UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The average person may be lucky to throw a baseball 50 mph. The average pitcher ages 10-17 are lucky to hit 75 mph. Tommy Molsky, however, was throwing a 93 mph fastball in his senior year of high school at the age of 18.
Last year, Molsky was Northern York High School's best arm, which earned him first team honors in the state of Pennsylvania and team MVP. Now he's Penn State's newest weapon.
In his first home start for the Nittany Lions, Molsky went 3 1/3 innings while allowing one earned run and fanning two batters. He was removed from the game after a collision at home plate with a Milwaukee player.
"He was lights out…He was really, really good," head coach Rob Cooper said.
In five appearances this season, the true freshman has posted a 4.35 ERA. He compliments that number with 22 strikeouts and holds opposing batters to a .233 batting average.
"Two of my first four starts, I think I walked the first batter of the game, and in multiple other innings, leadoff hitters, I think I walked them," Molsky said. "Today [following March 19 start vs. Milwaukee], I turned it around. Started the first inning with a scoreless inning, which was a huge confidence booster for me, then took that same competitiveness into the rest of the game."
Molsky's collegiate debut this season, facing Northeastern, featured a six-inning performance where he fanned three batters and was not charged with an earned run.
The pitch Molsky flaunts the most and every batter fears is the fastball. Topping at about 95 mph, it's a hard pitch to get any part of the bat on.
However, a hard and lively fastball isn't the only pitch Molsky features in his arsenal.
"I really try to work my slider off my fastball. I feel like I have very similar arm speed and it's really hard to pick up out of my hand which pitch is which," Molsky said.
Head Coach Rob Cooper can't help but to mention the tricks that Molsky has up his sleeve.
"He obviously has a great fastball, and he's got a really good slider. I think you're only seeing him scratch the surface," Cooper said.
A changeup can compliment any great fastball pitcher as the arm speed for each pitch is the same. For Molsky, harnessing a great changeup could be the beginning of a new type of dominance not only in collegiate baseball, but at the next level.
"It [changeup] is still in the works. I've been working on it for a few years now. Last year in high school, I didn't have to use a changeup much," Molsky said. "Today it was a little rusty but I'll go back to the lab so that I can use all three pitches at the same time."
The freshman arm has also found his footing within the team dynamic as he's looked to sophomore Travis Luensmann as a mentor early in his career.
"It's kind of funny, a lot of people say Travis is my father on the team," Molsky said. "We became really close late in the fall. We started working on some water bag stuff and a bunch of stuff we learned from Florida Baseball Ranch when they came in. We kind of put our two knowledges together. We knew both of us as a one-two punch could benefit our team."
While Molsky was slated to be picked in the 2021 MLB Draft, he decided to enroll at Penn State. But there is no doubt among anyone in attendance that Molsky has a bright future in baseball.
"I think Tommy Molsky one day is going to get paid to pitch, he's got that kind of stuff," Cooper said. "The thing I love about Tommy is that he's done a lot. He played a lot of sports; he was a wrestler. He loves to play baseball…He loves to learn, and he's an unbelievable teammate."
