In an period when baseball is enamored with triple-digit fastballs and 94 mph “off-speed” pitches, Trey Dombroski is an anomaly.
Dombroski — a lanky, 6-foot-5 left-handed pitcher out of Monmouth College — is projected to be an early spherical choose within the MLB Draft, which begins Sunday. In June, The Athletic pegged Dombroski because the 52nd-best prospect. And Dombroski has scaled massive boards with out assistance from velocity, which is so typically a requisite in in the present day’s recreation.
“For me, velocity is just not an enormous deal as a result of that’s probably not who I'm,” Dombroski instructed The Submit.
It’s a formative conclusion that 21-year-old faculty pitchers could wrestle to understand. However Dombroski is confident and content material together with his fastball, which usually hovers round 91 mph.
Dombroski got here to embrace his pitching type the summer time earlier than his junior yr, which he spent pitching for the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod League.
“That’s after I realized methods to put all of it collectively,” Dombroski, a Manasquan, N.J., native, mentioned.
He started the summer time on a brief contract, residing on the margins of the Harwich roster, and pitched out of the bullpen for the primary time in his profession. After two profitable aid appearances — and with the deadline to increase momentary contracts looming — Dombroski’s supervisor summoned him into his workplace.
“My coach was like, ‘What are you doing the remainder of the summer time?’ ” Dombroski recalled. “And I mentioned, ‘Hopefully staying right here.’ He was like, ‘Deal. You’re gonna be right here for the remainder of the summer time and, even higher, we’re gonna make you a starter.’ Now I’m like, ‘Holy s–t.’ ”
However with an elevated alternative got here a problem. The Cape Cod League is among the nation’s premier summer time circuits, an oasis for the sport’s budding stars to hone their craft underneath the watchful eyes of scouts and coaches. So image Dombroski — a soft-tosser from Monmouth within the Metro Atlantic Athletic Convention — amid a crop of gamers from the game’s typical goliaths.
“You’re studying the rosters like, ‘Holy crap,’ ” Dombroski mentioned. “I used to be a small fish in a big faculty. And I had one thing to show, as a result of I needed to indicate them that faculty baseball on the mid-major stage continues to be the identical recreation because the Energy 5.”
To take action, Dombroski realized to belief himself. He relied on his slider, his greatest pitch, and grew extra snug together with his curveball and changeup, mastering the flexibility to throw every pitch on any depend. He created completely different variations — for example, an enormous, sweeping slider and a brief, extra compact slider — to serve completely different functions over the course of a recreation.
He pressured three core tenets: command, deception and sequencing.
“What was massive for me was simply going on the market, you don’t attempt to be somebody you'll be able to’t, as a result of being any person you'll be able to’t could be very exhausting to do,” Dombroski mentioned.
That technique proved almost flawless. Dombroski dominated the Cape, pitching to a league-best 0.85 ERA with a league-high 45 strikeouts, incomes the BFC Whitehouse Excellent Pitcher award.
“He went up there with the most effective within the nation and was as profitable as anybody,” mentioned Dean Ehehalt, Dombroski’s head coach at Monmouth. “He measured himself with what different guys might do and simply took off.”
When he returned to Monmouth for his junior season, Dombroski utilized these classes and flourished, posting a 3.13 ERA with 120 strikeouts in 95 innings. And whereas he touched 95 mph on the radar gun, he most popular to not danger rising drained and compromising his principal objective: six innings and two runs or fewer in every begin.
“I take a distinct strategy to pitching than most guys,” Dombroski mentioned. “A whole lot of guys wish to grip it and rip it. All exhausting fastballs, exhausting sliders. For me, it’s the flexibility to take one thing off. You simply lean on your self and belief what you’re good at.”
That philosophy has steered him to the verge of an expert profession. Solely 5 Monmouth gamers have gone on to succeed in the massive leagues. The Purple Sox chosen Pat Mild within the first-round in 2012, although Mild had only a three-year MLB profession. Brad Brach, a Forty second-round choose by the Padres in 2008, has been extra profitable, carving out an 11-year profession as a dependable bullpen arm.
Dombroski could nicely push that record to 6.
“He has his complete future in entrance of him and I do know he’s gonna fireplace his greatest shot transferring ahead,” Ehehalt mentioned.
Dombroski will — it simply might not be the quickest.
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