By STEVE KRAH
http://www.IndianaRBI.com
Ty Bothwell sees himself as a diamond survivor.
Bothwell struck out 12 and was the winning pitcher in the 2018 IHSAA Class 2A state championship game as Boone Grove topped Southridge 5-4.
Almost immediately, the pitcher headed to Indiana University to take summer classes. He was dealing with homesickness when fall practice rolled around. On the first day, the 5-foot-8 Bothwell tipped the scales at 158. He just knew was going to be sent packing.
Instead, the left-hander was redshirted for the 2019 season.
“Freshmen year was a rough one to survive,” says Bothwell. “I hope to keep a level head and hope that everything pays off in the end.”
The southpaw spent the summer of 2019 with the Jimmy Turk-coached Western Nebraska Pioneers of the Expedition League.
Bothwell made his IU debut in 2020, getting into three games and tossing three innings. The COVID-19 pandemic cut the season short. The pitcher reunited with Turk in the summer with the Coastal Plain League’s Macon (Ga.) Bacon.
The fun seeker even found time to play in the LeRoy Wiffle® Association.
“It’s not a lob league,” says Bothwell. “But I was not trying to throw my arm out. I would flick my wrist.”
The 2021 baseball season at Indiana saw Bothwell — by this time up to 5-10 and 190 — make 11 mound appearances (four starts) and go 2-1 with one save and a 2.73 earned run average. In 33 innings, he struck out 43, walked 15 and held opponents to a .174 batting average. In his two seasons at IU, his ERA is 3.00 and he has 48 K’s and 19 walks in 36 innings while foes have hit .168.
Between redshirting and getting an extra COVID year, Bothwell has three years of eligibility left.
“It just now got out of my freshman year,” says Bothwell. “It took me three years.”
“Hopefully I’ll get drafted (by Major League Baseball in 2022). But I’m not concerned with that right now.
“I want to help my team win as many games as possible and go as far as we can.”
Bothwell’s progress is tied to his desire and ability to take in knowledge and apply it.
“My best quality as an athlete? It’s my my ability to learn,” says Bothwell. “I try to soak in as much as I can and learn from other people.”
Bothwell observed other Hoosiers pitchers like Matt Litwicki, Braden Scott, Tommy Sommer, Cal Krueger and Grant Sloan.
“These are guys I looked up to,” says Bothwell. “It’s a combined knowledge of all those dudes.”
Bothwell’s pitching coach his first three years at IU was Justin Parker (who recently left for the University of South Carolina).
“He believe in me from the beginning,” says Bothwell of Parker. “It’s not like I came in as the best pitching prospect. I’ve grown so much under his wing. I wouldn’t be where I am without him and the rest of the coaching staff at Indiana.”
That staff has been led by Jeff Mercer.
“He just wants to win,” says Bothwell of Mercer. “It got that impression from the second I met him. You can tell he’s got so much baseball knowledge. He knows what he’s doing.
“He’s super honest (in his assessments) and that’s all for the betterment of the team.”
Bothwell prefers to be a positive person.
“I like to brighten people’s days,” says Bothwell. “I’m more on the happy-go-lucky side.”
He’s also has drive to keep going through the adversity.
“I don’t want to be told I can’t do something,” says Bothwell, who is back in the CPL this summer with the Jesse Lancaster-coached Morehead City (N.C.) Marlins. His four-seam fastball has been up to 94 mph. His spin rate with the pitch has been up to 2550 rpm.
“It has a rising action and goes up and in to lefties,” says Bothwell of the four-seamer. “A lot of bats have been broken because of that.”
The lefty also has a change-up, curveball and slider that he throws from a high three-quarter overhand arm slot.
“The change-up sometimes has a horizontal fade and sometimes a drop,” says Bothwell. “The vertical is better than the horizontal.
“My change-up is equal to my fastball in terms of an ‘out’ pitch.”
Bothwell has worked this summer to make his curve more of a 12-to-6 with vertical break. The “cut” slider moves on a horizontal plane with late break.
“On day where there’s a true four-pitch mix it’s pretty good,” says Bothwell.
Born in Merrillville, Ind., Dec. 8, 1999, Bothwell grew up on a ranch near Hebron, Ind. He attended Porter Lakes Elementary School then went into the Boone Grove system for middle school and high school.
His family hosted a memorial rodeo for a grandfather who died when Ty was very young. Mother Mikki Bothwell, who was once nationally-ranked in barrel riding, is preparing to compete in that sport at the Lake County Fair, which opens Aug. 5 in Crown Point, Ind. Father Todd Bothwell also likes to rope with his horse. Mikki Bothwell works at American Inter-Fidelity Exchange. Todd Bothwell owns A&B Manufacturing. Both are Crown Point High School graduates.
Power-hitting younger brother Trevor Bothwell (16) is heading into his junior year at Boone Grove.
Ty Bothwell says he did not take baseball seriously until high school though he did play travel ball for the Lake of the Four Seasons-based Warriors and Indiana Playmakers before spending four summers (14U to 17U) with the Hammond Chiefs — three with head coach Jim Tucker and one with head coach Dave Sutkowski. He has fond memories of time spent at Hammond’s Riverside Park, the former home of the Chiefs.
At Boone Grove, Bothwell played three seasons for Rollie Thill and his senior year for Pat Antone.
“He was in my corner,” says Bothwell of Thill. “He was a great coach to have.”
Antone came to the Wolves talking about winning a state title. He got players into the weight room and doing Driveline training.
“He preaches that we are going to win,” says Bothwell of Antone. “That dude embedded it in our brains.
“He introduced so many aspects of the game that we never had as a team. The guys really invested themselves and you could see the growth. It was crazy how far we were able to grow in that one little season.”
Bothwell is an Animal Behavior major at IU. He sees a future in animal husbandry.
“It’s like a zookeeper,” says Bothwell. “I’m into reptiles and amphibians. It’s been my thing since I was young.”
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