What Kind of Performance Results Have You Been Getting?
What Kind of Performance Results Have You Been Getting?
As we get older, stronger, and as we put in more work, we should expect some level of improved performance when throwing. The previous post discussed general results in terms of arm health and performance gains. In this post I’m going to point out a few success stories from the perspective of impact.
- A high school sophomore catcher had prior worked with a number of coaches because his throwing had gotten completely out of sync, and had no success in finding a remedy. He worked with me in a few team sessions, then in two private lessons prior to his tryouts. During tryouts he threw a bull pen with 75% strikes. He was also promoted to #1 varsity starting catcher during the same season because, his coach said, he was “throwing everyone out.”
- A HS senior pitcher who had suffered through two years of arm pain went 6-0 last spring with no arm issues. He was recruited by a local junior college that has been to four consecutive JUCO world series.
- A sophomore pitcher had the lowest ERA of any player in his high school.
- A HS freshman position player who was only looking to get rid of throwing pain was named his team’s #1 starting pitcher.
- A junior college pitcher who had touched 92mph with 1800rpm on his fastball as a freshman suffered a longitudinal tear in a tendon in his forearm. In parallel with addressing the elbow / forearm, we uncovered a biceps tendon impingement in his shoulder and found a mobility constraint with regard to his throwing side wrist. After addressing these issues over a period of several months, he is now regularly touching 93mph and his fastball is up to 2400rpm.
It would be easy to say that we’ve been fortunate, which I’m sure we have to some extent, in avoiding serious injury to our players and in creating performance gains. And clearly not every player will see huge gains immediately. If you are not getting impact in your current program, seek out a program that provides it.