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How to Improve Your Defensive Fielding… The Three Pillars

Today, I decided to get together with Dr. Ismael Gallo, DPT, the founder of the Baseball Flows™ App. As a former professional baseball player turned Doctor of Physical Therapy, Dr. Gallo specializes in effectively bridging the gap between the movements in-gym to the specific movements essential for on-field excellence.

 Many young ball players face a common hurdle.  They lack the athleticism to play defense at a high level. In order to field a ground ball or charge a bunt efficiently, movements need to be fluid and this requires what is known as agility. And, when it comes to fielding a ground ball, agility involves making these rapid movements mentioned above in constantly changing, unpredictable environments.

So, what exactly IS agility?

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Podcast #84: Managing Pitchers in the ACC with Notre Dame Assis. Head Coach Seth Voltz

Seth Voltz

Today we’re sitting down with Notre Dame Assistant Head Coach Seth Voltz. Coach Voltz brings with him a plethora of knowledge and information, from not only a coach’s viewpoint but a player’s as well. Topics Include:

  • The portal and its impact on high school athletes
  • Workload management with pitchers
  • The importance of incorporating S&C into an athlete’s program

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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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