Putting a pen to paper with an MLB team is something that every college baseball player dreams of. But for Georgia right-handed pitcher Brian Curley, it just wasn’t quite time to make that dream come true.
Despite being drafted in the 16th round of the 2024 MLB draft, Curley decided his time playing college baseball wasn’t over yet. In fact, in a Bulldogs jersey, it was just beginning.
“I thought I could project, so that was the idea of coming back,” Curley said. “I was like, ‘Alright, you don’t see potential, so I’m going to show you what you would have gotten and what you’re going to get.'”
And Curley has done just that, making himself Georgia’s ace along the way– something that he had his eyes set on from the moment he stepped foot in Athens.
Curley had an impressive two seasons at VCU, finishing last season 6-0 with a 2.87 ERA through 78.1 innings before transferring to Georgia.
Although it didn’t happen right away, Curley made his way into Georgia’s starting rotation in Game 2 of its second conference series against Florida. After a five-inning appearance where he allowed just two hits and struck out five batters, it became clear that Curley was right where he was supposed to be.
“People always say grass isn’t always greener on the other side, but for me, in my experience, it has been much greener,” Curley said. “I’ve just been given that creative freedom to learn about myself and about how other people play the game.”
Three weeks later, Curley stepped onto the mound as Georgia’s Friday night starting pitcher against No. 1 Arkansas, and the following week against No. 19 Vanderbilt and once again against No. 14 Oklahoma.
Curley boasts a 2.96 ERA through 51 2/3 innings, recording 61 strikeouts and making a name for himself along the way with his unique personality on the mound. On Friday, Curley had the longest outing by a Bulldog starter this year, improving to 3-2, scattering four hits and no walks with six strikeouts over seven scoreless frames.
Stepping on the mound Friday night might have been new for Curley, but mentally, he’d been there long before. Curley recalls picturing himself throwing the first pitch of the Friday game at Texas back in August, long before the season had even started.
He does this through visualization.
Sitting at 5-foot-10 and 212 pounds, Curley doesn’t have the typical build of a professional athlete, but he uses visualization to give him a leg up.
Curley has practiced this principle since high school to help give himself the mental confidence he needs when he steps out on the mound.
“It’s not just visualizing the ball flight, but visualizing what it feels like,” Curley said. “Because it’s so much more than an image. To be able to effectively visualize, you have to be able to turn it into something that you can execute.”
Curley’s father first introduced him to visualization when the two would golf together, encouraging him to “experience the whole putt from start to finish” before putting the ball into the cup.
But now, Georgia head coach Wes Johnson has continued to encourage the process of throwing the ball across the batter’s box.
“Wes talks about slowing the game down all the time and I think that’s the biggest benefit of visualization,” Curley said. “Like you’ve been there, you’ve done it, now you can control it.”
Johnson, formerly an MLB pitching coach with the Twins, has played a huge role in evolving Curley’s technique and execution on the mound.
“The first thing he told me when he was recruiting me was, ‘I want you to ask me ‘Why?’ all the time,” Curley said. “And that’s honestly been the basis of our relationship.”
For Curley, a year of learning from Johnson, growing with his team alongside him and dawning red and black at Foley Field is just what he needed to write his MLB journey the way it was supposed to be written.
