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Summer Athlete Highlight: Seton Hill’s Deschenes 90 to 93 mph with Improved Pitch Arsenal

Luke Deschenes

Seton Hill RHP Luke Deschenes joined us last summer in our Collegiate Summer Throwing Program. The 12-week program is 100% customized to the needs of the individual athlete, whether it be increasing velocity, improving command and control, improving pitch-arsenal, or simply getting better across the board. In general, Luke was looking to become more athletic overall. This included improving his body composition, velocity, command, and pitch repertoire. His initial assessment was done on May 24th, so we had to get to work. By the end of August, his top-end velo had improved from 90 to 93, and he had substantially improved his sinker, change-up, and breaking ball to go along with his 4-seamer and cutter.

How did he do it?

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Podcast #132: Overcoming the Challenges of Coaching High School Athletes with Johnston Hobbs

Johnston Hobbs

Today, we’re with Coach Johnston Hobbs, Head Coach at Ft. Lauderdale High School, the Flying L’s.  He has coached and played at every level of the game and we’re going to focus on some of the challenges of coaching today’s high school athletes. Topics Include:

    • The difference between coaching in the Northeast vs. the South
    • Training catchers
    • Mechanics… When to address / when to leave it alone

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College Baseball Advisor, Should You Retain One?

college baseball advisor

The opportunity to play college baseball has always been challenging, with approximately 7% of high school players moving on to the next level. In recent years, substantial changes have increased the difficulty due to expanded eligibility, transfer waiver / portal, reduced MLB draft, and the contraction of D1 rosters. The days of “if you’re good enough, they will find you” are long gone. So… should you retain a college baseball advisor or consultant? Let’s talk through it.

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Ankle Mobility and Strength / Stability… You need BOTH! – Part 1

One of the most common issues we see in our athletes is a lack of ankle mobility and strength / stability, more specifically dorsiflexion range-of-motion. Whether you’re a pitcher, position player or catcher, since the foot and ankle are the first to hit the ground, your ankles are essentially “ground zero” for all things that happen later in any movement.

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Summer Athlete Highlight: Richmond’s Hinchliffe 89 to 92 mph with Expanded Pitch Arsenal

Jackson Hinchliffe

University of Richmond RHP Jackson Hinchliffe joined us last summer in our Collegiate Summer Throwing Program. The 12-week program is 100% customized to the needs of the individual athlete, whether it be increasing velocity, improving command and control, improving pitch-arsenal, or simply getting better across the board. In Jackson’s case, he was looking to return to school healthy (forearm strain), improve his velocity and expand his arsenal. By the time of his departure, he had improved his velocity from 89 to 92 mph, with a much-improved pitch repertoire.

How did he do it?

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Podcast #131: Building a Division III Powerhouse with Misericordia’s Garrett deMarrais

Garrett deMarrais

Today we’re sitting down with Garrett deMarrais, Assistant Coach / Recruiting Coordinator of Division III powerhouse Misericordia Baseball. The Cougars have reached the NCAA Division III World Series in back-to-back seasons, including a National Championship last year.  Topics Include:

    • The key to a winning culture
    • The power of thinking “outside the box” offensively
    • Key traits when recruiting new players

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Podcast #130: Talking Shop with RPP Strength and Conditioning Coach Bill Walsh

Today we’re sitting down with RPP Strength and Conditioning Coach Bill Walsh. Bill brings with him 20 years of experience, in both the S&C and AT fields. Topics Include:

    • The biggest challenges when coaching the high school population
    • The 3 pillars of athleticism
    • Ankle mobility / strength and its relationship to mechanics and speed

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The Scapular Stabilizers… Why Are They Mission Critical? – Part 2

In Part 1 of this 2-Part article, we review scapular stability, why it’s important and the fact that training it does not happen in isolation. We also covered some of the big players, namely strength and motor control of the cuff as well as tissue quality of the internal rotators. Today, in Part 2, we’re going to sum up the rest of the big players and talk a bit about putting it all together.

Let’s go…

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Podcast #129: College Baseball Recruiting with Sam Sharf, RPP Director of Recruiting

Sam Sharf

Today, I’m sitting down with Sam Sharf, RPP’s new Director of Recruiting. Sam brings with him over 12 years of baseball coaching and recruiting experience. Topics Include:

    • When is a good time to look into hiring a recruiter?
    • What’s involved in an initial recruiting eval?
    • Top focal points when preparing to choose as recruiter

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Passive vs. Active Hip and Shoulder Mobility… Why It Matters?

Hip and Shoulder Mobility

Putting your foot up on a table and stretching out your hamstring might feel good and can give you some temporary relief if done for long enough and frequently, but this newfound “Passive” range-of-motion (ROM) will more than likely NOT transfer to game play. This, requires what we call “Active” ROM.

Why? Let’s get into it…

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