PhoulBallz Interview: RHP Dom Pipkin talks Instructs & more

Dom Pipkin, image- Jay Floyd

Righty pitcher Dominic Pipkin spent the 2019 season with the Class A BlueClaws.  In 24 appearances he tallied a 3-4 record with a 5.15 ERA, a 1.62 WHIP along with a .261 batting average against.

Pipkin was a 9th round draft selection in 2018 and is among the organization's most promising hurlers.

This week I spoke with the 21-year-old (his birthday is today!) California native about his time at Fall Instructs and more.  Read ahead for that interview.

-What can you share about the benefits of Fall Instructs this year following a cancelled regular season?  

Instructs after a cancelled season allowed the few players that went to  get live reps in after 6 months of nothing, it was good to get the rust  off and feel that first inning jitter again.

-Did you or other players there go harder during your month at Instructs as opposed to a regular fall exhibition schedule that follows an action-packed regular season?

We definitely tried a little harder for the short month we had, just  because we were excited to be back, finally. I know that’s why I tried  harder.

-I know you guys played some weekend exhibitions against the Toronto prospects.  How often were the intrasquad games?

We played a game every day some days it would be three innings and others a full nine.

-Were you satisfied with the efforts you had during games?

I’m satisfied with my performance, it could have been better but after 6 months of nothing I didn’t have my bar set too high.

 

-How would you say you benefited from Instructs this year?

I think this years instructs helped me develop my pitch arsenal a little bit more, find a “power slider” compared to my loopy one.

-Who helped with refining the slider?

I worked on the slider mostly with Brad Bergesen, AKA Viper, but our goal  was to have a distinguished difference between the slider and curve ball  to play off the running fastball and change up.

-How has your family dealt with the pandemic?  Has everyone stayed healthy and maintained employment?

My family dealt with the pandemic pretty well they all stayed employed and healthy.

 

...To check out the rest of this interview in which Dom talks about if he'll pitch in any off-season leagues, the most important thing he learned in 2020, The Mandolorian and other topics, visit my Patreon page, at Patreon.com/PhoulBallz, and support my work.  You'll gain access to loads of exclusive content and get virtually all of my other content early.