North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Devine Intervention
5/23/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 23, 2005
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH - Former N.C. State assistant coach Billy Jones was conflicted: Should he get on the plane or not?
Just the night before, a friend who scouts the Midwest for a Major League baseball team called to say "Don't waste your time" on a prospect Jones was going to see. It was a kid who pitched and played in the field, someone that had gotten some recruiting attention in the fall from Wichita State, Kansas and Kansas State. But there had been more than eight-month dead period in his wooing that no one could really explain.
Maybe it was a little bit of a dead arm, since this was near the end of his senior season and he had spent more than four years of playing in excess of 100 games spring, summer and fall, and still found time to be an all-conference quarterback in football. The scout said this prospect was only throwing about 82-84 miles per hour. Certainly not the numbers a college assistant wanted to hear. Jones almost canceled the trip.
"But I had already bought the ticket..." said Jones, who is now an assistant at Oklahoma State.
It appeared fate didn't want Jones to see the player, who was scheduled to pitch in the second game of a doubleheader down in Wichita. He played in the outfield the first game, and showed some good stuff with the bat, but he was being recruited as a pitcher.
But there was a tornado coming, cancelling the second game. It was late May in Kansas, and those things happen.
So, Jones told the kid and his dad that they would go back home, some two hours north, and maybe work out somewhere where the weather was not so bad. The place they found was a Little League baseball/softball complex. The mound was no higher than six inches.
The kid's dad had called to an assistant coach at their high school and asked to borrow some catcher's equipment. Jones and the dad made the kid's older brother put on the gear, even though he was an infielder by trade. But he was used to getting his hand burned by his little brother. They had worn out the grass at home - and more than 1,000 whiffle balls - playing against each other: over the house was a home run, on the roof was a triple, against the side of the house was a double, anything in the grass was an out. There are no singles in the backyard.
The first pitch was significantly faster than 82 miles per hour, even though no one had a radar gun. It was also moved to the inside edge of the black part of home plate.
"Do that again," Jones requested.
And he did, though the second one was a little faster and a little more towards the middle part of the plate's black edge. Twice during the 20-minute work-out, the pitcher knocked the catcher's mitt right off his brother's hand.
"I knew this guy could pitch for us," Jones said.
They packed up the equipment and Jones joined father, son and older brother for a late-night dinner at Denny's, just off the Interstate-70, where they hashed out the outlines of a scholarship offer. The pitcher didn't accept right away, and Wichita State made a late bid to get him to stay closer to home.
In the end, though, Joey Devine decided to head east to NC State.
Stepping in to a new role
When Devine arrived at NC State, he was slated to be the Wolfpack's No. 3 starter, with the possibility of playing some in the field. He was, after all, an all-state selection as a shortstop at Junction City (Kans.) High School, where he hit .408 with seven home runs and 22 RBIs in 20 games as a senior.
But in late January of Devine's freshman year, the Wolfpack's slated closer, Brad Blackwell, was declared academically ineligible, leaving head coach Elliott Avent without anyone to finish off what Vern Sterry and Michael Rogers did as starters.
He turned to Devine, who had closed out some games in leading his high school to two state championship game appearances. Devine jumped at the chance to make an immediate impact.
"With his competitive mentality and his competitive talents, he was the natural choice," Avent said.
What followed was one of the greatest freshman seasons in NC State and ACC baseball history, going 6-3 with a freshman school-record 14 saves. He was named first-team All-ACC and a consensus Freshman All-America.
Last year, he had 10 saves, becoming the first pitcher in school history to get double-figure saves in back-to-back seasons. And he was also reunited with his older brother Matt, who transferred to NC State from Auburn, though he was limited to only four games because of an eye infection.
This year, he became just the third pitcher in ACC history to record at least 10 saves in three different seasons. He became NC State's career leader in saves as a sophomore and his 35 career saves ranks third in ACC history. (North Carolina's Thad Chrismon holds the league record at 41, followed by Wake Forest's David Bush with 38.)
Heading into this week's ACC Tournament in Jacksonville, Fla., is headed for his third consecutive All-ACC selection. He has a 4-3 record, 11 saves and a 2.36 earned run average. The Wolfpack opens against Miami on Wednesday. Devine admits that he had no idea what it really meant to be a closer when he first started finishing games.
"When I was a freshman, I didn't even really know the difference between being a closer and a starter," Devine said. "I thought it was just going out there and pitching and having a great time. The only difference was that the close was out there during a different time in the game.
"As time went on, and I understand what the role of the closer is... One thing as a closer, you have to be able to handle adversity. Things aren't always going to go your way. Sometimes you can blow a save and a team can come out and get some hits and you can lose a game. I try to take the same approach every single day." Devine's routine includes watching every opposing hitter during pre-game batting practice. It has also included getting some sage advice from former teammate Chad Orvella, who was a shortstop for the Wolfpack in 2003, but has since become one of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' top pitching prospects.
Devine knows now that closing is all about attitude, confidence and mental toughness.
"Being a closer is like being a guy in basketball who has spent the whole game on the bench and then you ask him to go in the last three minutes and make all his shots and all his free throws," Avent said. "Everything he does is magnified.
"You have to have a certain mentality to do that and Joey certainly does."
Anxious for June
Devine's main focus is to get the Wolfpack through the ACC tournament, into an NCAA regional and super-regional. Then he can return to Omaha, Neb., the site of the College World Series. He and Matt used to make the three-hour trip from Junction City every year to watch the Series, and they played at Rosenblatt Stadium on numerous occasions with their traveling baseball team.
"The last time I went to the College World Series, I was 16 and I promised myself I wouldn't come back until I was a player instead of a spectator," Joey Devine said.
But another important, life-altering event will also take place that first week of June: the Major League Baseball draft on June 7. Devine, who is draft-eligible now that he has completed three seasons of collegiate baseball, is one of the top college prospects in the draft. He is projected to be a late first-round or in-between compensation pick. He could become only the fifth first-round pick in NC State history, joining Ron Evans (Boston, 1975), Dan Plesac (Milwaukee, 1983), Greg Briley (Seattle, 1986) and Cory Lee (Texas, 1996).
But that's a thought for another day.
"My main priority is to get our team to an NCAA regional and a super-regional," Devine said. "Whatever happens on June 7 will take care of itself."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
