It’s funny how things can change so quickly.
One moment it seems as if you can’t do anything right. Then in the blink of an eye, it’s like you’re Jack. Despite a gruesome car accident that left Mr. Box in a coma, he still could make commercials, spark a nationwide effort to save him and grill delicious burgers. In other words, you can’t be stopped.
Over finals week and spring break, the UCLA baseball team made a similar transition. The last time I spoke to you, the Bruins were riding a 10-game losing streak on the way to a 2-11 record accompanied with an exit from Baseball America’s Top 25 rankings.
Yet with Sunday’s win over Arizona at Jackie Robinson Stadium, the Bruins had won eight of their last 12 games, including a 4-2 record in Pac-10 play ““ good enough for fourth place in the conference.
No one player is representative of this change in fortune more than junior pitcher Gavin Brooks, who recently has made the transition from starter to closer.
The story of Brooks is an intriguing one. In his freshman year in 2007, Brooks broke into the weekend rotation as the Sunday starter from the start of the season and achieved average results ““ a 6-7 record in 18 starts with a 4.47 earned run average.
Yet in what would amount to the final game of the 2007 season in the Super Regionals against Cal State Fullerton, Brooks turned in an incredible performance. Despite suffering a 2-1 loss, Brooks pitched a complete game, allowing just two runs off seven hits while striking out 12 and walking none. It served notice to the college baseball world that Brooks was an up-and-coming prospect with the potential to be a dominant part of the Bruins’ rotation.
The performance in the Super Regionals translated into Brooks being named the Friday night starter at the beginning of the 2008 season. However, Brooks proved largely unable of fulfilling the tremendous expectations of him, amassing a 6-3 record in 14 starts with a 5.07 ERA while issuing a team-high 53 walks.
In the same park against Cal State Fullerton in the Regionals, when a Bruin win would send them to the Super Regionals, Brooks failed to deliver, allowing four runs in just 1.1 innings.
This year has been the same story. Penciled yet again as the Friday night starter, Brooks did not make the scheduled Opening Day start due to what was described as “mechanical problems.”
And to say that Brooks struggled to start this season would be like referring to “Super Troopers” as just a “good” movie ““ it’s a massive understatement. (“Super Troopers,” by the way, is one of the greatest movies of our generation. Seriously … amazing. If “Wedding Crashers” got “Knocked Up” by “Superbad,” you would get “Super Troopers.”)
In Brooks’ first appearance this season, he allowed four runs (two earned) on two hits while walking three in one inning of work. In his first start against UC Riverside, Brooks lasted an inning, allowing six runs (five earned). As if to add injury to insult, Brooks hit the first three batters to open the second inning before he was replaced.
But an incredible transformation has taken place in the past few games since Brooks has moved to the closer role. Since the transition, Brooks has allowed three runs, three hits, and two walks in 6.1 innings while striking out 11, on the way to recording two saves in two opportunities.
Brooks seems to have embraced the role as the team’s closer, admitting he wants to be the one to come in when the pressure is the most intense.
Coach John Savage also has expressed his confidence in Brooks’ ability to step into the role as closer, penning him as the No. 1 guy out of the bullpen for the Bruins.
The move makes sense and is best for both Brooks and the Bruins. As the closer, Brooks can now focus all of his energy and effort to one, at most two, innings of work, rather than expending it over the course of multiple innings. And as the results have revealed, Brooks has displayed a great ability to strike out hitters, something crucial for successful closers.
For the Bruins, it gives them a veteran presence at the end of the games. While pitcher Trevor Bauer has electric stuff, he’s still a freshman trying to adjust to the college game. Brooks has been there before, experiencing the demands that come with starting in postseason games with a season on the line.
The next couple of weeks will grant a greater sense of perspective as to how this move pans out. But if the last few games are any indication, it will be akin to watching “Super Troopers” with Jack in the Box.
Glorious.
E-mail Howard at ahoward@media.ucla.edu if you are amazed by the brilliance of “Super Troopers.”