Nation’s No. 3 saves leader, Miami’s Palmquist overcame health crisis before first start
Carson Palmquist’s art of deception is a gift for the Miami Hurricanes pitcher who hides his left-handed mastery with a quirky sidearm delivery that leaves hitters unaware until it’s too late.
It’s no wonder last season’s All-American closer, Stopper of the Year Award finalist, 2022 Golden Spikes Award candidate and newly named No. 2 starter for this weekend’s season-opening home series against Towson never mentioned a traumatic series of events that began just before Christmas.
“Carson’s not going to tell you a lot, unfortunately,’’ said his nonetheless adoring mom Cindy. “Not a great talker.’’
Actually, you’d have to rewind to when Palmquist, now 21, was about 10 and his older brother Cody, who went on to pitch in Triple A for the Texas Rangers organization, was in high school. Carson had just gotten a first baseman’s glove for Christmas and the two brothers went into their Fort Myers backyard to play catch.
“He was breaking in his new first baseman’s glove and he threw one over my head,’’ Cody, now a 27-year-old firefighter in Estero, told the Miami Herald. “I ran and got it, threw it back and Carson wasn’t looking. By the time I yelled he was looking right at me and it hit him straight in the nose. Blood everywhere. Blood all over his new glove.’’
Fast forward 11 years to three days before this past Christmas, when the former preteen’s broken nose, black eyes and swollen face had long disappeared and he had sprouted into today’s 6-3, 185-pound bearded UM junior who plays big, but talks little. Cindy Palmquist and Carson’s dad Chris, who both were athletes at Miami Springs High and had their first date in the Orange Bowl at a UM football game, said Carson had gotten frequent sore throats and since the baseball incident had trouble breathing from one side of his nose. So, on Dec. 22, he underwent surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids at UHealth’s Lennar Foundation Medical Center — “the hospital behind right field,’’ Chris said.
Medical emergency
The night of Dec. 29, while recuperating at home in Fort Myers, a blood vessel “on the lower left side where they removed the tonsil, ruptured,’’ said Cindy.
“He woke up screaming,’’ Chris said. “blood was everywhere. They said if we hadn’t gotten him to the hospital he could have bled out.” By 6 a.m. he had been transported to another hospital to undergo emergency surgery.
“An eventful couple weeks,’’ his dad said.
“A rough month,’’ Cody said. “Not feeling too well, couldn’t eat, bleeding out of his mouth and nose, lost a lot of weight. He was pretty miserable.
“But now he’s fine.’’
So fine that after returning to campus the first week of January and spending at least another week regaining his strength, Palmquist began to pitch. The USA Baseball Collegiate National Team member and Miami Hurricane will head into 2022 with a 2.24 ERA and 90 strikeouts and 13 walks over 56 1/3 innings the past two seasons.
Nation’s third best
In 2021, Palmquist had 14 saves, third best in the nation. He held batters to a .143 average and struck out 75 while walking only eight in 44.2 innings. His ERA worsened from 1.38 after struggling in the postseason. He gave up a walk-off homer against Duke’s Michael Rothenberg in the ACC tournament opener, another home run in the ninth the next day to FSU’s Logan Lacey and three runs on two more homers in the final 1 1/3 innings of the final loss of the season to South Alabama in the Gainesville Regional.
But he was back to the steady, nearly flawless version of himself last weekend at the annual Alumni Game. Palmquist pitched five shutout innings, allowing only one hit and striking out eight, including infielder Romy Gonzalez of the White Sox and Colorado Rockies Double-A outfielder Willie Abreu.
“My body felt good,’’ he said Tuesday at media day, never disclosing his recent health scares. “In high school I always noticed I got better as the games went on. Toward the fourth, fifth inning I felt I could throw everything for strikes.
“I took the bullpen role with open arms, happy to do it and ready to compete and help my team win,’’ Palmquist said of 2021, when UM finished 33-21 overall and 20-15 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. ”Now having the opportunity to start, I want to take advantage of it and show I can do it — and do it all season long.’’
Hard to hit
Palmquist’s fastball reaches about 94 miles an hour, according to UM pitching coach J.D. Arteaga, and his slider and changeup have improved enough to make the staff and teammates believe he will excel as a starter and hopefully live up to draft projections that have him going as high as the top half of the second round.
What makes him so hard to hit?
“His arm angle,’’ Arteaga said. “He’s very long and lanky and has a very low slot and throws across his body and hides the ball. He’s not a submariner. He’s right at parallel to the ground, just like [former Cy Young Award winner] Chris Sale for the Red Sox. He has a lot of deception in his delivery.
“Obviously, you hope and expect the same success,’’ Arteaga said of Palmquist’s transition to starter, a role he had at Riverdale High in Fort Myers, where he allowed no earned runs his last three seasons. “But the reality is even if he were our closer again this year, to duplicate what he did last year would be pretty remarkable. The numbers he put up haven’t been put up here in a long time, as far as strikeouts per inning and walks and all that stuff.’’
Palmquist is set to pitch the 2 p.m. first game of a doubleheader Saturday. He’ll be limited to no more than 80 or 85 pitches, UM coach Gino DiMare said. Sophomore Alejandro Rosario will start the season opener at 7 p.m. Friday.
Durability factor
“The thing to me is going to be his durability, holding up,’’ DiMare said of Palmquist. “He did it in high school but it’s a different level here. It’s going to be much more taxing. Here there are going to be a lot of stressful innings he’s got to get through and that takes a lot out of you. We’ve been building him up for that.’’
A reporter jokingly asked DiMare if perhaps Palmquist could be a starter and a closer.
“Nope,’’ the coach said. “He’s a starter now and we hope he stays that way.’’
No matter what happens, Palmquist will likely maintain his cool demeanor on the mound.
“He’s very quiet, but kind of funny,’’ said Cindy, an insurance agent who worked for 10 years at the University of Miami in different areas, including as administrative assistant for renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Barth Green when the family lived in Miami. ”I asked Carson back in high school after one of his games, ‘Do you enjoy being out there?’ He said, ‘Yes, why?’ I said, ‘You don’t look like you’re having fun. You don’t show any emotion.’
“Replied Palmquist: “On the mound is the only place I want to be. I love it.’’
Cindy and Chris — he’s the manager of a commercial flooring company — will be there Saturday, while Cody watches on ACC Network Extra.
“I believe in him,’’ Cody said. “I taught him how to pitch and I’ve been watching him his entire life. I know exactly what he’s capable of and I think he knows it, too. He’s very confident. He’s not afraid of throwing a fastball down the middle and challenging hitters. I’ve always admired him for that. He doesn’t let the moment overcome him.’’
He does, however, admittedly get nervous before games. “My heart races a lot, butterflies for sure,’’ Palmquist said. “But as soon as the game starts, the first pitch changes it all and I’m ready to go.
“I’m just ready to get past that first batter and have fun with it the rest of the season.’’
This story was originally published February 17, 2022 at 6:49 AM.
