1. Could you tell us your story on dropping down?

  I wouldn’t quite classify myself as a true “side armer” or say that I “dropped down” during any point in my career, but more of a low 3/4’s arm slot.  My slot was just something that came naturally to me when I started playing baseball and stuck with me for my entire career.

2. What are some of the advantages you had from your arm angle?

I loved the angle I threw from for multiple reasons.  The first being that it gave me tremendous run and sink to my fastball that ended up being my bread and butter pitch for my career.  The second is the deception that it added against RHH’s, especially if I stood on the 3B side of the rubber.  It made me feel as if I was releasing my fastball and slider behind their ear and making them feel uncomfortable in the box.

 3. If you didn't drop down, do you think you would have had the same success?

 I never really deviated from my arm slot or tried to drop any lower during any parts of my career, but when I look back on it, I do wish I would have experimented a little bit more with more of a sidearm or lower arm slot.  I spent time the last few years of my career trying to develop a new pitch that would help get me to the next level but couldn’t quite figure it out and have always wished that I would have tried lowering my slot to see if that would have helped my chances of reaching the big leagues.

4. What would you tell someone debating on changing their arm angle?

If its something they want to do and believe they will be good at it, then I say dive in with both feet and try to become as good as you can be.  Put as much mechanical work and video work as you can to develop your ability to throw from there.  I’ve worked hard my entire career trying to consistently repeat my delivery and arm slot and still haven’t mastered it completely, so for anyone who is thinking about changing what they normally do will have to understand that it is going to take a lot of time and effort to feel comfortable with making a significant change to their throwing mechanics and delivery.  If they are willing to put in the time and patience, then go for it.

5. Are there any mechanical tips that you'd give to someone throwing sidearm/submarine?

Sidearm slot or traditional slot, I would tell whoever it is pitching, try to be as athletic as possible and have good rhythm in your delivery.  Both of those components can translate to an efficient and repeatable delivery regardless of where your arm angle is.

6. What pitches did you throw?

 Sinker- 90-94.  Slider- 83-85.  Changeup 85-86

7. How did you pitch to lefties/righties?

RHH’s- I loved pounding my sinker in on RHH’s hands, whether that be early or late in the count, which depended on pitch sequence and the hitter. I would use my slider as my strikeout pitch and try to bury in down over the plate. I would also use it early in the count with runners in scoring position.

LHH’s- My achilles heel for most of my career and part of the reason that I needed to work on developing a new pitch. I had most success by working my sinker down and away early in the count and spinning my slider to their back foot with 2x’s. I struggled to command the inner half of the plate, especially early in the count because I would get too much run back over the plate. My change up was just too inconsistent, but its a pitch I needed to be good in order to be effective against lefties consistently.

8. What was your favorite part about pitching from down there?

I loved the whippy-ness my arm felt from my angle as well as the sink I got to my fastball. It made me feel like I had a pitch I could throw at anytime to get any hitter out and be successful.