Watch Out for Tiger Country: 97 mph Pitcher… Massive Shoulder Blowout
Last week I scrubbed in to surgery with Tampa Bay Rays Team doctor, Koco Eaton to observe one of the most amazing surgical performances I have ever seen. The patient was a college pitcher named Zach. He is a former JUCO guy from Arizona who had previously topped out at 97 mph and currently has a scholarship to a division 1 school.
I first met Zach about 2 weeks into our Summer Program after his mother had called me and said he was ready to eject from the Jayhawk summer league because...
The Biggest Little Word In The English Language
In her enlightening book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck,identifies two vastly different approaches to life. She calls them "The Growth Mindset" and "The Fixed Mindset". I borrowed this table off the internet from Reid Wilson.
What kind of mindset are you?
Do you look at challenges, obstacles, and failures as roadblocks?
Or do you see them as interesting puzzles that will be fun and rewarding to solve?
I like to think I'm a growth mindset guy.
But if it...
This Is What It’s All About.
If being a baseball coach and instructor was only about teaching baseball, I wouldn't do it.
Recently, I was totally blind-sided by something I truly didn’t see coming.
Let me tell you the story of Danny Muniz.
Danny is a rising college sophomore from the Miami area. He’s a right-handed pitcher who upon graduation from high school was topping at a whopping 82 mph. Not willing to give up on his dream of playing college baseball, he accepted a scholarship to an NAIA school in...
Fowl Play: Lessons From a Frustrated Coyote
When I was a kid, if my brothers and I weren’t playing in football, basketball, or baseball games coached by my dad, Saturday mornings meant one thing… CARTOONS!!
Beyond question, my all-time favorite was The Roadrunner! I can still sing every word to the theme song. Obviously, the Roadrunner was the star of the show, but I’ve always pulled for the underdog, so I always hoped that sad Wyle E. Coyote would catch that blazing bird just once.
But he never did.
It wasn’t due to...
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...
Welcome to Pitching Coaches Anonymous
My name is Randy Sullivan.
I’m pitching coach.
And I am a confirmed talkaholic.
I’ve wasted too many coaching years telling kids how to do things, then telling them how to do them better. I have coached some amazing kids over the years and, thank goodness, many of them have survived, and even thrived, despite my “assistance”.
You see, in the past 5-7 years, I have come to learn that in the science of motor learning and human performance, the words get in the way. Very few...
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...
