To the unaware, Noah is no longer throwing over the top but rather down to the side like Kent Tekulve once did. But more on that in a moment.
Noah's college career began at Morehead State, even though he wanted it to be at WVU.
"I was a West Virginia kid, and I always wanted to play at West Virginia, but at the time the cards weren't aligned for me to play here talent-wise, so I had to take the offers I had and ended up going to Morehead State," he said.
"I got there on campus and adapted to college life and the classes, but I found that it wasn't really the right fit for me. At that point, I wanted to go a different route," he added.
So Noah called up West Virginia University assistant baseball coach Steve Sabins to see if the Mountaineers had any spots available on their roster.
Unfortunately, at the time, they didn't.
"I talked to coach Sabe, and he said, 'We'll have you out for a tryout in the fall, and you can see what it's all about.' I came for the one-day tryout, faced three or four hitters and did pretty well and after that they said, 'We'll be in contact with you.' At that point, everything was up in the air, and I didn't know if I was going to be able to continue playing baseball here or if I would have to leave," Short recalled.
"At that point, I had average stuff from a normal arm slot, and then that fall, I worked out and experienced a pretty big change. I developed a lot, and then in the fall, during the exit meetings, they said I had to get better for the first couple of intrasquads that spring or I was not going to be able to play because they had to make room on the roster," he said.
He made one appearance against Coastal Carolina, and after returning home, he received a text message from coach Randy Mazey wanting him to come into the office to see him and his assistants.
"I'm like, 'Oh, what's this going to be about?' At this point, I went in to talk, and they were like, 'What do you think about dropping your arm slot?' At first I was like, 'What does that mean?' Sidearm, submarine, and I never really considered it before," he said.
"I had some concerns about it and how it would go, and I immediately went outside and started throwing sidearm, and I think I had one or two appearances before COVID-19 hit. It was definitely a change mechanically. It was a change from commanding fastballs to throwing different sliders from that slot because it's totally different."
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound righthander made 25 appearances out of the bullpen in 2021, striking out an impressive 38 batters in 28 2/3 innings of work. This year, his 23 appearances are one shy of Chase Smith's team-leading 24, while the junior has compiled a 3.68 earned run average and a couple of saves in a career-best 29 1/3 innings pitched.
He fanned a season-high six in a victory earlier this year against Baylor and his 71 strikeouts in 58 innings demonstrate the outstanding success he's enjoyed since making the change.
"I feel like I've accomplished a lot of the things I wanted to accomplish," he said. "Obviously, I always want to be better than I am – that's always a goal – but coming from Morehead and not knowing if I would ever play baseball again, that was definitely a bet on myself.
"It was definitely a terrifying experience, because a lot of people told me I shouldn't do it. 'What if you can't play baseball again?' It raises concerns in your head, but at that point I just had to bet on myself and make the decision I felt was best for me at that point," he admitted.
Short says hard work and betting on yourself is a big part of his family's value system.
"Watching my grandparents and my dad work hard their whole lives and work for what they have definitely taught me that you've got to work for what you want and put in the time and effort," he said. "That's definitely showed me I have to do that no matter if I'm at a small school or a big school. Whatever you do in life, you've always got to work hard."
This week's Life as a Mountaineers was produced by Devin Kane and is presented by WVU Medicine.
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