By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In the fall of 2023, Bradley Hodges pitched as well as anyone on the University of Virginia baseball team, and he was projected to be a weekend starter last year.
But Hodges made only appearance for the Cavaliers in 2024. An elbow injury ended his season shortly after it began, and the 6-foot-1, 210-pound left-hander had Tommy John surgery on March 5, 2024.
“That’s just how the game works,” Hodges recalled Wednesday night at Disharoon Park. “It’s humbling.”
Months of rehabilitation followed his surgery. Hodges slowly increased his workload, and he returned to the mound March 11, pitching two innings in UVA’s 7-6 win over Maryland in Fredericksburg.
Hodges threw 34 pitches in that game, striking out three batters and walking two. He started again Wednesday night against Richmond at the Dish and threw 42 pitches. It wasn’t a flawless outing for No. 10—Hodges gave up three hits and three runs in 1.2 innings—but UVA head coach Brian O’Connor knows not to expect too much from Hodges too soon.
“It’s a process,” O’Connor said after No. 23 Virginia’s 6-2 loss to Richmond.
In the top of the second inning, UR had runners on first and second with two outs when its No. 9 hitter, Trevor Dosenbach, came to the plate. Dosenbach was batting .200 for the season, but he stroked a double that put the Spiders up 2-0, and Hodges’ day was done.
“I was hoping that he could get that guy out and we could start the [next] inning with somebody else,” O’Connor said. “But that didn’t work, and sometimes you’ve got to take chances, too, for them to grow. And Bradley will. It means a lot to him. And so we’ll continue to run him out there and give him opportunities to get us off to a great start, and hopefully, as the weeks move on, that pitch count grows and grows and he gets even sharper and sharper. Today, he threw better velocity than he has thrown in the preseason, so that’s encouraging. So there’s promising signs, and you just continue to build on that.”
Hodges, who struck out three and walked two, wanted to pitch better against Richmond (19-2), “but at the end of the day, I’m going to continue to wake up tomorrow and work on being my best,” he said.
A graduate of St. Johns Country Day School outside Jacksonville, Fla., Hodges is in his third year at Virginia. He made 19 appearances as a true freshman in 2023, with one start, and posted a 2-0 record, with a 4.32 earned-run average.
“It’s great to have him back,” UVA catcher Jacob Ference said. “He’s got some steps to make, obviously, but when he’s full-fledged I’m really excited to see what he can provide.”
Hodges said his teammates and coaches “have motivated me to get back out there and get healthy to compete and be my best self for this team. And seeing the energy that we bring at practice has also really helped motivate me to get back. But really I just want to get back out there and help this team.”
Patience is required, and that’s not a quality that comes naturally to Hodges. “I’m not really wired to sit back at wait,” he said, smiling. Still, Hodges knows that the Hoos could be playing into June, so there’s time for him to regain his form.
“I have that in mind, but I want to be out there for these guys, and competing for this team is something that I came here to do,” Hodges said, “and I want to do that to the best of my ability. And so that’s really the emphasis I’m putting on myself.”
His pitching arm feels different since the surgery, Hodges said, and that’s been a challenge for him. “But at the same time you have to kind of just get over it and be like, ‘OK, this is the reality now, and I’ve got to learn with this block of clay that I have.’ And that’s kind of been my mindset with this.”