Keeping It In Perspective
March 11, 2022 | Baseball, Joel Coleman
Kellum Clark’s confidence has returned and so too has his big bat for the Bulldogs.
STARKVILLE – The fastball to Mississippi State's Kellum Clark missed high on Friday night against Princeton and the Bulldog right fielder dropped his bat and headed to first base. There was just one problem. The pitch Clark had watched was only ball three.
So halfway down the first base line, Clark made a U-turn. Back to the batter's box he went, perhaps just a touch embarrassed at his gaffe.
"I got back in, and I was like, 'Dude, if I strike out, I'm going to be mad,'" Clark later said.
Not to worry. Clark saw another fastball, this one on the inner half of the plate. He swung. He connected. In the blink of an eye, the ball sailed over the right field wall at Dudy Noble Field.
It was the exclamation point of an 11-2 Mississippi State victory. It was a win fueled by Clark.
He had three hits. There were two homers and a double. He drove in seven runs.
It was a night to remember for the sophomore slugger. There have been several of those of late as Clark has hit at a .333 clip with four homers and 13 RBI over the last six games.
This is the Kellum Clark Mississippi State knew it had when this season began. He simply had to keep plugging away to get there.
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The casual observer watching on Friday would've never known the man hitting missiles all over the ballpark was mired in the woes of a season-opening slump just a week before.
Clark started the year going hitless in his first 16 at-bats. He'd had some bad luck – driving the baseball right at defenders at times. But that didn't ease his mind all that much as he went through it.
"To be honest, I was just low on some confidence in the beginning, and I think that for every hitter, confidence is just so freaking important," Clark said.
Clark's belief might've been shaken. Yet he didn't let the doubt stick. Why?
"It's about perspective," Clark said. "There's so many more things that's worse than going 0-for-your-first-16. I promise you. So, I was looking for just that first one and it was like it just wouldn't fall. At the same time, there's so many worse things in the world than going 0-for-16."
Wise words from a guy still a few weeks shy of his 21st birthday. Unfortunately, he had to learn part of the lesson that led to this mentality the hard way.
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Rewind back to last year. Clark stayed in his home state, came up from Brandon and joined the Bulldogs as a promising freshman.
He got four at-bats in the season's first week, but something just wasn't right. Clark was sick. He hadn't been feeling all that well for awhile and it finally all just caught up to him.
"I wasn't trying to get better because I was so focused on baseball," Clark said. "It came to a point where I was really sick, and I had to lay down baseball a little bit. Sadly, that was during the middle of the season."
Clark didn't see any action for an entire month. But he worked his way back, became a part of State's batting order down the stretch and then had two of the biggest swings in MSU history at the College World Series to help State to its first-ever national title.
Now, a year removed from all that, Clark thinks back to it all and it allows him to put his February struggles in their proper place.
"Last year, I would've traded an 0-for-16 stretch to be not going through what I was going through then," Clark said. "I've told some guys this year, it's all about perspective and looking at the end of the day like, 'Does this really matter if I'm struggling right now or if I did really good today?' None of it matters. It's all about clearing it, coming back the next day and trying to do the best you can again."
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Clark has certainly practiced what he's preached. He shook off the 0-for-16 stretch.
The breakthrough came in the series opener at Tulane on March 4. In Clark's first at-bat, he watched three straight balls to start. Then State skipper Chris Lemonis gave Clark a gift that has kept on giving since.
"I thank Coach Lemonis," Clark said. "He gave me a 3-0 [count] green light. I was sitting there, and I was like, 'Did he really give me that?' I pretty much made up my mind before the pitch that I was swinging no matter where it was."
Swing he did. It was an RBI single.
"Sometimes that's all it takes – a 3-0 green light and just piecing up a ball to get the bat going and get some confidence," Clark said.
Before the night was through, he'd added a two-run homer.
Clark had two more hits and another long ball before the three-game series was done. He had a hit and two RBI in a midweek win over Texas Tech. Then came Friday against Princeton when Clark was squaring up pretty much everything.
In the dugout was Lemonis, so proud to see Clark reap the fruits of his recent labor and mental toughness.
"He's just been working," Lemonis said of Clark. "We could tell in practice…Then we played at Tulane, and he's just taken off. He's a really good player. The game just kind of goes like this [and has ups and downs]. He's kept his head down and worked and done a nice job."
Explains Clark of his now red-hot bat: "Once you have your head on your shoulders and you've got confidence that you're going to go up there and succeed, you tend to succeed a lot more. I made some small adjustments to my swing, but it's mostly [been adjustments in my mind]. That's what [the problem was before]. It was mostly just in my head."
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Now, Clark's mind is clear. The burden has been lifted. He's hitting as well as anyone in the Mississippi State lineup and helping carry the Bulldog offense.
Odds are though, the production won't always stay at this level. Baseball is just that way. It's a humbling game. It can get you down.
It could certainly get Clark down again at some point, but it's a safe bet it won't keep him there. His perspective won't let it.
It seems like a certainty Clark's resiliency will always see him through to the other side of any slump and get him back to – at the very least – finding ways to help the Dawgs Win Again.
"[Putting up good statistics is] fine, but I care about winning more," Clark said. "Losing makes me mad. It just ruins my day when we lose. When we win, it doesn't matter what I do. I'm just trying my best to help us win and at the end of the day, if we win, I'm a happy fellow. That's all that matters to me."
