No Quit: Hassall Reemerges as Reliable Option for Cats
Apr 01, 2022 | Baseball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Griffin Hassall tries to explain his lack of confidence last season, but he can't. All that he knows is that his lack of confidence affected his mental approach, which in turn affected his performance, causing the balls that he used to command to turn wild, and causing head coach Pete Hughes to shelf his first-ever recruit as Kansas State head coach.
"I love this place and this program and everybody in it, so I wanted to come back and try to prove myself," Hassall says. "Luckily, it's worked out pretty well."
Through the first month and a half of this season, Hassall has wins in three straight appearances with two starts and is second on the team in appearances. He has a 3.55 ERA (10 earned runs in 25.1 innings) while striking out 24 and walking just five, typically pitching in the series finales. Virtually every one of his pitching statistics are either career bests or on pace to be career bests by the end of the season.
The 6-foot-3, 195-pound junior right-hander sits on a comfy brown letter couch in Hughes' dark-toned office after the Wildcats' wild 10-7 comeback win over Northern Colorado at Tointon Family Stadium. He wears a white ball cap with a purple "KS" printed in the middle, a gray sweatshirt with "WILDCATS" decorating the chest, purple socks, and a smile the size of the Little Apple.
At the moment, all appears calm. The native of Newmarket, Ontario looks perfectly at home.
"Everyone thinks 'Family' is a cliché, but it really does feel like family here," he says. "Everyone in the community loves K-State. It's an amazing thing. I'm very happy about everything here at K-State."
It's been quite a journey.
"Remember your flight?" Hughes asks, walking into his office as Hassall sits on the couch.
"Yes," Hassall replies. "It was brutal."
"He missed his graduation," Hughes says, pointing at Hassall. "His flight got cancelled."
Hassall played for the under-18 Canadian Junior National Team for head coach Greg Hamilton, who is close friends with Hughes. When Hughes arrived at K-State prior to the 2019 season, Hamilton recommended Hassall. Hassall visited Hughes in Manhattan in mid-May. He loved K-State and Manhattan during his official visit. He committed to Hughes over dinner in Manhattan. Hughes hadn't yet announced his coaching staff.
"I committed right on the spot there," Hassall says. "My folks weren't able to come down. I fell in love with K-State right away."
Hassall's biggest challenge was getting home from Manhattan. A cancelled flight caused him to miss his high school graduation at Bill Crothers Secondary School.
"He's done so much for our program," Hughes says.
As a freshman, Hassall started nine series openers and had back-to-back wins at Texas and against TCU when each were ranked in the top 25. His career highlight was beating the Horned Frogs in front of his grandparents, Wayne and Dayle Hassall, who are the only members of his family able to see him pitch in Manhattan. Hassall had a season-long outing of 7 2/3 innings in a 7-4 win over No. 19 TCU in which he allowed one earned run on three hits with five strikeouts. He earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Week for his efforts against the Horned Frogs.
His first collegiate victory came at No. 14 Texas in which he turned in five one-hit innings with one run allowed with a strikeout.
Named to the Big 12 Conference All-Freshman Team, he appeared in 14 games (10 starts), going 2-3 with a 4.42 ERA (28 earned runs in 57.0 innings pitched) and 37 strikeouts.
"We ran him out there on Friday nights as a freshman," Hughes said. "It wasn't a sacrificial lamb deal. He was beating people. I looked at all our box scores from that year two days ago. He went in there and beat Texas, shoved it to Texas Tech out here, and beat TCU. He just set the tone."
Hassall pitched just 2.0 innings while dealing with a back injury during the COVID-shortened season in 2020. Last season, grappling with his low confidence level, he had a 7.56 ERA (7 earned runs in 8.1 innings pitched) with five strikeouts and nine walks.
Some players might have left for good.
Instead, Hassall headed north and made seven starts with eight appearances for the Sioux Falls Sunfish of the Expedition League this past summer. He went 3-2 with a 4.50 ERA (20 earned runs in 40 innings pitched). He struck out 38 while walking 13. He struck out seven hitters in seven innings in back-to-back outings.
He regained his confidence and returned this season on a mission.
"I wanted to come back and prove myself," he says. "This is where I want to graduate and finish my entire college career. It's definitely been a struggle at some points, but it's also made me better, too. The summer helped me regain that confidence, and I've kept that confidence, and now I'm the best pitcher I've been my whole career. Now I'm just trying to build off it."
Hughes puts Hassall's impact this season into simple terms.
"He's our save-our-butt guy," Hughes says. "He's ever reliable — strike, strike, compete, compete. Sometimes he doesn't get the results he wants but it's strikes, and he competes."
K-State, 13-11 overall and 0-3 in the Big 12, embarks upon its Big 12 home opener against No. 6 Oklahoma State, 18-7 and 3-0, at 6 p.m. Friday at Tointon Family Stadium. Hassall will likely see some high-leverage innings when the Wildcats and Cowboys play their three-game series this weekend.
"To know Coach Hughes feels comfortable and can rely on me is a great feeling," Hassall says. "Obviously, I want to help the team in any way possible, whether it's starting or coming out of the pen. It doesn't matter as long as I help the team win. Having their confidence makes me feel more confident in myself, too, even if the results don't go the way we want it to. Having that confidence in me is a good feeling."
He pauses.
"Going through those struggles, thinking about coming back or not, and being able to throw well and prove to myself – I doubted myself a lot last year. Coming back into a pretty good role for the team just definitely makes me proud of myself and makes my decision to come back definitely worth it. I wouldn't change it at all. I love this place. It's the place I want to graduate. I don't want to be anywhere else.
"I'm definitely happy with the decision I made. I would never change that. I'm just very happy it's worked out pretty well so far."
Griffin Hassall tries to explain his lack of confidence last season, but he can't. All that he knows is that his lack of confidence affected his mental approach, which in turn affected his performance, causing the balls that he used to command to turn wild, and causing head coach Pete Hughes to shelf his first-ever recruit as Kansas State head coach.
"I love this place and this program and everybody in it, so I wanted to come back and try to prove myself," Hassall says. "Luckily, it's worked out pretty well."
Through the first month and a half of this season, Hassall has wins in three straight appearances with two starts and is second on the team in appearances. He has a 3.55 ERA (10 earned runs in 25.1 innings) while striking out 24 and walking just five, typically pitching in the series finales. Virtually every one of his pitching statistics are either career bests or on pace to be career bests by the end of the season.
The 6-foot-3, 195-pound junior right-hander sits on a comfy brown letter couch in Hughes' dark-toned office after the Wildcats' wild 10-7 comeback win over Northern Colorado at Tointon Family Stadium. He wears a white ball cap with a purple "KS" printed in the middle, a gray sweatshirt with "WILDCATS" decorating the chest, purple socks, and a smile the size of the Little Apple.
At the moment, all appears calm. The native of Newmarket, Ontario looks perfectly at home.
"Everyone thinks 'Family' is a cliché, but it really does feel like family here," he says. "Everyone in the community loves K-State. It's an amazing thing. I'm very happy about everything here at K-State."
It's been quite a journey.
"Remember your flight?" Hughes asks, walking into his office as Hassall sits on the couch.
"Yes," Hassall replies. "It was brutal."
"He missed his graduation," Hughes says, pointing at Hassall. "His flight got cancelled."
Hassall played for the under-18 Canadian Junior National Team for head coach Greg Hamilton, who is close friends with Hughes. When Hughes arrived at K-State prior to the 2019 season, Hamilton recommended Hassall. Hassall visited Hughes in Manhattan in mid-May. He loved K-State and Manhattan during his official visit. He committed to Hughes over dinner in Manhattan. Hughes hadn't yet announced his coaching staff.
"I committed right on the spot there," Hassall says. "My folks weren't able to come down. I fell in love with K-State right away."
Hassall's biggest challenge was getting home from Manhattan. A cancelled flight caused him to miss his high school graduation at Bill Crothers Secondary School.
"He's done so much for our program," Hughes says.
As a freshman, Hassall started nine series openers and had back-to-back wins at Texas and against TCU when each were ranked in the top 25. His career highlight was beating the Horned Frogs in front of his grandparents, Wayne and Dayle Hassall, who are the only members of his family able to see him pitch in Manhattan. Hassall had a season-long outing of 7 2/3 innings in a 7-4 win over No. 19 TCU in which he allowed one earned run on three hits with five strikeouts. He earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Week for his efforts against the Horned Frogs.
His first collegiate victory came at No. 14 Texas in which he turned in five one-hit innings with one run allowed with a strikeout.
Named to the Big 12 Conference All-Freshman Team, he appeared in 14 games (10 starts), going 2-3 with a 4.42 ERA (28 earned runs in 57.0 innings pitched) and 37 strikeouts.
"We ran him out there on Friday nights as a freshman," Hughes said. "It wasn't a sacrificial lamb deal. He was beating people. I looked at all our box scores from that year two days ago. He went in there and beat Texas, shoved it to Texas Tech out here, and beat TCU. He just set the tone."
Hassall pitched just 2.0 innings while dealing with a back injury during the COVID-shortened season in 2020. Last season, grappling with his low confidence level, he had a 7.56 ERA (7 earned runs in 8.1 innings pitched) with five strikeouts and nine walks.
Some players might have left for good.
Instead, Hassall headed north and made seven starts with eight appearances for the Sioux Falls Sunfish of the Expedition League this past summer. He went 3-2 with a 4.50 ERA (20 earned runs in 40 innings pitched). He struck out 38 while walking 13. He struck out seven hitters in seven innings in back-to-back outings.
He regained his confidence and returned this season on a mission.
"I wanted to come back and prove myself," he says. "This is where I want to graduate and finish my entire college career. It's definitely been a struggle at some points, but it's also made me better, too. The summer helped me regain that confidence, and I've kept that confidence, and now I'm the best pitcher I've been my whole career. Now I'm just trying to build off it."
Hughes puts Hassall's impact this season into simple terms.
"He's our save-our-butt guy," Hughes says. "He's ever reliable — strike, strike, compete, compete. Sometimes he doesn't get the results he wants but it's strikes, and he competes."
K-State, 13-11 overall and 0-3 in the Big 12, embarks upon its Big 12 home opener against No. 6 Oklahoma State, 18-7 and 3-0, at 6 p.m. Friday at Tointon Family Stadium. Hassall will likely see some high-leverage innings when the Wildcats and Cowboys play their three-game series this weekend.
"To know Coach Hughes feels comfortable and can rely on me is a great feeling," Hassall says. "Obviously, I want to help the team in any way possible, whether it's starting or coming out of the pen. It doesn't matter as long as I help the team win. Having their confidence makes me feel more confident in myself, too, even if the results don't go the way we want it to. Having that confidence in me is a good feeling."
He pauses.
"Going through those struggles, thinking about coming back or not, and being able to throw well and prove to myself – I doubted myself a lot last year. Coming back into a pretty good role for the team just definitely makes me proud of myself and makes my decision to come back definitely worth it. I wouldn't change it at all. I love this place. It's the place I want to graduate. I don't want to be anywhere else.
"I'm definitely happy with the decision I made. I would never change that. I'm just very happy it's worked out pretty well so far."
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