Hoover puts everything together on mound for Gibsonburg

Nolan Hoover was on the mound when Gibsonburg topped No. 2 Hopewell-Loudon as a freshman.

A monster was born. The junior allowed nine hits and struck out 66 in 39⅔ innings this season.

“That feeling reassured me, rankings and hype don’t matter on the field,” he said. “Everybody is equal in that moment.”

Not everyone, however, performs like Hoover. What’s his secret?

“My dad sat me down, and I loved every minute of it,” he said. “We watched Nolan Ryan, the best ever. He had great body mechanics. We’d watch his motion. One of them was a slo-mo of how his body moved. I watched and tried to replicate it.”

Softball Gibsonburg's Hall morphs into hitter after summoning confidence

If Nolan Ryan is your model, you’d better study every facet of pitching. It’s extremely complex and each component can be broken down scientifically.

“Being confident and competing,” he said. “You have to always have confidence, no matter the situation. It gives you an element of swagger at times. If you believe you have the power to overcome the other team in a tough situation, there’s a better chance you do.

“That leads to more dominance. I’d like to be the guy my team can count on when they need me most.”

Even at 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds, Hoover can be intimidating. He gained 10 pounds in an effort to generate power.

“I think about pitch shapes and when to use a pitch,” he said. “I love the strategy and how to set up a batter. Where to place a pitch at certain times. Even if it gets away, it can be beneficial. If I go inside and almost hit a batter, there’s a slight fear factor.

"Then I can come with a curve that looks like it might hit you and breaks over. You can be wild; it messes with hitter’s heads sometimes.”

Hoover’s size makes it easy to place a chip onto his shoulder.

“A lot of undersized pitchers and players are overlooked,” he said. “Coaches are looking for that big tall lefty. It’s motivating with that pressure almost to prove them wrong. Maybe I’m not the ideal size, I can still get it done.”

He tries to use his entire body in his delivery. All the moving parts work together to comprise the best motion for ideal results.

“You don’t want to put too much stress on your elbow,” he said. “You want to get into your legs and hips; distribute power. I don’t have long arms or long legs to get closer to the plate; it’s putting my whole body into every throw.

“Being efficient in every movement you make to the plate and putting your body in position to throw the ball safely.”

Nolan Ryan defied logic and pitched until he was 46. These days, seemingly every pitcher requires Tommy John surgery during their career.

“Personally, there are so many injuries because there’s a lack of efficiency through the whole body and they’re putting too much stress on one part of the body,” Hoover said. “You need to have no extra, unnecessary movement toward the plate.”

A pitcher can be inefficient with their stride, hip rotation, follow through, shoulders, off arm, release point, leg kick or weight shift from back leg to front. It's not always easy to identify where you're fighting against efficiency.

It all works together to transfer energy. Even if you know what it looks like, you have to repeat it every time.

“You have to figure out what your body needs to do for optimal power while maintaining fluidity and finesse by mastering it doing it time and again, over and over," Hoover said.

He can work the strike zone at all levels and encourage swings on pitches just outside it.

“A lot of it has to do with an umpire’s specific zone,” he said. “If an umpire likes the outside corner or up, it’s a matter of working the umpire and batter. If you’re throwing it in a spot they’re not looking to hit, it’s good to go back there.

“If you go back there enough, they sit on it. Then, you go back to where you wanted to go in the first place. You play games. If they don’t know what’s coming, you’re in a good position as a pitcher.”

Hoover throws four- and two-seam fastballs, a changeup and curve. He’s tinkering with his arm angle, but not yet in games.

“A lower arm slot can mess up a batter,” he said. “If I come over the top for the first 15 pitches, they won’t expect a sidearm slot.”

Hoover bumped up 2 mph and throws his fastball about 84 mph. He reached 86 training with Cincinnati minor league pitching coach Brian Garman, but he focuses first on command.

“Both are important,” he said of velocity. “You can’t be a successful pitcher if you don’t have (command) down. In high school, it’s become, ‘How can I get velocity?’ Playing catch with my dad made me stronger.

“They work hand in hand to an extent. You have to work hard to make your velocity jump, or your command. I’m always doing command first.”

Hoover, who wants to play baseball after high school, likely would be effective if all he did was throw it past batters. He likes to pitch.

“I’m always thinking on the mound,” he said. “I can ride my fastball but I’m making adjustments off tendencies and what a batter’s strengths seem to be.”

Hoover uses a pitcher’s perspective to his advantage when he is at the plate.

“Knowing the strategy behind pitching gives me an advantage to know when a pitch is coming or when to lay off,” he said. “I know how to set a hitter up, so I think about how they’re trying to set me up.”

Hoover has only one strikeout in 42 at-bats. He drove in 10 runs and scored nine, with a .357 average.

Freshman Reese Walby leads off and Grant Dawson bats second for Gibsonburg (8-5, 6-5). Chuy Rodriguez and Bray Hill provide Hoover with support on the pitching staff.

Cory McKnight is the catcher.

"Any good pitcher needs someone behind the plate to do the dirty work and he's done a really good job behind the dish," Hoover said. "He's definitely been instrumental in me being confident throwing any pitch I want at any point in the count or in the game."

Jim Hoover started bringing his son to the diamond when he was 8. They started working on different pitches a few years later.

“My dad and I have drilled location and mastering pitches,” Hoover said. “The biggest part to success is control; I can usually put the ball where I want to put it.”

Instead of footage of Nolan Ryan, Hoover adjusts off clips of himself.

“That’s the first place I go if I struggle,” he said. “My dad takes video and we analyze how my body moves. I know the rights and wrongs of a fluid pitching motion and body mechanics. That’s where I go to stay on the right track.”

Nolan Ryan isn’t the only person Hoover looks up to.

“I wouldn’t be close to where I am if it wasn’t for God, Jesus,” he said. “He’s helped me through so many things in life and shaped me. All glory to Him.”

mhorn@gannett.com

419-307-4892

X: @MatthewHornNH

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Gibsonburg Golden Bears baseball OHSAA pitcher Nolan Hoover