By: Alexis Stallard, Staff Writer
College athletes typically struggle to work jobs between workouts, practices and classes. But one Newman baseball player found a way to create his own business out of his dorm room.
After going home at the start of the pandemic in March 2020, Asher Finke said, he decided there was no better time to train his pitching than in lockdown. His only issue: Finke found it difficult to properly train his pitch without an actual pitching mound. So he built his own pitching mound that he could easily set up and take down in his backyard.
“After I was done using it, I decided to sell it. Sold within an hour and I knew I was onto something then,” Finke said.
He builds the mounds using artificial turf and lumber and adds a pitching rubber. The whole mound is able to fold up for easy storage and travel. It has handles and wheels for easy movement as well.
With a design already in place, Finke began making and selling more of his product around his hometown in Texas. He said he frequently sells to a local baseball franchise but has even sold to former professional baseball pitcher Alex Wilson.
Drew Maus, Newman’s head coach for baseball, said Finke is the first player of his to start his own business in baseball and have true success with it.
“I think it’s a very brilliant model…The ability to fold them up and store them will definitely help with places that are like high schools that have limited storage space,” Maus said.
Finke said that the recent winter break allowed him to get into a better groove of producing the pitching mounds.
“It’s something I can use as my job to sustain myself and pay all my bills, which is nice,” Finke said.
Finke said he has already reached out to some larger baseball leagues and has come close to making deals. In the meantime, his focus is on local training facilities and travel baseball dads wanting to boost their sons’ games.
Finke said he hopes to continue the business past college and is already using the information from some of his classes at Newman to shape his business.
PHOTO: Courtesy Photo, Asher Finke
