BIG ORANGE BISCUIT: Hunley continues college success with Montgomery

Pitcher Sean Hunley has continued his success at the University of Tennessee with the Biscuits. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

While a lot of minor league players dream of the day they’ll compete in Major League Baseball, Montgomery Biscuits pitcher Sean Hunley hasn’t given it a lot of thought.

This time a year ago, he was pitching in college for the University of Tennessee. Some might think he’s a little ahead of schedule, pitching in Double A just 11 months after being drafted. Hunley, on the other hand, said he really hasn’t thought about a timetable for reaching the Majors. 

“I have no idea,” he said. “I’m just taking it one day at a time. I don’t even know how the process works. I’m enjoying where I’m at right now, though.”

He doesn’t seem to get caught up in hype or expectations. Growing up as a pitcher for Mount Juliet High, just 20 miles east of Nashville, it would seem logical that the lifelong Tennessee fan couldn’t wait to be a Volunteer but that wasn’t the case.

“My dad grew up a Tennessee fan,” Hunley said. “He went to Tennessee Tech and played baseball there, but I grew up loving Tennessee. I didn’t really honestly think about their baseball team until I got there.

“When I first got there, they weren’t good at all. My first year, we were 29-27, then gradually every year kept getting better and then last year we ended up going to Omaha.”

Perhaps Hunley had a little something to do with the Vols’ transformation. He was a freshman All-American, first as a mid-week starter before moving briefly to Fridays and eventually to Saturdays. You would think Hunley would prefer the Friday night role -- reserved for the ace of the pitching staff -- but he soon became a fixture as a reliever. 

 “The mindset is completely different,” Hunley explained. “As a starter, you want to go multiple innings so you don’t want to gas yourself. As a reliever, it’s more of a hard mentality, I’m going to go out here and throw two innings and I’m going to run it up there and get them out.

“If you’re a starter, you want to get to five (the fifth inning) to give your team a chance to win; if you’re a reliever, you want to get in there and keep the game where it’s at to give your team a chance to win.”

The former starter was selected by Baseball America as a second team All-American in 2021 after pitching 72.1 innings with a 3.36 earned run average, setting individual highs in wins (seven), saves (nine) and strikeouts (77). His 35 appearances was the most in the Southeastern Conference and the second most nationally as the Vols went 50-18 and reached the College World Series

Tennessee went two and out at T.D. Ameritrade Park, but Hunley pitched in relief in both games, taking the loss in the elimination game to Texas.

He’s had the same type of impact with the Biscuits. He made a brief appearance at Bowling Green on April 10, then was promoted immediately to Montgomery. 

“In spring training, I was expecting to go to Charleston,” he said. “It was my first year, so I didn’t know how it went. I ended up breaking camp and going to Bowling Green. Then a week into the season … (Jeff Smith), the manager, called me in and told me I was going to Montgomery. In my mind, I’m like, ‘Are you sure you’ve got the right guy? I’ve been here a week, I’ve thrown two innings.’

In Montgomery, he has earned a reputation as the first pitcher called on when the starter exits the game. Hunley’s first two appearances earned him a pair of holds (a reliever is credited with a hold when he enters the game in a save situation and maintains his team’s lead for the next reliever) and his next two earned him a pair of wins. 

Although he had a blown save in his next outing, his first seven appearances for the Biscuits resulted in 14.1 innings before he finally allowed a run.

“Hunley is amazing,” Biscuits manager Morgan Ensberg said. “He is a strike thrower, difficult arm angle, very heavy baseball. Very difficult to pick up (out of the pitcher’s hand), very difficult to make contact with. I’ve been so impressed with his demeanor, the way he goes about his business, which is really unique considering he was pitching in college last year.

Hunley, a starter in college before moving to relief, insists he has no preference whether he takes the mound for the opening pitch or as a reliever, noting there are advantages to both situations

“I knew I was going to be a reliever coming into (the pros),” he said. “There has been some talk about building my innings up and seeing how that goes. I loved starting when I first got to college because I thought it was like a big deal. Now that I’ve been a reliever and been in big-time situations, I kind of love the adrenalin of it. I’m fine with either one.

One of the most impressive stats through the first two months of Hunley’s tenure in Montgomery is his strikeout to walk ratio. He went six games before finally giving up a one-out walk to Biloxi’s Joey Wiemer on a full-count pitch in the sixth inning of a May 3 game. 

“He just pounds the strike zone,” Ensberg said. “At the end of the day, this goes back to controllable mistakes. And if you’re pounding the strike zone, you’re forcing the opponent to make decisions and that’s what he does.

He didn’t allow another walk until a June 14 loss in Madison against the Trash Pandas. 

“I’ve always been like that,” Hunley said. “I think it’s because I don’t really believe in wasting pitches. If I’ve got a guy 0-2, I don’t believe in throwing one in the dirt, see if he swings. I like to just attack them.”

It’s a strategy he developed at Tennessee. It seems just as applicable today, he figures.

“If you look at it, the game’s the same, no matter what level you’re at,” he said. “Everybody just hits a little better as you move up.”

The Biscuits return to action Wednesday against Mississippi in Game 2 of the series. It is Military Wednesday presented by WOW! at 6:35 p.m.