May 31, 2018
By Greg Ostendorf
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. -- When Casey Mize was pulled from his start during the seventh inning against LSU two weeks ago, he walked off the mound at Plainsman Park for what looks now like the last time. Sure, there's a long shot that Auburn hosts a Super Regional, but the Tigers' road to Omaha will go through Raleigh this weekend and then likely through Gainesville.
For Mize, it wasn't necessarily the way he wanted to go out. The senior ace gave up four runs in the sixth inning and left in the seventh with Auburn trailing, 4-2.
However, the fans got up and gave Mize a standing ovation as he walked toward the dugout. After all, this was the player who struck out 15 batters in a home start against Vanderbilt two weeks prior. This is also the player many have projected to go No. 1 overall in next week's MLB Draft. They knew they were witnessing greatness for maybe the last time.
"You just watched the best amateur player in the world," one fan said to another.
So regardless of outcome, the fans wanted to send their star out the right way.
"If that is my last time, it wasn't the storybook ending," Mize said. "But I didn't need that. Obviously, I wish I could've done better, but I don't know. This place has been really good to me, and hearing that ovation coming off the mound made it a little bit better. It just reminded me that you've got a lot of people supporting you and behind you. It was really cool."
Pre-game routine
Mize woke up that morning and went and picked up breakfast at Big Blue Bagel. Typically, Byron's Smokehouse is his breakfast restaurant of choice on days that he pitches at home, but with his girlfriend out of town, he didn't want to go there without her.
So Mize brought breakfast back to the apartment, shaved his face -- something he does prior to every one of his starts -- and hung out until joining his teammates for the pre-game meal at 2 p.m., four hours before the start of the game.
The breakfast, the clean shave, the banana he eats before every game (we'll get to that) -- it's not superstition. It's simply his routine.
"Coach (Butch) Thompson says confidence comes from preparation," Mize said. "I feel like preparing well is sticking to your routine well, for me at least. And so when I've checked all the boxes, when I've prepared extremely well and when I've stuck to my routine, that's when I know I feel great. I've done everything I need to do."
A major part of that routine includes all of the stretching Mize does before ever throwing a baseball. There's the workout with the foam roller that stretches out his joints. Then it's on to the lacrosse ball where he works out his feet, shoulders, back, neck and forearm. He'll do scap slides against the wall and tubing exercises with a band.
When he gets into the bullpen about 45 minutes before first pitch, Mize goes through "a full-body workout" -- working out his quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves.
All told, the stretching takes about an hour to do. And he's still not ready to throw a baseball yet -- not until he's said his pre-game prayer.
"It's basically the same thing," Mize said. "I say the Lord's Prayer, and then I say a little something asking for help. I just try to glorify God and compete for Him out there, let it be known that we're playing for Him."
It's at that point, maybe 30 minutes before the game, that Mize begins his throwing regimen. He and catcher Brett Wright start in the outfield throwing 30 to 45 feet. Then that turns into 130 to 150 feet as Mize works to get his arm loose. Then, back in the bullpen, he'll start throwing harder and working on specific pitches -- his slider, cutter and split-finger changeup.
One of his teammates once counted how many throws Mize made from pre-game to the game itself, including pitches between innings, and it was well over 200.
On that particular night against LSU, Mize stayed on schedule despite the senior activities taking place on the field beforehand. When it was time for the national anthem, he stepped out from the bullpen onto the warning track and assumed his usual spot. Afterwards, he popped open the banana he had with him and ate it on the way in to the dugout.
Every game he starts, Mize eats a banana on his way in from the bullpen.
"It's just a comfort food," he said. "It's something that helps me relax. And I usually get hungry during games anyway, so that kind of helps."
There was about a 10-minute window when Mize got to the dugout that he used to sit back and relax, and then it was time to take the field. It was show time.
First pitch
For a guy who had made 32 starts over the past three seasons entering the LSU game, you'd think nerves wouldn't be an issue. Especially for somebody like Mize, who makes it look so easy every time he steps on the mound. But that's not the case.
"I think it's good to have a little nerves," Mize said. "I do have some every time I go out and compete because I only get to do it once a week. I think there is a little bit of anxiousness, too. It's a little bit of nerves, anxiousness, excitedness, whatever you want to call it. There is that game-day feeling when you get up and go throughout your day."
If there were nerves that night, they weren't evident in the first inning against LSU. After giving up a lead-off single, Mize struck out the next two batters and induced a pop-up to end the inning.
It was more of the same in the second and third inning as the senior pitcher struck out four more batters, two in each inning, and was consistently hitting 95 miles per hour on the radar gun with Detroit Tigers' GM Al Avila and a handful of scouts sitting behind home plate. It just so happens the Tigers have the No. 1 overall pick in Monday's draft.
"Coach (Thompson) calls that autopilot where you're cruising," Mize said. "That's kind of what it was. I felt great. I felt like I was executing very well, calling the right pitches. It was all going well."
After Mize struck out the side in the fourth inning, there were fans already talking about the Auburn single-game strikeout record -- the same record he tied with 15 strikeouts against Vanderbilt earlier that month. One of the ushers at the park walked by and said "That's nine," as he held up nine fingers to the fans sitting in his section.
Mize finally ran into some trouble in the fifth when he gave up a lead-off single, and after a sacrifice bunt, he walked a batter for only the ninth time all season. The father of the LSU player who drew the walk was standing behind home plate happy to see his son reach base against arguably the best pitcher in college baseball.
"He didn't get a hit, but I'll take that as a win," the father said. "This pitcher is amazing."
The next batter lined out to shortstop Will Holland, who doubled off the runner at second base to end the inning with the shutout still intact.
The sixth inning was where it started to come apart for Mize as he left a few balls up in the zone, and the LSU hitters, who were sitting fastball earlier in the game, started sitting on his off-speed pitches. It was one hit after another, and when the inning finally came to an end, the road Tigers had scored four runs on five hits to take a 4-2 lead.
Mize came back out for the seventh, but after a lead-off walk, his day was done.
"Everything was rolling well," Mize said. "It's just they changed their approach. They kind of sat on some different pitches. I realized it too late, and I didn't change mine."
Fans won't remember that LSU game for the outcome. It was the only game in the series Auburn failed to win. But they will remember that night because for many of them, it will likely be the last time they get to see Mize pitch in person. And even in a game when he failed to make the necessary in-game adjustments, he was worth the price of admission.
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @greg_ostendorf