There's 'over the top' -- and then there's this pitcher's delivery

As a hitter, you try to get a good look at a new pitcher once they enter the game. You might stand just outside your dugout, pick up a bat and stare out toward the mound.

Maybe you time his fastball. Maybe you can find he's tipping his hand every time he throws a curveball. Maybe he lets out a loud grunt any time he delivers a changeup.

But if you're facing Wayne State University of the D-II Great Lakes Intercollegiate Conference, you might see something you've never seen before. It might frighten you. It might make you reach for your back in pain. It will definitely make you question the limits of the human body.

"Everybody just sort of looks at each other in the other team's dugout and says, 'What is that?'" Wayne State reliever Ethan Getting told me in a recent Zoom call. "I've heard a few people go back to the dugout and just say, 'You can't see it at all.'"

Getting says his high-noon, back-breaking delivery has always been a part of his motion, but he really started kicking it up a notch in high school. It was, as he recently told Pitching Ninja, a gradual process that's gotten more and more extreme over the last few years.

While most of us might feel like the upper half of our body might snap off, the Wayne State junior has always felt fairly normal about it all.

"I'm very comfortable with it," Getting said. "It feels very natural to me."

And as his arm moved farther back and up towards the sky, he found some benefits.

"I was picking up more velo," Getting told me. "My junior year, senior year of high school, I was probably like 82 to 83 and now I'm upper 80s -- touching 91."

But what about coaches? Have they been concerned with how extreme it's become over the years or how it might cause an injury?

Getting says because he always had a bizarre delivery, and it was such a slow progression to where it is now, coaches didn't really take notice. They'd just think, "Oh, he's always throwing weird."

And since he hasn't had any complaints postgame, besides normal pitcher arm soreness, his teams have supported and helped him maintain his deceptive motion. His gym workouts might involve more spine and core work, but it's not too different from a regular pitcher.

"The training staff here at Wayne is super great and my pitching coach is super helpful keeping me to my routine and getting me ready to pitch," Getting said. "I don't think it's too irregular from other pitchers. We all have to rotate, we all have to try and put as much force into the ball as we can -- I just add a little extra mobility on top."

Coming in from that odd angle, it's also helped his pitches move more. His fastball has 20 inches of ride, like it's rising through the strike zone, while his curveball can drop 20 inches when it's right. His changeup is somewhere in between.

"It all just looks funky," Getting laughed.

Just a little bit.

The reactions are, well, as you might guess.

Players involved in other games at the same complex will tap a teammate on the shoulder and turn around to watch Getting's delivery.

Opposing benches will say he's "throwing grenades."

Batters will see one pitch, look back at their coach and simply shake their heads.

The results have, mostly, worked in Getting's favor. Although he has 14 walks (you try to control a delivery that's scraping the clouds), he's struck out 27 over 19 2/3 innings. That's about 12 strikeouts per nine innings. Opponents have a .134 batting average against him.

Getting also won GLIAC Conference Player of the Week at the end of March -- coming in for a long, dominant relief outing to get the win. The righty threw five scoreless innings on 64 pitches, allowing just one hit and one walk with three strikeouts.

Getting says his delivery wasn't really inspired by over-the-top pitchers like Tim Lincecum or Oliver Drake, but he does like watching them and taking mental notes.

"James Karinchak was 97 coming out of the bullpen, super over the top, kind of a killer a few years ago," the 21-year-old remembered. "I sometimes look at him to replicate some of those mechanics."

So, does Getting plan to take his arm back even farther? To maybe gain just a little more speed, a little more deceit, a little more funk?

"I think I might be at the critical point," Getting smiled. "If I go any more, I think I might fall over."