Much like he did with former standout pitchers Louis Coleman and Jared Bradford, LSU coach Paul Mainieri is again turning to the “hybrid” technique.
Mainieri announced Monday that senior southpaw Chris Cotton will start the season in the hybrid role, either closing Friday’s season opener if a save situation arises or starting Sunday’s series finale. If Cotton cannot pitch Sunday, fellow senior lefty Brent Bonvillain will get the ball as the Sunday starter.
“I would like to start Cotton on Sunday, that would be the choice,” Mainieri said. “But if he, for example, threw 25 or 30 pitches Friday night, I wouldn’t start him.”
Mainieri added that Bonvillain could also pitch mid-week contests if he doesn’t get weekend starts, a duty he would share with sophomore lefty Cody Glenn.
Cotton emerged last season as a soft-throwing steady middle reliever, going 7-0 with a 1.59 earned run average in 36 relief appearances.
The Shreveport native admitted he never thought about starting, but credited his ability to adapt to any in-game situation.
“That jolt of just ‘Go get warm go get ready’ kind of gets me amped up,” Cotton said. “Hopefully I can carry that over if I do happen to start.”
Cotton said starts over the summer while on limited pitch counts groomed him for a starting role, coupled with pitching coach Alan Dunn’s conditioning regimen during the fall and spring that boosted his stamina.
Much like Cotton, Bonvillain saw much of his action out of the bullpen last season, tallying a 4-0 record in 22 appearances.
Bonvillain said he was excited to be given an opportunity to start, something he has done his entire career and at a previous stop at Delgado Community College.
“I was pretty excited I was even in the mix,” Bonvillain said. “Me and Cotton are pretty much the same pitcher. We’re pretty interchangeable.”
Mainieri stopped short of naming a full-time closer, but hinted at junior Kurt McCune as a viable candidate who has stood out in the fall and spring. He said the Norco native will close on Saturday if necessary.
McCune faltered last season, losing his spot in the starting rotation to freshman Aaron Nola, but has refined a few secondary pitches that make him more dangerous, according to Mainieri.
“We’ve got to kind of let the guys pitch their way into roles,” Mainieri said. “[McCune] has developed a real repertoire of pitches … I think he could be a guy who could handle a situation like that.”
