Stroman on the importance of locating your pitches pic.twitter.com/d6EANEHfPH
— Axcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) November 11, 2017
Toronto Blue Jays ace Marcus Stroman hosted a clinic at Hofstra University today for young ballplayers .
Stroman arrived and was greeted with a warm welcome from the crowd. He immediately spoke about his pitching philosophies. In the above video he demonstrates with his younger brother, Jayden, on the difference between missing your intended location by a fraction of an inch “when you’re facing big league hitters like Jose Altuve and Aaron Judge.”
He also took the time to take pictures and sign autographs for the athletes before everyone split into groups and he worked on various drills.
It was a season to remember for the 2009 Pat-Med grad. He registered a career-high in wins (13), ERA (3.09) and games started (33), despite a scary incident in September when he was drilled by a 109 MPH line drive on his pitching elbow by Mark Trumbo.
He stressed the importance of being an athlete on the mound, and being prepared to field your position. He credited his father, Earl, for making him play multi-sports (basketball, football) for his athletic prowess.
Stroman was awarded American League Gold Glove last night, he led all American League pitchers with 37 assists, and thanked Troy Tulowitzki and Ryan Goins for working with him in between starts.
Prior to the season, he elevated his star to global status when he was the winning pitcher in the championship game of the World Baseball Classic against Puerto Rico, earning the United States’ first championship in the history of the World Baseball Classic.
He spoke to reporters after the event and stated that he feels “that was kind of the perfect transition to get my body right, to get my pitches right and I felt really strong going into the season,” he told Axcess Baseball.
With the presence of Stroman, Nick Tropeano and Steven Matz in the big leagues and players like Nick Fanti and Mike O’Reilly on the fast track, it certainly provides more credence to the quality of baseball coming from Long Island.