Drew Gable of the Diamond Jacks Super 14U drove in a run in the second inning.

By Rich Bevensee

Drew Gable was new to the Diamond Jacks program last fall, but he knew all about Bryson Auten as a power pitcher well before he put on his catcher’s gear and caught Auten for a bullpen session.

Auten was always one of the biggest players among his peers and he usually relied on his natural strength to succeed on the diamond.

What caught Gable by surprise that day last fall was Auten’s command of his off-speed pitches.

“My first fall here I knew he threw really hard, but my first bullpen here he said to me, ‘I’m going to throw a lot of breaking balls today,’ and I was really confused,” Gable said. “He definitely caught me off guard. You know he throws hard, so it takes getting used to.”

Auten has developed such exceptional command of his off-speed pitches that, while his upper 80s fastball is still his primary weapon, he’s not afraid to throw any pitch at any time to confuse hitters. That has thrilled Travis Anderson and the rest of the Diamond Jacks coaching staff. 

Auten’s command was on display Saturday when he threw a two-hit shutout for Diamond Jacks Super 14U in a 9-0 pool play victory over Riot of South Jersey in the Home Run Classic Powered by Victus at Diamond Nation in Flemington. The victory improved the Super 14U squad to a gaudy 30-2 record this spring.

Auten, a 6-3, 210-pound righty, allowed two hits and three walks and struck out three over five innings in a mercy-rule shortened game. 

“Having control of my pitches and mixing them up when I need to has been my biggest improvement,” said Auten, who possesses a four- and two-seam fastball, curveball, slider and change. “I’ve been throwing off-speed pitches all the time. It’s just that the sequence has gotten better.”

The ability to command several pitches and throw any one of them at any time? Anderson calls it Auten’s “pitchability.”

“He’s a power guy but he can spin a breaking ball for a strike, or he can start you off with an off-speed strike and finish you with a fastball,” Anderson said. “Being able to pitch backwards when you’re a power guy is frustrating for hitters. Guys are going up there looking for a fastball at this age and he spins a breaking ball and now it’s strike one, strike two. And he’s got options from there.”

Chase Halley of the Diamond Jacks breaks for second base. He stole four bases and scored twice.

Auten pitched to only one batter over the minimum through three innings, with second baseman Harry Politi, shortstop Chase Hallet and first baseman Henry Kusant turning a 4-6-3 double play in the first. Politi was errorless in six chances in the game. 

After escaping the fourth, in which he allowed two walks and a hit, Auten pitched a 1-2-3 fifth to end the game.

He said his go-to off-speed pitches are sliders to right-handed hitters and change-ups to lefties. 

“I know the movement of the pitches,” Auten said. “A slider to a righty will usually make them back out of the way, and a changeup I’m trying to throw a pitch which goes away from them. As a hitter I know it’s hard to hit outside pitches, so I worked on that.”

Auten, a sheer power pitcher on the smaller diamond in 12U ball, pitched to contact and allowed his defense to work in this game; they were errorless in 10 chances. 

“Bryson is a power guy but he definitely has developed an intelligence for changing pitches, especially going from slider to change-up to fastball through different hitters, and he uses past experience to his advantage,” Gable said. “He has the best off-speed rotation that I’ve seen so far. He’s definitely fun to catch.”

Riot pitching had difficulty keeping the Diamond Jacks off the bases, allowing 11 walks and three hits. The Diamond Jacks leaped to a 5-0 first inning lead without getting a hit. Instead they batted around in the top half thanks to six walks and an error. 

Overall, Liam Freyre had two RBIs on bases-loaded walks and he also had one of the three Diamond Jacks’ hits. Hallet and Jordan Vessey scored twice. 

Diamond Jacks third baseman Victor Burgos turned in a gutsy showing late in the game. He was beaned in the batting helmet by the Riot catcher who was throwing to first in a pickoff attempt in the top of the fifth. Burgos fell to his knees momentarily and took some time to collect himself, and on the next pitch he singled sharply to right field.