April 1, 2014
By Aaron Fitt, Baseball America
Courtesy of goldenspikesaward.com
Fast-working Fedde setting standard for UNLV
LINCOLN, Neb. - Erick Fedde admitted he was tempted to step off the mound, turn around, look at the sky and stick out his tongue. Las Vegas natives don't get many opportunities to pitch in the snow, after all.
"That was my first time ever," Fedde said. "Vegas kid my whole life -- I've never been in this before."
He handled it like an old pro. UNLV's ace junior right-hander sported short sleeves on a frigid Friday night at Nebraska, with the wind howling and the snow falling intermittently toward the end of Fedde's seven strong innings of work.
He stayed in attack mode, working so quickly that one UNLV fan described him on Twitter as "pitching like he was double-parked in front of the Bellagio." Defenders always like playing behind a pitcher who works quickly, but they must have been even more grateful for Fedde's relentless pace on such a cold night.
"I made the comment before the season that fans are going to like the way we play fast," UNLV coach Tim Chambers said. "I didn't mean we're a super fast team; I mean we like to play the game fast. Fedde's tempo has rubbed off on the rest of the pitchers. They try to do the same thing: Get it and let's go. You're uncomfortable as a hitter. The umpire's sitting there trying to hold you up, and as soon as he points, man, they're gone. He's fun to watch."
A second-team preseason All-American, Fedde has generated some early-first-round buzz this spring, when he has run his fastball up to 96 mph at times. He did not have his best velocity in the Nebraska cold, but his heavy 90-92 mph fastball had serious sink, helping him induce 15 groundouts over seven innings. He gave up two runs on four hits, and when he found himself in a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the fifth, he minimized the damage by getting a double-play ball.
"That's my bread and butter, I guess you could say," Fedde said of his ability to get groundouts. "If I give up a lot of fly balls, it's probably not a good day for me."
He said he had some trouble commanding his fastball early in the game, as it sank too much and wound up in the dirt a few times. So he relied more on his 82-84 mph changeup in the early innings.
Last year, when Fedde went 7-3 with a 3.92 ERA, he didn't have the luxury of relying on his changeup when he needed a third weapon to go along with his fastball and solid-average 80-83 mph slider.
"Erick said to [pitching coach] Stan Stolte when he came out, 'That's the best I've ever thrown my changeup, ever.'" Chambers said. "We forced him to do it last year in the fall -- we wouldn't let him throw that slider. Now he's starting to believe in it and throw it. You have to be [a three-pitch guy], or you're not going to be a starter at the next level. You've got to have three pitches. If you want to be in the bullpen, keep working on the slider. He laughs; he's starting to throw it more. But he's pretty good."
Fedde proved he belonged in the conversation with the nation's premier starters last summer with Team USA, but as a junior this spring he has put it all together and become a complete pitcher, and his numbers back it up. Through seven starts for the No. 25 Rebels, Fedde is 5-1 with a 1.98 ERA, 50 strikeouts and 15 walks in 50 innings.
And he's a very positive clubhouse force for a UNLV team that has excellent chemistry.
"This is a fun team. They're really close, they hang out together," Chambers said. "They huddle in, Fedde comes out of the game, and he's throwing hand grenades when we get a full count -- everybody ducks down. I'm like, 'It's too cold to throw hand grenades now!'
"But he's a treat. When he's on the mound, I feel like we've got a chance to win."
