Quintin Time!! Quintin Time!: Another Arm Pain Case Study
Quintin Pile has a new arm and a new walkout "song" for his next season with the Wofford College Terriers.
Picture this: The coach makes a visit to the mound and motions for right hander out of the bullpen. The anxious crowd cranes their necks to get a glimpse of the bullpen gate. Just before it opens, the public address system blares this: Quintin Time!! Quintin Time!
Last winter we worked with one of Quintin's teammates, a Senior righty named Connell Anderson who was operating on the last...
The Dangers Of Training Corruption
More Is Just More:
Last weekend I flew to Houston to help Coach Ron Wolforth at The Texas Baseball Ranch with a 3 day Elite Pitchers Boot Camp. I am honored to be a member of the staff at a place where instructors and students are free to innovate and experiment to find better ways to learn and to teach throwing. They pay me to help them, but I would do it for free just to experience my favorite part of every camp – Julio’s Mexican Grill (Formerly Rico's Hacienda)!
The camps begin at...
How To Become a First Round Draft Pick
And with the 20th pick in the first round, the Oakland Athletics select… Richie Martin, shortstop, University of Florida.
Want to know what it takes to be a first round draft pick?
I’ll tell you what I know about Richie Martin.
I have known Richie and his father for about 12 years. He grew up right here in Valrico, FL in the suburbs of Tampa.
When my 3 boys were growing up, we were Little League park rats.
Every free minute of our time was spent at the local Little League...
Can You Train Spin Rate?
Last week I sent out an email called “Your Ticket To Opportunity”. The response I got was exactly as I thought it would be.
The number one question that came across my desk was:
“How do you teach spin rate?”
Well, the short answer (for now anyway) is this:
No one knows… yet.
I have spoken to Trevor Bauer (who owns a personal TrackMan), Wes Johnson, and Flint Wallace. Like me, they are all looking for ways to increase spin rate.
Spin rate is a measure of how...
Have You Ever Seen The Rain?
Two mornings ago it rained in Tampa Bay.
Yeah...
I can hear everyone who's ever been to Fort Myers or Disney for tournaments during the summer:
“Rain in Tampa Bay? Shocker.”
I agree, but to have a rainstorm in the morning, especially this time of year is unusual. In the summer, I check the forecast every day. In the spring, not so much.
So this time I was totally caught off guard.
I woke up at 7:30 am to the sound of raindrops on the bedroom window and suddenly...
Back Pain in Pitchers
A few days ago I got an email form a concerned Dad. His name Jeff, and his son is having low back pain on the landing side when he pitches. We spend a lot of time studying and talking about arm pain, but this is something I've seen seen enough that I though it might be worth sharing.
Here is my response to Jeff's question.
Hi Jeff,
I can't say that I see this frequently, but it does come up from time to time, and when it does, it usually appears on the left side for right handed...
The Island of Misfit Pitchers
When I was a kid (back when we did our homework on stone tablets) there were no DVDs or Netflix, and we only got 3 stations on TV. One of my favorite parts about the Christmas season were the holiday cartoon shows. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was a classic, and I loved “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”.
But my personal favorite was “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”. One of my favorite parts was when Clarice told Rudolph he was cute. He danced...
Tommy John? No Thanks. I’ll Throw 90 Instead
Last November, I got a call from my friend Jason Burke, the pitching coach at Wofford College, a formidable D1 program in Spartanburg, SC. Jason told me he had a pitcher he needed some help with. The pitcher’s name was Connell Anderson, a senior righty who had missed the entire fall due to elbow pain.
During the 2014 spring campaign, Connell was a starter on the Terriers’ squad, but about half way through the season his elbow started to bother him. It got worse as the year went on, and by...
Shrinkage!!
So,
Valentine's day was Saturday...
Went to a nice restaurant on the beach in Clearwater.
Our table had a beautiful view of the beach and a small courtyard where the resort was hosting one wedding after another. Guess it was a good day for romance.
As our meal concluded I noticed a wedding beginning. It was a small event, maybe 20 people in attendance, but it was sweet. The bride was a pleasant looking blonde in her mid 30s.She wore a beige lacy dress that matched exactly the oufit of...
Pitcher’s Funny Bone Ain’t So funny
Two summers ago, within about a 3 week period, we had 3 high school kids who came to us with medial elbow pain and numbness and tingling into their pinkie and ring fingers.
Any time a pitcher complains of pain on the inside of the elbow, you worry about damage to the UCL -- the dreaded Tommy John surgery. But sometimes it's not the Tommy John ligament at all.
Here is a rudimentary field test to see if you might have damage to the UCL.
It's called "The milking test."
Place your...
