DEVILS LAKE — Mason Palmer wants to hit 90 miles per hour on the mound.
He’s done it from shortstop. But now, in his senior baseball season for Devils Lake, he’s aiming to hit 90 from the bump.
With the outdoor season delayed by weather, Palmer used the time inside to his advantage.
“Just constantly working in the gym,” he said. “Like explosive stuff, explosive legs and rotational power. Lifting and stuff like that. And then just throwing a lot, too; throwing and stretching. That’s a really big part of it, also.”
Weather is always a factor during the spring baseball season, but it lingered even longer this year than in past years. Devils Lake didn’t practice on its home field until April 10, and it didn’t play a home game until April 21.
The Firebirds did the best they could with their indoor facilities.
“We have a cage in Sweetwater [Elementary School], so we would just set it up, hit tees, hit off the machine,” Palmer said. “And then for the infield work and outfield work, we try to just get as much space in the gym as we can and just try to work on it with softballs. It doesn’t quite replicate the actual field, but it does its job.”
Palmer trained for what’s primed to be a big senior year.
Though he’s already committed to play baseball at the University of Jamestown, Palmer has never really had a full varsity pitching campaign in the spring. It’s not for a lack of talent, but for a lack of innings. The Firebirds value Palmer as their shortstop, and rightfully so. His naturally strong arm allows him to make plays that most shortstops at the high school level don’t make.
But head coach Brent Luehring expressed his intent to get Palmer more innings this spring. Palmer got a more substantial workload on the mound last summer, and he dominated with a 0.63 ERA and a perfect game in the Legion state tournament.
“We kind of feel like when he’s on there, he can give us a pretty good opportunity to win no matter who the opponent is,” Luehring said.
During his preseason training, Palmer recalled hitting 89 in a live indoor at-bat. Luehring said he thought Palmer was topping out around 87 or 88.
“He’s knocking on the door,” Luehring said. “I think we get some warmer weather and just build up some arm strength here over the next two weeks, and I think you’ll see some pretty high numbers here by the end of the season.”
Palmer even started an Instagram page called “roadto90m” where he documents his progress. The page has videos of Palmer performing various indoor exercises and announcing new personal records.
In his first inning pitching outside in a real game, Palmer was tagged for a two-run homer.
He’s thrown 12 scoreless innings since.
Palmer has racked up 20 strikeouts in 13 innings through his first two starts of the season.
He complements his hard fastball with an effective curveball. He’s been using his changeup more often as well, which has made a difference.
“I’m just trying to really get more control over my changeup, too, so I can have three pitches I can throw,” Palmer said.
Palmer’s second start was a complete-game shutout against Shanley in Devils Lake’s home opener on April 21.
“The weather was really nice today. It was a beautiful day,” Palmer said. “It’s just nice to be on our home turf we’ve only practiced on. We’re used to it, and we don’t have to travel two and a half hours; we’re not tired coming off the bus.”
Palmer blew some hitters away with high fastballs. He got others to chase out of the zone, and caught some looking at his curve right down the pipe. He struck out 11 and retired the final 19 batters he faced.
“Throwing the fastball, and throwing the breaking ball right off of it,” Palmer said of his formula. “Fooling them, keeping them on their toes, keeping them guessing. They couldn’t time up every pitch because I could actually throw my other pitches.”
Shanley recorded two hits against Palmer, both in the first inning. Both were weakly hit. They had Palmer in a bases-load jam.
The way he got out of it was with a liner to his brother, Max. With Mason pitching, Max — typically at second or third base — has been playing shortstop. Max is committed to play baseball at Jamestown with Mason next year.
“He’s way stronger and throws the ball way harder now,” Mason said of his brother. “So we’ve got all the faith we have in him. And then the rest of the infield, I trust every single one of them to make a play.”
He hardly needed his infielders’ help down the stretch, though. Palmer had Shanley’s hitters out of whack for the rest of the evening. He got through seven innings on 98 pitches. He dialed in his control, too, after issuing a walk in the first inning. He threw 70 of his pitches for strikes, which gave him a pristine strike rate of 71.4% on the night.
“I thought the velocity was there. He’s starting to mix in that changeup. And obviously his curveballs look good,” Luehring said of Palmer’s outing.
Palmer was seeing the ball well at the plate, too. He ripped two doubles and drew a walk. Quite a difference from the slump he started his junior year in.
“Just got to keep consistently hitting barrels,” Palmer said. “Keep hitting it hard, and hopefully that’ll do the job.”
Twice now, Palmer’s prowess on the mound has given Devils Lake a needed shot in the arm after losing the opener. The Firebirds are still getting used to a lineup that has some new and less-experienced faces, but so far, they look like they have an ace they can count on.
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