How OU baseball sped up Cord Rager's rise into an ace with simple fix
· Yahoo Sports
LAWRENCE, KS — Cord Rager showed up on Oklahoma’s campus in the fall as a powerful left-handed hitter who could also pitch a little.
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During a bullpen session, Sooners recruiting coordinator Todd Butler went to coach Skip Johnson with a task. “You think you can get his hand away from his head a little bit?” Butler asked Johnson, one of the most respected pitching coaches in America who has trained the likes of Clayton Kershaw.
Johnson often watched the pitching gun as Rager threw and the left-hander consistently sat around 89-91 mph. As soon as Johnson trained his true freshman to move his hand away from his head, the gun lit up.
94. 95. 96. 97.
“A different animal,” Johnson said, describing Rager after the adjustment.
Rager took Johnson’s teachings and has turned in back-to-back career outings in the NCAA baseball tournament, including striking out six in six scoreless innings during Saturday’s 8-1 blowout win over Kansas in Game 1 of the Lawrence Super Regional. The win pushes OU one game from the College World Series.
Rager’s fastball fluctuated throughout that 94-97 mph range while his breaking ball was between 77 and 80 mph while working in an upper-80s cutter.
The Maypearl, Texas, native, who is just over one year removed from high school baseball, has looked as comfortable as a veteran senior ace as he’s navigated the postseason.
“It's just a process, just getting better every week,” Rager said. “I attack hitters, that's who I am. I’m not afraid of anybody, so I just go out there and compete every time, work with process and it works.”
The Jayhawks’ hitters were lost from the jump.
When studying metrics in preparation for facing the Sooners, Kansas coach Dan Fitzgerald noted Rager was a massive outlier. Not only is he 6-foot-6 with a 97 mph fastball, but his confidence for a freshman is through the roof.
“His fastball played up, he's got massive extension,” Fitzgerald said. “He did a nice job mixing, Skip’s a great pitch caller. At the end of the day, he executed. We just couldn't get into a rhythm.”
For Johnson, what explains everything you need to know about Rager is the way his teammates talk about him.
“It's pretty special as a freshman arm to go at Division I hitters like he does, he's not scared of anybody at all,” OU senior Dayton Tockey said. “You can tell by his presence on the mound. Would you be terrified to face this guy? Because I would. I have been.
“He's grown up, he's matured a lot and it's really cool to see. And it's not going to stop here.”
Following the tweaks Johnson made in his pitching technique, Rager, the former No. 1-ranked first baseman in Texas, came to him with a proposition. He wished to give up hitting and solely focus on pitching.
“It's a routine-oriented process,” Johnson said. “God gave him the ability, I didn't give him the ability. All I did was try to put a structured program together and let him do his work. I wasn't afraid one bit to put him out there. He's the best chance we’ve got.”
Last week during the Atlanta Regional, Rager dazzled when he struck out eight and allowed three earned runs with no walks in six innings against The Citadel. He delivered again on Saturday.
One win away from Omaha, Nebraska, the Sooners will be back here for Game 2 at 5 p.m. Sunday.
Fresh off the heels of his performance, Rager believes he’ll pitch again this season.
“The confidence is there,” Rager said. “We have a really good team. I believe we can win it all.”
Colton Sulley covers the Oklahoma Sooners for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Colton? He can be reached at [email protected] or on X/Twitter at @colton_sulley. Support Colton's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing adigital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Cord Rager pitches gem as OU baseball routs Kansas in super regional