Baseball: Life as a bandit
Josh McAllister's journey from walk-on to centerpiece of Georgia's lineup
Josh McAllister isn’t sure where the nickname “JUCO bandit” came from.
He thinks it might have originated with his roommate, Georgia pitcher Jack Gowen. It has since spread throughout the team, including to head coach Scott Stricklin who frequently says it at practice.
The name describes a player who shows up every day and goes about his business. McAllister is a gritty player. Stricklin said he always sports a dirty uniform in the clubhouse after games. He’s a well-liked player and one of the most important cogs in Georgia’s offensive machine.
And to think, he almost never wound up in Athens.
“I’m kind of just taking everything in,” McAllister said. “It’s kind of a surreal moment for me.”
A 2017 graduate of Lambert High School, McAllister went to Florida Southwestern State for his college baseball. In two seasons there, he batted .270 in 95 total games.
After the 2019 season, McAllister looked to take his career to the next level. He had just one problem - there were few scholarship offers.
So, he decided to walk on at the school he grew up cheering for as a kid. He arrived in Athens in the fall of 2019 just looking to earn a spot on the team.
“I told myself that I could play anywhere,” McAllister said. “I told Coach Stricklin that when I first got here on campus. My first fall, I played everything from third base to first base to right field. It didn’t matter, wherever Coach put me I was like, ‘That’s fine, as long as I can get on the field, get my reps.’”
McAllister redshirted last season, observing the game and working with hitting coach Scott Daeley. Heading into the fall of 2020, he made the change that has made him what he is now.
Early in his baseball career, McAllister employed a big leg kick as he readied to swing. With the help of Daeley, that has been drastically cut down.
“I used to have a big load, and now I don’t have a big load,” McAllister said. “I just kind of rock back and forth, pick my foot up a little bit and swing.”
Even before he became one of the stars on the team, McAllister served as a leader by example. Freshman pitcher Jaden Woods said McAllister stood out to him early with his work ethic and attitude.
Woods respected McAllister’s ability to put bad plays behind him. One day in an intersquad game, he saw the infielder make a bad throw to first.
“He was kind of down himself just a little bit,” Woods said. “Then the next two, they were the most perfect plays I’ve ever seen. Just to see that, it was more of, he wasn’t hanging his head when he made that bad play. He bounced back from adversity like he was supposed to.”
As the season approached this spring, the right-handed McAllister found himself looking at a platoon situation at second base with the lefty Buddy Floyd. Stricklin told the duo they both would receive playing time early in the season, with the goal of one of them eventually winning the job.
Over the first two weeks of the season, McAllister went 7-for-17 at the plate. The guy that self-admittedly is prone to cold starts and expected to be a super-utility guy started his first season at Georgia hot.
“I worked with Coach Daeley a lot in the fall on my swing just kind of getting timing down and seeing the ball,” McAllister said on April 1. “I think it’s just about seeing the ball. For some reason, this season to start, I’m seeing the ball extremely well.”
McAllister started the season hitting in the lower half of the order. As his bat continued to produce, he eventually moved higher and higher until he settled in the two-hole.
Stricklin liked his aggressive approach at the plate. His second baseman likes to swing early in the count and doesn’t walk much, but he hunts fastballs and punishes them with great effectiveness.
McAllister hit .362 over the first month and a half of the season before going down with a hamstring injury against South Carolina. He returned to the lineup on April 16 against Kentucky, batting second.
The next night, McAllister moved to the leadoff spot. He replaced Ben Anderson, who has batted first most of the season but has struggled for much of the year.
“It’s so important to get that leadoff guy on because you’ve still got the threat of a bunt, you’ve still got the threat of a hit and run,” Stricklin said. “It keeps the defense guessing. If you’re not getting leadoff guys on, you’re looking at an offense that’s not going to score much.”
In three games at the top of the order since the move, McAllister has proven he’s made for the spot.
He has batted 7-for-19 (.368) with five runs and four RBI at the top of the lineup. McAllister also blasted a home run in the most recent contest against Clemson.
“I wouldn’t be shocked if you started seeing some first pitch breaking balls, first pitch of the game breaking balls just because he’s so aggressive and has that power,” Stricklin said. “It just puts some more pressure on that pitcher.”
Anderson is more of a prototypical leadoff hitter. He’s a fast guy who hits for average but not a ton of power. McAllister is more of a complete hitter, pairing power with average. On top of that, Anderson has been hitting ninth as a type of second leadoff man.
Stricklin has employed a similar lineup in recent years with Tucker Bradley and Tucker Maxwell. It worked then and it’s working now, as the Bulldogs have won the past three games with McAllister hitting leadoff while scoring 11 runs per game.
It’s been a long journey for McAllister, both to get to Athens and to find his way into the leadoff spot. Stricklin said he didn’t expect anywhere near this type of production from McAllister, but at this point in the season it’s hard to imagine the Bulldog offense without him.