One of the first things that struck CJ Gearhart about Michael Fischer was the ease with which he handled things. Rest assured, the word “ease” is not readily associated with a high school freshman playing varsity baseball.
But when Fischer and his twin brother Ryan made the Robbinsville High School “A Team” as ninth-graders after making a name for themselves in Robbinsville Little League, Gearhart was immediately struck by Fischer’s poise on the mound. And as a junior catcher on that 2012 team, he should be the one who knew.
“He was able to take everything in stride,” Gearhart said. “He was very mature. Even if he made a mistake, he took it as something that you learn from. You never saw him get upset or frustrated about something. He just used it to his advantage to help him later in the season.”
It never surprised Gearhart that Fischer moved right into the rotation at such a tender age.
“He was tough, and I remember I could see him as being a starter right from the start of seeing him pitch,” Gearhart said. “I had heard of (the twins) from little league and I knew all the stuff Michael had. But actually seeing it…at that younger age his mechanics were still pretty solid and he had good stuff to go with it.”
Gearhart had the pleasure of catching Fischer for two seasons before moving on to The College of New Jersey. In one of those serendipitous “history repeats itself” scenarios, Gearhart now gets two more years behind the plate with Fischer.
Both Fischers decided to attend TCNJ. As an infielder, Ryan has had to wait his turn on a Lions team that had all nine regulars in the lineup hitting over .300 in late April.
The pitcher, however, became the Lions’ fifth starter and as of April 26, the freshman was 3-0 with one save, a 2.70 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 30 innings pitched. Four of his seven appearances were starts. After shutting out Stockton with a complete-game effort, he was named New Jersey Athletic Conference Athlete of the Week.
Gearhart was part of Fischer’s offensive support, batting .321 with seven doubles, a triple, home run and 16 RBI.
The two have helped the Lions to their best season in five years. With five games left in the regular season, TCNJ was 26-6 overall and 10-4 in the NJAC and headed for the conference tournament.
And while Gearhart did not catch Fischer in every game he pitched, his mere presence has helped.
“He was our first friend on the team,” Fischer said. “He took me under his wing a little bit. He introduced me to everyone, he helped me settle in a lot easier. The whole team is [made up of] great guys, but when you go to college, it’s different. You don’t know anyone. I had the advantage of knowing a guy and he helped make it a lot easier.”
Gearhart knew from experience how tough the first season of college ball could be, in more ways than just hitting better pitching.
“It’s difficult when you get here to kind of get acquainted with everybody,” he said. “If [the Fischers] ever needed a ride, or needed something from the store, I’d ask them. Since they don’t have a car I help them out. I took them to meet some of the guys to make them feel comfortable.”
That comfort level has certainly helped, as Fischer has become a valuable asset on a staff that has an impressive team ERA of 3.27. The aces have thrown the weekend games, which are usually the most important, while the third and fourth starters would throw the mid-week NJAC games. Fischer usually had the Tuesday game to start the week but was being transitioned to strictly a reliever near the end of the season.
“We don’t need five starters for the conference tournament,” he said. “I’m just going to try any way possible to help the team.”
Fischer said his approach at the start of the season was just trying to earn a spot on the roster.
“I know I’m a hard worker, and no matter what, I’m going to compete as hard as I can and give it my best,” he said. “I don’t know what I expected from myself coming in, I just knew I was going to work hard and try to help the team. I’m not really surprised but I’m very happy with what I’ve done so far.”
Gearhart is not surprised either. He actually predicted to teammates that Fischer would become a starter in his first year.
“I wasn’t sure how much he was going to pitch because he was a freshman,” Gearhart said. “But I knew he’d have a key role as a freshman. He had the mentality and the physical attributes to be a college pitcher. It’s nice to have him as a starter, and also to have him come in as a reliever in those tight situations to finish a game.”
Fischer quickly understood he had to become more of a pitcher in college, since he would be facing more disciplined batters. Rather than trying to blow fastballs by batters, he has been mixing his speeds and has worked in his change-up more often.
He’s also made sure to give the ball more movement on its way to the plate—that’s easier than throwing it “harder than you think you’re capable of,” he said. He often tosses a two-seam fastball into the mix to make the ball dip.
Gearhart has noticed the change.
“He’s confident,” Gearhart said. “He definitely has more control over his stuff than in high school, and he has the ability to throw every pitch when he needs to.”
Fischer has praise for both catchers—Gearhart and Matt Facas—but noted that Gearhart has gotten particularly outstanding at one facet of the game.
“He’s very good defensively, and what he does a lot better than a lot of catchers, is he gets strikes for me,” Fischer said. “He frames the ball very well. He will work for strikes. If the pitch is a ball he’ll get under it and bring it back up a little bit.”
Just from the experience of catching Fischer, Gearhart can also detect when something is wrong, and knows what to do about it. It’s a feeling that can’t be described, Fischer said.
Gearhart said he learned the art of framing pitches as a freshman from senior Paul Searles, along with catching coach Rich Gawlak.
Aside from Gearhart’s defense, Fischer noticed that his hitting has also become more powerful since he saw him on the high school level.
Gearhart had just six at-bats as a freshman (but did get two hits for a .333 average). Last year, he batted .274 with two doubles in 17 starts. His slugging percentage jumped from .306 as a sophomore to .464 late in the regular-season this year.
“That probably has to do with just working out,” he said of his improved power. “I really try to get into the weight room and build myself up. And a lot of it comes with keeping my hands loose. When you try to grip a bat as hard as you can, balls don’t tend to fly off it as much.”
As for making himself a better hitter average-wise, it was a case of taking advantage of down time. Since he spent most of his freshman year on the bench, Gearhart used it to better himself.
“Not seeing a lot of pitching in games, but just taking batting practice and focusing on getting better really helped,” he said. “I didn’t have to worry about getting in a big slump, I started to learn the ability of keeping my hands loose and relax at the plate and I was just able to work on my hitting. I’ve really tried not to get so frustrated if I have a bad at-bat. That used to cause me to tense up a little bit, but now I let it go.”
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