Kevin “The Professor” began his Tapey Beercone playing career during mid-Winter of Season 3. Most noted for his accolades as a pitcher who had his own unique style and delivery, Kevin rode that uniqueness all the way to being named season 3’s Pitcher of the Season.
Kevin Bond didn’t become a pitcher out of obvious ability, he became a pitcher out of necessity, as has often been the case. He was called upon to pitch every game of what may be called the Great Basin Series in the late winter of 2014. During the first game at Panorama Promontory Park, with no other obvious pitching candidates on his team Kevin volunteered for the role. He saw immediate success in that first game allowing just two runs and recording eight strike outs in his first four innings of play.
This was enabled by an unorthodox pitching motion which fooled many batters. Like other pitchers he would pull his pitching hand back in a bowling motion then start a regular forward swinging process, but then, if only for the briefest of moments, he’d stop. He would seemingly halt his arm, freezing the forward motion. And after that freeze, he’d abruptly flick his elbow and wrist releasing a pitch with velocity that this motion wouldn’t seem capable of achieving. Batters had a very difficult time picking up the beercone, and timing their swings. With this Kevin had found a method to induce a considerable number of swings and misses as batters struggled to get the timing of his pitch down, and even when they did, they often swung under his pitch expecting something slower.
Throughout the remainder of the three game series Kevin continued to pitch to great effect, however the end results weren’t as favorable as he took the loss in both games. Still, he’d end the season with an inning run average of under 2, a strike out per six inning rate of over 8, and a batting average against of under .550. Coupled with excellent avoidance of hard hits, the ability to generate weak fly balls, and nearly scratch fielding and “The Professor” graded as the worthiest recipient for the Pitcher of the Season Award, hitchy delivery and all.