Today, Norcross sidearmer Chris Raasch signed to play baseball at Vanderbilt over other offers from Columbus State, Mercer and Austin Peay. This past season, Raasch was named Georgia Dugout Player of the Week, a Georgia Top 100 player and named to the Gwinnett All-County Team and First Team All-Region.
“The opportunity to get that great of an education and play for that great of a program really set them apart from the others,” remarked Raasch. “I do respect all of the other programs and I am happy that they would want me but you just can’t go wrong with Vanderbilt.” Raasch began his Norcross career as an over the top hurler but quickly fizzled out and became noncompetitive, so Coach Smith, the pitching coach at the time, and manager Andy Collins converted him to a sidearmer prior to his sophomore season.
This ended up proving to be the greatest change in Raasch’s short career. “It turned out to be a blessing in disguise that I got rocked at the top,” exclaimed Raasch.
Collins stated that Raasch’s pitching motion reminds many of South Carolina’s John Taylor, who was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 22nd round of this year’s draft. He definitely believes that Raasch can generate a similar kind of success that Taylor had in the SEC.
With the submarine motion, Raasch throws a sinking fastball, a slider and a curve. Even though his fastball only tops out around 87 miles per hour, it is his sidearm motion that has hitters whiffing. According to Collins, Raasch can go as low as he can go to enhance the submarine action and motion on his repertoire.
Raasch just finished up playing with Norcross’s summer team and will continue to pitch for Norcross next season. He also will play a little bit of shortstop and second base for the Blue Devils on his off days from pitching.
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