It’s impossible not to recognize Y-D’s Brady Frederick on the mound. His unconventional sidearm throw, the same one that carries him through high-pressure relief outings, makes him unmistakable from even the nosebleed seats of any Cape League field.

He adopted the sidearm pitch during his sophomore year of high school.

“At the time, I cared more about playing second base. I was a second baseman, and I kind of threw from a natural sidearm type of slot,” Frederick explained.

At the time, when he pitched, he threw with a non-sidearm, overhand throw. Then, one random game, the sidearm technique transferred from the middle infield to the mound when Frederick’s coach made him continue pitching after he had enough of the outing.

“It kind of came about in our week-long tournament. I told one of my coaches I was going to throw sidearm if he put me in again because I had already thrown, and then he did…and I ended up doing pretty well with it, so I kind of stuck with it after that,” said Frederick.

The adaptation of the sidearm changed the trajectory of Frederick’s baseball career. Before he found his niche, he focused most of his practice on improving his hitting. Once the sidearm worked on the mound, the rest was history and he was officially a pitcher.

“By the time I got to my freshman year of college, that was when [my elbow] was super low, and then it’s kind of been there ever since.”

Frederick is a right-handed pitcher and a rising senior at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. In 2026, he recorded a 4.55 ERA and 1.295 WHIP. One of the most impressive aspects of his game is his ability to strikeout batters, as he recorded 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings in 2026 and nine per nine innings over his entire college career.

In Friday’s game against the Hyannis Harbor Hawks, over 2 and ⅓ innings, Frederick allowed no runs with three walks and only one strikeout. Most significantly, he demonstrated the power of his clutch gene.

The 5’11, 190lb right-hander entered the game in the bottom of the fourth after Easton Teel (Oral Roberts) threw three complete innings. After facing two batters who recorded an infield groundout and flyout to right field, he gave up his first walk of the game. He followed by giving up another flyout to left which was caught by Ty Mainolfi (Boston College).

The following inning, Frederick made things interesting—and some Y-D fans nervous. He began the inning with total control over the Harbor Hawks offense with a flyout caught by Phoenix Call for the first out, and a strikeout for the second.

Then, he gave up three walks in a row to load the bases.

This created a bases loaded, two-out scenario which warranted a mound visit and motivational chat from Y-D pitching coach Eric Beattie.

“I just went out there and slowed him down a little bit, gave him a little time to catch his breath,” said Beattie. “Just told him he’s on the mound because we believe he’s the right guy to have out there.”

Evidently, he was.

With tensions high and the tying run on first, Frederick evinced gasps in the crowd with he did a 180 degree turn toward Y-D’s first baseman Tommy Goodin (Vanderbilt University), released the ball, and successfully picked off the Hyannis runner for the inning’s third out.

Frederick initiated the play, but couldn’t take credit for the idea.

“It wasn’t my call,” said Frederick, referring to the decision to execute the pickoff. “All credit to [Head Coach Scott] Pickler. That’s a play we put in from him.”

He also praised Goodin for his tag that completed the play to retire the side.

Frederick left the outing with a 5.97 ERA on the season, the third highest on the team, and five walks for the team’s second most. However, his ability to perform under pressure—a skill that is not measured in a statistic—has proven valuable for Y-D.