How the addition of one pitch has boosted the Ole Miss pitching staff this season

One thing pitchers need to realize when they come to Ole Miss is if they do not have a slider in their arsenal before they arrive, they will quickly find out they will soon enough.

When talking to several of the quality arms out of the Ole Miss bullpen it has become very clear head coach Mike Bianco is a fan of his pitchers knowing how to throw a slider and effectively.

For Josh Mallitz and Mason Nichols, that was a lesson both have learned and taken to. In fact, adding the slider to their game has only benefited them on the mound and helped get Ole Miss to where it is.

When it comes to Mallitz he has a very strong comparison of his slider.

“Kind of (former Arkansas pitcher) Kevin Kopps-ish,” Mallitz said with a grin when talking to local media on Wednesday. “I worked on it over the offseason. Been throwing it like 70-plus percent every time. Going out there and getting a lot of swing and miss. So, I think that’s been a key factor and it’s made my fast ball a lot more effective and gaining a little bit of (velocity), too. It’s getting harder to hit and I think my slider all around has improved my game.”

The decision to add the slider to his game was Mallitz’s after not finding much success his freshman campaign. So he went back home to Florida over the offseason and worked on it. Once he felt comfortable enough he started using the slider in the spring scrimmages and then eased it into the regular season.

Adding the slider to Nichols game was one that game from a suggestion by Bianco and one that was a little more challenging for the freshman.

Coming out of high school Nichols had a two-pitch arsenal of a curveball and a cutter-fastball. The slider was foreign to Nichols but similar to Mallitz the results have been there also helped improve the results of his fastball.

Nichols had the homework assignment of learning the slider over the Christmas break, giving him essentially six weeks or so to hone the skills of a pitch he had never thrown before. Doing so required a lot of crowd sourcing for advice, removing what he knew how to throw and practice, practice practice.

“It was a big process,” Nichols said. “I had to talk to a lot of people that had helped me in high school. Bigger to me was I had to ditch a lot of pitches in order to learn the slider. I had to talk to my high school coaches (Jackson Prep’s) Jay Powell, Zander Romano. They helped me with it a lot. Just a lot of people, a lot of grips tried. Just had to throw it everyday and that was it.”

Nichols removed what he called a “big, loopy” curveball that hitters were tracking out of his hand as well as the cut-fastball that he sort of turned into a hybrid with the slider.

“I had to find a happy medium. Kind of merge the two together to get a pitch that moves well,” Nichols said.

“I thought it was cool. The coaches here are very honest and they tell you what they think. Coach B(ianco) sat me down and said, ‘We need you to have a slider if we’re to pitch you this year.’ I was like, ‘Deal. I’ll get it done.'”

The need to learn the slider was not exclusive to the bullpen and reliever arms.

Freshman Hunter Elliott also went to work on adding the new pitch to his skillset. The Saturday starter who worked his way into the rotation after starting his first season with Ole Miss in the bullpen is constantly crafting his game.

The slider was not something Elliott had during his four years at Tupelo High School, but it is now one he relies on.

“I’ve developed the slider a little bit,” Elliott said. “Still developing it, honestly, day by day. Every bullpen, every game, trying to make it better. In high school I was fastball, curveball, changeup but the slider’s kind of taken over the curveball and it’s become a really good pitch.”

Related: Ole Miss’ Hunter Elliott not shying away from big stage of postseason baseball