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How to Maximize Your Training… The System is Flawed

As coaches and trainers, we have a big responsibility to fully develop our athletes, so they can perform at their best.  At the same time, we are expected to keep them healthy to give them the best chance to play at the highest level. But, while arm injuries continue to rise in baseball players (specifically pitchers), we’ve come to realize that pitchers are the worst prepared athletes to step on an athletic field. Take note I didn’t say worst athletes, I said worst prepared. Bottom line, the system is flawed. Continue reading “How to Maximize Your Training… The System is Flawed”

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Addressing and Treating Trunk Tilt at Foot Strike – Part 1

Many times, when analyzing video of our young pitchers, I’ll come across an excessive lateral trunk tilt at foot strike. It’s quite common in younger throwers and is characterized by an excessive lean (tilt) contralaterally towards your left side at ball release (if you’re a right-handed pitcher and vice versa). The head becomes tilted, facing away from the driveline and gives the appearance that the athlete is getting ready to launch the ball over a three-story building.
Continue reading “Addressing and Treating Trunk Tilt at Foot Strike – Part 1”

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Analyzing Baseball Spin Rate and Training Pitchers

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There is no doubt that the pitching world is being taken over by new information.  MLB’s Statcast system, Trackman radars and Rapsodo cameras and devices are showing up everywhere measuring velocity, baseball spin rates, spin axes, among other things.  And pitchers and coaches are digging in to see how to include all this information in their preparation and training. Continue reading “Analyzing Baseball Spin Rate and Training Pitchers”

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Strength Training and Throwing Programs

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The increases in pitching velocity and the distance guys are covering when they go yard tells one thing for sure… Guys are getting in the gym and getting bigger, faster and stronger. Period.

That’s great. As a matter of fact, nothing could make me happier as a strength and conditioning coach. But let it be said, with training comes a responsibility on educating athletes as to how and when is the best way and time to incorporate it. This gets especially tricky when it needs to be integrated with a throwing program. What I’m really saying is that a great program should incorporate throwing and strength training as ONE program and not viewed as two separate entities. This is the premise of the closed loop training which we provide at the Pitching Lab here at RPP. Let me try and briefly explain why one hand washes the other. Continue reading “Strength Training and Throwing Programs”

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Baseball Training Facility, Top 10 Things to Look For

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We work with athletes and train guys who are really serious about getting bigger, stronger and faster. That’s what we are most passionate about. Granted, there are five million strength coaches who flip tires, train with CrossFit and run boot camps with ladder drills and cone drills and call it training. Well, I’m here to tell you that it needs to be better than that if athletes are to get to the next level.  Today, we are listing some “must have’s” for a baseball training facility to be deemed adequate before placing yourself or your child into a so called “program”. Continue reading “Baseball Training Facility, Top 10 Things to Look For”

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The Top Secret Part I Left out from the Secret Sauce

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My prior article on our Secret Sauce at RPP (click here) ended with this “Oh, and making our pitchers as strong and explosive as we can, in all the right places”.  In this article, I would like to go a little further and review why and how we have been successful in training high performance athletes. The truth is, it’s all about mass customization.  Strength training is science but it’s also art. I have heard my partner, Nunzio Signore, say to clients a million times “the body is connected in all parts and ways, a potential issue in one location may very well be due to an issue somewhere else”.  The reality is that every athlete that walks into our facility needs a different road-map to be the best they can be.  So here we go with the Top Secret stuff… Continue reading “The Top Secret Part I Left out from the Secret Sauce”

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Interview with Pitching Lab Coach and Cleveland Indians RHP Robbie Aviles

Robbie Aviles - Pitching Lab

We are here with right-handed pitcher Robbie Aviles with the Cleveland Indians.  We are very excited that he is joining us at the Pitching Lab.  By way of background, Robbie is from Suffern.  He was a high school phenom having received multiple offers from multiple colleges for multiple sports, including football, basketball and baseball.

At graduation from Suffern, Robbie was ranked 21st overall in the country by Perfect Game and was gunned at 94 mph just prior to graduation.  He was also 2010 Rawlings-Perfect Game 1st Team All-American.  He was on his way to being a 1st Round draft pick.  However, unfortunately just before the 2010 MLB Draft, Robbie found out that he would need Tommy John surgery.  He was ultimately drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 7th Round where he has been playing for the past seven years.  Robbie is the real deal and he knows his craft. Continue reading “Interview with Pitching Lab Coach and Cleveland Indians RHP Robbie Aviles”

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Parents… Stop Wasting Your Money (Pitchers) – Part 2

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When I wrote Part 1 of this series on wasting money, I didn’t think that there would be a Part 2 (click here for Part 1) or a Part 3.  But then we were provided with several years of showcase results and data by a showcase operator.  So, I am going to tell you what it takes to be seen (as showcases like to say) and actually get noticed, here we go with “Stop Wasting Your Money – Part 2” related specifically to pitchers.

Continue reading “Parents… Stop Wasting Your Money (Pitchers) – Part 2”