Standing atop a 10-inch pitcher’s mound, 6-foot-8 Bryan Hudson is an imposing sight for high school hitters, even before he begins his motion and his hand releases a baseball from roughly nine feet above ground level.
And if Hudson is throwing his nasty curveball, it is apt to drop to a hitter’s ankles, a phenomenon that helped the Alton High senior accumulate more than 300 career strikeouts.
“It’s a pitch high-schoolers aren’t accustomed to seeing,” Alton coach Todd Haug said. “This isn’t his coach saying this, but Baseball America and some in the major leagues say it’s the best high-school curve in the country.