Juan Eichelberger

Juan Tyrone Eichelberger (born October 21, 1953 in St. Louis, Missouri) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He graduated from Balboa High School of San Francisco, California in 1971, played collegiately at the University of California, Berkeley and pitched for the San Diego Padres (1978–82), Cleveland Indians (1983) and Atlanta Braves (1988). He also pitched one season in Japan (1989) for the Yakult Swallows.

In 7 seasons he had a 26–36 win-loss record, 125 games, 79 games started, 14 complete games, 1 shutout, 16 games finished, 603 ⅓ innings pitched, 575 hits allowed, 312 runs allowed, 275 earned runs allowed, 50 home runs allowed, 283 walks allowed, 281 strikeouts, 8 hit batsmen, 25 wild pitches, 2,605 batters faced, 20 intentional walks, 14 balks and a 4.10 ERA.

Eichelberger was known for his unusual set position. While most pitchers would come to a standing position with their feet together and bring the ball and glove to their chest or chin, Eichelberger would keep his feet spread apart with his knees bent in a crouch and ball and glove at his belt.

Juan Eichelberger's son Jared followed his father into professional baseball, as a RHP originally drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 2001. Juan is the founder and head instructor at Baseball Science a baseball training program^[1] in San Diego, California.

Juan’s Message…

In my lifetime I have been fortunate enough to have played the game of baseball at every level starting from little league all the way to the major leagues. I have played for many coaches and managers who have all contributed to my knowledge of this game. This knowledge combined with what I learned in college about human physiology is what made me the coach that I am today. You are never too old to learn something new in the game of baseball. I consider myself “A Student of the Game” and have even picked up new tips from my students.

The infinity symbol is incorporated into the BaseballScience logo because it represents perfection, duality, and empowerment or command. Perfection, because although no one is perfect, perfection is what you strive for in your delivery. Duality meaning that the lower and upper halves of your body are moving differently and at the same time, but in synchronized motion. The balance point is the juncture where the upper and lower halves sync (mesh together) allowing the body to generate centrifugal force and kinetic energy thus producing maximum arm speed. Empowerment or command is achieved once the balance point is learned and repeated. When this happens it is easier to throw what pitch you want, where you want, when you want, and most importantly why you want to throw that particular pitch.

Three things that I emphasize while teaching are commitment, balance, and strategy. First of all commitment, because if you are going to learn how to pitch, then you must commit. This includes taking it upon yourself to do your drills and practice without being reminded. Secondly balance, because when the body is balanced you have control of your body movements. When your mind is balanced along with your body, you are able to execute different strategies to get hitters out.

Ultimately, it is most important that every student has fun while playing the game of baseball. It is just human nature that in sports, the more successful a person is the more fun they have. Success depends on the individual and may be defined as just learning to throw properly, or being able to throw a back door two-seamer or back door slider on command.

Let’s Play Ball,

Juan Eichelberger

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet, or Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Winter League)
• http://www.baseballscience.org, http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2016/fanfest/asg_legends_appearance.jsp

  San Diego Padres Opening Day starting pitchers
  Andy Ashby Andy Benes Kevin Brown Andrew Cashner John Curtis Pat Dobson Juan Eichelberger Jon Garland Bill Greif Joey Hamilton Sterling Hitchcock LaMarr Hoyt Bruce Hurst Kevin Jarvis Randy Jones Clay Kirby Brian Lawrence Tim Lollar Jake Peavy Gaylord Perry Tom Phoebus Tyson Ross Dick Selma James Shields Eric Show Tim Stauffer Edinson Vólquez Ed Whitson Woody Williams