Cable has the "Wright Stuff" for Eagle Baseball

Cable Wright is a pitcher with a pedigree.
 
The Morehead State junior left-hander's full name is Roy Cable Wright II.
 
His father, Roy, played third base for the Eagles (1976-79) and helped the team to an NCAA regional appearance.
 
Roy, who was coaching at Bath County High School when Cable was young, had him on the ball field from the get-go.
 
"Just trying to do whatever I could to help at practice," Cable said. "I mean, I couldn't do much at age 3 or 4, but I always went up there and I'd always want to go outside whenever dad got home and throw the baseball."
 
While Roy taught him the basics of fielding and throwing, Cable says he picked up how to pitch from his coach at Bath County, former University of Kentucky standout Brock Baber.
 
Roy's connection to the Eagles didn't hurt in deciding where Cable would play college ball. In addition, mother Pam works at MSU in enrollment services.
 
A starter throughout high school, Cable has become a bullpen ace for MSU Coach Mike McGuire.
 
Wright appeared in 26 games as a freshman, and a school-record 33 as a sophomore. This season, he has logged 19 appearances and 21 innings. He is 3-0 with an 0.86 ERA, 21 strikeouts and only four walks.
 
McGuire, who fondly refers to Wright as "Big Country," says the 5-foot-11, 240-pounder is durable -- able to bounce back and be effective day after day.
 
"His ability to throw strikes, pitch ahead of guys, number one, makes him effective," McGuire said. "Number two, it makes me confident to continue using him day after day."
 
McGuire notes he has used Wright in almost every imaginable situation, whether it be second inning, middle-of-the-fire middle innings, crucial late-game situations, ahead and behind.
 
Although Wright has only one career save (last season), that belies his importance to the team.
 
"We don't have 'holds' as a stat category in college baseball," McGuire said, "but I'd venture to say he's got quite a few over the course of his career. He's been a key part of our success for the last couple years here."
 
Wright throws a four-seam fastball, slider and changeup. And he has another pitch in his back pocket.
 
"Last year I had a cutter and a slider, but this year my slider jumped in 'velo' like 2-to-3 miles an hour and it was more consistent than my cutter. I just took the cutter out and have been working more and more on my slider."
 
Wright has made improvements each season with the Eagles.
 
"As a freshman, (we) used him in that left-on-left role," pitching coach Graham Johnson said. "But we've always had that vision of it evolving into more of a relief role. And that's exactly what you see really happening this year, where we use him in multiple roles. And that's because his strike-throwing ability with multiple pitches is probably his biggest asset.
 
"He obviously is a lefty. That gives us a huge advantage against left-handed hitters, but he's also gotten better at handling the right-handed hitters. That's mostly just because of his work ethic when it comes to developing his arsenal."
 
Wright saves his changeup for rare situations. His fastball comes in at 85-to-87 mph, sometimes a tick lower if he's working back-to-back games. That's not the fastest on the team, but Wright says the main thing is to "spot up" the ball – not leave it over the middle of the plate or a bit too high.
 
His out pitch is the slider.
 
"I've been throwing my slider for strikes just about whenever I wanted to this whole year, which has been a real key," Wright said. "It's not like I'm relying on my fastball. I mean, I'm not going to blow by anybody with my fastball. I've just got to get ahead as much as possible, and I think that's why my strikeouts are higher than my walks."
 
Johnson likes that Wright is able to "get ready in a hurry." And the pitcher does a good job of communicating, letting Johnson know if he feels good enough to pitch to one batter or multiples.
 
An exercise science major, studying pre-PT (physical therapy), Wright relishes his role.
 
"I'm the kind of guy that would like to play every day," he said. "And if I'm able to pitch, I would like to pitch."
 
MSU (21-16 overall, 8-7 Ohio Valley Conference) continues play Tuesday at Ohio University.