After a season in which he was named to first team All-ACC and third team All-American as a closer, junior Jimmy Gillheeney has transitioned himself from a closer into a starting pitcher for the baseball team this season. After losing all three top starting pitchers from last year’s team, Gillheeney and coach Tom Holliday thought a transition from the bullpen to the starting rotation was needed.
“It was a little a bit of both,” Gillheeney said. “We agreed on that I would be a better fit in the starting role this year, for leadership mostly.”
But since his transition into the starting rotation Gillheeney has not lost one step. He was selected as first team preseason All-American, and is leading the Pack in wins and strikeouts through the first part of the season.
“It feels really good to be recognized as one of the better players in the ACC and in the country,” Gillheeney said. “But that’s not something I am really trying to think about right now, I am just trying to get my team to win and do whatever I can to get them to win.”
The success that Gillheeney has received in the beginning of the season is not just from his talent. Gillheeney focuses on each start he makes and pitches like it is game seven of the world series all while still being able to enjoy each and every game.
“He prepares himself now as a starter that one time a week and it really means something to him,” Holliday said. “It’s the one time of the week he gets to do what he loves to do.”
The transition from closer to starter was not as easy as Gillheeney made it out to be. In the off-season he had to focus on gaining a lot more stamina to be able to pitch more than just one or two innings.
“I never threw more than two innings at any one time last year,” Gillheeney said. “So that was the main thing just getting my stamina up so I could go into the six or seventh inning with some confidence that I can get some guys out.”
Pitching in high pressured situations out of the bullpen last year has helped Gillheeney greatly as he has transitioned into the rotation. There are not many situations that he will have to pitch in as a starter that he has not already done coming out of the pen.
“He did the most difficult thing there is to do in baseball, which is close last year, and did it very very successfully,” Holliday said. “So transitioning back to starter he has already been in every crisis. We handed him the ball last year in every crisis and he knows how to deal with that.”
Gillheeney is quick to note that almost all of his accomplishments are thanks to pitching coach Holliday, who he said taught him not only how to pitch better, but how pitch smarter.
“I would give him (Coach Tom Holliday) the most credit for my success since I have been in college,” Gillheeney said. “He not only has developed me more physically but he has actually really taught me how to think about the game. He taught me how to go after hitters and how to pitch ahead.”
With Gillheeney being available to enter into the major league baseball draft this year, coming back for his senior year seems uncertain. Gillheeney acknowledges that if the right opportunity is there it would be tough to pass up; however, if it is not then he would not think twice about coming back to NC State.
“If I have the opportunity this year to be drafted, fairly good, I would consider playing professional baseball for sure,” Gillheeney said. “But I wouldn’t second guess for a second that I wouldn’t come back to school and get my degree.”
