Brown Submarines Way to Dominance

Those who know baseball as the art of the arbitrage will point out that its simple concepts—pitching match-ups, defensive alignments, and the like—favor zigs and unexpected zags.

At the game’s highest levels, for example, lefty hitters exploit the market’s overproduction of right-handed pitching talent. Lefty pitchers remain time-honored commodities.

Jason Brown is another story entirely.

The Harvard junior, who stands at 6’1 and whose pitches top out at 83 mph from the mound—modest numbers in collegiate ranks dominated by smoke-throwing giants—learned how to throw underhanded not long ago.

“That’s maybe the main reason I’m here,” says Brown, the Crimson’s active leader in pitching appearances, who sits in a cafeteria on a recent morning. “Because I can do that.”

Unfortunately for the owner of the Ivy League’s most idiosyncratic delivery, it gets lonely at the top.

“For me, throwing sidearm, it’s always been kind of self-taught,” Brown says. “Because not that [Harvard coach Joe Walsh] or anyone doesn’t know a lot about pitching; it’s just completely different...If you ever haven’t done it, you don’t know what to do.”

In October 2005, the junior found himself at an impasse. He had pitched the game of his career in a five-inning, two-run start at April’s Fenway Park Beanpot Championship; but in 14 relief appearances, he registered a frightening 6.46 ERA, marking a decline from his rookie season.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox were at home for October’s American League Division Series with Chicago. On their roster was a 36-year old veteran pitcher named Mike Myers who, like Brown, threw from the rare “submarine” arm slot.

Unbeknownst to Brown, Myers kept in contact with Walsh, a former Cape League coach.

“I got a phone call that Mike Myers wanted to use [O’Donnell Field],” Walsh says. “He was going to work out a guy in the minors...who was dropping down.”

Brown was on his way to class in the afternoon when he received a call on his cell phone. It was Walsh.

“Hey, Mike’s going to be down here this afternoon at 1:00,” the coach said. “Would you want to go down and get a chance to work with him?”

Says Brown, “I immediately left class and went straight down.”

Brown worked with Myers for more than half an hour, correcting subtle kinks in his delivery.

For one, Walsh says, Myers instructed Brown to dip down as he attacked the plate rather than before, as he had previously done. Myers also helped him with his arm angle and demonstrated an improved sidearmer grip.

“He was a really nice guy, really patient,” Brown says. “Because nothing came to me quick when I was working with him...He was willing to just work with me. He didn’t count it as, like, a hassle or like I was bugging him or anything.”

All of a sudden, Brown was throwing darts. His pitch movement had increased. His slider broke harder. His control had improved.

“This fall,” Walsh says, “he’s throwing 83, nobody can touch him. Nobody. I can’t wait to wheel him out. His ball is just tch tch tch tch. When we have indoor workouts, if Jason’s throwing in the cage and somebody’s throwing 90 in the other cage, [the batters] all jump in the 90 cage. He’s making guys look silly.”

The first time Brown threw to teammates in batting practice, he dominated them. He struck out four of the first six he faced; the other two hit weak grounders.

“I was a completely different pitcher,” Brown says.

Brown’s most striking advantage was a handle on what had made him a college pitcher in the first place: the submarine delivery.

His fastball darted from left to right better than before; his slider swung from right to left. His changeup was a work in progress, but remained an option.

The key to his success? Volatility in the ranks of college hitters.

Few ballplayers have been trained to pick up the delivery or the spin of a low-flung baseball. Brown just used his advantage more effectively and consistently.

“It’s a different look,” Brown says.

But he struggled to maintain his gains. Like a golf swing, the submarine motion remains contingent on a number of factors—“Am I saying back? Am I staying closed? Am I getting extension? Am I using my backside?” says Brown, counting them down—with the most important perhaps being mental stamina.

In Harvard’s season-opening series against Florida, Brown’s confidence—and control—failed him. He allowed five earned runs in three innings.

In a game against the New York Institute of Technology last Saturday, however, Brown pitched nearly three innings and yielded just one run, ironing out both his technical flaws and punishing self-doubts. He looks ahead to Spring Break with confidence.

Myers, who signed a contract with the New York Yankees in the offseason, remained in touch over email. But the major leaguer’s advice had made its greatest difference in October.

“It completely changed my game, my mindset, and the way I pitch,” Brown says.

—Staff writer Alex McPhillips can be reached at rmphill@fas.harvard.edu.