(Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on October 14, 2017)
What an unbelievable experience it was for 50 young ballplayers this afternoon at St. John the Baptist‘s baseball clinic. Major League Baseball’s all-time save leader (652) and five-time World Series Champion Mariano Rivera spent nearly three hours signing autographs, speaking to the players, running drills and even providing personal pitching instructions. Everyone in attendance marveled at Rivera’s incredible down-to-earth demeanor despite the massive success he’s attained in his illustrious career.
With rain in the early portion of the morning, the clinic began inside with Rivera taking plenty of time to sign an autograph and take photographs with every athlete. The other instructors–all with professional experience–introduced themselves. These individuals were Nick Fanti, Cam Maron, Matt Reistetter, Bryan Verbitsky, Jared Finkel and Mariano Rivera Jr.
The players then split up into groups and worked on various skills such as PFPs and charging slow rollers. Mariano personally spent time with each group and provided insight from his 19-year MLB career.
Rivera spoke to the players briefly as a group and made some insightful statements such as, “pitching is an art. Everyone can throw a baseball but not everyone can pitch.”
Bullpen session with the greatest relief pitcher of all-time pic.twitter.com/J1VioTLvFH
— Axcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) October 14, 2017
Around 11am the rain stopped and the clinic moved outside to Buddy Corr Field.
Mariano made one young player’s day by having a catch with him, before moving on to work with the pitchers during their bullpen sessions in front of a huge crowd of fans and parents.
It was a rare opportunity for players to get instructed from one of the most dominant pitchers in Major League history. Rivera retired with an ERA of 2.21 over 1283.2 IP and another 141.0 IP in the postseason with a ridiculous 0.70 ERA.
It was a tremendous event and something that was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone involved.
