Coming out of his shell

If you’ve watched pretty much any part of junior righty Dom Voegele’s career at Kansas, you know that the KU ace from Columbia, Illinois, is much more Greg Maddux or Mariano Rivera than Max Scherzer or Pedro Martinez. 

But, ever so slowly, Voegele’s demeanor has started to change. 

That’s not to say that Voegele celebrates every punch-out like he’s auditioning for the WWE, but there have been a few more visible moments, a few more fiery gestures and, yeah, even a couple of smiles. 

“He’s come out of his shell a little bit, which has been kind of fun to see,” KU coach Dan Fitzgerald said ahead of this weekend’s series against Arizona, which Voegele opened with a dominant, 15-strikeout, complete-game win on Friday night. 

The 15 strikeouts tied a career-high (from a couple weeks ago) and were the most by a Kansas pitcher since 1993. He's now in fourth place on KU's all-time strikeout list, with 253. He needs 17 K's the rest of the way to move into second place and 55 to take over the top spot.

Friday's complete-game victory moved Voegele to 5-2 on the season, with three wins, a no-decision and 45 strikeouts in his last four starts. 

Some of his emergence of energy has come on the mound. And some of it has been on off days, at practice and in the clubhouse. Kansas Athletics highlighted Voegele's bring your dog to work day entry on their social media channel a couple of weeks back. And, as a leader, he's tried to be more vocal both with his teammates and on game days.

Even with all of that, though, you can still see the Voegele we've always known — calm, subdued, humble and more. Even after Friday's dominant outing, Voegele was noticeably uncomfortable bragging too much about himself during a postgame, on-field interview with radio play-by-play announcer Brian Hanni.

Senior Kannon Carr, who has been used as both a starter and in relief this season, said he thinks the always-on displays of emotion from the rest of the KU pitching staff have rubbed off on Voegele, a stoic, no-nonsense, locked-in pitcher if ever there were one. 

“He’s been able to show a little emotion and I like seeing that out of him, especially as a starter,” Carr said. “(Guys like that) see other guys doing it and think, ‘Maybe I can do that, too.’” 

Fitzgerald agreed, saying it has been one of his long-standing beliefs that nothing brings energy to a ballclub quite like a starter on the mound. 

“When a starting pitcher starts to cruise, it just starts to build (throughout the entire team),” Fitzgerald said. “Dom’s a perfect example of a guy that gives a ton of energy as a starting pitcher because of how he goes about it. He gives a ton of energy by how he works.” 

The Kansas baseball team’s run through the Big 12 Conference, which has the Jayhawks 35-11 overall, 18-4 in Big 12 play and with a 3-game lead over Arizona State atop the Big 12 standings with eight games to play, has been the result of a lot of work by a lot of people. 

Hitters, pitchers, coaches, managers, fans and administrators all have played their part in how special this season has been thus far. But the depth of the Jayhawks’ pitching staff has been borderline remarkable. 

Kansas entered the season knowing that it had one of the best arms in the Big 12 in Voegele. And, just as he was last year, Voegele has been rock solid as the top option in the Jayhawks’ rotation. 

But there have been other arms — many others — who have stepped in and filled big roles this season, some of them of the steady and consistent variety and some on a one-game or as-needed basis. 

The Jayhawks have used 18 arms in all, with 14 of those making at least five appearances already. KU has used eight different starters and seen 10 pitchers pick up victories. 

But this is a group that is about far more than its numbers. 

“There’s a ton of personality on our pitching staff,” KU coach Dan Fitzgerald said last week. “Some of our biggest bursts of energy come from guys that haven’t pitched or aren’t pitching much.” 

Fitzgerald credits those guys for focusing their efforts on being great teammates — a KU prerequisite every year — and understanding the importance of contributing to the long-term goal however you can. 

Few dugouts in America have been as wild and full of energy as KU’s this season, and three of those seldom used pitchers —Daniel Lopez, Sawyer Cooney and Blake O’Brien — have been a huge part of bringing all of the in-game dugout antics to life. 

Their efforts are recognized and appreciated by the team just as much as any of the starters or 30-50-plus inning guys. 

“Our pitching staff brings a lot of energy to the games,” said Carr, who has made five starts in 19 appearances this season. “(Even) the guys who are in the dugout or in the bullpen and aren’t quite getting the innings, they contribute a lot to the success of our team, just by the energy that they bring.” 

He continued: “They show a lot of personality and (have) a lot of energetic attitudes towards the game. That’s because they love what they’re doing and they want to come out here and have fun and compete and they show it with their emotions. I think Fitz likes seeing the energy we bring to the game and whenever he does it, it just amps us up a little more and gets the team going.” 

It’s not just the KU pitching staff that brings energy to the diamond for these Jayhawks. The guys at the plate and in the field have had more than their share of high-energy moments this season, with some of them —especially home runs —pairing perfectly with what awaits in the dugout. 

Fitzgerald said energy hasn’t always been the most important thing for all of his teams. But for the last two here at KU, it’s been massive. 

“We’re pretty good when our energy is hot,” the KU coach said. “But that’s how they are. It doesn’t take much to get them there.”

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