My story begins in the Summer of 2013 as a rising junior at Myrtle Beach High School. Throughout my high school career I was an average righty in the mid to low 80's, however, I possessed the ability to locate and mix speeds. Therefore, at the high school level, that was good enough to get plenty of outs and have success. As I continued to pitch with no true structure or recovery I began to feel immense elbow pain. Thinking that soreness/pain was a natural occurance in throwing I decided to pitch through it. A few weeks later the pain was unbearable, I struggled to open jars, grip heavy objects, and turn doorknobs. After finally seeing a doctor, I was diagnosed with a partially torn UCL. Unsure what my next step would be, my family and I decided that the best approach would be a PRP injection. After my injection I researched this training facility called the Florida Baseball Armory in Tampa, Florida and decided it was the best fit for me as they had a background in these types of injuries. Although I continued the program once I left the Armory, I still had excruciating elbow pain and had to miss half of my junior season. Not only was I still in excruciating pain, but my velocity took a dive barely below 80 mph.After my season ended,I visited the Armory again for a weekend camp. Sticking to the program they gave me, I was finally healthy my senior year and jumped to 84-87 mph and earned a scholarship to Lander University at the end of my senior year.
The transition from high school to college was a big jump for me, however, I was able to find a lot of success in my limited exposure. Throughout the fall I was able to perform well enough to earn innings as a freshman. Once the season came around, our team was experiencing a ton of success. Through my freshman spring I received some innings here and there totaling my inning count to 10. However, I was part of a D2 World Series team and to have the ability to pitch on a world series team as a freshman was priceless in itself. Over the summer, I decided it was best for me to play summer ball and get more exposure to college hitters. As I experienced a lot of success in summer ball I noticed my routine to become less structured after each outing. I finished my freshman summer with a successful campaign and was ready to prove myself in a starting role under a new head coach that fall.
Once I stepped foot on campus for the fall, my elbow pain came back. I rehabbed all Fall with no luck and eventually found out I needed Tommy John Surgery. I was told by my coach that the TJ rehab process would take me over 15 months to complete, however, I refused to accept that I may miss two full seasons. I followed your atypical rehab process with isolated movements and distance throwing progressions. I felt great throughout my entire rehab process until I got on the mound again. I firmly believe it was because I spent over a year throwing on flat ground without ever touching a mound throughout that time. My body just wasn't used to the slope and my entire timing was off putting more stress on my elbow than ever before.
I almost couldn't take it anymore. From months 12 to 15 I was throwing 80 MPH with at maximum effort with a ton of pain. I was on the verge of quitting baseball but something inside of me told me I couldn't stop, not now at least. It wasn’t until month 16 that I was finally pain free. Once I was free of pain I had my first opportunity to finally pitch in a game again. Roughly 486 days since my last competitive pitch. By now, I'm a redshirt junior. I made my first appearance on opening weekend and threw the hardest I had ever thrown at 90-92 mph. I was on top of the world, my stuff was electric and my motivation for more was higher than it's ever been. After I earned a spot to be a consistent arm on the pitching staff something happened that I never could have predicted. Midway through the year I randomly caught the yips in a game and couldn’t throw a strike. My coaches thought it was just a bad outing, however, this problem kept occurring. My final 3 outings tallied up to be 1 inning, 6 walks, and 9 earned runs. I was never in a situation like this before and was ready to hang up the cleats again. I decided to give the summer one last try and through my own experimentation of mental and physical training I learned to enjoy baseball again and came back throwing strikes.
After another successful Fall in 2019 sitting 90-92 I was finally ready to put together my first full successful season. I started out as one of the main guys on our experienced Lander staff then COVID-19 happened. My desire to play never shifted and I utilized that time to the best of my ability. This is where I truly began to dive into all facets of pitching. Coach Burke gave me an opportunity to come back for my final season in 2021 and pursue my MBA. This time was bit of a different approach for me. I started to take a hands on approach with my teammates aiding in their training and development and we began to see some big strides together. It was this year where I developed a passion for helping others develop, coaching, and training. After my final season at Lander I accepted a position at the Florida Baseball Armory training athletes on the floor and handling all areas of their programming. Once my summer internship at the Armory ended, I accepted a position as Lander's pitching coach. I had the opportunity to bring a unique perspective and continue to bridge the gap between player development, coaching, and performance. Finally, at Connected Performance I'll have the opportunity to bring my college and private training to a remote setting to aid with college consulting and one on one training.