Addition of pitching duties could be game-changer for Georgia Tech baseball’s Austin Wilhite

A recent development that occurred just before the college baseball season came to a screeching halt could be a game-changer for Austin Wilhite.

It would not come as a surprise to see Wilhite selected in the MLB Draft in June. However, the former Buford star’s best opportunity may now be as a relief pitcher, not as an infielder, where he’s been a mainstay at Georgia Tech for four seasons.

Wilhite was given a chance to pitch in relief three times over the last two weeks of play and was outstanding. The right-hander was able to throw hard and with accuracy and was close to being able to fill a role as one of the team’s closers.

“Austin Wilhite is very intriguing as a pitcher,” Georgia Tech coach Danny Hall said. “(The scouts) have Trackman numbers on him and they’re in the elite category, even including Major League pitchers. So you’d like to think that someone may take him as a pitcher.”

It’s almost the reverse situation that faced Charlie Blackmon, who played high school baseball at North Gwinnett. He was a pitcher until his fourth college season, when he was moved to the outfield and hit .396 with eight homers. Blackmon was a second-round draft pick of the Colorado Rockies, broke into the big leagues in 2011, led the National League in hitting in .2017 and is a four-time All-Star.

“I’d like to think maybe he’s the pitching story of Charlie Blackmon, that maybe was a position player and all of a sudden they’re converted into a pitcher,” Hall said.

Hall said the Yellow Jackets considered trying Wilhite out of the bullpen last season, but didn’t want to take a chance to jeopardize his arm.

The thought reoccurred when new pitching coach Danny Borrell got a look at Wilhite in the fall.

“We had him throw a bullpen or two in the fall and had him throw some bullpens in January,” Hall said. “Coach Burrell just felt like we need to encourage this guy to pitch a little because he throws a lot of strikes, his fastball is good, has a good breaking ball, he’s a competitive kid.”

Hall said Wilhite and Sam Crawford would have become the pitchers used in closing situations.

Wilhite made his first relief appearance on March 3 against Tennessee Tech when he threw one inning, struck out two and walked one. He pitched another scoreless inning on March 8 against Virginia Tech and worked two perfect innings March 10 against Auburn.

“He would have given us more options in our starting rotation with guys like (Luke) Bartnicki and (Andy) Archer, keep them in the starting rotation,” Hall said. “But we didn’t get a chance to see that.”

Wilhite started 12 game at second base and was hitting just .229 and had been replaced there by Jadyn Jackson, a freshman from Lanier High School. Jackson started the final three games before the plug was pulled on the season, but was batting .238 and had struck out 10 times in 21 at-bats.

Wilhite is one of four seniors on the team affected by the premature end of the season: fifth-year players Jackson Webb and Jonathan Hughes and seniors Wilhite and Paxton Rigby. Several other juniors like Baron Radcliff, Luke Waddell and Colin Hall are also likely to be drafted, too.

The NCAA said it will add an additional year of eligibility for spring athletes, but it is not sure how that will play out as far as the MLB Draft, incoming players and ongoing scholarships. The juggling is made more difficult by the fact that each college baseball team gets 11.7 scholarships to divide and the minimum allowed is 25 percent.

“There’s a lot to take in here as far as baseball,” Hall said. “It’s going to be someone way above my pay grade deciding how we’ll address it. I mean, how are you going to pay for all of that. It’s a great gesture and it’s the right thing to do, but how it gets implemented and paid for … that’s going to create some issues.”

Danny Karnik/Georgia Tech Athletics
Danny Karnik/Georgia Tech Athletics

Danny Karnik/Georgia Tech Athletics