Posted on

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”

Posted on

Strength Training and Throwing Programs

Top Joint

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”

Posted on

Ramsey’s Ryan Vatcher… Doing What it Takes to be Exceptional

Ramsey's Vatcher

Most highly motivated and highly skilled athletes are generally also very bright. So, when it comes to learning and “buying in” to their training regimen, they’re 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. Continue reading “Ramsey’s Ryan Vatcher… Doing What it Takes to be Exceptional”

Posted on

Interview with Kinnelon’s RHP Paul Cannarella (coming off Tommy John Surgery)

FullSizeRenderWe are here with Kinnelon’s Paul Cannarella.  Paul came to us in the fall of his senior year and has been training with us for almost a year.  He graduated from Kinnelon High School this year and unfortunately during this spring season he hurt his elbow.  He had Tommy John surgery and he is now on his path to recovery.  I thought it could be a great interview and learning experience to hear Paul tell his story first hand.

Continue reading “Interview with Kinnelon’s RHP Paul Cannarella (coming off Tommy John Surgery)”

Posted on

Interview with Tenafly’s LHP Aljo Sujak

FullSizeRender (1)

We are here with Tenafly’s LHP Aljo Sujak, who will be entering his freshman year at William and Mary this coming September.  Aljo was selected as Baseball Player of the Year this past spring by NorthJersey.com (The Record), which is obviously a significant honor. He started training with us about a year ago and spent the better part of last fall training 3-5 times per week.  He continued throughout the winter with the Pitching Lab and also trained all in-season throughout the spring.  Needless to say, as POY in Bergen county, he had a phenomenal spring season. As a primary pitcher, he blasted 11 home runs and during 56 innings of work he struck out 72 players.  He finished 5-2 with a 2.25 earned-run average.

Continue reading “Interview with Tenafly’s LHP Aljo Sujak”

Posted on

What May Have Caused the Noah Syndergaard Injury?

On April 30th in the bottom of the 2nd inning, just 38 pitches into his fifth start of the year, Noah Syndergaard threw a 2-1 pitch to the National’s Bryce Harper then proceeded to clutch under his arm. Something was obviously not right. The latissimus dorsi (lat) is one of the major players for stability and throwing gas, and Syndergaard just tore his.  I would like to go over what may have caused the Noah Syndergaard injury.

(Noah Syndergaard Injury)

Continue reading “What May Have Caused the Noah Syndergaard Injury?”

Posted on

Losing Your Legs and Your Velocity Early in the Game

Losing Legs and Velo

It’s that time of year when I go out and watch all my guys (with a great sense of pride I might add) play ball and in doing so, get a chance to watch many other young pitchers on the mound as well. A common thread that I see with many of them is the similarities in the breakdown that happens in the later innings.

More often than not, I believe this is fatigue of the lower half. The pre-mature change in lower extremity kinematics and timing can generally be attributed to a lack of strength (or a loss of strength if they have stopped training in-season) bringing on many command problems as well as velocity issues. Today, we’ll touch on three topics. Continue reading “Losing Your Legs and Your Velocity Early in the Game”

Posted on

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”