four wins with a 2.62 ERA in his 42 2/3 innings on the mound.
A big strength for Smith is the style he has developed through his baseball career. While his goto pitch is a two-seam fastball on the outside of the strike zone, Smith describes his style as controlled explosion and emotionless pitching.
“I’ve always thrown very hard and thrown pitches that break a lot,” said Smith. “Over the years, I’ve figured out how to control it. But I am still on the journey to make it better and learn every day.” Perry coach Matt Platt agreed that Smith’s style has been beneficial to his success, and has also been beneficial to the entire team.
“He does a really nice job of moving the ball around,” said Platt. “He can go inside and outside of batters while also changing eye level and speed at a whim. He isn’t just a challenge for the batters that he is facing, but also for the runners that do reach base. When he’s on the mound, he makes everyone look a lot better.” Smith has struck out 10 or more batters five times this season, including a 17 in a complete game. Platt said Smith spent a lot of time in the offseason finetuning his game. With last season being taken away due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was important for Smith to find a way to perfect his game.
“He spent a lot of time in the offseason working on pitches and finding the differences between what a two-seam does and a fourseam does,” said Platt. “He didn’t just throw those pitches, but he did work on locating, commanding his fastball and throwing his changeup and breaking balls off of them.”
While he has only given up more than five hits once this season, Smith isn’t as concerned about giving up hits as he was in the past. Smith said he has learned his teammates behind him will get him out of trouble spots, and he doesn’t have to burden the load on his own.
“I know that I have great teammates and I know what they’re capable of. Once we piece it together, everyone is going to know that they can’t overlook us.”
While Smith this season has shown the performance needed for a No. 1 pitcher in the rotation, he saw little time in his sophomore season, appearing in five games and four total innings. With his junior year taken away, it was a mystery what would happen in his senior campaign. But the coaching staff had faith in Smith.
“The most influential person this season for me has been my head coach Matt Platt,” said Smith. “He’s believed in me in ways no one else has and that gave me a lot of confidence before the season started.”
Platt adds: “The important thing is confidence for pitching, and we’ve always believed in Nathan. We knew that he had the tools needed. He knew that he had those, but when he saw them working, he blossomed from there. He now has trust in himself, trust in his stuff.”
Even though Smith is striking out opponents at a phenomenal rate, neither him nor the Pirates are keeping track of the stat line during the games Smith is on the bump. But the energy that he brings in his starts is seen in his pitches.
“It’s fun to be around,” said Platt. “It’s like a shifting goal that changes after every outing. We make sure that it’s not always about the strikeout, but it’s a good goal to reach for and a fun one for us to track.”
As a senior, Smith plans to continue his athletic career at the collegiate level, but is undecided for where he will attend.