Calm, cool and collected: three words that describe sophomore starting pitcher Bubba Derby, and the three things that have led him to become the new ace of the San Diego State pitching staff.

Derby made a name for himself coming out of LaSalle High School, a small school in Pasadena, where he struck out a whopping 237 batters in 177.2 innings. He garnered offers from schools such as the University of Hawaii and the University of California Santa Barbara, but family values led Derby to come to SDSU.

“Here, I knew that with the offer they gave me, I knew it was going to be a good experience for not only me, but my family,” Derby said. “Being only two hours away from home is important because my family is my biggest supporter.”

Fast-forward to last year where in his freshman year, Derby was given the nod to be the closer by head coach Tony Gwynn, a move that came as kind of a surprise to him.

“I was shocked, I wasn’t expecting them to put a freshman into that role,” Derby said.

Shocked or not, Derby was up to the challenge, tallying 10 saves, which led the Mountain West Conference and helped him to be selected as a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American and second team All-Mountain West Conference.

“I enjoyed it, I had a lot of fun being the closer last year,” Derby said. “Mentally I feel like it toughened me up; you go through a lot of good times and a lot of bad times, it’s humbling.”

However, during the summer, Derby had his sights set on a different goal: to become a starting pitcher. To accomplish that he spent his summer in Maryland working on getting his stamina back up.

At the beginning of this season Derby was still slotted to be the closer, but his coaches had conveyed to him that he may get a crack at the starting rotation sooner or later.

“They said they wanted me to still be the closer, but if I didn’t pitch a lot on Friday or Saturday, then I would start Sunday,” Derby said.

Soon enough it happened. After the first road trip of the season to San Jose, Gwynn decided to move Derby into the starting rotation and move junior Michael Cederoth into the closer role. This was an opportunity Derby had been waiting for ever for since he came to SDSU.

“It’s what I have been working towards, it’s what I wanted this year,” Derby said. “I worked my butt off over summer to be where I am at now; everything seemed to work itself out.”

Thankfully things worked out the way they did because Derby has emerged not only as the best starting pitcher on the Aztecs, but one of the best in the country, going 5-2 with a 2.40 ERA and 62 K’s in 63.2 IP.

“Bubba has just taken off with his new role, he likes being that guy on Friday night, I think he thrives in big situations,” pitching coach John Pawlowski said.

What may have been masked, however, due to his overwhelming success, were the adjustments he had to make to transition to becoming a starting pitcher again.

“It’s definitely a big adjustment mentally, you have to know that your team will pick you up if you make a mistake early,” Derby said. “It’s also a big adjustment physically you’re expected to go at least seven innings for your team.”

There’s no doubt that Derby has solidified himself as the ace of the pitching staff and for a team who made an NCAA Regional for the first time in four years expectations are high. Derby may just be the guy to help this team live up to those expectations.

“The thing with Bubba is he is willing to learn, he’ll start, he’ll close, he does whatever we ask of him,” Pawlowski said. “Just look at the success he had last year, then you flip the bill and all of a sudden he is our Friday night starter.”

Throughout all his success, Derby remains humble and tries to keep things simple.

“You know we have a saying here, ‘Just throw strikes and sing the fight song,’” Derby said.

Off the field, you will find Derby hanging out with sophomore relief pitcher Zack Oakley, who he met in the dorms last year and now lives with this year.

“He’s a really great friend and someone that you love to have on your team,” Derby said.

A huge influence in Derby’s life has been New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, who is Derby’s favorite baseball player and someone he has looked up to his entire life.

“For me it’s not just the success that he has had on the field,” Derby said. “You never see him get into any kind of trouble, he’s someone I model myself after and someone who my future kids could look up to someday.”

While it’s still early in his collegiate career, Derby has high expectations for himself and with the backing of his family and religion, he hopes to someday accomplish his dream and make it to the MLB.

“I’m just going to go out there every day, enjoy the experience and have fun with it,  I just have to focus on controlling what I can control,” Derby said.