Mizzou Hall of Fame Feature: Kyle Gibson
10/23/2019 9:11:00 AM | Baseball
Tiger righty was one in during a dominant pitching renaissance during the mid-to-late 2000s
Former Mizzou right-handed pitcher Kyle Gibson left Columbia after being drafted 22nd overall by the Minnesota Twins in the 2009 MLB First-Year Player Draft. A decade later, the righty will be inducted into the Mizzou Athletics Hall of Fame as part of its six-member 2019 class.
Gibson joined Mizzou Baseball in 2007, pitching behind eventual first-round pick, and 2013 Mizzou Hall of Fame inductee Aaron Crow. With Gibson and Crow leading the pitching staff, the Tigers raced to a 42-18 overall record while hosting a Regional in the NCAA Tournament.
The righty watched Crow pitch in the coveted Friday pitching slot for two years. After Crow was drafted ninth overall by the Washington Nationals, it was Gibson's turn to pitch under the lights on Friday nights.
"Watching how Aaron Crow went about that for two years really helped me out and allowed me to understand what that mindset and mentality needed to be my junior year," Gibson said. "I was ready my junior year to be that Friday guy."
Gibson was part of arguably the golden era for Mizzou Baseball pitchers. He was one of many elite hurlers who were mentored by legendary Mizzou coach Tim Jamieson during the mid-to-late 2000s. He was part of three straight Friday Night aces to be selected in the MLB Draft's first round, doing so based on a pitching program that was predicated on a simple approach.
"I was always in the mindset of let's get to two strikes as fast as possible, and let's try and get the bat over as fast as possible," Gibson said. It's something that stuck with me is going out there and throwing inside, and getting in on guys and making them have really uncomfortable at bats."
In 2009, having rebounded from a slow start to the season, the Tigers went into the Oxford, Miss., Regional as the second seed. An 11-game winner, Gibson was tasked with facing Monmouth in the second game. In what would become the final start of his Mizzou career, Gibson cemented his name into the record books.
Pitching to the tune of an 8-0 lead going into the eighth inning, Jamieson opted to leave Gibson in despite being fatigued and dealing with forearm pain. With a strikeout in the frame, Gibson tied Mizzou great Max Scherzer for the most single-season strikeouts in program history.
"I didn't realize that was the one and I appreciate that he pushed me for that," Gibson said. "To be in the same company as Max on that number was very special."
Gibson joined Scherzer once again in the 2019 MLB Playoffs. He was a part of a 101-win Twins team that brought an American League Central division title to Minneapolis for the first time since 2010.
For him, being Mizzou Made is a point of pride, which is why when Director of Athletics Jim Sterk called Gibson with the good news of his Hall of Fame induction, he was shocked.
"It actually kind of blew me away," Gibson said. "I didn't even see it coming."
For Gibson, now pitching for the 2019 AL Central Champion Twins, he uses many of the lessons he learned on the mound as a Tiger while pitching in the majors.
"We had a very professional approach; it was not about going up there and throwing balls and just trying to get guys to swing and miss all the time," Gibson said about how he was coached at Mizzou. "We were really focused on forcing contact and having quick at bats, along with getting guys to swing the bat early and put the ball in play. That doesn't lead to not getting strikeouts, because we struck people out, I think it really set me up for professional baseball going from metal bats to wooded bats."
Gibson joins 30 other former Tiger baseball players, including Crow and Scherzer, to be inducted into the Mizzou Athletics Hall of Fame. He and Ralph Hochgrebe (who will also be inducted this year) are the first baseball players since 2017 inductee and former Twins player Tim Laudner.
"I saw how much it meant to Tim," Gibson said of watching Launder earn the distinction two years ago. "He was 20 years removed from playing at Missouri, and he got inducted. To hear how he spoke about it, how much it meant to him, it kind of brought up the same memories when I got the call."
Mizzou will always be a source of pride for Gibson. He spoke with the team last time the Tigers were in Fort Myers, Fla., for an early-season tournament. Fort Myers is where the Twins play in spring training, so he took time to show the entire team around the facility. He even shared some of his wisdom with the team and the lessons he learned that have led him to The Show.
For Gibson, keeping in touch with the program and passing on his knowledge is his way of giving back to a program that did so much for him.
"To understand the tradition of Mizzou Baseball and understand what being Mizzou Made means; it puts a lot of special feelings to it because there are a lot of guys who go to Missouri, that aren't recruited by big schools," Gibson said. "They go to Mizzou and they try and get better and try and make themselves better as a person than a player, and I was one of those guys, go there and get under the right coaches and get in the right system, listen to the strength coaches and get bigger and stronger, so I can get better at baseball and become a Mizzou Made product."
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Gibson is part of the 2019 Mizzou Athletics Hall of Fame class. He is one of six outstanding former University of Missouri athletic figures who have been selected for induction into Mizzou's Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame. They will represent the 29th induction class since the Hall's inception in 1990.
The class will be formally inducted Fri., Nov. 15, in a ceremony and celebration to be held that evening in Columbia. The group will also be recognized at the Mizzou Football home game the next day against Florida.
Tickets for the reception can be purchased through http://www.tsfmizzou.com/halloffame. If fans have questions, please mail (flakerl@missouri.edu) or call the Tiger Scholarship Fund office at (573) 882-0704.
