Strength in Numbers #162 Injury prevention is paramount in baseball, particularly for pitchers. Handgrip dynamometry—measuring the force generated when squeezing a device with the whole hand—has gained popularity among the various methods used to assess potential injury risks. However, its effectiveness in predicting throwing arm injuries, particularly those related to the ulnar collateral ligament…

Strength in Numbers #161 I have been so blessed to participate in the USA 13/14U ADP event in Cary, North Carolina. Jim Koerner, the Director of Player Development, runs his camps better than what I have experienced in MLB.  Jim has always been a mentor to me, a true technician, and a coach who is…

Strength in Numbers #160 Collegiate summer league teams and other amateur leagues are entering the do-or-die zone.  It's playoff time, and let's face it, teams want to win.   We talked about short rest do's and don'ts in a previous Instagram live webinar, and this is where you have to be data-led as not only…

Strength in Numbers #158 Transfer of training effects means you can transfer your training approaches to on-field performance.  This is truly the essence of player development and injury protection. If you train an athlete in a particular attribute, shouldn't it translate to greater performance?   If that were the case, there would be no performance…

Strength in Numbers #157 In Major League Baseball (MLB), the pursuit of increased pitching velocity has been a major focus for both players and coaches. However, recent research suggests that velocity alone is a poor predictor of Tommy John Surgery (TJS), a common procedure for pitchers involving ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction. Instead, the primary…

Strength in Numbers #156 I am not going to lie; I am all about companies pushing the boundaries of throwing high octane, especially with a concentrated effort on command and control.  However, what is giving velocity enhancement a bad name is the lack of evaluation.    For example, this athlete below has met the minimum cut…

Strength in Numbers #155 It's about 2 pm, and I am in my office, getting an email that turned my stomach.  A dedicated father with a serious pedigree in baseball and two talented sons reached out to me as his 10-year-old had what he believed was an extreme case of Little Leaguer's elbow.  I had…

Strength in Numbers #154 A very strange thing happened this past weekend.  I went to Titleist Performance Institute in Oceanview, California, to meet with the National Pitching Association, as they were hosting a specialized NPA event for their affiliated coaches.   While there, I caught the tail end of Tom House's discussion of deadlifting and…

Strength in Numbers #153 The "White Whale", as he called it.  I will never forget my former GM, Billy Eppler, standing in front of a room with a whiteboard, mapping out a strategy to maximize performance and minimize injury in front of the Angels leadership.  The "White Whale" was his euphonism for a huge competitive…