North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Shunick Pictures Himself a Better Pitcher
3/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
BY TIM PEELER
NC State junior pitcher Clayton Shunick was at his parents home in
Shunick spent some time alone during that week, and one day he noticed, hanging on the wall of the family’s ping-pong room, two pictures of himself throwing off the mound. The first was in the Cape League two summers ago, when he posted an ERA of 2.21 for the Orleans Cardinals and was named to the league’s All-Star team. The second was from last spring, when he pitched at NC State, mostly as a long reliever.
The difference in the angle of his arm from one year to the next was acute. In the
“I was like, I need to get back to there,’” Shunick said. “The rest of the summer I really worked on getting my arm angle up to where it used to be and stay on top of the ball. I picked it up towards the end of the summer, got it back up to where it used to be and that just kind of carried over to this year as well. I am staying on top of the ball and it has really helped me stay in control of my secondary pitches.”
The numbers speak for themselves: Shunick is the Wolfpack’s most consistent and unhittable starter, leading the team with a 1.55 ERA, 32 strikeouts and only four walks in 29 innings.
With Shunick anchoring the staff, the Wolfpack is third in the ACC with a team ERA of 3.02. And pitching figures to be critical in this weekend’s series with second-ranked
Shunick (2-2, 1.55 ERA) will start tonight’s game against
In the mind of NC State associate head coach Tom Holliday, Shunick’s transformation from a mid-major level college pitcher Shunick transferred to NC State from
“When he came here last year, he was a guy who was on the border of having good stuff and pitching,” Holliday said. “His breaking ball was OK, his split finger pitch was good, his change up was OK and his fast ball was a little below average.”
But Shunick spent last summer and the fall working on getting his elbow higher in his delivery, spent most of the fall in the weight room and added both velocity and movement to all four of his pitches.
“His fastball jumped from 85 miles an hour up to 87 then to the 88-90 range,” Holliday said. “Several times now, he has hit 91 this year. His breaking ball became a plus pitch, which means he can throw it anytime he wants. His straight change became a plus pitch. His splitter became unhittable.
“Quite frankly in college, there are not many people who can throw the split finger pitch and straight change both. He throws them both now at the major league level. When you put his four pitches on a chart, he actually is throwing stuff that can win on any level of baseball.”
Shunick has also improved his pick-off move, the one part of his mound tools that was seriously lacking last year.
“I think Clayton’s development is about him taking on challenges of things he couldn’t do very well,” Holliday said. “Is he highly motivated? Yes. Is he easy to coach? I would say yes. Is he a professional prospect now? I would say without a doubt. Yet, I hope we have him back for another year.”
Yes, the scouts have noticed Shunick, which was one of the primary reasons he transferred from
“It was a sure thing, and I wasn’t sure how my senior year would go,” said Shunick, who posted an 11-1 record as a senior at Chattahoochee High School and was named the Georgia 5-A Pitcher of the Year.
About midway through his freshman year at Georgia State, Shunick decided he needed more of a challenge. He pitched a team-high 97 2/3 innings, compiling a 5-7 record 4.94 ERA.
“We were not winning, and I really wanted to compete for a national title,” Shunick said. “That just wasn’t going to happen down there anytime soon. Maybe down the road. I just realized I wanted to pitch where I could compete for a national title.’
Shunick wanted to pitch in the
The Wolfpack trio reported back to head coach Elliott Avent about Shunick’s abilities, and Holliday, who had just been hired from Texas to be Avent’s primary recruiter, got a positive report from his son Josh, who was an assistant coach at Georgia Tech at the time. Josh Holliday saw Shunick pitch on back-to-back Tuesdays, and told his dad that Shunick’s split-finger fast ball had potential.
Shunick spent much of last season in the bullpen, but as the season went along, the Wolfpack ran out of starters, with Brackman missing the latter part of the season with an elbow injury and the rest of the potential starters petering out. Shunick started his second game in the regular-season finale series against Clemson, picking up the win by allowing only one unearned run in five innings. He then started the Wolfpack’s ACC Tournament opener against
He picked up the Wolfpack’s only win in the NCAA Columbia (S.C.) Regional. He finished the season at 6-3 with a 6.15 ERA, but was 3-1 with a 4.91 ERA in his four starts.
He competed for the final starting spot, along with Surkamp and Eryk McConnell, in the fall, but didn’t become a regular in the rotation until the first ACC series of the spring. In his first start, he limited
He’s had a couple of hard-luck outings against
“You always hope that college players will always improve 20 percent from one year to the next,” Holliday said. “Normally, when a guy does that, those are the guys who go on and play in the big leagues. You always kind of hope that bar will stay consistent.
“Clayton has made the 20 percent improvement. He’s the kind of guy who can pitch us to the College World Series. Andrew Brackman was the same kind of guy. He broke down the last coupleo of months. Shunick is the same kind of pitcher in a different body.”
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
