Move To Mound Pays Off For Elon Closer

During redshirt junior Chris Hall’s time at New Trier High (Winnetka, Ill.), coach Mike Napolean used Hall on the mound just once, on Senior Night. The reason he kept him off the mound was out of necessity.

“I was the one catcher on our team in high school, and coach never let me (pitch),” Hall said.

Hall went to Elon as a catcher, but fellow catcher Michael Elefante, one year older than Hall, got a glimpse of Hall’s arm strength as soon as Hall stepped on campus.

“I noticed it when we were catching together, and we would throw down to bases,” Elefante said. “He could just stand up and whip it down there. It was pretty incredible.”

Hall redshirted in 2013 and was behind the plate in 2014, hitting .212 in 99 at-bats. He did hit one home run, which was noted during his Senior Day ceremony, and which he said, was “one of a few hits.”

Elefante moved to the mound for good during 2014, his redshirt sophomore season, and found some success, sticking as a starting pitcher for the rest of his career. But he immediately called for Hall to do the same.

“He convinced (Elon head coach Mike) Kennedy to let me throw a bullpen,” Hall said. “He was bugging him for a while to let me do it. Coach finally caved in and let me do it. From then on, I was just pitching. Done hitting.”

Kennedy added, “He was pretty good at throwing runners out and could really throw the baseball. Offensively, that’s where he made it easier to make him a pitcher, because he struggled. He’ll tell you that, he’s OK with that. Ultimately, if you’re not going to play and get opportunities to get on the field, then that’s probably the next best step for him.”

In the first bullpen, Hall touched 92 mph, flashing the arm strength he had always had. But that isn’t what caught Kennedy off-guard.

“What surprised me was that he commanded the ball a little bit—it was around the plate,” Kennedy said. “We got guys who throw hard, but it’s all over the place, and you’re not going to automatically make every catcher a pitcher. He threw good, but we knew he would. But what we looked at was, ‘Wow, that thing is around the plate. You got something to build on from there.’”

Hall had nine appearances on the mound in 2014, learning the ins and outs of pitching as the season went on. Kennedy can remember one game in particular that sticks out.

“I thought, for me, the time where I said, ‘You know, he can probably be pretty good at this,’ was at NC A&T a couple years ago,” Kennedy said. “He came in and threw pretty well, but more than that, he threw a back-knee slider to a couple of lefthanders. At the time, we weren’t getting guys out, but he made some really good pitches. I said, ‘If he figures this out, and he can back that up and repeat that, he’s got a chance.’ And he’s been doing some of that.”

Hall pitched two perfect innings in relief that night, striking out two. From there, Hall continued to develop quickly, appearing in 26 games in 2015 before becoming the full-time closer this year.

He’s been the anchor of the Phoenix’s shaky bullpen all season, with a 2.93 ERA, 10 saves and 27 strikeouts over 31 innings. His fastball has been consistently 91-94 mph, and touched 96-97 on a few occasions, and he’s shown a solid slider, too. It’s a funny twist of fate for Kennedy, who saw the same switch happen more than two decades ago.

“History tells you catchers, when they have opportunities to pitch, have done a good job of that,” Kennedy said. “Troy Percival comes to mind because I played against him in the Northwest League. He wasn’t an offensive catcher, but he could really throw. And bam, they throw him in the big leagues and he becomes one of the premier closers in baseball.”

Percival was one of the first notable guys to make the switch, but more recent relievers such as Carlos Marmol, Jason Motte, Kenley Jansen and Chris Hatcher all have converted. But the quiet Hall doesn’t look at those players for inspiration. Instead, he finds it in his teammates at Elon—and especially his fellow convert.

“The guys I looked up to pitching are Elefante, because he did it before,” Hall said. “Pretty much anybody on the staff, because I ask them what they do.”

In two years’ time, Hall went from being a catcher who struggled at the plate to a solid closer, and scouts believe his 6-foot-2, 212-pound build could enable him to be a starter down the line. But whatever happens, Hall is just happy to keep playing baseball.

“I really am new to this—don’t know anything about it. It all kind of happened fast,” Hall said. “I just want to play baseball, and I’ll do it as fast as I can.”