New Blowfish pitching coach uses life experience to motivate player

Posted 1/16/19

Grit. Toughness. These are just some of the qualities that pitchers must have in the game of baseball. Typically, they learn how to acquire and implement these qualities from their pitching coaches. …

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New Blowfish pitching coach uses life experience to motivate player

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Grit. Toughness. These are just some of the qualities that pitchers must have in the game of baseball. Typically, they learn how to acquire and implement these qualities from their pitching coaches. Those pitching coaches are immediately recognizable at the ballpark, with the crossed arms or stoic look on the stone face. Players gravitate toward those hard-nosed coaches. They are the ones who give them the most grief, but then celebrate in the victories of an inning, game, or season. New Blowfish pitching coach Shawn Torbett is immediately recognizable as that prototypical pitching coach. His intensity when discussing the game of baseball is infectious, and typically readies you to run through a wall. But when you interact with him, talking about baseball, there is a side of him and a part of his story you may not know.

Battling pain

The year was 2001, Shawn was coming off yet another successful season as the pitching coach for Lexington High School. He was set to marry his then-fiancé Becky in October, and life was moving at fast rate. His name was becoming recognized by coaches and schools across the state and southeast region. “It was June and I had pain in the middle of my feet,” Torbett said. “It honestly felt like fasciitis and I just kind of ignored it.” But the symptoms didn’t stop there. Two days later, his ankles were swelling like they were sprained. A few days later, his knees had a feeling of tendonitis, his hips felt like somebody was pumping air into them, and all of this was occurring within a week. “All of this was cumulative and it (the pain) is so hard to describe,” he said. “It’s a cross between the burning sensation of a pulled muscle and the pain of a broken bone.” Soon, the cumulative effects also led to a consistent fever. With his body seemingly breaking down, Shawn kept it relatively to himself. “I’ll tell you the truth, I didn’t tell Becky at first. And then with the fevers, I was secretly taking 4,000 milligrams of Tylenol a day.” “The mental aspect of it all was so draining. Being an athletic person and a coach, that lack of control was so unsettling.”

Getting the news

All of it happened so quickly and he finally had to tell his fiancé of the issues he was having. The two joined in the fight together as Torbett was barely able to walk. The fluid retention was so bad that he was barely able to throw a baseball. A pitching coach that was unable to throw a baseball, who would ever imagine such a thing. So, on Aug. 9, 2001, Torbett visited his normal physician where he was tested for 19 different diseases. Shortly after that visit, just before the school year was set to begin, Shawn received the phone call that changed his life. The diagnosis? Rheumatoid Arthritis. This form of arthritis is systemic. It attacks the lining of your joints. Furthermore, it creates fluid build-up which over time, calcifies your joints. That’s when the mentality began to shift. “It felt good to know I wasn’t crazy,” Torbett said. Remember, this has all occurred within a few short months. So as Shawn is just two months away from marrying the love of his life, he is unable to lift his arms above his head, needing help to bathe and get dressed. The guilt begins to set in that the prime of their lives and the life they could build is being taken away. The Torbetts welcomed their first child in 2002, as he continuesd to battle this disease. A self-described roller coaster of emotions accompanied the illness. The actual pain, guilt from feeling not good enough in providing for his family due to medical expenses, and the overall stress of battling the disease and the financial strain of dealing with rheumatoid arthritis all led to sleepless nights and angst over what the next day would bring. It was simple conversations with people who were dealing with the same condition. The older lady who patted him on the knee, telling him he was going to be just fine. Or the man who was confined to a wheelchair, but continued to have an upbeat and contagious, positive spirit. Torbett decided then that the “why me” attitude was going to change and that he knew he could beat the illness that made him wonder if he could make it through the nights filled with pain.

New lease on life

There were multiple efforts, as Torbett battled through the disease, to treat the pain and effects from R.A. Then, he was prescribed a medicine that he credits for “saving his life.” Torbett began taking Enbrel in 2005 and developed an immunity to the medication in 2013. He believes it saved his life, and that his current prescription with Orencia has put him “over the top.” “In fact, I’ll shoot you straight,” he said. “This is the first time I’ve been able to see the veins in my hands in 18 years.” Torbett was officially announced as the new Blowfish pitching coach last October. His task is to mold young pitchers and help them improve their game during the summer. The stress of coaching baseball is minimal compared to the 18-year ordeal that Shawn, Becky, and his children have gone through. “Baseball is a lot like life,” he said. “There’s adversity and you have to overcome it. Our players are going to know what I went through, and what I still go through. It’s part of who I am. I don’t shy away from it.” If you go to a Blowfish game this summer, you’ll see the ultra-competitive, intense pitching coach, the man who chatters throughout the game. Yes, he’s a baseball coach. But in his journey, he’s just happy to be able to walk to the mound and discuss the game with his pitcher.

Torbett, Bl

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