Healthy Sam Bachman Takes Control In 2023

Sam Bachman knows what he needs to do to be his best self. One of the top ranked pitching prospects in baseball, Bachman’s key to success is to simply stay strong. While that proved difficult in 2022, Bachman feels like he is ready for a breakout campaign in 2023.

“The only thing I was looking to do this offseason was get healthy,” Bachman said. “Being healthy, the velocity and the stuff came back. That’s who I am.”

That’s what he wasn’t in 2022, with a back injury limiting him to just 43.2 innings in his first full season, with only one of his 12 starts lasting more five or more innings. The hard part while in the middle of the season was the need to get on the mound, despite not being 100 percent every time.

“It was hard to work through those injuries, especially with some of the pain lingering,” Bachman said. “I didn’t have the time to fully recover. But that’s what the offseason allowed me to do, get a nice reset.”

With the full reset, Bachman is discovering the form that made him the ninth overall pick in the 2021 draft. In his first two starts of 2023, Bachman has won both, pitching 10.2 innings while allowing just one run and striking out 16. He is the only starter in the Rocket City rotation to win both of his first two starts.

Sam Bachman set the tone on Saturday night.

His 9 strikeouts in 5 shutout innings is our @Boeing Performance of the Week! 💫 pic.twitter.com/MepieaQ2F6

— Rocket City Trash Pandas (@trashpandas) April 10, 2023

“He’s really been able to establish a rhythm. There really weren’t any issues last year outside of starting and stopping,” Trash Pandas Manager Andy Schatzley said of Bachman. “He’s had a really healthy offseason, a really healthy start to the year, and what we’re seeing is some continuity in his rhythm and continuity in his schedule.”

The strong start to the season was preceded by Bachman’s first career invitation to Major League spring training, where he made three scoreless outings for the Los Angeles Angels in Cactus League play. It was a big learning experience for the 23-year-old from Fishers, Indiana.

“I was glad I got to see how guys went about their business with their routines,” he said. “Especially seeing guys that had back issues in the past and what’s worked for them, what recovery they did.”

While the physical health of getting his body ready to pitch is a major point of emphasis for Bachman, he also found ways to improve his mental health. Mainly, by deleting his social media accounts over the offseason.

“Just to get mental clarity. It can not be great for mental health,” Bachman said when asked why he chose to remove his social media accounts. “Everyone’s comparing and trying to one-up each other. It wasn’t a healthy thing for me to have at the time. So, I deleted it and life has been pretty nice without it.”

The social media is just one aspect of the mental side of the game that Bachman has improved on. Another aspect is being more present and learning from mistakes in a game steeped from failure, rather than letting those mistakes define you.

“Being able to take those failures, process them yourself, learn from them, and take the positives away was a big thing for me,” Bachman said. “Being more personal with it rather than seeing what others have to say about it. The only thing that matters is how you feel about it and the things you take away from it. That’s how you grow. Taking in this moment, letting myself live this moment, and that has really benefitted me.”

“I think that shows a lot of maturity of his part in taking ownership of his career,” Schatzley said when talking about Bachman’s deleting social media. “The value that he places on the mental side of things is something we’ve talked about a lot as a staff and we’re happy that’s working for him.”

Now with his body fully healed and even more clarity on the mental side, Bachman will look to continue his strong season as the Trash Pandas seek a second straight playoff berth.