Lifted in Due Time
How Cody Bolton’s mental make-up turned him into one of the most dominant pitchers with West Virginia from the moment he was promoted.
A high schooler in Tracy, Calif., had his dreams come true in the sixth round of the 2017 MLB Draft.
The six-foot, three-inch righty had just finished his senior year at Tracy High School in one of the toughest conferences of high school baseball in the country, boasting a 9–2 record and a 1.13 ERA. Not only that, but the Virginia native wrung up 97 batters in just 68 innings.
After leading the Bulldogs for four years, Cody Bolton heard his name called as the 178th pick in last year’s draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates, summoning the then 18-year-old quickly into the world of professional baseball.
“I was nervous and excited,” Bolton reiterated upon hearing his name called by Pittsburgh last June. “My dad was pretty pumped. When he was a little kid, he used to watch the Pirates play, so he was very excited for me to join this organization.”
Bolton spent his first pro season in the Gulf Coast League, compiling an 0–2 record with a 3.16 ERA through nine starts. The ERA sparks some interest, because Bolton’s father, Scott, is a pastor and the righty plays in the South Atlantic League, which Tim Tebow, who became renowned for wearing the Bible phrase John 3:16 on his cheeks during his football days, took by storm last year with the Columbia Fireflies.
While the 19-year-old does not necessarily believe he will be the next MiLB Christian ambassador, he has been leading by example for many years, and that goes all the way back to his own football career.
In 2007, the Bolton family moved from Virginia to California. At the time, Cody only played baseball and soccer. Upon reaching the west coast, the ten-year-old found football to be a popular pastime and decided he wanted to try his hand at it. His first season was a struggle, as he joined a team where all the positions were set, so Cody was rather low on the depth chart and did not receive any playing time until midway through the season.
Shortly after that, during a practice, Cody approached his father with tears in his eyes and said, “Why am I doing this? I’m never going to play.”
“Honestly, I would have let him walk away at that moment because he was right,” Bolton’s father recalled. “But we talked about sticking it out through the tough times, and that he needed to keep his commitment to the team.”
Later that week, another player on the team was injured and the future Power player was inserted into the starting lineup. He progressed into a permanent first-string role and, the following season, changed positions from receiver to quarterback, where, as a 14-year-old, he was invited to attend Football University’s Top Gun Showcase as a freshman.
It was at that point that Cody decided to focus on baseball, and, more specifically, pitching, so he did not attend the camp. However, the experience of waiting for an opportunity to play and then show his stuff has stuck with the young hurler.
West Virginia’s newest starter has twirled 15.1 scoreless innings to start his South Atlantic League career, and his high school head coach, Vic Alkire, is by no means surprised with Bolton’s immediate dominance.
“Him [Cody] having quick success went through my mind, but I didn’t think he would throw 15.1 scoreless innings consecutively. Would I have guessed that? No, but it does not surprise me because I know his work ethic,” Bolton’s former skipper said. “He’s putting 100% mental and physical approaches into his craft.”
Being a pastor’s child, Bolton’s childhood included certain labors not bestowed upon an average child growing up. However, Bolton just considers that part of his make-up. He lives through his life verse, 1 Peter 5:6.
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” - 1 Peter 5:6
Humble is an accurate depiction of Bolton. In fact, as his high school classmates would say, it’s just Cody being Cody. The same Cody who returned home last offseason to work for Flat Rock Beef Company. At Flat Rock, Bolton fed cattle and occasionally had to round them up.
That is not a big deal for him though. The Virginia native does what he needs to do to get to the next task, whether that is feeding cattle or going through a lift session. Bolton has a routine and he sticks to it, quietly leading by example.
Alkire says that he remembers a lot of the great things that the former Bulldog did on the mound, but the one that sticks out the most is when he went to church in Bolton’s junior or senior year and saw 10 of the 18 Tracy baseball team members in attendance — many of whom he had never seen at church before.
“That was totally just Cody inviting the rest of the kids to church. He was a person for all people. ” Alkire said.
Quiet is a part of the soon-to-be 20-year-old’s demeanor on the mound as well. Alkire boasts that you could never tell if Bolton was in trouble when he was on the hill. He was the same hurler with two outs and no one on as he was in a bases loaded, no outs situation to the casual observer.
Part of that attitude comes from the Tracy High School coaching staff’s mentality of how to handle a game. The staff preached taking the game one pitch or at-bat at a time. A shortstop cannot let a strikeout at the plate affect your next inning in the field, for example.
The coaches would ask the players to “flush” the bad memory or play down the drain. One of Alkire’s former assistants, John Goulding, took this mantra to the next level by actually bringing a toilet into the home dugout before a game one day. From then on, players would literally pull the metal handle of the porcelain throne sitting directly below their helmets to try and mentally flush themselves of their poor performance and get back into the groove of a game.
“It was very beneficial to have something you could physically push to help you visualize moving onto the next part of the game.” Bolton recalled of the dugout’s newest addition.
Coach Alkire only recalls Bolton having to flush the toilet once or twice in his career. During the starter’s sophomore year, he gave up three or four runs to one of the top teams in California.
“Even when it was obvious they had gotten the better of him, he didn’t show emotion,” Alkire said. “Before he walked off, I saw Cody had already mentally flushed it before physically doing it in the dugout.”
Bolton has already utilized a lot of what he has learned in his life while in West Virginia. He immediately grabbed the bull by its horns (metaphorically here, rather than to feed it) and since being called up to the Power, he has not allowed a run through 15.1 innings in three outings. He has punched out 19 batters while only allowing 11 batters to reach safely against him.
Just as when he was donning pads rather than a cap, the California resident has stood out quickly to Power manager Wyatt Toregas and the coaching staff. One thing the righty has not had to do in the South Atlantic League yet is flush a bad inning from his mind, but, if there is anything those around Bolton know, it’s that he will surprise new fans with his ability to do just about anything.
