Category: Athlete Highlight

Villanova Baseball commit Jake Francis is having another exceptional spring season. Jake started his training at RPP almost 2 years ago, in August of 2021.  At the time he was 6’ tall and 160 lbs., coming off a PBR event where his velocity was sitting 80-82 mph. Fast forward to this spring, Jake is at 180 lbs., sitting 88-90 and recently touched 91 mph. His velo is up nearly 10 mph.  This spring, in 51.1 IP, he has a 0.82 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP.  He has only given up 6 earned runs in over 51 innings.

How did he do it?

Continue reading “Athlete Highlight: RHP Jake Francis Velo is Up 10 mph Since Joining RPP”

George Mason commit Shaun O’Keeffe is having an exceptional spring senior season at Donovan Catholic High School in Toms River, New Jersey. In 36 IP, the lefty has registered a 1.34 ERA with 62 strikeouts and an Ocean County Championship for Donovan Catholic. Shaun began training with us last summer as a part of the Summer Throwing Program and continued his training throughout the fall and winter leading up to the spring season.  His velocity has improved by 4-6 mph, from sitting 81-83 to 85-87 mph.

How did he do it?

Continue reading “Athlete Highlight: George Mason Commit Shaun O’Keeffe (1.34 ERA) Velo is up 4-6 mph”

Vincent Luther, Junior at Ridgewood High School in New Jersey, is having an excellent start to his 2023 baseball season. More than halfway through the spring, he has pitched 35.2 innings with a 1.18 ERA.  His velocity is up 6 mph from 78 in July 2022 to 84+ mph since he started training with us last September, which gave us a good amount of time to work on several different areas.

How did he do it?

Continue reading “Athlete Highlight: Vincent Luther Velo is up 6 mph Since September (1.18 ERA)”

Michael Gillen, Freshman at Seton Hall University, is having a great start to his collegiate career. With 15 appearances and 22.2 innings pitched, he has a .40 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and velocity sitting at 91-93 mph. He initially began training with us back in the fall of 2019 as he was starting his sophomore year at Bergen Catholic high school (at the time according to PBR he was sitting 78-80). Fast forward… after graduation he joined the 12-week Summer Throwing Program in preparation for his collegiate career. When he started the summer program, his goals included cleaning up pitching mechanics, improving his velocity and overall pitching arsenal.

His summer program began with a 3 ½ hour initial assessment, which included the following: Continue reading “Athlete Highlight: Seton Hall Frosh Michael Gillen Sitting 91-93 mph w/ a 0.40 ERA”

Photo Creds: Robert Gaetano

Brett Antolick (Texas A&M commit, Class 2023) started training with us on a remote basis almost two years ago, beginning in July of 2021.  At the time, he came to RPP at the recommendation of Nate Yeskie, the Texas A&M Pitching Coach. Although Brett trains on a remote basis, luckily, he doesn’t live too far and during this time period he has been able to perform his assessments and reassessments in-house.  Shortly after he first started, he was clocked sitting 86-87 and touching 88 (at PBR-PA).  Fast forward to April 2023, at a high school outing recently he was sitting 91-94 and touching 95 mph.  How did he do it?

Continue reading “Remote Athlete Highlight: Brett Antolick Velo up 6-7 mph, Touching 95 mph”

Lucas Malave, sophomore outfielder for nationally ranked Catholic University, is having a heck of a season. Through 30 games played, Lucas is hitting .309 with 7 HR, 28 RBI, 27 R, and 6 SB. While Lucas has always had the ability to see the ball well at the plate, these numbers far surpass his freshman year stats in many ways. What changed?

Continue reading “Remote Athlete Highlight: Lucas Malave is On Fire at Catholic University”

Wagner Baseball commit Connor Roche is on fire this spring at Westwood High in Westwood, New Jersey. Ten games into the spring, he is batting .667 and has a .939 slugging average. He has had at least one hit in every single game with several for extra bases. While his batting average is probably unsustainable, his overall improvement is quite impressive. Needless to say, his hard work is paying off in a big way!

How did he do it?

Continue reading “Athlete Highlight – Connor Roche (Wagner Commit) is Batting .667 this Spring”

Graham Keen, 2-way player in the class of 2027, came to us in June of 2022 after a recommendation from Matt Pilewski, owner operator at PVS Baseball based in Pittsburgh, PA. Although Graham is a 2-way player, our initial assessment was focused on his physicality and pitching mechanics.

After 10 months of hard work he has made significant gains, with his pitching velocity up 7-8 mph to 85-88 mph.  So, how did he do it? Continue reading “Remote Athlete Highlight: Graham Keen Pitching Velo Up 7-8 mph in 10 months”

Evan Festa , 2-way player from Las Vegas, Nevada (Class of 2024), came to us last September looking to elevate his game and performance on the field. At 5’11″, Evan started his remote training at RPP weighing in at 155 lbs. and expressing a desire to increase his lean body mass, strength and power, and eliminate his pre-existing lower back discomfort. Six months later, Evan is off to a great start this spring with a .459 batting average and no lower back discomfort. Let’s review how we got here.

Continue reading “Remote Athlete Highlight: Evan Festa Batting .459 (Class 2024 from Nevada)”