Though not as much as in the past, it is not common to see sidearm, or underhand, pitchers in the major leagues.
Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Ryan Thompson (31) is a unique pitcher in that sense. The right-hander sidearm, who debuted with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2020, has been building a successful big league career with a 3.57 ERA in 139 games over the past four years.
John Morosi, a columnist specializing in Major League Baseball, recently told an interesting story about him. It was a story that he grew into a sidearm by watching and imitating Kim Byung-hyun's pitches as a child.
I met him at the World Series Media Day at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, on the 27th and heard more details.
When Kim Byung-hyun's name came out, he looked bright and said, "When I was a child, I wanted to be an extraordinary person. "I wanted a unique appearance in deciding how to throw the ball," he said about his childhood.
He has seen pitchers with unique pitching forms on TV and video games, and it was Kim Byung-hyun and Orlando Hernandez who caught his eye.
"I really liked Kim Byung-hyun's pitching movement. I also liked Hernandez's big leg kick. When I was 10 years old, I decided to combine these two pitching movements to create my own pitching movements. I tried to learn by imitating their pitching form in the backyard."
Thus, he entered the professional career with his own pitching form. He was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 23rd round in the 2014 draft.
There has also been a change. "That's how I threw it until the lower single A," he said. However, I decided that it would be difficult to throw with such a pitching form in 2015, so I changed it to my current pitching form," he explained.
And in 2023, he will be on the same stage wearing the same team's uniform as Kim Byung-hyun, who inspired him as a child, played in the World Series in a Diamondbacks uniform.
"When I first came to this team, I didn't even think about it. "I think it's really cool to think that I'm throwing now in the team where the pitcher who inspired me played," he said.
This season, he was released after 18 appearances with a 6.11 ERA for Tampa Bay, but he has become a completely different pitcher with a 0.69 ERA in 13 games since signing with Arizona.
He cited the role as the biggest difference between the previous team and the current team.
"In Tampa Bay, the role was not set, so I didn't know when and how to throw it. There were times when he threw more than two innings, and there were times when he went down with just one out. There were times when he came out in the fourth inning and there were times when he finished. It was really hard to endure that role for years. Everyone has a routine for their own preparation, but there were times when such a routine was played two or three times during the game alone. There were times when he did not throw while warming up thinking he would be put into the game. If it happened only twice in the current team for seven to eight weeks, it happened several times every week there. It was a huge burden on his arm, and it was difficult to show his best performance even when he played. When he came to this team, the coach first said, "I will not let that happen." It's really nice to be able to predict what's going to happen. Of course, the postseason is a little different." 토토사이트
Pitcher coach Brent Strom is also giving him a boost. "He is trying to strike a balance between data analysis and old schools. Usually, pitching coaches are prone to data. But when you pitch in real life, there's a lot of things that computers can't say when it comes to catching hitters," he said of Strom's method.
He said, "When I first came, 'Show me what you can do. We need your performance. I believe in your ability. I believe I can catch both left and right batters,' he said. "You can catch all the left and right batters" was something that the previous team had not heard. I gained confidence," he said, adding that he gained confidence in the new team.
It's not his first time at the World Series. He advanced to the 2020 World Series when he was a member of Tampa Bay. At that time, the game was played in a neutral area due to the novel coronavirus infection pandemic, and this was Globe Life Field.
"At that time, only half of the audience came in, so it was a slightly different atmosphere," he continued, "I think the energy and passion given by the audience is the biggest factor. I'm really looking forward to what it will look like when this place is full. This atmosphere cannot be created in practice. You have no choice but to learn it from experience. That's why I think past experiences are very helpful. The enthusiastic cheering of the crowd and the situation where everything is at stake will be a great motivation for me," he said, expressing his excitement to play in the World Series.
