The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1466831
MAY/JUNE 2022 ■ 41 BY MATT CARTER oming out of fall practices for the 2022 season, NC State baseball coach Elliott Avent was counting on third-year sophomore right- handed pitchers Sam Highfill and Matt Willadsen to be part of his weekend rotation. Both played that role last season during the Wolfpack's memorable run to the College World Series. The question was who would replace Reid Johnston, drafted into Major League Baseball, in that trio. Lefty Chris Villaman, a classmate of Highfill and Willadsen, was an obvious can- didate. Villaman was among the five primary pitchers used last year, but he proved better suited to replace Evan Justice as the closer. Super senior lefties David Harrison and Ca- naan Silver both had prior starting experience. Sophomore righthander Garrett Payne was on the mound when the famous #Pack13, the ros- ter of just 13 available players, took the field and nearly upset Vanderbilt in what proved to be the final game of the 2021 season for NC State. One name that was probably not coming out of Avent's mouth as a potential starter was Lo- gan Whitaker. That's because Avent, and Whitaker for that matter, were not sure the redshirt sophomore would even be an option. Little had gone according to plan since Whitaker, a Winston-Salem, N.C., native who starred at Ledford High in Thomasville, N.C., arrived in the fall of 2018. He came with high expectations, having been named the 2-A Player of the Year in the state his senior season. But elbow problems derailed his college career. Heading into NC State's 2022 season opener, he had yet to throw one pitch for the Wolfpack. Whitaker's best guess is that his arm troubles may have stemmed from being overly competi- tive with his high school teammate Villaman. "We didn't like coming out of games," Whita- ker admitted. "We ended up throwing a full game every week and a lot of pitches and a lot of innings." When he arrived at NC State, the problems began. In 2019, he had an operation to repair what Whitaker thought were "some joint is- sues, some synovial fold issues, some little un- derlying stuff happening that wasn't right." Whitaker also dealt with a stress fracture that year. After COVID-19 wiped out the 2020 sea- son, Whitaker was working a bullpen session in preparation for a return, and he can close his eyes and picture the moment that changed everything. "It was a 40-pitch count, and I got to pitch 15," he said. "Threw another pitch at about 90 miles per hour. It didn't hurt as bad — didn't feel good but it wasn't crippling by any means. Threw five more pitches, and at pitch 21, I threw it at 91 miles per hour, and I couldn't bend my arm." A visit to a specialist revealed the need for a second surgery: a full reconstruction of his el- bow. They replaced his ulnar collateral ligament and also took bone spurs out of his elbow. "At that point in my career, I was a 20-year- old collegiate athlete who had not played a game," Whitaker noted. "It was super demor- alizing to have worked that hard to get back, and in a few pitches, you are done." Whitaker's return from surgery did not al- ways go smoothly, either. Missing a scheduled scrimmage last fall against Duke was something Whitaker viewed as a setback. That's when he decided to travel to a training facility in West Berlin, N.J. "That was the hardest month of my life," Whitaker recalled. He emerged from the experience for the better, however. He bulked up from 185 to 210 pounds on his 6-foot-6 frame, and more im- portantly, overcame a crucial mental block. "The guys in New Jersey kept reminding me that pain is a good thing," Whitaker recalled. "There's nothing wrong anymore. … They drilled four holes in my bone and gave me a new ligament. "I was mentally weak, and Jersey really built that back up for me." Few could have imagined what was to hap- pen. Starting with a season-opening appear- ance against Evansville, Whitaker began to es- tablish himself not only as a reliable pitching option, but by the second weekend in April he was inserted into the coveted Friday starting role. Through 12 games, which includes nine starts, Whitaker has a 3.57 earned run average over 45.1 innings pitched, allowing 37 hits and 20 walks while striking out 43 batters and al- lowing a .219 batting average against. Whitaker threw 101 pitches at Virginia Tech and 90 more at Louisville, and he felt a "good sore" after the outings. "I had people talking to me saying, 'It's not going to work,'" he noted. "'You need to find something you like doing outside of baseball.' Guys giving up on you. "You have to understand you have time, and if you want something bad enough, you do it." ■ C