I was like every baseball kid out there: I dreamed about MLB, and I thought that’s where I was going But I had the same problem most young athletes have: they don’t have any idea what it will ACTUALLY TAKE to get there For me I didn’t realize because I was comparing myself to my high school teammates, and my high school competition. And because I was winning high school awards, I thought I must be doing everything correctly But if I would have objectively compared myself to

While new velo touch PR’s are important, an even greater indicator of growth is a pitchers FB average. The MLB average FB velocity this year was 94.0; while even some low level pitchers have touched that once upon a time, what seperates the guys who climb the levels of the sport vs those who get released, is that they throw hard consistently : every pitch, every outing, month after month. What most are missing is that a pitchers velo consistency is closely tied to strength. S

Unfortunately every athlete at some point ends up on the IL Thats because the more an athlete is exposed to the competitive environment; and the higher their outputs are; the greater the stress induced So the only way to stay injury free is to sit the bench The reality is injuries are multi-factorial and complex They’re systematic; bio mechanical; physiological; environmental; and then also just random happenstance-like in this case ^ which was a miscommunication between SS a

Your phone can either be a blessing or a curse Just depends on how you’re using it According to the research, excessive smartphone and social media use increases narcissism, fragments attention, and causes anxiety and depression In other words, at the same time it makes you selfish anxious and dumb, it depresses you However, it can be a excellent tool, as it can provide quick access to information, as well as helping you vastly improve skill through video We constantly use vi

Unless you understand periodization and how to correctly combine means and methods, most programs look pretty good on paper But even many programs that are actually good often fail The reason is many times they’re being performed in a lackluster environment Training to the brain is sympathetic: fight or flight So if you place an athlete in an environment that’s aggressive, where the music is loud, you’re slamming weights, and your training partners are pushing you with posit

It only makes sense looking back When you look back you’ll see how all the dots connected and how God put it all together for you But in The Process, you can’t see the conclusion. So there WILL be frustrations. And sometimes it will feel like it’ll never happen If you get lazy; if you complain; if you quit; then you forfeit the blessing But if you stay faithful, God has ordered STEPS for you This is why PERSEVERANCE is such an aspect of maturity (James 1:2-4) because you have

You’ve probably heard the saying “you are what you eat” After over a decade of reviewing athletes diets, I can say that it’s very true-an athletes body, for good or for bad, always reflects their nutrition habits And every skinny weak kid who “just can’t gain weight” makes the EXACT same mistakes: -they eat a lot of protein shakes and bars, the biggest trash products out there -they don’t understand the importance of meal timing -they eat junk like fries/shakes/cookies/cheezi

A kid this past week was talking about his friend that washed out of baseball “He liked to pitch, but I don’t think he really liked everything else” You could write that on 99% of failed players gravestones Of course they like playing That’s what they enjoyed about baseball in the first place But what so many lack is having the will to prepare They fail to do what they need to OUTSIDE of games- an effective throwing program, consistent work on their swing, baseball specific d

Running poles, “triangles”, and the other endurance based activities that go on at the low levels of baseball is a complete misunderstanding of the bio-energetic demands of the sport. Baseball is NOT a lactic sport It’s an Alactic-Anaerobic sport It’s pitch, followed by rest Pitch, rest. Pitch, rest. So what baseball players need is not low output lactic based endurance training like running poles that robs the body of critical Type II muscle fiber, but rather, to develop ala