Flipping The Switch! Florida State catcher Colton Vincent finds new groove as switch-hitter

Neither one of them knew at the time — how on earth could they? — that it would be such a potentially monumental moment for the 2023 Florida State baseball team.

First-year head coach Link Jarrett saw returning catcher Colton Vincent taking some swings off a tee this past fall in the Seminoles’ batting cages. They were left-handed swings. Vincent had never taken one in a game before, at any level, but he had worked on it for much of his life anyway.

And when Jarrett saw the swing, he asked Vincent if it was something he could actually do.

The veteran catcher essentially shrugged, and said he didn’t know, but he was willing to give it a try. So, Jarrett took Vincent to another part of the cage and started doing soft-toss.

The swing still looked good. Really good, actually.

So, Vincent decided to try it in live batting practice.

And how did that go?

“Not good,” he said with a smile on Thursday. “I had never hit B.P. lefty, especially a professional B.P. Like you’re going to need to go out there and hit line drives. It was a learning curve definitely.”

Said Jarrett: “I thought it was worth trying. The fall is the time to try things. And initially, the transition from the cage to the game setting was a little tricky for him, I think. … But the at-bats were still competitive. And he started shooting some balls (to left field). And every once in a while, as you’ve seen, he can turn on one and surprise you with some pull-side pop.”

LIMITED OFFER: 4 months of full access to Warchant.com for only $10!

Vincent kept working at it all throughout the fall and into preseason practice. Jarrett knew he needed more left-handed bats in the lineup anyway, and Vincent’s struggles at the plate in 2022 certainly suggested that a new approach was worth considering.

So the senior kept at it. Getting constant reps. Knowing his head coach believed in the move to switch-hitting as well.

“The confidence he instilled in me (helped) and I knew I had a good left-handed swing,” Vincent said. “Off the machine, I knew I could barrel balls up, it was just making that adjustment to being able to place balls where I want to on any given pitch. And just the repetition of that.”

Vincent said he finally realized he might be able to make a difference left-handed during a scrimmage in the fall, when he squared up a pitch on his first swing and hit a line drive up the middle. It was fielded. But right then, Vincent knew he had a serious chance to contribute and produce from the left side of the plate.

Here we are now, some six months later and 12 games into the season, and all Colton Vincent and that left-handed swing are doing is hitting a team-best .439 with nine extra-base hits and a slugging percentage of .732.

This is the same person who hit .195 a season ago and had just six extra-base hits (all doubles) in 169 at-bats. He slugged just .231

Well, he’s the same person. Sure. But he’s clearly not the same player.

Not only has he become a switch-hitter, but he’s also not dealing with the painful left hand injury that nagged him all of last season.

And the results have been startling. Vincent has become, at least through the non-conference portion of the year, one of the best hitters on the Florida State team.

It’s been an astonishing jump in production for a player who wasn’t sure he would even have a spot on the roster when Jarrett was hired in the summer.

“After the regime changes, I didn’t really know where I stood,” Vincent said. “So, I called Link and asked him what he wanted from me. And he wanted me to stay and kind of be like an older guy on the team. And when I found out (former West Virginia catcher McGwire Holbrook) was coming, I was actually really excited. Because every successful team that I’ve been on, (it’s) been very competitive in the catcher corps.”

Holbrook sustained a hand injury in the preseason and has now suffered a hamstring injury after just one game back as a designated hitter.

So, for now, the Seminoles will just have to make do with an apparent Ted Williams clone as the primary catcher.

“He’s had some huge hits,” Jarrett said. “And from a line-up perspective, he and Nander (De Sedas), if we didn’t have them switch-hitting, we would have one left-handed bat in our lineup. Which is not how you draw it up.”

None of this is how you draw it up, really.

A veteran catcher, who wasn’t sure what role he would have on the team in his last season, who struggled so mightily at the plate a season ago, now leading the team in hitting. And slugging over .500 points higher than he did as a junior. Mainly because he finally got the opportunity to switch-hit.

None of this is normal.

Vincent said it’s not just the mechanics of the swing, that he’s not having to swing at balls breaking away from him anymore, or even that he’s healthier that has led to his surprising early season success.

It’s a mindset as well.

“This is my first time hitting left-handed, so there’s really no pressure on me,” Vincent said. “If I strike out, I strike out. People are just like, ‘Oh, he’s never hit left-handed before.’ So, that kind of just took the weight off my shoulders and kind of just let me compete without any pressure at all whatsoever.”

He has caught just about every inning of every game so far for the Seminoles, who open up ACC play today at Dick Howser Stadium against Pitt. And he’s hit in every game as well, currently holding a 16-game hitting streak that dates back to last season.

It is, he said, probably the most fun he’s ever had playing baseball.

“This is amazing,” Vincent said. “It’s just been amazing. It’s been awesome.”

Crowell moving into Florida State rotation

Jarrett announced on Thursday that junior left-hander Wyatt Crowell will move to the weekend rotation against Pitt. He will start on Saturday. Jackson Baumeister and Carson Montgomery will both remain in their roles on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

In four appearances this season so far, Crowell has a 1.23 ERA in 14.2 innings pitched, with 23 strikeouts and just six hits allowed.

Posey, Winston headline weekend events

Before today’s 6 p.m. game against Pitt, former Seminole football players Jameis Winston, Derwin James, Jalen Ramsey, Cam Akers, Jashaun Corbin and Keir Thomas are expected to be in attendance. Winston is scheduled to throw out the ceremonial first pitch around 5:40 p.m.

On Saturday, FSU will retire Buster Posey’s No. 8 jersey in a pregame ceremony beginning at 2:30 p.m. Posey’s jersey will be the fourth retired for the Seminole baseball program. joining Dick Howser, J.D. Drew and Mike Martin.

***Talk with other Seminole fans on the FSU Baseball Forum***