Auburn baseball is back in business with fall practice starting after the 2020 season got cut short due to COVID-19.
One player, in particular, has been preparing for this moment in some creative ways. Sophomore pitcher Richard Fitts was just getting started in the spring as he made six appearances for the Tigers. Fitts pitched in 13 innings and finished the shortened season with a 2.77 ERA.
When the season was cut short, Fitts had to find a way to continue practicing at home.
After COVID-19 shut everything down, he headed back home and had nowhere to practice as most cities had shut down parks. Fitts and his dad took this opportunity to build an at-home mobile baseball mound.
“I was really wanting to work on my off-speed pitches, my fastball command, stuff like that,” Fitts said. “My dad loves having little projects and with him just sitting at home all day, he figured that he could start building it. We actually made it where it could fold up and go in my truck if we needed to, so it's very mobile, but it ended up just staying at the house.”
Since the fall practices have started, Fitts is throwing at a 96.6 velocity. He nearly reached 98 mph in practice and, during practice, struck out the side in his first inning.
“I'm pleased with where I'm at right now,” Fitts said. “There's always room for improvement, so that's what I want to work on over the rest of this offseason. Yeah, my velo is up right now, but I never really stopped from the spring, and I think that has a lot to do with it.”
Part of Fitts’ offseason goals were to increase his velocity and keep it consistent. Last season he was able to get up to 95 mph, but his velocity fell between innings. He worked with Auburn baseball's strength coach Chris Joyner virtually to figure out the right combination of exercises and practices to fully showcase his potential.
As for the upcoming season, no starters have been officially named. Fitts is hoping he will fill in as a weekend starter and holds fast to that goal throughout these fall practices.
“It's definitely a position I'm going for,” Fitts said. “I'm open to be whatever. I've said that since day one as far as being a bullpen guy or being a starter. I accepted that role freshman year as a relief guy, and I was happy in that, but this year, I want to make a difference from the starting aspect. I think I definitely have an opportunity to do that. I've just got to keep working at it.”
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Mattison Allen is a senior from Springville, Ala. She's majoring in public relations communications with the goal of becoming a sports information director one day.
