Freshman Barron Brown has had a slightly different transition to Cornell Baseball as many other recruits. At Lamar High School in Houston, Texas, Barron was both a pitcher and a shortstop. Barron had been playing infield for the majority of his baseball career, stretching all the way back to his time with the Houston team in the Little League World Series. He was ranked by perfect game as the 525th best shortstop in his class, and the 43rd best in Texas. He started at shortstop for the Lamar High School Team when he wasn’t pitching. However, Brown realized in his junior year of high school that he had more projectability as a pitcher rather than a shortstop. His high school coach told them that if he wanted to play in college, it was going to have to be as a pitcher.
Now upon coming to Cornell, he has made the full transition to a pitcher. Barron’s transition to college baseball was especially drastic due to his change in position. He described the difference in the off-season and in-season training from high school to college. He noted that even coming from a serious high school baseball program, the training at Cornell was still a large adjustment for him. He said that all pitchers are on a very specific arm care routine, and that their off-season is devoted almost entirely to weight training. During the season they are also closely monitored, with almost everything they do in terms of baseball micromanaged.
Entering the 2019 Season, the team has lost many major players, and with have to rely on many underclassmen. While the team also lost many position players, such as Ryan Krainz and Dale Wickham, they have also lost many of their core pitchers from last year. The most notable of their pitching losses was ace Tim Willites. Last year Wilites led the team in starts (11), victories (four), strikeouts (54) and quality starts (six). They also lost starting pitcher Tommy Morris. Morris was a solid starter last year, posting a 3.56 era in Ivy League play. Now with these major losses, Cornell will look to young pitchers, such as Brown to replace these valuable losses.
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