'Cats in Baseball: Andy Bass

Cats in Baseball is a series of stories highlighting Davidson alumni who work in the highest levels of the game. The series opener is here.

Andy Bass '11
• RHP
• Degree: Psychology
• Mental Performance Coordinator, Pittsburgh Pirates

Andy Bass knows what it's like to succeed and struggle in the sport you love. He's lived both.

The former Davidson pitcher heard his name called on draft day and was paid to play baseball, and he's also felt a moment's excitement replaced by disappointment and loneliness on the mound. And his personal story gives him credibility with the players he now speaks with as a mental performance coordinator with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

A 2011 graduate, Bass was selected by Tampa Bay in the 18th round and made his pro debut for the Hudson Valley Renegades of the New York-Penn League in June of that year, on the road against the Staten Island Yankees. It was a night that shaped his future.

Bass entered a tied game in the bottom of the ninth inning with both the high hopes and nerves of a rookie. He arrived on the mound for the first time as a pro ball player, with his dream realized, then could not throw a strike. No matter what he tried, nothing worked and with each miss, the pressure mounted.

His first 15 pro pitches were outside the zone.

"I got out there, and I was just chunking it low and glove side," says Bass. "It wasn't like I was throwing it to the backstop, and it wasn't like I was brushing the guys back or hitting them in the head. I was just missing." Andy Bass pitching 2

After walking the first batter, the Yankee fans were on him, and he'd never experienced that kind of heat from a crowd, had never had his own misfortunes magnified in that way. After the second walk, his pitching coach arrived at the mound. His message? "What are you doing? Just throw strikes."

"Needless to say, that didn't help," says Bass.

Four pitches later, with the bases loaded, the catcher returned to the mound.

"He was exactly what I needed," says Bass. "He said, 'Look, I don't know how you feel about this, but let's just back it off a little bit, and let's see if we can just groove one down the middle and get you back into this.' That was what I needed."

Still, the next three pitches missed the mark. Then Bass found the zone — earning sarcastic applause from the Yankee fans — on the next two pitches before the batter lofted a sacrifice fly to deep center field. It was enough to plate the winning run and end a disappointing and difficult debut.

The pain of those moments is not something Bass imagines ever forgetting, but what happened next still resonates with him as well. His teammates, infielders and pitchers alike, didn't disperse in their typical way when the final out was recorded. They all waited on him in the dugout.

"They didn't know me," says Bass. "I'd only been up there for two weeks. That really meant a lot to me, and the whole microcosm of that night really got me interested in coaching, got me interested in what psychology really means out on the mound and what it means to be a team and have that cohesion. All of that was the tipping point for me saying, 'this is what I want to do.'"

Following his first pro season, Bass immersed himself in the mental side of the game and returned to the mound in the Chicago White Sox organization. He was better prepared, with an improved mental approach, and experienced firsthand the progress that a proper mindset could make.

"I could throw strikes, and I wasn't afraid to pitch anymore," he says. "I was able to perform, and I was able to get outs. There was still a long way I would have needed to go, but physically, I knew I had probably peaked."

When his 2012 season ended, it was time to move on.

The mental game
The expansion of the mental side of the baseball industry came along at a good time for Bass.

While playing for the Wildcats, he majored in psychology, with a minor in philosophy, and after two years of playing pro ball, he entered graduate school at the University of Tennessee. Andy Bass headshot

In Knoxville, he also worked at a local baseball training facility, initially as a pitching coach. But over time, and with his advanced studies, his role evolved into more of a mental skills coach.

Then in 2018, he joined the Pirates organization, combining his interests into one full-time job. He works to equip players and coaches with the tools to reach their peak performance, with their minds working for them. He's also part of coaching education that includes motor learning and skill acquisition.

"I never envisioned this," says Bass, who is based near Nashville, Tenn. "It checks the boxes of everything I'm passionate about, but in 2010 and 2011, there just weren't these positions in pro sports."

Bass spends time with Pirates affiliates in rookie ball to the Triple-A level, and has worked alongside fellow Davidson alumnus Dave Turgeon, who is now the manager of Double-A Altoona. He often stays with a team for 10 days or more before moving on, and as the only member of the Pirates' mental skills staff who played baseball, he uses that to his advantage.

"I'll get out there and I'll shag fly balls with the players, and I've gotten a little better at fungo," he says. "I've got a long way to go as a fungo hitter, but I'll catch up with guys during infield practice and outfield drills. Really, that just allows me to around."

For Bass, that's a lot of his job — being an available resource for players and coaches. His job is not to walk up to a player who just committed an error and analyze it for him, but rather build relationships so when he's needed, he can be of assistance.

On campus
A right-hander, Bass ranks fourth in the Davidson record book with 80 career appearances and ninth with 8.1 strikeouts per nine innings.

Mostly used out of the bullpen, he led Davidson with the lowest opponents' batting average for two years, including .213 as a senior, and could pitch in the low 90s. Andy Bass with Cooke

"He became a legit power arm," says former coach Dick Cooke. "His calling card was his hard velocity."

Coming out of high school, Bass was attracted to Davidson by the high academic and athletic standards. Once he visited campus for a fall camp and met with the coaches, he knew he'd found a fit.

"I fell in love with Cooke's philosophy toward baseball and school at Davidson," he says. "He really saw his players as students first, and that's what I wanted."

Bass wouldn't trade his Davidson experience for anything. He enjoyed it all, from the classrooms to the diamond, and he values the bonds he still shares with classmates and teammates, professors and coaches.

And it was at Davidson that Bass was first intrigued by something called sports psychology.

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