If there was a weakness for Georgia last year, the lack of left-handed arms was one.
That was certainly true after veteran Charlie Goldstein had an elbow injury, leaving the Bulldogs without a healthy lefty for postseason play.
So, when Wes Johnson and his staff began scanning the transfer portal over the summer, finding a capable lefty topped their shopping list.
Enter former Alabama closer Alton Davis II.
At 6-foot-4, Davis brings an electric arsenal to Athens with a fastball that reached 97 mph in the fall.
Although Davis was strictly a reliever with the Crimson Tide, Johnson is building Davis up to fill various roles for the Bulldogs, who open their season Friday in Wilmington, North Carolina, against Quinnipiac.
“I'm probably going play a lot of roles with the team. Starting, relieving, closing, whatever Wes wants me to do,” said Davis. “I want to be the best help for the team and do whatever I can to make us better in the long run.”
Johnson said having pitchers prepare to handle different roles is not unusual.
That’s especially true in college baseball.
“If you look at what I've done conventionally with pitching, I don't have a true closer. I don't think there's such a thing in college baseball,” Johnson said. “You look at the way we did some things last year, a guy would close for three innings. So, we're stretching Alden out. We're not going to limit him just to a closing role. You can see him start. You can see him in the middle of a game. You can see him at the back.”
Davis said the opportunity to play more roles was one of the reasons he chose to transfer to Georgia from Alabama.
The chance to learn from Johnson, who tutored National League Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes at LSU was another.
“We call him the wizard. Man, he picks everybody's brain, and he loves it when we pick his brain,” said Davis, who smiled that talking pitching analytics can sometimes be overwhelming.
“It can be difficult, but one thing about Wes, is he loves to keep it fun. Let's just have fun out here. He says some crazy things with our data and stuff, and we'd be like, “Hey, we don't know what it is.’ But thing Wes does is for us, why we're so good and why we have a lot of fun is because we're just free 24-7.”
Although Davis said he wasn’t big on analytics when he first arrived at Georgia, he is now.
“Man, it’s critical. I wasn’t a big analytics guy when I first got here, and Wes has helped me out for the long run,” Davis said. “It feels good knowing what the key factors are with my body and figuring out with the Hawk-Eye and all the (technologies). It can pinpoint certain points in your body that can help you get ready for it.”
Changes to his mental approach to the game have also been made.
“I’ve always been run and gun, run and go 24-7. I pitched off a lot of adrenalin,” Davis said. “We talk about managing that adrenalin. I pitch with a lot of emotion as you can see. But seeing that, I think I’m a lot more compact. I can throw longer. My capacity’s built because of Wes and everything in my mind. I think about the game in a different way.”
He's also a different-looking pitcher on the mound.
At Alabama, Davis pitched with a high three-quarter delivery. Under Johnson, that arm angle is lower, and thus far it’s helped with control while becoming more deceptive to hitters.
“I was missing the ball at 6-4, 6-5 inches, and now I’m down to 4-9, 4-10 with Wes and that was a key factor,” Davis said. “It’s helped me be deceptive to a lot of hitters, and my hitters out here say it’s been really good. It’s going to play a lot in the SEC, and I’m ready for that.”
