Georgia Tech pitcher Matthew Gorst ended last season with bone spurs in his elbow that caused him pain, drowned his confidence and inflated his ERA.
He recovered from it with a pitch that has become the scourge of the ACC, played a sizeable part in earning the Yellow Jackets their NCAA bid and may now send him on to professional baseball. For now, he is a big part of Tech’s attempt to upset powerhouse Florida in the Gainesville, Fla., regional that begins Friday.
Said Gorst, “I feel like I can get anybody out.”
The data supports Gorst, a 6-foot-1 righty from Johns Creek High. In 44 1/3 innings over 26 appearances, Gorst has a 0.41 ERA. If that holds, it will set a school single-season record for lowest ERA. Opponents are batting .174 against Gorst. He has 12 saves and 53 strikeouts against only 13 walks.
Among ACC pitchers with 30 innings or more this season, Gorst’s ERA ranks the lowest (second is 1.31), and his opponents batting average is second lowest.
“Almost couldn’t have gone any better,” coach Danny Hall said. “He’s been a big reason that we are getting a chance to keep playing because he’s been really good at the back end of the bullpen.”
Gorst has been a lock in relief in large part because of his cut fastball, or cutter. To a hitter, the pitch appears like a standard fastball but breaks late — for Gorst, away from right-handed batters.
“If I can throw a fastball away to a righty, I usually start the cutter at the same spot, and it’ll just move away from the barrel,” he said. “So my fastball sets up my cutter.”
That explains why opponents rarely connect solidly. Of the 27 base hits that he has allowed, just six have been extra-base hits, all doubles. While Hall has used him primarily in a closer role, Gorst has been extended to long relief, going 6 1/3 innings in a 5-4 upset of Virginia on May 15 and five innings and 90 pitches in the Jackets’ 12-inning defeat to N.C. State at the ACC tournament.
In the ninth, Gorst’s last inning, the Wolfpack squirmed out of a two-out, none-on hole to score twice and send the game to extra innings. Still, N.C. State coach Elliott Avent said of Gorst, “it almost makes you want to quit he was so good.”
With his effectiveness and versatility — Hall hasn’t ruled out starting him in Gainesville, which would be the first start of his career — he is essential to Tech’s hopes this weekend. It’s possible that he could close Tech’s opener against Connecticut on Friday and go long later in the weekend, perhaps against Florida.
“I say that pitching’s pitching, regardless of if you’re the starter or the reliever,” Gorst said. “So to me, it’s all the same. I’m comfortable in all of them.”
Gorst was far from comfortable at the end of last season, which he finished with a 4.81 ERA in 26 relief appearances. He had surgery after the season to remove the bone spurs.
“It was really painful to throw, and that kind of made my confidence even worse, because then, I was like, Man, I’ve got to deal with this, and I’m not doing well,” Gorst said. “How am I going to do well with my elbow hurting so bad?”
His rehabilitation in the fall limited him to throwing fastballs. Growing bored of the routine, Gorst was told he could also mix in cutters, so he and pitching coach Jason Howell began experimenting with the pitch.
Further, because his fall was spent rehabbing with his fastball-only diet and not trying to earn a spot in the bullpen in scrimmages, he subsequently developed finer control of the fastball and then the cutter.
Howell credits Gorst’s improvement to having time to focus on the pitches — and then embracing it.
“It was something he wanted,” Howell said. “He saw some success with it and really wanted to keep up with it and developed really good feel.”
Gorst acknowledged that he could never have imagined being in position to break the single-season ERA record (Mike Sorrow, 1971, 1.07), “but I thought I was going to have a good amount of success this year.”
Gorst has elevated into a draft prospect for next week’s draft. Gorst said he has spoken with scouts, but is trying to stay focused on the season. He has at least one more weekend to play. If he’s on top of his game in Gainesville and enough Jackets join him, perhaps more.
About the Author
