It gives me great pleasure to highlight the success of our athletes from this past spring. Their success is not a surprise, nor is it accident. These athletes put in an enormous number of hours over many months training at our facility this past off-season. Before I present the complete list, I would like to highlight the following players that trained at RPP and have been recognized at the top of their game by local media: Continue reading “Sports Recognition Awards — Spring 2018”
Rapsodo Pitching Data, a Comprehensive Report
During the past year, we have spent endless hours crunching pitching data and there are some unbelievable and amazing conclusions which we would like to share with you. This report is a summary of approximately 10,000 pitches thrown by 50 high school-level pitchers, randomly selected from our various winter, spring and summer programs. The new Rapsodo pitching camera system exposes a great deal and explains why “the eyes lie”. We are willing to bet that our findings are not unique but rather common place in youth pitchers everywhere. Continue reading “Rapsodo Pitching Data, a Comprehensive Report”
The Mental Game of Baseball, Control What You Can
Whenever I watch local high school games and I work with younger pitchers it always takes me back to when I played at all these levels. One of the biggest things that I notice at the high school level, after watching nearly 1000 professional games over 7 years with the Indians, is a point my pitching coach made when I was in AA-ball. He said, “don’t try to control the un-controllables, just control what you can!”. The mental game of baseball is about focusing on the controllables. Let me explain…
Continue reading “The Mental Game of Baseball, Control What You Can”
Command and Control – Case Study: Butler’s Josh Loeschorn
As strength coaches, our goal is to not only improve an athlete’s performance but also keeping our athletes healthy during the season. This is not unlike a race car that comes out of the gate blazing and after 100 laps requires a “pit stop” to try to address wear and tear. Continue reading “Command and Control — Case Study: Butler’s Josh Loeschorn”
5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Summer Season
Today I am going to address 5 “do’s and don’ts” for those players choosing to play summer ball. These are generally players that are “on the cusp” (1-2 mph) of where they want to be velo-wise and could and should find a local league / team that will allow them to only pitch 3-5 innings per week and play first base on an additional day. Continue reading “5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Summer Season”
Pascack Hills Baseball… New Jersey State Champions
Hey Everyone,
Yesterday, the Pascack Hills Baseball Team won the New Jersey State Championship. We would like to congratulate Coach Kirkby and his coaching staff and all the players on this amazing accomplishment. This past winter we had the pleasure of training many of these amazingly talented group of young men including seniors, Jack Brodsky and Paul Sullivan, and juniors, Brandon Siegenthaler, Chris Curcio and Julian Bulzomi, and sophomore Spencer Berson. Continue reading “Pascack Hills Baseball… New Jersey State Champions”
Pitcher Development Program… Case Study: Brian Doherty (Class 2020)
The following is a brief review on 15-year old, 6’4”, 205 lbs. RHP Brian Doherty (Class 2020) who has made tremendous progress in our Pitcher Development Program. Brian trained at RPP this past fall and then rejoined us again recently. As a part of the development program, he has been working on a variety of topics this spring, including:
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- Pitching Mechanics and Delivery
- Ball Movement Patterns (Data Analytics)
- Strength and Conditioning Continue reading “Pitcher Development Program… Case Study: Brian Doherty (Class 2020)”
Mobility or Stability… Should You Stretch Your Shoulder?
Today on social media I saw a post by a training facility of a “trainer” manipulating / stretching a 12-year old’s shoulder into external rotation. His reason was because and I quote “the athlete was experiencing arm pain due to inflammation in the shoulder”. Just watching it made me feel like this. Continue reading “Mobility or Stability… Should You Stretch Your Shoulder?”
4 Great Pitching Mechanics Fixes in the Weight Room
Over the past few months I’ve released several videos demonstrating how we can use the weight room to help get our guys into better positions in the delivery while on the mound. Today, I thought I would put together a few of the ones that were most popular. Continue reading “4 Great Pitching Mechanics Fixes in the Weight Room”
5 Things You Need to Create Stability and Power at Foot Strike
When talking about how force is transferred from foot strike up into the arm, I like to use the “crashing a car into a wall with crash test dummies” analogy. Continue reading “5 Things You Need to Create Stability and Power at Foot Strike”