On the mound, Justin Marsden is a bit of a late bloomer.

Although the Auburn Mountainview graduate has spent the greater part of his 18 years playing ball, starting with the Auburn Little League at the tender age of four, it wasn’t until the last couple of years that his true ability as a right-handed pitcher blossomed.

“I feel like it really took me awhile to develop,” Marsden said. “I never really won any awards or anything.”

That’s all changed for Marsden three weeks ago when the league named him 2015 South Puget Sound League 3A Player of the Year for his help driving the Lions to a fifth-place finish at the 3A state tourney, with a 22-3-1 overall record.

He finished the year with a 7-0 record in 13 appearances, with two complete games and a save. In 59.2 innings pitched he notched a 0.70 earned run average with 109 strikeouts, giving up just 23 hits and six earned runs.

More important than the accolades for Marsden, however – who had planned to play collegiate ball this fall at Central Arizona College – is the opportunity he earned to play professionally with the Tampa Bay Rays organization, which selected the 6 foot, 4 inch, 175-pounder with the 658th pick in the 22nd round of the Major League Baseball draft.

Projected by some to go even higher in the draft initially, Marsden can thank his appearance at the 2014 Area Code Games, a high school baseball showcase conducted each summer in California.

Last August, against a handful of the country’s most talented prep ballplayers, Marsden pitched two innings, giving up just three hits and striking out three.

More important, however, was the chance Marsden got to showcase his 93 mph fastball and his devastating curve for scouts.

According to TrackMan – a Danish company that uses a 3D Doppler radar system to measure pitches – Marsden’s curve has the highest spin rate of any they’ve measured, including professional Major League pitchers.

“I had a really good outing down there and found out how good my curveball really is, and how hard I was actually throwing,” Marsden said.

According to TrackMan, Marsden’s curve spins at 3,055 revolutions per minute. The MLB average is about 2,400.

For hitters, who look to the laces on a baseball to judge how fast it is spinning – a fastball spins faster than a curveball – this means a ball with movement that mimics a straight-ahead heater.

“I didn’t even know there was a record at first,” he said. “Then I did a little research and found out more about it. Then I got a little happier about it.”

Marsden said he first began throwing the curve as a 10-year-old with the Auburn Little league.

“Then I had a couple guys help me out with it,” he said.

Among them were former Major League pitcher Jim Parque – his club coach at Big League Edge – his coach at Auburn Mountainview, Glen Walker, his high school pitching coach, Chuck Schroeder, and his father, Dan Marsden.

In addition to the curve and fastball, Marsden throws a changeup, which he is trying to improve.

Although it is the curve that stands out immediately to onlookers, Marsden credits his work ethic over the past couple years for elevating him from merely a decent player to a bona fide ace. He credits the Lions 2013 Washington State Championship team for teaching him that work ethic.

“We lost all of our dudes from the varsity team after the state championship,” he said. “So that summer I started thinking that I needed to step up and be the dude. We lost all our guys, and I needed to fill some pretty big shoes after guys like Nick Brooks [now playing for Gonzaga University] left.”

In addition to committing to a lifting regimen that added bulk to power his fastball, Marsden said he worked hard to keep his arm flexible and healthy.

“I did a lot of band work also, so my arm would always be healthy, which I’m happy I did because I haven’t had a lot of the arm issues that some of my friends have. So I’ve been able to get better than taking breaks,” Marsden said.

After a disappointing 2014 season, which saw the Lions eliminated in the first round of the regional playoffs, Marsden said, he and the team’s soon-to-be seniors decided to put an emphasis on chemistry and bonding.

“We decided we needed to play more as a family and not so much as individuals,” Marsden said. “Before we played together, but we really had our cliques. Like the outfielders and the infielders. It wasn’t a team. We tried, but we weren’t a team. This year we played more as a family.”

Marsden added:

“This year we wanted to be the best team Walker ever had; we wanted to take him all the way again,” Marsden said.

Although the quest ended shy of another state title this year with a fifth-place finish at the 3A tourney, Marsden said he is still pleased with what the team accomplished.

“I feel like we could have done better, but I’m glad I was part of this team, I’ll miss them all. We’re basically all brothers and family out here.”

And for himself, he’s just pleased he gets a chance to play at the next level, whether he decides to start on the professional path with the Rays or with Central Arizona.

“I feel really blessed because I get to play more,” he said. “I put in a lot of hard work and gave up my social life to get here. I’m at the gym every day working out and throwing or coaching at Big League Edge. Now it’s paying off.”

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Baseball and ADHD

Justin Marsden’s curve may have come easy for him, but grades are a different story.

“In classes I’ve always felt like I wasn’t normal because it takes me a bit longer to learn things,” Marsden said. “It takes me a while to tell somebody something right, it ends up confusing for them and me.”

Diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, in addition to a learning disability, Marsden said baseball is a chance for him to “feel like a normal kid.”

“When I step on the field, it’s like nothing’s wrong with me. I feel like every other kid does every day, I’m not struggling,” he said. “Out on the field I learn faster than I ever have in a classroom. I’m comfortable out there.”

Baseball helps in the classroom, too, Marsden said.

“I learn a lot slower than other people,” he said. “But I feel baseball has helped me out because I can put everything into baseball terms. I learn math faster because I put it into stats.”