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Hull's 5th year meant whole lot for draft
7/20/2022 9:30:00 AM | Baseball, Paul Coro
GCU pitcher reinvented role to draw Cubs' interest for 7th-round pick
When the game came easily as a high school pitcher, Nick Hull could imagine the dream day of being drafted.
But then came the summer before his senior year, when he only received college offers from Grand Canyon and Northern Colorado. And then came his GCU freshman season, when he posted a 7.61 ERA.
Instead of taking his eyes off the prize, Hull unwrapped deeper dedication and a rubbery resilience. The Seattle-area native developed a sensational slider, added heat to his fastball and returned for a fifth year to be a Friday night starter, lead the Lopes back to a NCAA regional and get drafted.
Unlike batters facing him, Hull went 3 for 3. The Chicago Cubs selected the 6-foot right-hander in the seventh round Monday as the 203rd pick of the MLB Draft to complete his success story.
"I couldn't ask for anything else to be better in my situation right now," said Hull, who finished his master's degree in Leadership two weeks ago. "I'm just glad that someone else saw the dream that I had and wanted to share that with me."
It was a dream when Hull debuted at GCU as the starter in an opening-weekend, extra-inning win against No. 7 TCU. He was brilliant with one run allowed in five innings, but he allowed 30 earned runs in the 31 1/3 innings he threw for the rest of the season, as he was singed by being thrown into the fire.
That freshman season was most important for what he saw in between his mound appearances. Hull watched and modeled the off-field lifestyle, diet and weightlifting regimens of Jake Wong, the 2018 third-round pick of the San Francisco Giants,
Midway through his sophomore season, Hull's commitment found traction on the rubber. Starting with five shutout innings in a spot start at Nevada, Hull posted a 2.48 ERA over his final 13 appearances in 2019.
"A lot of frustration, honestly," Hull said of his up-and-down trek. "For a couple years, the game of baseball wasn't as fun as it used to be for me because that's the first time I experienced failure on a big stage.
"The failure that I had early on is really what helped me get here. It taught me that I'm not going to be the best player on the team right now and that, if I want to be, then I have to put in more work than everyone else. I'd always been a hard worker, but it didn't occur to me what hard work really was until I got to college."
That work carried over into 2020, when his ERA was at 2.08 before COVID cut the season short. In 2021's breakthrough season for the program, Hull was the bullpen stopper who posted a 1.77 ERA and held opponents to .202 hitting.
"He struggled early, reinvented himself as a reliever and was dominant for us," GCU head coach Gregg Wallis said. "He was one of our MVPs in the 2021 run. He took the ball in all the big moments. He would come out of the pen any time the game was close or on the line. He was a Swiss Army knife out of the bullpen."
Over his GCU career, Hull added about 5 mph to his fastball to reach 95 mph and average in the low 90s. Meanwhile, his high school curveball had transformed into a nasty slider, a go-to pitch with a 3,000-rpm spin rate that spun heads in major-league metrics departments.
"I realized that, when I'm done at the game at some point, I want to feel like I had tried everything I could and not wish that I'd tried more," Hull said. "Everything that has happened in five years has helped me get better. Whether it's a pitching coach giving me a tip on a slider or a strength coach telling me to not go so low on my squat, some things stick with you forever."
As the GCU ace, Hull showed he could handle a 96 2/3-inning season by striking out 102 with 28 walks and going 7-2 with a 3.72 ERA. He was truly a super senior and the ideal Friday night starter, going more than five innings in 14 consecutive starts and setting the program Division I record with 214 career strikeouts.
Unsure about a pro future, Hull finished his GCU career at his best. In his final two postseason starts, Hull allowed two earned runs and struck out 16 batters in 13 1/3 innings, including a taming of Missouri State with 10 strikeouts at the Stillwater Regional.
"That was an empty-the-tank kind of mindset," Hull said. "For a while there, I wasn't even sure if I was going to get an opportunity to play after GCU."
Cubs area scout Steve McFarland's belief in Hull translated to an organizational investment to select Hull, who was watching the draft at his Phoenix home with his girlfriend, GCU graduate student and Cubs fan Allison Sobieski.
"He came back on a mission that he wanted to be the Friday night starter, lead us back to a regional and get selected by a professional organization," Wallis said. "To see his journey come full circle to where he accomplished those goals, it was a really special year and a special moment to see him selected. He had a goal. He was on a mission. And he accomplished his goals."
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But then came the summer before his senior year, when he only received college offers from Grand Canyon and Northern Colorado. And then came his GCU freshman season, when he posted a 7.61 ERA.Instead of taking his eyes off the prize, Hull unwrapped deeper dedication and a rubbery resilience. The Seattle-area native developed a sensational slider, added heat to his fastball and returned for a fifth year to be a Friday night starter, lead the Lopes back to a NCAA regional and get drafted.
Unlike batters facing him, Hull went 3 for 3. The Chicago Cubs selected the 6-foot right-hander in the seventh round Monday as the 203rd pick of the MLB Draft to complete his success story.
"I couldn't ask for anything else to be better in my situation right now," said Hull, who finished his master's degree in Leadership two weeks ago. "I'm just glad that someone else saw the dream that I had and wanted to share that with me."
It was a dream when Hull debuted at GCU as the starter in an opening-weekend, extra-inning win against No. 7 TCU. He was brilliant with one run allowed in five innings, but he allowed 30 earned runs in the 31 1/3 innings he threw for the rest of the season, as he was singed by being thrown into the fire.
That freshman season was most important for what he saw in between his mound appearances. Hull watched and modeled the off-field lifestyle, diet and weightlifting regimens of Jake Wong, the 2018 third-round pick of the San Francisco Giants,
Midway through his sophomore season, Hull's commitment found traction on the rubber. Starting with five shutout innings in a spot start at Nevada, Hull posted a 2.48 ERA over his final 13 appearances in 2019.
"A lot of frustration, honestly," Hull said of his up-and-down trek. "For a couple years, the game of baseball wasn't as fun as it used to be for me because that's the first time I experienced failure on a big stage.
"The failure that I had early on is really what helped me get here. It taught me that I'm not going to be the best player on the team right now and that, if I want to be, then I have to put in more work than everyone else. I'd always been a hard worker, but it didn't occur to me what hard work really was until I got to college."
That work carried over into 2020, when his ERA was at 2.08 before COVID cut the season short. In 2021's breakthrough season for the program, Hull was the bullpen stopper who posted a 1.77 ERA and held opponents to .202 hitting.
"He struggled early, reinvented himself as a reliever and was dominant for us," GCU head coach Gregg Wallis said. "He was one of our MVPs in the 2021 run. He took the ball in all the big moments. He would come out of the pen any time the game was close or on the line. He was a Swiss Army knife out of the bullpen."
Over his GCU career, Hull added about 5 mph to his fastball to reach 95 mph and average in the low 90s. Meanwhile, his high school curveball had transformed into a nasty slider, a go-to pitch with a 3,000-rpm spin rate that spun heads in major-league metrics departments."I realized that, when I'm done at the game at some point, I want to feel like I had tried everything I could and not wish that I'd tried more," Hull said. "Everything that has happened in five years has helped me get better. Whether it's a pitching coach giving me a tip on a slider or a strength coach telling me to not go so low on my squat, some things stick with you forever."
As the GCU ace, Hull showed he could handle a 96 2/3-inning season by striking out 102 with 28 walks and going 7-2 with a 3.72 ERA. He was truly a super senior and the ideal Friday night starter, going more than five innings in 14 consecutive starts and setting the program Division I record with 214 career strikeouts.
Unsure about a pro future, Hull finished his GCU career at his best. In his final two postseason starts, Hull allowed two earned runs and struck out 16 batters in 13 1/3 innings, including a taming of Missouri State with 10 strikeouts at the Stillwater Regional."That was an empty-the-tank kind of mindset," Hull said. "For a while there, I wasn't even sure if I was going to get an opportunity to play after GCU."
Cubs area scout Steve McFarland's belief in Hull translated to an organizational investment to select Hull, who was watching the draft at his Phoenix home with his girlfriend, GCU graduate student and Cubs fan Allison Sobieski.
"He came back on a mission that he wanted to be the Friday night starter, lead us back to a regional and get selected by a professional organization," Wallis said. "To see his journey come full circle to where he accomplished those goals, it was a really special year and a special moment to see him selected. He had a goal. He was on a mission. And he accomplished his goals."
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