After evolution, Flying Squirrels reliever Clay Helvey has enjoyed best season of his career – Richmond Times-Dispatch

When Clay Helvey looks back at the evolution of his pro career, theres a line of demarcation that splits the first half from the second half.

In his first two years within the Giants organization, drafted out of Division II powerhouse Tampa in 2018, he was a completely different pitcher than the version that has emerged in the past two years, he said.

I had to kind of change who I was, Helvey said Thursday. And not completely. But I essentially got better, and it forced me to change.

Early on, Helvey wasnt satisfied whatsoever with what he had shown. He knew he was better.

The right-hander posted a 6.27 ERA between the 2018 and 2019 seasons. And he went through multiple role changes out of the bullpen, which made it tough to discover an identity on the mound.

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Until Helvey simply decided to let go. To not worry about what inning he was brought in, how many innings he would pitch or what batters he would face. He stopped overthinking in a mindset shift that began late in the 2019 season.

The mental adjustment has been a catalyst to the marked improvement in performance Helvey has displayed during the past two seasons. The 6-foot-3 195-pounder out of Fort Mill, S.C., has posted the best season of his career this year, which put him on a path to his first promotion to Double-A earlier this summer with the Richmond Flying Squirrels.

The mindset switched and, kind of, the drive changed a little bit, Helvey said, of his career progression that began about three years ago. I wasnt content with just being OK. I wasnt content with just being good enough. And I wanted to be better.

Growing up, early in his time at Fort Mill High, Helvey considered himself a better hitter than pitcher. But Jake Robbins, a former major league pitcher for Cleveland and the vice president of Matthews, N.C.-based Showcase Baseball Academy, saw potential in Helvey as a pitcher.

Robbins worked with Helvey to begin trying to hone the talent he saw. And Helvey began to focus more on pitching as a sophomore at Fort Mill.

He performed well enough on the mound that he began to get recruited as a pitcher and committed to play at the College of Charleston where his older brother, Nathan, was a pitcher.

Helvey pitched in six games and allowed three earned runs in five innings. Though he couldve stayed there, he felt it was a good idea to seek a fresh start elsewhere.

He landed at St. Johns River State College, a junior college in Palatka, Fla.

With the Vikings, Helvey posted a 4.52 ERA in 63 innings and eyed a move back up. But he didnt have the ample credits to transfer to a Division I school.

So Helvey, remembering the positive assessment he heard of the program at Tampa from a teammate at the College of Charleston, found a home there. And he saw further improvement, enough to draw the attention of MLB scouts.

Tampa really let me kind of pitch my own way and show off my stuff, for what it was worth, Helvey said.

Helvey had a 3.34 ERA in 70 innings at Tampa in 2018. The Giants picked him in the 22nd round of that Junes draft, 646th overall.

As Helvey got better as a pro, he had to, as he termed it, relearn how to pitch. He began to throw harder, and the quality of his pitches improved.

Part of the relievers journey was simplifying his arsenal into a three-pitch mix of four-seam fastball, slider and curveball. By streamlining, Helvey cuts back on how much he has to think while on the mound, and it has helped him.

With the Flying Squirrels, Helvey had a stretch of 12 straight appearances from Aug. 5 to Sept. 11 in which he didnt allow an earned run. He has a career-best 2.68 ERA this year in a career-high 53 innings.

Erie 5, Flying Squirrels 1: Andrew Navigato cracked a two-run home run in the fifth inning to highlight the SeaWolves Eastern League victory at The Diamond on the penultimate day of the regular season.

Carter Aldrete homered, his sixth of the year, in the eighth to drive in the only run for Richmond (25-42), which will wrap up its regular season Sunday with a 1:35 p.m. game against Erie at The Diamond.

The Flying Squirrels, who won the Southwest Division title in the first half, will then prepare for the best-of-three Eastern League semifinals, which begin Tuesday. Richmond will face the second-half champion, either Bowie or Erie. Bowie and Erie are tied after the BaySox lost to Akron on Saturday night.

wepps@timesdispatch.com

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Twitter: @wayneeppsjr

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After evolution, Flying Squirrels reliever Clay Helvey has enjoyed best season of his career - Richmond Times-Dispatch