Freshman pitcher finds escape in unlikely place

Every player gets a walkup song. For pitchers they get an introductory song for when they jog onto the mound. It’s an extension of the player’s personality, their tastes, what gets them in the right state of mind to pitch or swing a bat.

But when pitcher Braden Webb takes the mound, a synthesizer begins to play and a voice, anyone familiar with Webb’s slightly Southern accent can recognize as his, plays.

The song is one he recorded and uploaded to the audio-sharing website SoundCloud.

But for the righty pitcher, it’s a little bit more than a self-indulging, 30-second clip before he brushes the dirt of the little white strip and digs in.

He recorded the song while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, a serious procedure for athletes, especially baseball pitchers who injure their elbows.

So to try and stay upbeat during recovery, Webb turned to rap as his escape.

“A lot of guys don’t make it back from Tommy John surgery and I definitely don’t want to be one of those guys who got depressed,” he said.

The song is one of two he has online. The songs "Beast Mode" and "Sale" are both Christian-based raps and have close to 9,000 combined views.

The song he comes out to is “Beast Mode,” and lyrics include rhymes like: “Going beast mode to the Gamecock row, 803’s my home now. Packed my bag, kissed mom and dad, jumped on a plane like oh wow.”

“It talks about my journey coming from Oklahoma to South Carolina, the 8-0-3,” Webb said.

And beast mode is a fitting title considering how the freshman has started the season for the No. 14 Gamecocks (20-2, 3-0 SEC).

Webb is 4-1 in five starts with a 1.71 ERA. He’s given up only 14 hits while striking out 28 batters. His .147 batting average against is good for best among pitchers who’ve pitched at least 16 innings.

So he’s gone from spitting fire rapping to throwing it on the mound.

And that spawns from his winning mentality. He started hot but he’s had some control issues, walking a team-high 17 batters this season. And a loss against Clemson was jarring; it was the freshman’s first loss since his sophomore year of high school.

But since then he’s rebounded to win his last two starts. In those two starts—wins against Charleston Southern and Arkansas—he’s only given up one earned run on six hits while striking out 11 and walking six in 12 innings.

He even changed his song to "Beast Mode" last weekend after not pitching well against Clemson.

"His walkup song got changed because we were making fun of him," freshman infielder LT Tolbert said. "I think (Colton) Provey was in the dugout that Sunday and said you didn't show beast mode today, you have to change your song to 'Beast Mode' so you can start pitching well again. So it worked well."

And, against his first SEC opponent ever, he dominated a slugger-heavy Razorback team, mowing down seven while allowing two runs (one earned).

“He was better today than he has been in his last couple starts from a command standpoint,” Holbrook said after the 6-2 victory. “He’s got electric stuff. I love his demeanor.”

Webb, a draft-eligible freshman, is showing he certainly has MLB-level talent and should be one of the names called at some point this summer during the draft. But if he doesn’t go pro, he may have a future in the rap business.

“I just love doing it. Everybody makes fun of me for it, but I enjoy it,” he said, smiling. “It’s Christian rap and I love giving all my glory to God.”

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