How pairing baseball with golf fueled Elder's All-Star trajectory

It’s incredible to think Bryce Elder has gone from being Triple-A Gwinnett’s Opening Day starter to All-Star within a span of three months. But to truly understand how far this Braves pitcher has come, it’s best to go all the way back to his sophomore year at Decatur (Texas) High School, when he asked whether he could play on both the baseball and golf teams.

“I remember when he came in my classroom, shook my hand and looked me right in the eyes,” former Decatur head baseball coach Brian Tickell said. “He said, ‘Hey coach, I’m Bryce Elder and I’m a golfer. I want to play college golf. I played baseball in the past, but I haven't played for a while. Is there any way I can do both?”

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Fast forward nine years, Elder is now a baseball player who occasionally plays golf. In fact, the Atlanta hurler is an All-Star in his first full season as a Major Leaguer. This might not have occurred had his high school not replaced Tickell’s predecessor, who didn’t allow his baseball players to play other spring sports.

So, after learning of his selection on Sunday, Elder took a picture of his All-Star invitation and sent it to Tickell, the man who opened the door for him back into the baseball world on a regular basis for the first time since fifth grade, when requirements of travel ball led him to begin spending more time on the golf course and his family’s boat.

“It was very emotional for me, because I feel so much love for the young man,” Tickell said.

Elder, Ronald Acuña Jr., Sean Murphy, Orlando Arcia, Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies, Austin Riley and Spencer Strider are the franchise-record eight All-Stars who will represent the Braves during Tuesday night’s All-Star Game.

Elder spent this season’s first few days in the Minors and now ranks fifth in the National League with a 2.97 ERA. This unexpected rise is just a continuation of the journey Tickell helped create by simply giving Elder a chance to play both sports, as long as he got all of his pitching work done before heading to the golf course.

“He came out and threw his first bullpen and I accidentally cracked a smile,” Tickell said. “Just the way it came out of his hand, I knew that he had some there.”

Elder tasted success throughout most of his high school career, but he didn’t draw the attention of major universities or pro scouts. One junior college in Texas said he didn’t throw hard enough. That’s even funnier now that he has become an All-Star with a fastball that sits around 89-90 mph.

It looked like Elder might settle to pitch at Howard Junior College before Tickell was chosen to coach in a high school All-Star Game. He got Elder a spot on the roster and made sure the University of Texas coaches knew to keep an eye on him.

“They showed up and then left after the first of the two innings he threw,” Tickell said. “We thought, 'Well, we tried.' But a week later, when he was throwing summer ball in Houston, they showed back up and offered him.”

Texas made the late offer to Elder as it tried to replenish a roster that lost 14 players after the 2017 season. The determined pitcher made the most of his opportunity with the assistance of the Longhorns’ former pitching coach Phil Haig, who helped the young right-hander develop a grip for his sinker.

“When we would talk pitching, I would say 75 percent of that was relating to hitting a wedge or putting a visual of golf in his brain that he just related to pitching,” Haig said. “You could think about having your 60 degree [wedge] and then accelerate through the club and you get the backspin and he’d say, ‘Oh, I get it.’ Then he’d snap off that next pitch and I’d go, ‘Man, that was really easy.’”

Tickell and Haig are among the many folks who have helped Elder ascend to this level of being an All-Star. He has already earned the respect of one of the game’s best hitters.

“If [the Braves] get into the postseason, he's going to be really good for them, I think, just because he has no heartbeat,” Bryce Harper said after Elder recently quieted the Phillies’ lineup. “He's very slow out there. He knows what he's doing.”

Elder is an All-Star and he is the best golfer within the Braves’ clubhouse. Seems everything has worked out since that day he entered Tickell’s classroom hoping to reintroduce himself to baseball while pursuing a golf career.

“It’s so cool to see from afar, and I think it’s even more special knowing what kind of kid he is,” Haig said. “He understands who he is as a pitcher and what’s going to make him successful.”