Florida State baseball: Inside the transformation Colton Vincent into a switch-hitting star

As new Florida State baseball head coach Link Jarrett was getting to know his team, something during a batting cage caught his eye.

It was Colton Vincent, swinging at a ball off the tee left-handed.

Jarrett liked what he saw and asked his starting catcher about it.

"I asked him, ‘Colton, that’s pretty good. Have you done that left-handed,?’” Jarrett said to him.“He said, ‘coach it’s been a while and then I hurt my hand, so I put it down and we just never did it again.’ I thought it was worth trying. The fall is the time to try things."

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Vincent, a natural right-handed hitter, said he had never hit from the left side during a competitive game.

It was just something he did to help out his swing from the right side from time to time. That day when he impressed his new coach, he joked he was only "messing around."

"I was hitting off the tee, just messing around," Vincent said. "He said ‘Come over and here and do some front flicks. Let’s see if this is something that I like.' I did six swings and he said, ‘alright, you can hit (batting practice) today.’”

It's a move that has paid off for FSU (9-3), as Vincent has transformed into one of the top hitters for the Seminoles. He's hitting for a .439/.489/.732 slash line with six doubles, a home run and a triple.

“It’s amazing. This is probably the most fun I’ve had playing baseball games,” Vincent said.

Florida State kicks off ACC play with a three-game series against Pittsburgh (7-6) on Friday.

Last season, Vincent dealt with a hand injury and finished hitting for a .195/.271/.232 slash line with just six extra-base hits.

"When I made the flip over to the left side, the pressure of getting big hits like home runs, doubles and triples left my shoulders," Vincent said.

"I said, ‘this is my first time swinging left-handed, there is really no pressure on me. If I strike out, I strike out.’ People will just be like, ‘Oh he’s never hit left-handed before.’

"So that took the weight off my shoulders and just let me go out there and compete without any sort of pressure, whatsoever."

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Not even in Little League

Vincent never tried hitting as a left-handed hitter, not even in little league baseball.

But that never stopped him from trying to hit left-handed during practice.

"No, not in games,” Vincent said. “Kind of just practicing, if I felt off in my right-handed swing, I would just start to take swings left-handed to just even things out. One thing led to another and I just started hitting off machines and live at-bats."

After seeing him in the batting cages, hitting off a tee, Jarrett said he wanted to see Vincent hit in batting practice.

Being it was during fall practices, the first-year FSU head coach saw no downside in experimenting.

"I thought it was worth trying," Jarrett said. "The fall is the time to try things. Initially, the transition from the cage into the game setting was a little challenging for him. But the at-bats were still competitive. Then he started shooting some balls this way and then every once in a while he’d turn on one and surprise you with some pull-side pop. He’s had some huge hits.”

Vincent said his first batting practice did not go well. But he kept going.

"The confidence he instilled in me and I knew I had a good left-handed swing," he said. "I knew off the machine I could barrel balls up. It was just making that adjustment to being able to place balls where I want to at any given time.

"When I say I messed around in the cages, I mean I took breaking balls off the machine coming out at 87. So, this was not the first time I was seeing that."

As he kept working in practice, Vincent's left-handed swing grew with confidence.

"It wasn’t much of a reaction, I didn’t even know who was at the plate,” FSU pitcher Doug Kirkland said of the first time he saw Vincent taking BP left-handed.

“I saw him peppering balls off the wall. I go up there and it’s Colton. Good for him. I didn’t know what he was doing. I thought he was just messing around that day."

Vincent said he remembers the moment well when he knew this move would translate into games. It was the first intrasquad scrimmage of the fall.

"It was my first at-bat, I hit a line drive one-hopper up the middle and Connor Moore made a really good play on it," Vincent said. "But I barrelled it, first pitch. I thought, ‘this might be something I think I can do."

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From bench player to star?

Vincent said Link told him initially he wanted him back as a veteran presence on the team as the new head coach took over. The West Virginia transfer McWire Holbrook was added to the roster.

It seemed like Vincent would be out of major playing time, after starting 58 games behind the plate as a redshirt junior in 2022.

Holbrook went down with a hamate injury and is now out with a hamstring injury. But Vincent continues to rake.

"He’s fresh at it,” Jarrett joked. “It looked good to me in the cage and I know the offensive side hadn’t been something that hadn’t been clicking for him.”

Vincent's slugging percentage of .732 through 41 at-bats is second only to first baseman James Tibbs. His extra-base hits tie Tibbs and outfielder Jaime Ferrer for the team lead.

Last season, he had six extra-base hits in 169 at-bats and just seven in 186 at-bats for his career.

"I asked my coaches a couple of times and they said they didn’t want to," Vincent said of trying switch-hitting. "Who knows what could have happened now? But I’m just excited it’s happening now."

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Buster Posey fan

Buster Posey, a two-time All-American catcher for the Seminoles in 2007 and 2008 and a three-time World Series champion with the San Francisco Giants, will have his Number 8 jersey retired in a pregame ceremony starting at 2:30 p.m., prior to the start of Saturday’s game.

For Vincent, it'll be a huge moment, as he said he watched Posey a lot both at FSU and in the MLB.

"He’s a big reason I came to Florida State,” Vincent said. “Growing up, I was always a Florida State baseball fan. Watching the end of his career is when I really watched Florida State baseball and was able to understand baseball.

"To see his career with the Giants, saying that kid went to Florida State made me really try to come here."

Vincent said he doesn't want to bother Posey, but will seek him out.

"Definitely,” Vincent said about taking time to introduce himself to Posey. “I don’t want to bother him, he’s a big deal around here. I’ll introduce myself.”

Florida State vs. Pittsburgh

When: Friday, 6 p.m.; Saturday, 3 p.m.; Sunday, 1:00 p.m.

Where: Dick Howser Stadium

TV/Radio: ACC Network Extra/100.7 FM

Reach Ehsan Kassim at ekassim@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports) and Instagram (tlhnolesports).

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU baseball: How catcher Colton Vincent became a switch-hitting star