Most highly motivated and highly skilled athletes are generally also very bright. So, when it comes to learning and “buying in” to their training regimen, they’re all ears. This is called “athlete education” and nothing can be more rewarding than watching them “do what it takes to be exceptional”, while reaping great results at the same time. Continue reading “Ramsey’s Ryan Vatcher… Doing What it Takes to be Exceptional”
We are here with Kinnelon’s Paul Cannarella. Paul came to us in the fall of his senior year and has been training with us for almost a year. He graduated from Kinnelon High School this year and unfortunately during this spring season he hurt his elbow. He had Tommy John surgery and he is now on his path to recovery. I thought it could be a great interview and learning experience to hear Paul tell his story first hand.
Continue reading “Interview with Kinnelon’s RHP Paul Cannarella (coming off Tommy John Surgery)”
Many pitchers who haven’t been to our facility often ask “What’s your secret sauce?” Now, please remember I am not a strength or pitching coach. I am just a guy with an Electrical Engineering degree, an MBA, 30 years of business experience and a dad. So, much of my commentary is based on what I observe up close in our facility and as a parent of 2 boys growing up playing ball. Frankly, over the years I have seen it all, from the straight up hitting and pitching facility to the strength and conditioning place. RPP is different in every way. And here’s why… Continue reading “What’s Your Secret Sauce?”
Athletes who are able to recruit higher ratios of Type II “fast twitch” muscle fibers have shown to be able to produce more power. For ballplayers, this means that they are more likely to throw harder off the mound or have a higher exit velo at the plate. Genetics do come into play, but many times they only give us a better “starting point”. By no means should they dictate a definitive “end-point”. After reading a copy of Dr. Bryan Mann’s book on velocity-based training (VBT) a light went off in my head as to how elements of VBT could be implemented here at RPP. Continue reading “What is Velocity-Based Training? What Are the Benefits?”
We are here with Tenafly’s LHP Aljo Sujak, who will be entering his freshman year at William and Mary this coming September. Aljo was selected as Baseball Player of the Year this past spring by NorthJersey.com (The Record), which is obviously a significant honor. He started training with us about a year ago and spent the better part of last fall training 3-5 times per week. He continued throughout the winter with the Pitching Lab and also trained all in-season throughout the spring. Needless to say, as POY in Bergen county, he had a phenomenal spring season. As a primary pitcher, he blasted 11 home runs and during 56 innings of work he struck out 72 players. He finished 5-2 with a 2.25 earned-run average.
I have been getting numerous calls the last week or two about pitchers’ velocities dropping as much as 10 mph (one athlete was down from 90 mph to 79-80mph). Continue reading “Why Certain Pitchers Can “Deal” all Season Long”
For parents of some young athletes (for the scope of this article I’m talking about athletes ages 13-16), lifting heavy weights seems to get a bad rap. Years ago players were told not to lift weights because it would make them too “big”. You could even hear words like “stiff” or “tight” getting thrown around at the drop of a hat.
While I whole heartedly believe in the phrase that “age is wisdom”, this would be one of those times that I beg to differ. Being strong is a good thing. And if you want to be explosive you have to be strong first. Performance, speed (have I got your attention now?) and injury prevention all are built on a foundation of strength. But exactly what type of strength training and at what age seems to be where parents (and strength and conditioning coaches for that matter) get tripped up.
Most of you who read my blogs know that I spend a great deal of time emphasizing training according to where the athlete is during the season. Let’s take a look… Continue reading “Training Explosiveness through Strength Training”
It’s no secret that the numbers of youth injuries in baseball are staggering. Even with the implementation of pitch counts, youth pitching injuries not only continue to rise but account for many of the injuries ball players eventually suffer later in their careers. Here we go, with my top 9 reasons for pitching injuries… Continue reading “Top 9 Reasons for Pitching Injuries”
With all the data continuously coming out of the MLB Statcast system, there are a lot of discussions about what’s useful and what’s not. But no matter how you look at it, Exit Velo is king. Don’t misunderstand me Launch Angle (and other metrics) are extremely relevant metrics. However, Exit Velo reigns supreme. Let me explain… Continue reading “Is Your Exit Velo Too Low?”
