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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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Summer Velo Program… Are You Ready to Do What it Takes?

When it comes to learning and “buying-in” to a training regimen, most highly motivated and highly skilled athletes are 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.

Ramsey High School’s Ryan Vatcher, who is now up at Babson College, is a perfect example. Ryan opted not to play summer ball last year.  Instead, he enrolled in our Summer Velo Program choosing to work on his strength and mobility by living in the gym and working on fixing some mechanical issues through an intensive 5 day / week throwing-lifting program. This helped him create a higher velocity ceiling, as well as give him a better chance to succeed coming down the mound. Continue reading “Summer Velo Program… Are You Ready to Do What it Takes?”

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Baseball Spin Rate and Related Topics

In Part 1 of this series, we wrote about how data and analytics provided by new equipment is changing the way pitchers are getting evaluated and trained.  Today, we’re going to dig a little deeper into the baseball spin rate and review several related topics:

    • What it (spin) all means,
    • How movement is generated,
    • Different types of spin and related info,
    • Advantages of having access to the data,
    • Why it’s important to understand the ramifications, and
    • How we can use it to our benefit.

Continue reading “Baseball Spin Rate and Related Topics”

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Analytics is Changing Pitcher Evaluations… You Better Get Ready

As much as some people don’t want to admit it, baseball is turning even more into a numbers game run by machines such as Statcast, Rapsodo and Trackman, to name a few.  The ordinary fan watching a game on TV is getting a glimpse of this when they see Aaron Judge’s exit velo, launch angle, projected distance and exit velocity pop on the screen, or, when they’re watching Aroldis Chapman and instantly see his velo, extension, spin rate, and horizontal and vertical movement.  Whether we like or not, data is changing the landscape for baseball players.  And I can speak to this first hand, from my own experience with the Indians over the past 7 years. Continue reading “Analytics is Changing Pitcher Evaluations… You Better Get Ready”

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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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Baseball Training Facility, Top 10 Things to Look For

baseball training facility

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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3 Reasons for Lower Back Pain after Pitching

Lower Back Pain after Pitching

Unfortunately, 90% of the pitcher population cannot handle the amount of lumbar extension Tim Lincecum put his body through. It’s no mystery that low back pain can severely compromise velocity, as well as command, in pitchers. In Part 3 of this series on Pain Site vs. Pain Source, we’ll look at low back pain and some possible “sites” distally that could be causing it. We’ll also look at some things we can do from both the strength and mobility (mechanics) side that may help to relieve unwanted stress in the area. Lower back pain after pitching can be caused by many things, but for the scope of this article, we’re going to concentrate on… Continue reading “3 Reasons for Lower Back Pain after Pitching”