Brunswick Pirates pitching coach Nathan Harsh understands everything that could be going through the minds of his young pitchers because he once wore the same uniform they wear now.
Harsh came on the scene and emerged as a developing varsity pitcher as a high school freshman under first year Brunswick head coach Charles Skipper, who had been a longtime assistant to former Pirate head coach Jimmy Brown. Al Otte was an assistant and is now the head coach Harsh works for.
“When I was a freshman, my brother was a senior, so I knew I had to play well with the upper classmen,” Harsh said.
After his freshman year, Harsh spent the next three years as the staff ace for the Pirates. During that time, he really started to understand how to apply his trade. He was firing a 94-mph fastball, putting the seams of his average fastball in the mid-80s.
In one memorable game, he went toe to rubber against Richmond Hill’s Kevin Matthews. It was virtually a radar gun row with scouts lining up to watch Matthews, and Harsh knew the task that lay in front of him.
“You could see all of the scouts,” Harsh said. “They were everywhere. I knew how good Matthews was, but I also knew how good I could be too. I was nervous to say the last. I start warming up, and before I throw my first pitch, my catcher comes up to me and kind of jokingly says that I am going to throw the first pitch to the backstop and then I’ll be ready. But I did just that. I threw my first warm-up pitch to the back stop. Then I slowed down and ended up throwing a one hitter.”
Matthews was a bonus baby for the Texas Rangers, but after AA ball, he ran into bone chips in his throwing arm and other arm troubles.
Harsh continued to be a dominate force on the mound throughout high school and certainly created his own wave of chatter from scouts. When the draft in 2011 occurred, though, he had no idea what was going to happen.
“I got drafted my senior year coming out of high school, but I didn’t know it,” Harsh said. “I thought I would go higher. I saw guys that I played against or knew that were going higher, and I didn’t end up in the same range, and it upset me.”
Harsh suddenly let his anger get the better of him, but had a great workout because he was so mad, at the elementary gym where Otte taught P.E.
“It was probably one of the best workouts I have had ever, and I came out and started checking my phone, and all of the sudden I had 50 messages on my phone that I was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 19th round,” Harsh said. “That was the final year where they could pay you whatever they wanted to for a signing bonus, which has since changed.”
Harsh took his howitzer arm north to Kennesaw State University and was part of a burgeoning program that broke into the top 25 and threatened Louisville in the Super Regionals.
“I learned a lot at Kennesaw State, and I was there at a great time,” Harsh said. “I got the opportunity to play with some great players and had some great experiences.”
The Brunswick Pirates now get to benefit from all of Harsh’s experiences, and some of them are taking full advantage.
“They are curious, and they ask a lot of questions about what it was like to play at the next level, the type of pitching you saw, how hard did other pitchers throw, what did I throw, and there are always the fun and crazy stories that go along with baseball,” Harsh said.
Primarily Harsh is a pitching coach, but he throws batting practice also and isn’t that far removed from bringing that 90 mph heater from the bump. But he doesn’t do it a whole lot. He does show them different pitches so the hitters can understand what is going through a pitcher’s mind.
“We were playing a team this year, and they had a pitcher that was throwing a big sweeping curve ball,” Harsh said. “Over half of the pitches this kid threw was that 12- to 6-foot curve ball that just hung out there. I told the hitters that you can’t let a pitcher continue to do that. You have to hit. You know it’s coming. Even if you just foul it off, the pitcher will understand he can’t keep throwing that pitch.”
The Pirates pitchers especially benefit from his experience.
Even though Harsh is from the digital age like his players, he still goes back to some of the time- honored pitching mechanics of the game. He tells all his pitchers that they need to watch the documentary, “Fastball,” which is on Netflix.
“This is the original primal battle,” Harsh said. “You have someone throwing a rock, and someone trying to hit the rock with a stick. Not only that, but to realize that the mound is yours and you can control what goes on in that area. I ask them in the fall, ‘Why isn’t the mound made out of grass? It’s clay. You dig, and you defend that piece of ground. It belongs to the pitcher.’”
Over time, Harsh’s charges started to understand what he taught them, and they learned to apply it. He has even seen the proverbial light bulb come on above their heads when they start to realize what they are capable of.
One young pitcher threw a sweeping telegraphed curve ball, but Harsh showed the pitcher how to shorten up the delivery and know that a left-handed pitcher can run the pitch on a right-handed batter’s hands and it’s more like a cut fastball.
“I have had pitchers start to realize if they are in a certain situation, or ahead or behind in the count, they throw something that didn’t feel right or the batter got a hit, they understand why it happened and then take steps to try and correct it,” Harsh said.
One other important aspect is the relationship that a pitcher should have with a catcher.
“It all starts with the battery,” Harsh said. “Those two must have complete trust with one another. A pitcher needs to know if he throws a low breaking ball in the dirt that the catcher is going to block it. In fact, I teach a pitcher after they finish throwing a bull pen with the catcher, the first you thing you do is go and shake the catcher’s hand and thank them for catching you. It all starts and ends with the battery.”
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Once a Pirate, Always a Pirate
Written by: John Wood
