By Hayden Swope
Kadon Mercer of Marion is eager to take on a leadership role and help guide a young team to success as the spring season kicks off.
“I am extremely excited to lead a young team and help to coach them up,” Mercer said. “I believe that helping younger players is the best way to keep a culture alive. I am also excited to bring my previous skills to a new year and continue to learn and adapt to succeed.”
During the offseason, Mercer focused on building strength and refining his skills to be ready for the season.
“I worked throughout the summer every morning to strengthen my body and become the best athlete I can,” Mercer said. “Recently I have begun strengthening my arm for the season in order to start off with bang. During my free time I have worked with a previous coach to help knock rust off of my swing and arm in order to begin improving my skills. The stronger I am, the greater help I can bring to my team and our success.”
Mercer had a list of things to improve on, and started working early.
“The area I really focus on improving is my pitching mechanics,” Mercer said. “Last year I struggled with rotating my hips too early. This offseason I worked on training my hips and perfecting my stride. I worked to keep my arm and hips in sync to produce the greatest velocity I can.”
Video analysis and targeted workouts helped strengthen Mercer and his hips and delivery.
“In order to improve my hips I have recorded my previous pitching style and watched videos of professionals to find the differences. I have also done hip stretches and workouts as a way to strengthen them,” Mercer said.
