One-armed catcher from Nashville area visits Orioles, takes first pitch from Jim Palmer

The Tennessean

Cornersville's Luke Terry, a 15-year-old one-armed catcher, has a new fan in Baltimore Orioles catcher Caleb Joseph, a native from the Nashville area.

Cornersville's Luke Terry had a personal catcher workout with the Baltimore Orioles prior to their game with Cleveland on Wednesday night.

Joseph, a former Franklin standout, met Terry on Wednesday prior to the Orioles' home game with Cleveland.

"He's a really talented kid," Joseph said. "I'm excited that he's only 20 or 30 minutes away from me in Nashville.

"I can keep up with his progress. I know he's gong to try out for his high school team coming up soon. He is hitting second on his team right now. He's a baller for sure."

Terry caught the first pitch prior to Wednesday night's game from MLB Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer, a former Orioles standout.

►More:One-armed middle school catcher is incredible to watch

Terry was the starting catcher for his middle school baseball team this past season. he also hit third in his team's lineup. He had his right arm amputated at 19 months after he contracted E. coli and it eventually attacked the arm.

Terry hasn't let the loss of an arm slow him down. He figured out how to play catcher with one arm — catching the ball and tossing it in the air while dropping his mitt and grabbing the ball in midair.

"I think when I first saw it on Twitter, I had to replay it like six or seven times because I wasn’t picking up the fact that he didn’t have a right arm," Joseph said. "I had to focus. That’s so seamless, the transition, that I couldn’t tell."

Terry took part in a personal catching clinic with catchers Welington Castillo, Joseph and bench coach John Russell during the afternoon.

►More:One-armed catcher catches first pitch at Sounds game

"He was the highlight of my day," Joseph said. "He was extremely respectful as most Tennessee kids are."

The Terry family received four ticket vouchers for a round trip flight from Southwest Airlines, and the Sheraton Inner Harbor provided accommodations for the visit.

Reach Tom Kreager at tkreager@tennessean.com and 615-259-8089 and on Twitter @Kreager.