BASEBALL TAB: All of the King's men are on notice at Rosewood

By Justin Hayes
Published in Sports on March 10, 2017 10:01 AM

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When the Maxpreps home page concludes its usual ad-generated flinch, the names appear.

There's Kolby Harris, Tanner Bradley and Jonathan Peacock -- usual suspects.

Further down, a legal-sounding trio dusts up in the form of Conner Vernon, White and Tucker Chapin.

Lastly, there's Chance Howard, the starting point guard and Seales, the sophomore new guy. He's offset by Boone Moody, who's been around a while -- but then again, it seems like they all have.

Through spot-duty and then some last season, the group picked up valuable experience while helping Rosewood compile a 16-9 record and make its seventh consecutive appearance in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1-A playoffs under skipper Jason King.

But this spring, the outfit could very well employ said experience to be your Carolina 1-A bullpen nightmare -- especially as live arms across the state will be appraised, categorized and verified by a new metric system.

Thinking of maxing out early in the campaign?

Be careful. An outing of 105 pitches gets its author two things -- a chance to finish the batter he's facing, followed by a four-day spell of luxurious dugout R&R.

But there's more -- a lot more.

An effort of 76 pearls or more also requires four days of rest, while a short start in the neighborhood of 61-75 aspirin earns the hilltopper in question a three-day weekend.

The new scale even addresses situation work, with a one-day nap required of set-up men, relievers and utility types who sling 31-45 pitches in a given contest.

Completing the N.C. High School Athletic Association's slide rule is a low-point threshold of 31 pitches, which carries with it no designated rest period -- as long as the pitcher does not cross it.

Got it? Good.

Simply put, the game has changed -- but these Eagles, a year older, wiser and deeper, are ready for the new calculus of life on the cliff.

"We're in a very fortunate spot," King noted. "We have a lot of guys that can pitch... who have done it for a while, with good experience -- that we feel can give us a chance any given night to compete. That's a blessing."

Further, they've introduced experience to proper due diligence.

The winter season brought grinding workouts, heavy days of long toss and individualized regimens designed with two objectives in mind -- staying in form and not losing sight of one's place in what promises to be a standing-room-only Eagle bullpen.

"It's not easy," King said of his staff's work to remain highly organized. "The more (pitching) you have, the more difficult it is to get the work in (for all the players)... and we're a small 1-A school, so our guys play multiple sports -- most of our pitchers actually played basketball."

To combat the delayed start, the Eagles moved quickly into group work, rotations and real-time fire, hoping to identify the arms that will lead the non-conference charge, as well as those who will filter to other roles.

"The past couple of weeks have been devoted to getting as many live looks as we can," King explained. "We've done intersquad scrimmages, we went to scrimmage Southern Wayne and got some good work in there... it's just about maintaining our pen -- going group by group."

And managing standouts, of which there are a few.

"Peacock is one," King said. "He throws the ball hard, upper eighties with movement... he threw well all summer, and has thrown well so far... And Kolby Harris -- he'll be another one in that starting role for us."

As well he should be.

The junior righty is absolutely flush with potential, as evidenced by his 3-1 record and 2.72:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio a season ago. A wind up and throw-by-you type, Harris should figure prominently in Rosewood's day-to-day operations -- especially when conference play arrives.

Rounding out early-season matters for the Eagles will likely be senior Bradley, a portsider with above-average game hat and enough offspeed curvature to make opposing batters draw crop circles in the box.

What Rosewood becomes, however, will be decided by its bullpen -- all the King's men, if you will -- and how quickly it can adjust to a new standard of measurement.

Thus far, the coach insists, there's not been much chatter -- as in pitch count, pitch-schmount.

"They haven't expressed a whole lot of concern about it," the skipper said of his troops. "They just want to play, to get out there compete... obviously, everybody wants to get up there, but we can't go but one at the time -- and they understand that."