PEARL — Upon arriving in Starkville last fall, it didn’t take Michael Busby long to see how different pitching in the Southeastern Conference would be compared to throwing in the Mississippi Private School Association.

The fastballs whizzing back into the outfield, the same ones that so often went right past hitters in high school, were all the proof he needed.

“It doesn’t matter how fast you throw here,” Busby said. “I got used to it in the fall. No matter how fast you throw, you have to hit your spots and set batters up. You can’t throw it by them.”

As Mississippi State’s season has progressed, Busby seems to be learning the lessons well. Like any freshman relief pitcher, he’s had some good days and some bad ones. Slowly but surely he’s developing into a familiar face for the Bulldogs in the middle innings and cementing his spot in their bullpen.

Busby is second on the team with 13 appearances heading into this weekend’s SEC series with Alabama, and his 27 innings pitched are fourth most on the team behind weekend starters Chad Crosswhite and Ricky Bowen, and fellow reliever Forrest Moore.

“He’s a good breaking ball guy. Good arm strength. He’s an inning-eater,” Mississippi State coach Ron Polk said. “He’s really going to help Mississippi State in the future.”

Busby’s track record so far this season has been a mixed bag. He threw two scoreless innings in his second appearance against Alabama-Birmingham, held the line in a brief three-batter stint Tuesday against Ole Miss, and had his best and longest outing against Georgia. In that game, he allowed one run and three hits in 6 2/3 innings when starter Tyler Whitney failed to make it out of the first inning.

He’s also had some rough outings, though, like last weekend when he gave up five runs and six hits in only 1 1/3 innings against Vanderbilt. Altogether, Busby is 0-3 with a 5.67 ERA, 23 walks and 23 strikeouts. For his four-year career at Porters Chapel Academy, Busby had an ERA of 0.69 and walked a total of 59 batters.

Polk chalked any struggles up to the normal freshman learning curve.

“He’s a typical freshman. Very few freshmen step in and excel right away,” Polk said.

Despite any difficulties Busby has had, Polk hasn’t been afraid to bring the right-hander back out of the bullpen. Busby has earned more playing time than a typical freshman — partially because of injuries throughout the MSU roster and a lack of otherwise experienced arms — and he was grateful for it.

“I’m definitely happy with my playing time. The big thing is doing everything I can with every single opportunity,” Busby said. “You never know when they might change their mind. It’s fragile. That’s the biggest motivation for me.”

Polk also hinted that even more playing time might be in Busby’s future. The rash of injuries has forced Polk to use 25 different lineups in 36 games this season, and he said Busby may see some playing time at shortstop before the season is over.

Busby played short when he wasn’t pitching at PCA and earned a reputation as an outstanding fielder and solid hitter. He hit .566 his senior year, and never hit below .456 in four varsity seasons. He took some grounders at short during warmups on Tuesday, but so far has not played there in a game.

“Michael may have to play some infield for us before this is over. Which isn’t bad, because he’s talented,” Polk said. “He’s a very competitive kid. Down the line, I really believe he has the ability to help this program as a position player.”

For now, Busby will keep coming out of the bullpen and trying to help the Bulldogs out of some tight spots. It’s a role he’s quite happy to stay in for now.

“That’d be awesome if that happened,” Busby said of playing shortstop. “If not, I’ll be satisfied with what I’m doing.”