1 week Ago
CLEMSON — Clemson pitcher B.J. Bailey and his baseball campers retreated inside on a rainy day in July 2023, which put a basketball into the hands of a former three-sport athlete.
Bailey, the 6-foot-3, 180-pound lefty, was ready to wow his excitable mob with a 360 windmill dunk. "Just out there with the kids, having fun," Bailey said, "and then just a freak accident." When Brian Bailey arrived to the hospital, his son's leg was mangled so badly the doctor said it looked like he'd "jumped out of an airplane.
" In reality, B.J. came down on a camper's foot.
His landing was so awkward, it fractured a bone and completely tore his ACL and meniscus. A random mishap stole Bailey's 2024 season at Clemson. But it gave him something else back.
"Any athlete who has their sport taken away from them has a unique perspective on life," Clemson baseball coach Erik Bakich said. "You don't know how you're going to come back, and you don't know if you're going to return to form. "When you do get back, and you do get healthy, you are cherishing every moment.
You have that different perspective and appreciation for it." Bakich admits some surprise that Bailey, pegged as a "margin" or short-relief pitcher, has emerged as a weekend starter for the No. 4-ranked Tigers.
After two seasons at junior college Spartanburg Methodist , Bailey logged a 4.02 ERA in 152⁄3 innings for Clemson in 2023. He holds a 1.
36 ERA in 33 frames this season. Quite a turnaround, but it fits in the fifth-year senior's story. Bailey, of all people, should appreciate what he lost and has been given back.
His grandfather, Stephen Bailey, was a great pitcher in high school and American Legion ball, but he was eventually bound to a wheelchair by multiple sclerosis. B.J.
's father Brian had to give up sports to take care of his father. B.J.
's other grandfather, Charlie Phillips, was a three-sport athlete who went on to play football at Carson-Newman . "I told B.J.
at a young age, I said, 'Man, you got it in your blood,'" Brian Bailey said. "You just gotta keep working and keep grinding and believe in yourself and trust the good Lord that special things are going to happen." Brian set his son on a competitive path.
Quite literally. When he was a kid, a pair of B.J.
's cleats were screwed into a 4-by-8 sheet of OSB board , because Brian needed to train out B.J.'s habit of stepping out of the batter's box versus opposing pitchers.
"It was a lesson about being tough," B.J. said.
On that wooden board, B.J. dispensed of his fear.
He became an athlete who rifled passes at quarterback and reached for the rim when he finally stretched tall enough to dunk a basketball. He'd grow out his curly hair and fully tattoo one of his arms. With his glasses, he could be mistaken for a Southern iteration of Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn .
"He's a free-spirited guy," Brian said. "He loves his family. He loves his friends.
He'll do anything for you. He'll give you a shirt off his back if you need it." He'd attempt a 360 windmill if it would put a smile on a baseball camper's face.
Unfortunately, Bailey caught a kid's foot on the way down. In the nine months it took for Bailey to become comfortable running full speed again, he had to focus on other things. Bailey charted opposing pitchers' outings for Clemson and tried to find "tells" in their delivery.
He focused on the finer details of his delivery later in his rehab process, finding consistency and trust in his leg during bullpen sessions. Then, Bailey fell down some stairs and broke his right, non-throwing wrist ahead of Clemson's 2024 fall season. He had to sit out, again.
"I told him, man, I might put you in a bubble," Brian Bailey said. "But everything happens for a reason, I truly believe that." There are more technical reasons for B.
J.'s success, allowing just one run in his first eight appearances in 2025. The lefty worked with Clemson pitching coach Jimmy Belanger to develop his changeup and add a slider.
But it's deeper than that. "I think it's the neck-up stuff with him," Bakich said, "the perspective and the appreciation for just getting to be out there pitching for Clemson." He put up zeros in short relief outings and longer ones.
He earned a start at Georgia Tech, and Brian headed toward the visitors dugout to offer his son encouragement pregame. B.J.
saw his dad coming, cutting him off with a smile, a thumbs up and a wink. Brian went back to his seat without offering a word. "He's got this," the elder Bailey told himself.
Clemson's lefty proceeded to battle, inning by inning, like reliever would. Only this time he sat down 27 Yellow Jackets and allowed just one run in 62⁄3 innings. Bailey helped clinch the series at Georgia Tech, then helped the Tigers sweep Cal the very next weekend.
"He's a JUCO bandit. He's got long, scraggly hair," Bakich said, smiling. "I'm really happy he's having success because it is not easy to be injured when you're 18 to 22, 23, and your whole life has been about being a baseball player.
"But he has really come back. And come back strong." Stronger than a 360 windmill dunk.
"There's never doubt going out there, feeling anxious or nervous I won't be able to get the job done," Bailey said. "It's more feeling blessed to be able to go out there again. It gives me confidence going out there every time.
".
