April 26, 2007
Fourteen innings. That was all Jaager Good had been on the mound for in his first two seasons with the UCF baseball team. He never made a start, struck out only eight and posted a 1-1 record from 2005-06.
Good's longest outing in a UCF uniform was 3.1 innings vs. Southern Miss May 20, 2006. He saw time in just four games in his first campaign with the Knights, notching a 3.38 earned-run average, then took the hill for 12 games and had a 7.15 ERA last year.
So why did the coaching staff speak so highly of Good before the 2007 season even started, suggesting that he could be one of the program's top starters?
For one, the right-hander's statistics did not come close to telling his whole story. Good suffered injuries as both a freshman and a sophomore that limited his appearances.
"Freshman year I had a strained rotator cuff for more than half the season," recalled the native of Atlanta, Ga. "Then coming back after that injury I threw a couple innings towards the end of the season. It took awhile coming back after that injury.
"My sophomore year was kind of rocky. At the beginning I got out there a couple of times, had a good outing at TCU and I think it was the next weekend I ended up cutting my middle and index fingers on my right hand on a piece of metal. It ripped the skin pretty much down to the bones. I was out for about four weekends and didn't really get my stuff back for a long time."
Those battles were delaying the inevitable. Jaager Good (pronounced JAG-er) came to Orlando after playing four seasons at Riverwood High School in Atlanta. While he was a .400 career hitter, he was destined to pitch at the Division I level. Good finished with well over 300 strikeouts and an impressive 1.89 ERA, sitting out just one weekend during his career due a slight elbow injury.
Now with the past two college campaigns behind him, Good had plans of showing off what can happen when he's healthy. But there was still a lot of work to do as soon as 2006 came to a close, including testing his repertoire of pitches.
"Last summer I was getting my confidence back and throwing really well," said Good. "I was slowing everything down, throwing strikes, learning the pitches, practicing with the change-up, which has been my best pitch this year, and doing different things with the curveball. In the fall, it was the same exact thing. I just came out and tried to do my best and throw strikes and that's been the biggest difference for me.
"There was a trial and error with my pitches. After the first two years things weren't working out. All I had was my fastball and I was even leaving that up and was erratic in my motion. Then in the summer I tried different curveballs. I'd see which one I could repeat and throw over and over again for a strike and be most effective. For the change-up, the speed difference is what does it first, and then you have to learn how to locate it. The summer and fall helped me learn how to put some movement on the pitch too."
UCF pitching coach Craig Cozart has been with Good most of the way, and believes that his pitcher's developmental process is the main factor in Good evolving into a dominate hurler for the Knights.
"I think the thing that every player has to encounter at some point in their career is adversity and working through it," admitted Cozart, who was a pitcher for the Black and Gold from 1993-96. "As a freshman he pitched hardly at all, and that kept him hungry. As a sophomore, he didn't get that many innings until the end of the year and showed some progress. In his freshman year he did have some things to work on off the field, he cleaned those up and he was able to concentrate last year on going ahead and making some adjustments to do what he needs to in order to be successful at this level. That all came together this year."
However, before 2007 even began the coaches were still unsure of how to use Good since he had never started at the D-I level.
"When you have a guy coming into the year that hasn't ever started a game for you, you are always going to be a little conservative because you aren't sure how he is going to react," admitted Cozart. "But he's been very consistent for us and worked his way to where he is right now and that's as our Friday starter. And that's what you want. You hope that a guy that comes in where by the time he is in his junior year, he is ready to take the reigns and be a leader on the staff."
While Good's plan was being mapped out in January, there were not many who were thinking about him when discussing UCF's possible rotation this season. Good wanted to make sure he would quickly earn some attention.
| The junior has started every weekend since coming out of the bullpen against FIU opening day. |
"Kyle Sweat and Mitch Houck did what they needed to do last year and they deserved the front hand in what was going to happen to start out this spring," said the right-hander. "In the fall, my job was to prove to the coaches that I could be consistent, throw strikes and get people out. They told me in the winter meetings that I would have to match what I did in the fall and show them that I am consistent enough to start on this team. I'll say I was pretty upset that I didn't start in the first two games, but that just made me want to try harder. When I got my chance to throw (out of the pen vs. FIU) I did the best I could and I ended up starting the next weekend against TCU."
All of a sudden, Good was a fixture in the weekend rotation, especially after not allowing a run in back-to-back games vs. Massachusetts and Rutgers in March. He was finally sent out for his first Friday start vs. Southern Miss April 6 and although he did not earn a decision, went 6.0 shutout innings with six strikeouts in a UCF victory. Good's teammates were certainly feeling confident whenever he stepped on the rubber, and he loved knowing that they would cover his back if he needed them.
"It felt awesome, and that's something a lot of people don't know about this team is that even though we may have lost some games, none of us have faltered in our teamwork and our relationships between each other," said Good. "That's one of the biggest things that we have harped on is team chemistry and getting along with everybody, just kind of being one big family. If things don't go right, somebody will be there to pick him up. I take pride in how everybody gets along and goes out there and works their butts off for each other."
The entire team should be lucky that Good is only a junior. A veteran senior starter can grow into an important leader that many programs desperately search for. Even if the Major League Baseball draft this summer has a spot for him, Good now has a lot to consider for 2008, especially since he has more than just 14 innings of work behind him.