Junior pitcher Nick Goody made a trip to Louisiana the summer after his freshman year at State College of Florida to visit Tulane, but Goody wanted to do one more thing before he left the state – visit Alex Box Stadium.
So Goody and his mother made the drive to Baton Rouge, walked through the open gates and found a seat in section 206 above the first-base dugout. Goody stared at the field, dry and brown from the summer heat, and it clicked.
“This is where I want to go,” Goody thought to himself. “This is where I want to play.”
Goody wasn’t a highly recruited prospect out of high school.
He received a handful of offers – from Elon, Miami and Alabama – but those schools could only give him partial scholarships, which placed most of the financial burden on him.
Goody’s parents were never married. His mother works for the public school system in Orlando, Fla. His father has been “scraping by, doing what he can.”
Because the money wasn’t there for Goody to attend a school like Miami or Alabama, he instead chose the junior college route, enrolling at the State College of Florida in Sarasota.
There, he started at shortstop – he hated pitching – and was a switch-hitter that mostly hit leadoff. In his first at-bat, he hit a home run. He thought college play was easier than high school.
Then it went downhill. Goody couldn’t seem to hit or field. He prided himself on rarely committing errors and suddenly had 15 in the span of a couple of weeks.
So his coach benched him in an effort for him to get his head on straight. One week became two weeks, and Goody started to get frustrated. Then his coach offered him another chance – to pitch.
Goody accepted and took the mound with a scout from the San Francisco Giants in the stands. The scout clocked Goody throwing as fast as 92 mph, an eye-opener for the scout and an eye-opener for Goody.
“I think the big man upstairs was letting me know, ‘If you want to chase your dream down, you’re not going to do it being an infielder,'” Goody said.
Goody never played shortstop again. He excelled on the mound the remainder of the season and continued to grow as a pitcher playing in the Florida Collegiate Summer League. He compiled offers from other schools but turned them down to stay in Sarasota.
“I’m pretty big about keeping my word,” Goody said. “I told those guys if they stood by me, I was going to stand by them.”
During his sophomore season, Goody led the state with 114 strikeouts. He was named the Suncoast Conference Pitcher of the Year and a JUCO All-American. The New York Yankees drafted him in the 22nd round, forcing him to make a decision.
He could have taken the guaranteed money of a minor-league contract, a tempting offer for someone with Goody’s financial background. But Goody ultimately decided he just wasn’t ready.
“I was young,” Goody said. “I didn’t have good mound presence. My body language probably wasn’t the best. I wasn’t strong enough mentally, physically.”
So Goody thought back to that afternoon spent in Alex Box Stadium, called LSU coach Paul Mainieri and officially told him he wanted to be a Tiger.
And so far, that appears to be the right decision. Among players with more than 10 appearances, Goody leads the team with a 0.77 ERA. He’s allowed just 12 hits in 23.1 innings of work, earning eight saves and striking out 34 batters, compared to two walks.
With his stock high going into the draft in June, Goody could very well hear his name in an early round, leaving him with another decision to leave or return.
“I’m praying hard on it, because these decisions I can’t make on my own,” Goody said. “Whatever happens, happens. If it’s a part of my plan, then that’s what I’m going to do. … I hope I can get [drafted] this year, but I won’t be opposed to coming back here. I love this place.”
The same love he felt when he first sat down in section 206.
 
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Contact Hunter Paniagua at [email protected]