Don’t call him Sideshow Zak. Yes, he has strange hair like a Simpson’s character (he shaves his head). And, yes, he throws like a middle-aged, beer-bellied softball pitcher. But Zak Basch wants everyone to know that he’s a real, live honest-to-goodness pitcher, not some freak with a goofy delivery hoping to beat you with sleight-of-hand trickery.
“Everybody thinks it’s a gimmick,” the Wolf Pack reliever said of his sidearm delivery. “But it’s more about pitching than just throwing sidearm.”
You don’t become one of the best closers in the nation just by trying to trick people. Basch hasn’t earned his slick 1.97 earned run average and six saves this season by simply waving a shiny object with his left hand to get the hitter’s attention while his right hand picks the batter’s pocket.
It only seems that way. After facing Basch, most hitters walk back to the dugout feeling as if they have just lost a week’s paycheck in a game of three-card Monty. It has to be trickery, right? After all, how can a weird bald guy with that delivery get them out with his 83-mph fastball? So they leave the field talking to themselves and once back in the safety of their dugout, they start on Basch.
“I’ve been talked at (by opposing teams) ever since high school when I started throwing like this,” Basch said with a smile. “They’ll say anything. I’ve been called ‘Gumby.’ I’ve heard them say stuff like, ‘Look at that submarine sandwich out there.’ But that’s OK. It just kind of rolls off my back.
“I think it works to my advantage. If they’re up there thinking about me, then they’re not thinking about what they have to do.”
“He thrives on that stuff,” Wolf Pack coach Gary Powers said. “None of that bothers him at all.”
The sidearm delivery, which at Peccole Park looks like he dips down to throw from John Ascuaga’s Nugget, is enough to anger opposing hitters. And then there’s that smile and easy-going demeanor Basch brings to the mound.
“People think I’m not even trying out there,” said Basch, who transferred to Nevada this winter after three seasons at Hofstra in Hempstead, N.Y. “I guess I look like I don’t even care. But that’s just me. I think I have the right attitude out there for those situations.”
“The reason we wanted him to come here is because we knew he had the right mental attitude for that role,” Powers said. “When he’s out there he doesn’t let anything affect him. He knows how to handle pressure.”
Pressure? What pressure? Basch has been at his best when facing the best this year. Last Sunday at Rice, against the No. 1 team in the nation, he tossed five one-hit shutout innings in the Pack’s 6-5 victory. In February at Fullerton, against the then-No. 3 Titans, Basch went another five innings and allowed just four hits and a run.
Basch, who helped the Alaska Goldpanners win the National Baseball Congress Tournament last summer in Wichita, Kan., is enjoying one of the best seasons for a reliever in Wolf Pack history. He’s held opponents to a .218 batting average and has struck out 30 in 32 innings. All this from a guy who had a 5.31 ERA at Hofstra last year.
The Pack, though, obviously knew what it was getting.
“He has a purpose behind every pitch that he throws,” Powers said. “He knows how to change speeds, how to set up hitters. He just knows baseball. His knowledge of the game is something a lot of guys just don’t have. Our younger pitchers need to look at how he goes about his business out on the mound.”
As Basch said, it’s not about throwing sidearm. Any middle-aged, beer-bellied softball pitcher can go out on the mound and throw underarm.
It’s about the science of pitching. This year he altered the way he stands on the rubber. He now stands to the far right.
“Now, when I face a right-hander, the ball is starting out behind them,” he said.
Right-handed hitters don’t know whether to swing or run back into the dugout for safety. Lefties think the ball is coming from the third baseman.
“I really only have two pitches (fastball and slider) but I throw them at different angles so it seems like I have four or five pitches,” he said. “I’ll mix up my arm angle a little, depending on the situation. If I need a double play, I won’t drop down as much on a hitter because I want him to hit a ground ball. If I want a strikeout, I’ll go a little lower so the ball breaks more.”
Giving Basch’s pitches conventional names like fastball, slider or curve really doesn’t do them justice. His slider, for example, breaks down and in to a right-handed hitter.
“People have described it as a ‘frisbee,’” said Basch.
Professional scouts, though, aren’t looking for frisbee throwers. A sidearm delivery, while it can be successful in high school, college and summer league baseball, isn’t exactly the type of motion that makes scouts drool. And then there’s that 83-mph fastball.
“That’s what I throw on a good day,” Basch joked. “But that whole thing (with scouts) is sort of a pet peeve of mine. They want a right-hander to throw at least 87-90. I thought it was about getting people out. Everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve gotten people out.”
Basch is a perfect example of what Powers preaches to all his pitchers.
“It’s not about throwing hard,” Powers said. “It’s about throwing strikes and throwing to a location. That’s what he (Basch) does best.”
Well, that, and annoying hitters with his sidearm delivery and shaved head.
“In high school I used to have long hair,” Basch said. “I used to be kind of a punk. Then when I went to Hofstra, they had sort of a freshman initiation thing where we had to shave our heads, so I’ve done it ever since.”
Does the shaved head add to his mystique on the mound?
“The only mystique I want is getting guys out,” he said.
