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Chandler Brierley: Touching 98 mph… from Ridgewood HS to the Kansas City Royals

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…

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Podcast #83: Discussing Early/Mid Off-Season Training: Progress and Lessons learned

Today, we’re sitting down with RPP Director of Strength and Conditioning Zach Kollar to take a look at our athlete results thus far as well as the methods used. We’ll also discuss switching gears for the second half of the off-season and what to expect training-wise to help increase power output.

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Podcast #82: Teasing Out Movement Patterns and Strategies in the Delivery with PT, DPT Emily Ferree

Today we’re sitting down with PT, DPT, Emily Ferree. This sit-down was long overdue.  So today, we’re going to discuss Emily’s take on various courses of action in adjusting mechanics for a more efficient delivery. Topics include:

    • Back Leg Mechanics
    • Overstriding
    • Lead Leg Block
    • Block Training vs. Variable Training

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What Makes 15-year Old, 2-way Player, Graham Keen Elite

Remote Athlete Graham Keen, 2-way player in the class of 2027, recently came in for his 2nd 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 1st overall in PA and 29th 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?

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Podcast #81: Behind the Seams Podcast – Best of 2023

Happy New Year!

This week we’ve got a special episode featuring the “Top 5” Behind the Seams Podcasts of 2023. Here you’ll find gems from…

    • Alan Jaeger – Jaeger Sports
    • Corey Muscara – Wake Forest University
    • Matt Swope – Maryland University
    • Drew Dickinson – University of Virginia
    • David Kopp – University of Florida

Once again, have a safe and Happy New Year!

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How Baseball Players and Pitchers Can Train for Power with Plyometrics

Baseball Plyometrics

When most of us think of what comprises a great strength training program for baseball players, we think of training force production. While this is crucial to enhance performance, the dissipation (absorption) of force is vital not only to performance, but for reducing the risk of injury as well. We can’t talk about either force production or dissipation without talking about plyometric training. Numerous studies have shown that performing plyometric training for baseball players:

    • Improves soft tissue quality
    • Helps reduce the risk of injury
    • Increases throwing velocity

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Podcast #79: Highlights from the Bridge Seminar at Wake Forest University – 2023

This past week I was down at Wake Forest University presenting at the Bridge Seminar which is an annual event assembled by the Wake Forest Pitching Lab.  Similar to last year, this week’s podcast is a review of some of my favorite presentations at the event, including:

    • Mike McFerran – Creating Winners
    • Emily Ferree – Inputs vs. Outputs
    • Dr. Michael Freehill – SLAP Tears and Repair Procedures
    • Jimmy Buffi – Biomechanics and Its Relation to Injury Risk
    • Nunzio Signore (yours truly) – Profiling Pitchers

This is a great recap of a super informative weekend. Enjoy!

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Podcast #78: What is Strong Enough and When to Switch the Curve to Training Power

I’m flying solo today talking about a much needed topic. When to train strength in the weight room and when is an athlete strong enough?  Discussion includes:

    • What does “strong enough” mean?
    • Testing Protocol
    • When to train for power?
    • How do we apply initial strength assessment to training / programming

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