Electricity Restored in Lowell

by Joseph Kuykendall

Finally! That must be what is going through the head of Lowell Spinners pitcher Pat Light after he finally threw a somewhat flawless two innings Thursday night in his third professional baseball appearance. In actuality, following the game, he said, “I think [it was a relief]. I was hoping that was coming. It was nice to get that first one where you throw up the zero out there.”

Courtesy of Justin Soderberg/Galatians Design

Light was the Red Sox sandwich pick (in the supplemental round) of the 2012 MLB Draft out of Monmouth University. He was highly touted coming out of college but after two “rough” starts to open his professional playing book he finally found his groove Thursday night.

On Thursday night, against the Connecticut Tigers, Light threw two innings of scoreless baseball in route to striking out three and allowing only two walks and zero hits.

In his previous two (and only) professional starts, Light had allowed a combined 3 runs and 9 hits across just 4 innings of work.

Light was satisfied (as he should have been) with his performance Thursday night, “Tonight I felt good. I felt good overall.”

Light, who is a fastball pitcher, had great success locating and painting with his fastball in Thursday’s game that translated into a solid outing, “My fastball is always there. Usually if its not there, I’m in trouble. Tonight was good, I felt my fastball was well—kept it low in the zone, had a lot of movement. Seemed pretty good.”

He knows his fastball is his go-to pitch but is still trying to build a bigger repertoire of pitches as he moves forward, “My slider is a work in progress right now cause it’s a new one. It’s a new slider. My old slider didn’t really translate to well to pro ball. It just didn’t slide. I don’t know what that was about but I got a new grip. It’s good, its hard and sharp,” said Light who also boats a “secret” changeup. “Its just kind of a work in progress trying to get it to control it and be consistent with it.”

Courtesy of Justin Soderberg/Galatians Design

Light didn’t sign until 11 days after being drafted (June 15) and didn’t make his first pro start until July 9th. Prior to July 9^th, Light had last seen in-game action on May 17 for Monmouth in the Northeast Conference Tournament. That’s nearly a two-month layoff which could have been a contributing factor in his early struggles. Light did think that was part of the problem early on with the Spinners but to him it was just an odd experience, “I just didn’t feel like myself out there [in my first few starts]. I think it was a combination of the layoff and maybe being my first pro start. Stuff like that,” said the New Jersey native. “I wasn’t nervous or anything.  It just didn’t feel like I was doing what I usually do…The first start was rough, I just felt like nothing I did in the past I was doing up there. Like I was just a brand new guy. Almost as if I was watching myself from outside my body and I had no idea what I was doing.”

Light, who is the highest drafted Northeast Conference player and was an ABCA/Rawlings Third Team All-American, had plenty of success in college. In three seasons with the Hawks, the 6’6” righty racked up 196 strikeouts and a 3.84 ERA over 234.1 innings. Those numbers didn’t exactly continue immediately in his pro career but after Thursday night’s outing Light may finally be on the right track to success.

Kuykendall can be followed on Twitter @JoeKBSU18 and contacted at JKuykendall@BostonSportsU18.com