I grew up in Greencastle, Pennsylvania and currently reside in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania with my wife, Madison. From a young age, my father instilled a great work ethic in me, and never let me back away from a challenge. We spent countless hours in the backyard, at the field, in the cages, or just about anywhere getting some sort of work in. He did not have to ask me, because I was usually begging him all hours of the day to go outside and play catch or throw me some pitches so I could get some swings in. Growing up, it was a rare sight to see me without a ball or bat in my hand. Our shed is covered in dents from where I used to throw a tennis ball, and we even have a walnut tree in our backyard, where I would spend hours picking them up and seeing how far I could throw them into the field behind our house. So, my dad built me a big, reinforced plywood wall in our back yard for me to throw against, and even painted a strike zone on it for me. He was then forced to build me a batting cage when he found out I was picking up rocks and using sticks or old bats to hit them all throughout our yard. I loved the game so much and couldn’t lay my head down at night knowing I didn’t get my work in.

My playing career started just a few minutes from my house in State Line, PA where I played t-ball. My little league years were spent playing in Greencastle, PA, where some of my favorite memories of my baseball career were created. I then played in Hagerstown, MD during my pony league years before heading to high school. I played on varsity all 4 years of high school at Greencastle-Antrim, serving as a PO my freshman year before becoming the starting shortstop for my last 3 seasons. During my junior season in 2015 I had partially torn my rotator cuff and missed about half the season. In 2016, as a senior, I was awarded Public Opinion player of the year. I led the team in RBIs as a leadoff hitter while batting .471. On the mound I posted a 6-0 record with a 0.34 ERA, tallying 75 strikeouts in 41 innings. As a sophomore I was touching low 90’s which got a lot of eyes on me in the recruiting process, and I knew my best shot at playing at a high level would be as a pitcher. My college recruiting process ended in my commitment to Penn State University.

My college career did not go anything like I expected. As a freshman I was set to be in the weekend rotation as a starter. A few weeks before the season I suffered an elbow injury, which moved me to the bullpen to start the year. I was up to 95 mph in my first appearance but was throwing through pain and ended up shutting down for a month or so, and returned before my arm was ready. My performance suffered, and instead of being honest, I battled through the injury until the end of the season, logging around 25 innings before shutting down and rehabbing over the summer.

Going into my sophomore year I thought the worst was behind me. I spent the entire summer lifting and rehabbing and got stronger than I ever was and was up about 40 pounds from when I came in just a year prior. I was pushing my body past what I thought I was capable of, and in doing that I ignored pain in my lower back for months, telling myself it would go away and just kept trying to lift more and more until it finally had enough. On my very first day of the college semester, my back finally gave out. After a trip to the emergency room and an MRI, I was diagnosed with 2 herniated discs in my lumbar spine. I spent most of the fall in rehab and got limited innings before going home for winter break. When I returned in the spring is when things hit the fan. As a ramped up the intensity, it wasn’t my health that was an issue, but I was struggling to control the ball in catch play, which affected my confidence and things started to spiral. Eventually it got to the point where I had no control over where the ball was going and even thinking about playing catch left me with raging anxiety. I had gotten the full-blown YIPS. On the mound my velocity was not where it should’ve been, touching low 90’s at best, and every other pitch was spiked to the ground or thrown up the backstop. At this point I felt like an outcast, and it was embarrassing to even throw a baseball as it looked like I’d never done it a day in my life. It did not improve, and only seemed to get worse to the point I was seeking professional mental help several times a week, wasn’t eating, wasn’t sleeping, and I let it consume me. I was communicating with my coach this entire time, only to feel more and more isolated every day because I had nothing to offer the team. Pretty much all my communication with coaches became nonexistent after a while, even though I continued to work my tail off to try and get better and was always a good teammate. No one seemed to understand and none of it mattered. Long story short for that spring season, I threw 5 innings to start the year, and was benched for the remainder of the season, not even traveling on road trips. I was told by my head coach that he could no longer help me and released me with 3 weeks remaining in the season. I was given up on, and I could’ve given up on myself just as easily.

But I wasn’t going to give up that easily, baseball was everything I’d ever dreamed of, so I found a school down south. Barry University in Miami, Florida, with a coach who understood the issues I was having and simply told me he wanted to help me enjoy the game of baseball again. That took a ton of pressure off me, and I knew would be supported regardless of success or failure. Barry was a much smaller school, but I loved it, and I was surrounded by guys who loved the game of baseball, and I felt like I had instantly found the group of dudes I was destined to play with. Instantly from the time I stepped on campus, my anxiety dissipated, and I felt free to fail, and knew I was In the right spot with the right people. Although my anxiety was better, my physical ability to perform was very inconsistent. Every day was hit or miss, but when scout day came along during the fall, I showcased some of the best stuff I ever had, sitting 94-96, with a hard 12-6 curveball and really filled up the zone. It was the most fun I had throwing a baseball in a long time. I was healthy and gaining confidence, and I was on the radar for a lot of Big League clubs for next year’s season and draft. But, of course, the path is NEVER linear. I was making my first start on Saturday the following spring, and with about 15-20 teams in attendance eager to watch me perform. I crapped the bed, giving up 6 runs in the top of the first while only recording 2 outs before being pulled. My velocity was down, and I couldn’t find the strike zone to save my life. I still had terrible compensations in my delivery, both from injury, and from my mental struggles, and it did not allow me to go out there and compete to the ability I should’ve been capable of. The entire season was a mix of ups and downs, and I had days where I went 7 shutout innings with good velocity, and at least 2 other starts where I didn’t make it out of the first inning. Still, my coach continued to hand me the ball and told me he believed in me every single time. I ended the season with an 8+ ERA, tallying just as many walks as I did strikeouts. On a positive note, I was healthy, and I had something to build from.

The summer of 2019 going into my senior year is where things finally started to take a turn in the right direction. I had gone back to my roots, and told myself I needed to loosen up, be athletic again, and just have fun. I started playing catch like an infielder, letting my body self-organize, and basically reinvented myself and my mindset again. That summer in the Northwoods were some of the best times I’ve had in a baseball uniform, and I finally felt like I was finally back to who I was. Well, I was right, and I went into my senior year at Barry with a newly found confidence. The hours and hours of extra time I had put in, the years of battling anxiety and injury seemed to finally be paying off. I had a breakout fall, more consistent than I had ever been and went into the spring full steam ahead. I had 5 pitches for strikes, anytime I wanted them, my velocity was where it needed to be, I was healthy, and most importantly I was having fun every time I stepped between the lines. The year was 2020, and I did exactly what I had set out to do, I went out every time and competed to the best of my ability and had the best year of my life and was arguably one of the best, if not the best pitcher in all of D2 baseball that year. Due to covid, our season was cut short, but I was still able to get 6 starts under my belt, totaling 43.2 innings, and only giving up 1 earned run all season bringing my ERA to a 0.21. My dad, grandfather, and uncle made a trip to Miami to see me pitch, not knowing it would be my last college start, and I pitched the best game of my career, going 10 shutout innings where we ended up walking it off in the bottom of the 12^th. It was a bittersweet way to cap off my college career. But, my story wasn’t going to end there.

Because of covid, I had the option to play one more year of college baseball, but I was ready to get my foot in the door in pro ball if I had an opportunity. That summer, the draft was cut down to just 5 rounds, and Major League Baseball was cleaning house, cutting teams and 100’s of players from minor league baseball. I did not get a chance to sign in the draft but had a few offers to sign as a free agent and decided that signing with the Cincinnati Reds was what I wanted to do. Finally, the work paid off and my dreams were starting to come true. I signed in the summer a few short weeks after the draft had concluded, but because of covid, there was no minor league season that year, and I took this as an opportunity to go back down to Miami and finish my degree in sports and exercise science. Just before I left for the semester, during one of my lifting sessions, I felt a pop in my groin and instantly was not able to walk. I called my assigned trainer with the Reds and they concluded that it was an adductor strain and back to rehab I went. I went down to Miami, worked on finishing my degree, and did my training and an internship with the baseball team. I was feeling pretty good for the most part, until one day I simply bent down to pick up a baseball and felt the same pop I had felt before. I was on a flight to the Reds spring training complex a day later, saw the doc, and he concluded that I had bilateral inguinal hernias, as well as sports hernias on both sides of my lower abdomen. A much worse injury that we had first thought. On Nov 13th, 2020, I underwent surgery to repair this injury, and back to rehab I went again for the next 3 months. As I was coming out of rehab and beginning to lift and throw again, what do you know, the herniated discs in my low back made a return, and they came back with a vengeance. Back to rehab I went again, and I had a total of 8 epidural injections in my spine to try and get rid of the inflammation. Not a great start to my professional career, but I was as eager as ever to make a strong return. As a reliever, I was able to finish the last month of the AZL rookie ball season healthy, but moving very stiffly, I was weak, and barely throwing 90 mph. I was told I would continue as a reliever and would probably not get an opportunity to be a starter again. I knew if I wanted a shot at continuing my career, I needed to stay healthy, and train harder than I ever had.

My first off-season was a big one for me, this was the time for me to get back on my feet and come in the following spring with something to prove, or I may be getting the boot from pro ball before having a chance to prove myself. I trained hard, stayed healthy, and went into the spring hoping the work I had put in over those 5 months would pay off. It did, I came into spring pounding the zone, velo back up into the mid 90’s, and got to skip Low-A straight to High-A in Dayton, OH, exceeding the expectations I had set for myself. I was healthy, I was consistent, and had a great year in High-A, good enough to get promoted to AA at the end of the season. I finished that year in High-A with a 2.94 ERA walking just 10 guys in 49 innings and striking out 53. I could not seem to keep that going once reaching AA in Chattanooga, TN, as I started running out of gas, my command started to suffer, and I was competing against guys that were better than anyone I had seen before, some even already having made their Major League debuts. To say I struggled is an understatement, and you can look up my AA stats at your own risk. I did lead the Reds organization in strike % that year which was exciting for me. But, overall, it was a giant leap in the right direction, and I was heading into my first true, healthy off-season.

I took about 6 weeks off but continued to lift, condition, and stay on top of mobility. The first time back to throwing, my shoulder did not feel right, and it was a very similar feeling to when I had torn my rotator cuff in high school. The pain seemed to go away, and I stayed on top of my shoulder maintenance, but the lighting I had in my arm during the season didn’t seem to be there. I trained hard, but no matter what I did, my arm felt dead, but I still felt healthy, and I hoped that this feeling would go away. I went into that spring with the expectation to maybe start in AA, but I did not, and my velocity had dropped a few mph from the year previous, but I was determined to replicate the year before with whatever I had. I ended up staying in High-A the entire season, totaling 76 innings, with a 3.20 ERA and only walking 12 batters. Again, leading the Reds organization in strike %. I was also 2^nd in minor league baseball in innings pitched without a start. I was still finding a way to compete and get outs consistently, but the velocity wasn’t where it needed to be.

Heading into the upcoming off-season, I decided I was only going to take a few weeks off and get back after it, as I was feeling good and wanted to hold onto that feeling. The issues with my back held me from training the way I probably needed to, to get my velocity back to where it needed to be, but I continued to work on my strengths. From the time I got into pro ball, I always had great feel for my big, sweeping slider. I learned how to throw it very hard, and for strikes. For those that understand metrics, some of my best sliders were thrown up to 86 mph with as much 24 inches of horizontal movement, so it was my bread and butter. I was using it in game about 75% of the time, and often times I would throw it 15 times in a row in a single inning. With my velocity decrease I had to learn other ways to get guys out, as I was not going to blow people away. So, I continued to work on my command and lean on that strength. The 2024 spring came around, and I again was assigned to High-A in Dayton and was left behind most of my peers that were in High-A the year before. To be completely blunt, it was a terrible year for me. Shortly into the season, my back issues were beginning to flare up on me, and my performance was deteriorating more and more it seemed each time I went out there. I had a massive flare up and was put on steroid pills to ease the inflammation which helped for a few weeks and then it was back with a vengeance. I was placed on the IL, sent back to Arizona to our spring training complex, and sent to see the spine surgeon. I started with some more epidural injections like I had in 2021, but they didn’t seem to be helping this time around. I had to take a long look in the mirror and think about what I wanted for my future. I was set to get married in October, I was treading water in High-A, I would be turning 27 the following spring in 2025, and I had been battling my back injury since 2018. I finally decided enough is enough, discussed with the surgeon, and we both agreed and concluded it was in my best interest to get surgery and try to knock out the issue once and for all. I had surgery in August of 2024, repairing both my L4-L5 and L5-S1 hernaitions in my lumbar spine. I spent the last 5 months leading to 2025 extensively doing rehab, faced with the question, do I try and make a comeback, or do I hang it up for good?

After lots of thought and consideration, my wife and I both decided it was time. I was ready to retire and look forward to my next chapter. The game of baseball has beat me to my knees more times than I can count, but to me, that’s the beauty of it because it tests the kind of person you truly are. Playing in the big leagues was all I’ve ever wanted to do. One, because I love the game of baseball, but mostly to prove to myself that I was capable. But, playing professionally is not always as glorious as it seems. Although it does have its perks, and I wouldn’t trade my time in professional baseball for anything, it still becomes a job, one that can be lost at any point in time. It is year-round sacrifice, long seasons away from friends and family, long days, long nights, lots of anxiety, and lots of time spent trying to get better and stay healthy doing it. When you get to that level, hard work is bare minimum because everyone is working hard for the same job you want. Everyone is just as good, if not better. It comes down to being more consistent than everyone else at the right time. In the end, I didn’t stay healthy, and I wasn’t consistent enough to become a big leaguer. But I fought, and I loved every second of it!

I always thought the day I hung up my cleats would be the worst day of my life. I always tied so much identity to being a baseball player, and I thought I carried no other value. I’ve learned that whether I am good or bad at baseball, it does not define me. I am a son, a grandson, a brother, an uncle, a husband, a great friend, and I hope to be a great coach and mentor to the next generations of ball players. I ask that if you take anything from my story, that you learn from my mistakes. Be honest with your coaches, and most importantly be honest with yourself, because your overall well-being and health is more important than the game of baseball. Also, don’t give up, everything you’re working for could be just around the corner, and you’ll never get a chance to see what you’re capable of if you don’t try.

Everybody I work with will be treated with respect. I made a lot of mistakes throughout my career, and I understand what it’s like to fail. I had to teach myself how to throw all over again, and became pretty good at it. I hope to give back and teach the things I learned through my career to the next generation of players and aid in both their physical and mental development. I want to focus on every athlete’s long-term development, because there are no shortcuts, and no path is linear. You will fail, many, many times, and you have my full permission to fail while you train with me. Trust the process. We will get better, together! If you’ve taken the time to read my story, thank you, and I can’t wait to work with you at PBP!

Call today to schedule a lesson: 717-404-4652