Coleman Hits With Only 1 Hand - The Gift of Adversity

What an inspirational story!! An early candidate for College Baseball Player of the Year.
The Collegiate Baseball story makes note of the fact that this kid and his dad studied

Barry Bonds' hitting mechanics to come up with a way to compensate for having to hit with one-arm. Lost in the fire-storm over the PED witch-hunt was the fact that Bonds is in a league with perhaps only Ted Williams as a bona-fide genius in the art of hitting a baseball. Bobby Cox witnessed Bonds' pitch recognition ability during an All-Star game and talks about it with amazement. The efficiency of Bonds' hitting mechanics are validated with this incredible story.

Obviously, this kid is not using PED's to generate power. Great story.

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FROM GORDON COLLEGE WEBSITE:

The Gift of Adversity: Freshman Baseball Player Overcomes the Odds

by Annie Cameron '09



http://www.gordon.edu/article.cfm?iArticleID=878&iReferrerPageID=1676&iPrevCatID=134&bLive=1

Gordon College baseball player Dillon Coleman ’13 was born with only one hand, and to him that’s a gift. In fact, ask him about the challenges that he’s needed to overcome and he never mentions how difficult it is to switch from glove to bare hand fast enough to throw someone out.

He also won’t talk about the disadvantage of swinging the bat with only one hand. Instead he says, “The biggest challenge I’ve had to overcome was convincing my coaches over the years that I was good enough to play at the team’s level.”

Dillon’s love for the game—and his ability to confront adversity—came from his father, who began pitching to him when he was 3 years old. “My dad has been my greatest inspiration, encouraging me to try my hardest and convincing me that I could do anything I set my mind to.”

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Dillon grew up in Cromwell, Connecticut, and learned about Gordon through his church, Wethersfield Evangelical Free Church in Wethersfield, Connecticut, from some of his friends who are also Gordon students. “I was looking for a Christian college with an art program and a baseball team, so Gordon was perfect,” Dillon says. With a knack for stealing bases and an eagerness to hit the ball into the gap, Dillon approaches baseball with the same passion and determination he does with everything else. one that exceeds all expectations. And with Gordon’s first season game approaching, he is excited about what he will contribute to the team. “I want to step up my game,” he says, “and show even more people the gifts God has given me.”

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FROM COLLEGIATE BASEBALL:

Coleman Hits With Only 1 Hand:

MORE ON DILLON COLEMAN: The complete, in-depth story is available in the Feb. 24, 2012 issue of Collegiate Baseball. We find out how Coleman can hit the ball so far despite only having one hand and how the mechanics of Barry Bonds helped him.

WENHAM, Mass. — Dillon Coleman of Gordon College is an amazing story. Born with no left hand, this 6-foot-2, 160 pounder has overcome great odds to play college baseball.

The journey has been difficult to say the least. He was cut from his junior high baseball and basketball teams.
Coleman had his left eye fractured when he was hit by a pitch as a youngster and also was hit in his right eye on another occasion when a ball ricocheted off his bat.

Through it all, his incredibly caring family has encouraged him to keep playing the sport he loves in baseball.
And while many of his friends stopped playing baseball after Little League, junior high and then high school, this junior at Gordon College keeps playing as a starter.

Last season, one of the most amazing things in college baseball history unfolded. The left side hitting Coleman, who plays leftfield and centerfield with no left hand, did the unthinkable.

With only his front hand to guide a regulation 32 inch, 29 ounce bat through the strike zone, Coleman belted the first three home runs of his life all over an 8-day span.

Last season when record low offensive numbers were turned in by college hitters across the board with the new BBCOR regulation bats, Colman put on a power display for the ages over those magical eight days — his only home runs of 2011.

Stop for a moment to realize how difficult it would be to hit a home run 300-plus feet with only the front hand essentially being utilized during the batting stroke and little help coming from the back arm. Also consider that this trio of home runs were the first circuit clouts ever hit by anyone from his family. His dad Jeff never hit a home run in his baseball career, and neither have his two younger brothers.

As a left side batter, Coleman utilizes his front right hand, but he doesn’t have a hand on his back left arm. As he steps to the plate, he chokes up on the bat about an inch with his right fingers on the bat. The end of his other arm is a small section of bone covered by flesh which rests against the bat next to his right hand. The athletic movements his body makes to gain torque and power through the hitting zone is incredible.