Jimmy's Story

If any of us were going to make it out of D2 and do something it was Jimmy

Jimmy was 22 years old our freshman year coming off doing a 4 year stretch and he looked the part-absolutely blasted

6’4” 220 rocked up and could dunk from anywhere during pickup games

6 months into our Fr year he was 92-94mph (on the old juggs gun, so 94-96 now)

Looking back I don’t know how organizations would’ve viewed a guy that’d done a 4 year stretch

But sadly we never got to find out

Because weenie hut Jr Baseball culture got to him first

He started saying things like “I don’t need to get all tight up top anyways”-and turned his upper body workouts into physical therapy

Then our clueless pitching coach installed running poles per pitch which left him jogging for 45 minutes after every bullpen

His muscle mass and explosive ability steadily dropped

And 6 months later he was topping 86

Pitched badly, transferred, still was 86

And there it ended

It was my first insight into how baseball culture FEAR, and the wrong training methods, could even take down guys who had a real shot

-Fenske