Valued versatility: Conner Whittaker is right man at right times for FSU
Florida State hit the easy button on Friday with a 20-run win. A day later, the Seminoles grabbed the hammer and broke glass in an emergency.
In the bottom of the ninth on Saturday, UConn's Matt Malcolm hit a leadoff home run off Conner Hults to tie it at 8-8. Then a single and a sacrifice bunt. Link Jarrett had already turned to two of the most dependable bullpen options in Hults and Brennen Oxford. Both relievers are reasons why FSU got to this point, but at this point the Seminoles needed a fireman.
Jarrett’s opening statements are comprehensive. After Saturday’s 10-8 win, he turned to his left and shared appreciation for James Tibbs III for more than just his three home runs that afternoon. And he turned to his right and Conner Whittaker for more than just his 3.2 shutout innings.
Within his comments there was a dark-place commentary: “If this doesn’t go well.” Jarrett didn’t have to go there but he was acknowledging the obvious, that if the latest pitching roll of the dice by Jarrett and pitching coach Micah Posey didn’t hit on seven yet again, well, who knows how Sunday and a game 3 play out.
If you’re not sure what Whittaker is at this point in the season, with 47 wins in 62 games in the books, it’s because he is FSU’s most versatile pitching option (if not most versatile player, period). He’s been a weekend starter, midweek starter and long reliever all in one season (as well as his FSU career).
“I think in my three years here, I’ve seen quite a bit,” Whittaker said. “And I’ve been in a lot of roles. It doesn’t really matter to me. I just go out there and try and execute pitches and get outs. … I was ready to go. Got up around the seventh inning, moved around and was ready to go. Could feel the game out, how it was going.”
Whittaker got the needed fly outs to strand a runner on second in the bottom of the ninth. As it turned out, he was just getting warmed up on a big, sweltering stage.
FSU couldn’t push a run across in the top of the 10th. Whittaker set down UConn 1-2-3, including a three-pitch strikeout as he fired up the dugout coming off the field.
FSU couldn’t generate much again in the 11th. Whittaker countered, delivering a 1-2-3 inning in the 11th.
Then Max Williams led off the 12th with a single, Cam Smith flew out and Tibbs hit a no-doubt home run to send 5,518 fans at Dick Howser Stadium rocking. Whittaker gave up a two-out single, the only hit he allowed, before striking out Paul Tammaro swinging after he fouled off five pitches in a nine-pitch at-bat. The dugout emptied, Whittaker flipped his glove in the air and the celebration was on.
Jarrett said it was as good as he’s seen Whittaker, “slider command, fastball was down, both sides of the plate, a couple good change-ups.”
Whittaker’s performance was one for the memory banks, alongside Tibbs’ home runs. He missed a month due to injury, returning to make three relief appearances in the final weeks of the regular season. There was a two-inning start against Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament, a 2.2-inning save against Wake Forest and then a start against UCF in the regional final.
All of them were necessary, pieces of the pitching puzzle. If it feels like FSU has been short on arms in 2024, even in a season when Jamie Arnold has been ridiculously good, it’s because FSU has been missing at various times Cam Leiter, Whittaker and Ben Barrett (along with Gavin Adams and Jacob Marlowe, both out before Opening Day). Whittaker’s return has been a critical one for FSU’s postseason run.
“I know I wanted to be back obviously with my brothers,” Whittaker said. “We’ve been getting after it all year. I knew I needed to get back. I love this university. These coaches, players.”
Whittaker’s versatility gives FSU options going into the College World Series, which begins on Friday. FSU will face Tennessee, the No. 1 national seed, in a four-team pool that also includes North Carolina and Virginia. The winner advances to the best-of-three championship series against the other pool winner.
How will Whittaker be used? How will Omaha’s spaced-out schedule, with unpredictable weather but one that also benefits winners, impact his role? He could be a starter in a third game. He could be a long reliever. Either way, Whittaker is right where he wants to be.
Sitting just a few feet from his roommate, Tibbs reflected briefly on what he and Whittaker have encountered in three seasons — a quick regional exit in 2022 at Auburn and no postseason to speak of in a 23-win 2023 — as well as goals for what they wanted to achieve in their FSU careers.
“That’s my roommate over there,” Tibbs said. “He’s been my roommate for three years. We’ve had just as many conversations about that and about these moments and how we wanted to be a part of the next Omaha team.”
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