Leighton Finley said it’s almost impossible to articulate the changes head coach Wes Johnson has implemented into his game.

He just knows it seems to be working.

Following a highly successful summer in the Cape Cod League, the big Bulldog right-hander (6-foot-5, 235 pounds) has transferred lessons learned from Johnson that he hopes will keep him a key part of Georgia’s starting rotation.

“I feel like I’m a different person even than I was this summer. It’s completely changed and it’s awesome to see that,” said Finley, who only made one start in 21 appearances as a true freshman. “I’d like to sit here and try to explain it, but I still don’t fully understand half the stuff. I just know it really does work.”

Finley’s stuff has never been in question.

His fastball registers in the upper 90s, but pitching sequences, and knowing when and where to throw a certain pitch, have been new lessons Johnson apparently has helped him learn.

After allowing just one run in 18.1 innings with 20 strikeouts as a member of the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in the Cape Cod League, Finley followed up with a solid fall and an even stronger preseason.

“I just felt like I got on a roll up there and the rest is history,” Finley said. “Things started working out. I’m just glad I got a great opportunity to go up there and do well.”

Although he’s started just one game as a freshman, Finley is expected to open one of the games in this weekend’s opening series against UNC-Asheville. However, as Johnson explains, there’s still plenty of adjusting that Finley needs to do.

Considering his career-long outing last year was four innings at Kennesaw State, there are more lessons to learn.

“He’s a guy who has not gone long, and people say, oh, just transfer him into a starter. It’s not that easy,” Johnson said. “So, we’re teaching him to prepare, we’re teaching him to recover, we’re teaching him how to get into a starter’s routine, and really lock in his catch play week to week.”

After that, it’s all learning about how to get SEC-caliber hitters out consistently.

Plans are in place there, too.

“I’m not going to give away some of the secrets on his stuff, but I don’t think it will take you long to see when we start playing,” Johnson said. “We’ve taught him where to throw his fastball that’s efficient, where to throw his changeup, and those few things are going to be really crucial for his success.”

Finley laughed that his journey into Johnson’s in-depth world of analytics has been a knowledge-filled trip.

“I had never been exposed to a lot of it, so I was pretty nervous at first,” Finley said. “Now, it’s just amazing the way we use it, and it really does help.”