Category: Athlete Highlight

Stevens Commit Dean Qira (Class 2024) joined us in August 2022 looking to improve his overall strength.  This past off-season, he also enrolled in our fall and winter pitching programs to help improve his mechanics and raise his velocity ceiling.  During this time period, Dean has made some major improvements. The 6’0” southpaw began his training in the fall weighing 173 lbs. with a FB topping out at 84 mph (6/9/2023 PG). Fast forward to May 2024, and he is absolutely dominating his high school season. Dean is sitting 87-88 and T89 mph, with a 1.13 ERA in 31 IP.

How did he do it?

Continue reading “Athlete Highlight: Wayne Hills Senior and Stevens Commit Dean Qira up from T84 mph to 87-88, T89 mph”

Senior Shortstop Chasen Kirk joined us last November in our 4-month off-season program to improve his performance at the plate. Five months later, he’s making his mark in the spring season, currently batting .382 vs .208 the prior year with exit velos 92+ mph.

What’s changed and how did he do it?

Continue reading “Athlete Highlight: St. Peter’s Prep’s Chasen Kirk Opens Up Spring with a Bang!”

Justin Lin (Class of 2025) is a veteran of the RPP Fam, having joined us in 2021. Needless to say, the gains have been significant. Last fall, Justin came back at 6’1”, 187 lbs. topping out at 84 mph (6/23 PG). After a couple of unfortunate injuries last year, he got after it this off-season and the results are showing. He is now T91 mph and sitting upper 88-90 mph. His fastball velo is up 6-7 mph.  In addition, he has developed one of the best pitching arsenals we have seen at RPP from a high school level player (Trackman results available).

How did he do it?

Continue reading “Athlete Highlight: Hunter College HS Junior Justin Lin up from T84 mph to T91 mph”

RHP Anthony Blackford joined us last September. This is about 8 weeks earlier than most athlete begin their off-season training, but as you will see, Anthony’s gains far exceeded the average gains we generally see. The 6’0” righty topped out at 78 mph when he first came in this past fall. At the finale of the of the off-season he was now touching 88 mph, and recently he touched 89+.

How did he do it?

Continue reading “Athlete Highlight: Pascack Hills Junior Anthony Blackford UP 11 mph, T89 mph”

Rutgers Commit Chris Sand (Class 2025) joined us in September of last year looking to get a head start on the offseason and improve his mechanics, all with the intent of also bringing up his velocity ceiling. The 6’0” right hander came in weighing at  156 lbs. with a FB sitting 85-86, T87 mph in our initial evaluation. Now we sit here in the early part of the high school season and Chris has gained 3-4 mph, sitting 87-89 and T90 mph consistently, with more gains coming this spring and summer.

How did he do it?

Continue reading “Athlete Highlight: North Hunterdon Junior and Rutgers Commit Chris Sand up to 87-89, T90”

LHP Chandler Brierley, recently picked up by the Kansas City Royals, has been training at RPP since his days at Ridgewood High School (class 2016), nearby in New Jersey.  He attended Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken and has always made a point of coming back to RPP and staying on top of his training when he was home for the holidays or the summer.  There are many things that contribute to an athlete’s success and Chandler is no different.

Here is a summary of a few that stand out…

Continue reading “Chandler Brierley: Touching 98 mph… from Ridgewood HS to the Kansas City Royals”

Remote Athlete Graham Keen, 2-way player in the class of 2027, recently came in for his 2^nd re-assessment.  A lot has changed over the past 18 months since he joined us as a remote athlete in June 2022. Given his gains, the big question now is “how does a 15-year-old generate pitching velos of nearly 90 mph and exit velos approaching 103 mph?”.  For his grad year, Perfect Game ranks Graham 1^st overall in PA and 29^th overall in the country nation. Obviously, mechanics have a lot to do with performance, but not many 15-year-olds with good mechanics throw and hit the ball this hard. Although, you could say at 6’5” his long levers certainly help, there is much more to the story.

So, how does he do it?

Continue reading “What Makes 15-year Old, 2-way Player, Graham Keen Elite”

Nate Byrd, 6’4″ Senior RHP from Post University, has had quite the story as a collegiate baseball player. After topping 93 mph as a freshman in Junior College, injuries plagued the right hander who had 2 elbow surgeries in a 5-year span, resulting in velo loss with him not seeing 90 mph in over 3 years. Nate came in-house this past summer with the goal of gaining back his velocity. His summer began with a complete assessment, from movement screen to strength and power testing, and a mechanical breakdown of his delivery combining both motion capture and video analysis. This past spring, Nate topped out at 87mph. Fast forward to this fall, he topped out at 91 mph (first time in over 3 years).

How did he do it?

Continue reading “Athlete Highlight: Post’s Nate Byrd is Back Healthy, Topping 91 mph (up 4 mph since spring)”

Declan Hickey, Sophomore at JUCO County College of Morris, joined us this past summer as part of our Summer Throwing Program. Previously a catcher, Declan was looking to convert himself into a pitcher that would be capable of competing at the college level. Starting the program at 6’4” 207 lbs., Declan definitely had the frame to throw hard, but was only sitting 75-78 mph when he arrived. His goals for the summer were to improve his mechanics in hopes that it could translate to more velo on the mound. Declan’s summer began with a complete assessment, including a movement screen, strength and power testing, and a mechanical breakdown of his delivery combining both motion capture and video analysis. Fast forward to this fall, Declan sat 85-87 mph, a 10+ mph pickup from where he started in June. He put in hard work all summer long, and it’s definitely paying off!

How did he do it?

Continue reading “Athlete Highlight: Declan Hickey (Sophomore at Junior College CCM) Velo is Up 10+ mph Since June”