Getting To Know Cole Galvagno

With the 2018 baseball season rapidly approaching it is time to take a look at and meet some of the new faces that will be on the Washington Baseball roster. Over the next several weeks GoHuskies.com will introduce the 14 newest Huskies. Featured today is pitcher Cole Galvagno.

GoHuskies.com: Talk about your experience so far as a freshman, how did fall go for you?
Cole Galvagno: My whole life I have wanted to come here and play ball; it's all I've ever wanted to do. I was really excited coming into fall and I have been very pleased with how the team has responded with everything going on. It's been cool just to be able to meet the guys and I thought it was really rewarding because we worked really hard in the fall. We just got off break and I'm excited that we get to get back to it.

GH.com: What do you think you can provide to this team?
CG: I think I can provide a spark, not just in the way that I play but in the way I can motivate. I feel like I'm a spark plug and that I'm the rah-rah guy. I just like to have fun with all the boys but I can bring a certain level of intensity to the team as well. I bring some strengths to our bullpen and I think I can provide a lot of depth and get those innings in so we can save arms for later games. I hope I can be a force out of the bullpen for us.

GH.com: Can you talk about your journey to get here?
CG: In high school I was a late bloomer. I wasn't even on Eastside Catholic's varsity squad until my junior year. My junior year I decided that there was only one place I really wanted to go, even though I was talking to a bunch of CCs and JCs that were around. I was just so focused on getting here and my senior year coach (Jason) Kelly gave me a call around October and said he wanted to see me throw bullpen. I met up with him and I threw a bullpen for him and he let me know that if I get my grades up and get into UW then I can be on this team. I remember I cried that night and that was kind of when the journey started. I decided I would be a Dawg and do whatever it takes to be one.

GH.com: Why did you always want to be a Dawg?
CG: My whole family went here and I mean I have a picture of me and my mom when I was six months old at my first Husky football game. My family has had season tickets for years now and we always had ties to UW. A good way to put it is that I can't imagine myself anywhere else but here.

GH.com: Do you have a favorite Husky memory from when you were a kid?
CG: That's tough. I would maybe say the 2010 Apple Cup with Jake Locker to Jermaine Kearse for us to go to the Holiday Bowl, that was unbelievable. That was the first bowl we had been able to go to in something like nine years. Of course, also the College Football Playoff last year. Isiah Thomas' step-back jumper against Arizona in the Pac-10 championship game. There's too many honestly but those are just some of my favorites.

GH.com: What kind of direction did you get from your high school coach and former Husky Kyle Larson?
CG: Having Coach Larson as both my high school and my summer league coach for four years was awesome. He knew a lot about baseball and how to develop players and create a solid mindset and fundamentals. To have him be there for me, especially during this UW process, he would just constantly pump me up before games. When Coach Kelly came to one of my games against Seattle Prep Coach Larson was prepping me up. He was telling me to "go show", he's all about opportunity and he's a great coach because of that. He's motivated me and he's motivated a bunch of other players and I respect him a ton.

GH.com: What pushed you over the hump in high school that elevated your game?
CG: The problem was my freshman year I missed the entire year because of an arm injury. I had overthrown a bit and had some regular bicep tendinitis. The doctors said I could get rushed out there but it would keep going so we decided to take our time with it. That was a struggle for me because I didn't have that big year because freshman year is a big year nowadays with all the recruiting going on. My sophomore year I hit a bit of a growth spurt from about 5-foot-9 to about 6-foot-1. I decided that when I finally could get back to ball that I had done the time and the rehab and now all I want to do is go prove myself.

GH.com: Has it always been baseball for you?
CG: It was my first love. I played football in high school a little bit until I had to decide between football and baseball and for me there was no choice. I always loved baseball ever since I was four or five years old. It's like medicine to me. If I'm not feeling well or having a bad day, when I'm out on the field with my friends, there's nothing better.

GH.com: You're a big Mariners fan. What do they have to do to get to the playoffs?
CG: My first thing is for them to get some consistency. If you look at the Mariners they'll have the best games they'll show when they're clicking on all cylinders. Then against the Phillies they'll get swept. That's what's confusing and for me I've been wondering that question my whole life as a Mariners fan, what do they have to do to get to the playoffs? Looking at them they're starting to get some more depth especially in the bullpen and stuff, which is always going to help. They have to bring out the money, bring out the big bucks and have consistency. For me, in my blind 18-year-old view that's how I see it.

GH.com: You're interested in opening your own business some day. What kind of business are you hoping to open?
CG: I've been wondering that for quite some time. The more I think about it the more I just want do something that matters. I know that's easy to say, but for me that would be like a charity. Something that can make strides in our community, that can help people out instead of just me and my family. That's what I've always wanted to do, to start, not even necessarily my own business but even a charity for things, I've always been passionate about that.

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