By STEVE KRAH
http://www.IndianaRBI.com
Something Jack Walker likes best about himself is the mindset he maintains on the pitching mound.
Walker, a 6-foot-6, 230-pound left-hander who recently completed his first season at the University of Toledo in 2023 after three years at Indiana University (2020-22), tries not to get too high or too low with the situation at-hand.
“I don’t necessarily get discouraged or down when something I can’t control doesn’t go my way,” says Walker. “The only thing I can control is throwing the ball. Once the ball leaves my hand I have no control over what happens.
“I’ve seen it effect guys real badly. I try to keep an even-keel even in success because I know baseball is a humbling game.
“I just take it pitch by pitch.”
Over time, he has learned to make each delivery its own thing and put the previous pitches behind.
Walker, who turns 23 in December, also likes to show the way for his teammates.
“I think I’m a good leader by example in terms of getting all my work done and extra work and bringing up all those young guys.
Walker, who has one remaining year of college eligibility, delivers his pitches from a high arm slot.
“It’s very over-the-top — almost to an extreme,” says Walker. “I come straight down to the catcher.”
He has been using a four-seam fastball, curveball and change-up and has introduced a cutter to the mix while striking out 61 and walking 44 over 54 1/3 innings and 15 outings (12 starts) in 2023.
The four-seamer touched 96 mph in 2022 but has sat at 89 to 92 and sometimes gotten to 93 in 2023.
“My control got a lot better (this year),” says Walker.
His curve is of the 12-to-6 or 11-to-5 variety.
He employs a “circle” grip on his change-up.
“I split two seams between the ring finger and middle finger and it goes between running away from a (right-handed) hitter and dropping off the table,” says Walker. “It has some run and some depth.”
Walker’s cutter has the closed end of the seam on his index finger with his fingers closer together.
Rob Reinstetle is the Toledo head coach and John Sheehan is the Rockets pitching coach.
“He is honest with everyone,” says Walker of Reinstetle. “He will be hard on us when we make those mistakes but it definitely makes us better.
“He lets us know he still know that he has confidence in us. There’s an open relationship. We can go to him about anything.”
Walker notes that Sheehan is not that far-removed from being a minor league player and has a feel for the present state of pitching.
“He definitely knows what he’s talking about,” says Walker of Sheehan.
A 2019 graduate of New Palestine (Ind.) High School, Walker played for Dragons head coach Shawn Lyons.
“He did a great job of holding everyone accountable,” says Walker of Lyons. “He treated everyone with the same amount of respect.
“I still have a good connection with him today.”
Walker has earned a Marketing degree and says its likely that he will begin work on his Master of Business Administration in 2023-24.
The big southpaw is weighing his summer ball options. He says he will likely join the New England Collegiate Baseball League’s Vermont Mountaineers then train at 108 Performance in Knoxville, Tenn.
In the summers of 2021 and 2022, he was with the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League’s Saugerties (N.Y.) Stallions. The 2021 team won the league title.
Walker did not play in the summers of 2019 (going to IU early for summer classes) and 2020.
Born in Indianapolis, Walker grew up in New Palestine. His early diamond days were spent in the New Palestine Youth League. He then played with a local travel organization called the Diamond Cutters.
In junior high, Walker went with USAthletic followed by the Pony Express. In high school, he played for the Indiana Prospects.
Jack is the only child of Donald and Laurie Walker. His father is a service manager and his mother is both a massage therapist and school bus driver.
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