Florida Baseball Ranch
Impulse And The GMs: The Most Important Contributors To Pitching Velocity
In the spring of 2019, we got a call from Kyle Barker, CEO and founder of Aeronautic an aeronautical engineering company in Little Rock, Arkansas. Kyle’s son, Will had trained with us for several years, and Kyle was one of the closest friends of Minnesota Twins pitching coach Wes Johnson. When Wes was the pitching coach at The University of Arkansas, Wes had a state-of-the-art pitching lab installed. The lab included a mound with force plates embedded. According to Kyle…
It Will Be Hard
Raise your hand if you want to be a major league baseball player. Don’t be shy. If you want it, say it. I understand your reluctance. For most people and most training facilities, if you tell them your dream, they’ll caution you to have a plan B. They don’t want you to have false hope. They want you to be “realistic.” They’ll often refer you to what we call “The Pyramid of Hopelessness,” which highlights the long odds against you. Frankly, we’re…
I Don’t Have To Be Better Than You.
I played college baseball at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina — The ONLY Military Academy in history to make it to the Division 1 College World Series. They did it in 1990, 4 years after I graduated — they had to get rid of some deadwood like me before they could make their run. We played in the Southern Conference. Still, every year, our schedule featured 10-12 games against powerhouse teams like North Carolina, Clemson, South Carolina, and NC State. By all accounts,…
My Shoulder “Itised”
The other day I was sitting on my couch watching a playoff game, and out of nowhere, my shoulder “itised.” I mean, I was just sitting there minding my business and BAM! The “itis” hit me. Nearly every other day, we get a call from a player or a parent or coach of a player with arm pain that has bee diagnosed as tendonitis. The cycle they report is eerily familiar. The player feels a little pain in their shoulder or elbow after throwing. It’s nothing major -just a pinch…
The Corruptive Potential of The Current Return to Throwing Protocol
When I was 18 years old, I had Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstructive Surgery, or Tommy John, as it is more popularly known. A week later, I moved into my dorm at Spartanburg Methodist and began the hardest year of my baseball career. While there were several obstacles I had to overcome, without question, the most challenging was the standard return-to-throwing protocol. I was relentless in my physical therapy work. I lost 30 pounds (I was fat. I needed it), and I became an absolute monster…
What’s The Point?
I hear a lot of coaches, players, parents, and administration/front office staff talking about old school vs new school. Data vs gut. Tradition vs innovation. I think both sides need to pause and understand that coaches have been teaching human movement since the game began. We have to remember that data doesn’t create a movement. The movement creates the data. The data merely tells us how we’re doing. As far as “new and innovative” is concerned. I don’t see anything wrong with…
Protected: Justin Verlander: “I’m A Stuff Guy”
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Bull Whip Calamity: The Importance of Movement Analysis
The summer after I graduated from high school, I needed a job. As a three sport athlete, I was at a practice or a game just every day of my life , so having a regular job had been out of the question. Now I was heading off to college and needed to spend the summer making cash to allay some of the ancillary costs. A lot of my friends worked in our little mall, so I thought that might be an option. I walked into every store and filled out applications until my hands, head, and neck were sore. …
Pete Rose Is James J.Gibson
As a baseball coach and a physical therapist, I’ve been trying to make players and patients to optimize their movement patterns for nearly 30 years, and there’s something I’ve recently realized … I can’t make players or patients optimize their movement patterns. The more I learn about James J. Gibson’s Direct Perception Theory, the more I realize that in movements involving time pressure, I can’t make you move. Your coach can’t make you move. Even your own thoughts can’t make you…
