Making It In The Big Leagues
Paige Bishop, inventor of a training device for pitchers, has managed to get his creation in the door of Major League Baseball. The St. Louis Cardinals adopted it into their program this past season. Brent Strom, pitching coordinator with the Cardinals’ minor league program, brought the pads into spring training at the Jupiter, Fla., facility, he said.
“It’s used in practice sessions with coaches, and also when coaches are not around,” Strom said.
Strom said he believed the pad has a future in professional baseball. He also works with Cardinal farm clubs in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
The pad Bishop designed offers a well-defined strike zone in the center of a 65-inch-tall by 43-inch-wide foam pad covered with heavy-duty green vinyl. The pad has been on the market less than three years and sales have been modest, but Bishop has high hopes for its commercial success.
The green pad also has been the ex-college pitcher’s main link to the baseball world.
A pitcher from 1997-2001 for the Shriner College (now University) Mountaineers, Bishop had to give up hardball because of a bad shoulder. His day job now is in sales for OnStar by GM.
“Most pitchers believe they must have a catcher to be effective when they throw,” Wolforth said. “Trying to get a catcher all the time, that’s not an easy deal, so pitchers don’t throw as often as they should.
“The Pitching Pad allows them to throw on a much more regular basis,” he said. “They see where the ball is going. They can have their feedback.”
Photo by Bishop Family Enterprises.
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