Keith Holcombe was having a solid start to his sophomore season, hitting .293 with 12 starts in 15 games for the Alabama baseball team. But now the outfielder needs to take a few weeks off from diamond to focus on something that might be a little more important to him.

The gridiron.

Holcombe, who showed a lot of promise as a special teams contributor for the Crimson Tide in 2015, is trading his bat for a football for the last few weeks of spring practice so that he can compete for a starting spot on one of the most formidable defensive front seven units in the nation.

“We knew from the get go, these are those three weeks that … Keith is competing to be the (middle) linebacker,” Alabama’s baseball coach, Mitch Gaspard, told AL.com. “I think, both sides want to keep him in the best position to have success on both sides. For him to really compete on that side right now, he’s got to put his time in.”

Alabama spring football practice ends April 16 with the A-Day game. Gaspard is aware of that date. So is Nick Saban.

“We want him to play,” Saban said. “It makes it more difficult for him to balance what he needs to do in football and he has a chance to be a great contributor next year on the football team. By not being there in the spring and doing some of the things in the role that he fits into, it could affect his development to some degree. But whatever he misses, we’ll make every effort to make up so that he gets those reps and can get where he needs to be.”