Lennon Richards
@lennonrichards_
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learning about life // hobbyist photographer, reader, writer, college dropout, retired baseball coach.
Toronto, Ontario
Joined October 2018
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Pinned Tweet
This may come as a surprise, but for the time being, I have no intention of posting anything baseball related.
I used this platform to climb the career ladder - leading to a type of burnout I don't think words do justice.
For now, I'm travelling Western Canada.
#NewProfilePic
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This is a timeless
@PitchingNinja
gif of Yordando Ventura “pimping the finish”.
This move is not just a gimmick or for style - it’s the body’s way of decelerating the trunk and arm.
Let me explain more:
(check replies below)
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I swear, I feel obligated to tweet this every month considering how often we talk about it at
@The__BDG
.
“Pushing” off the mound is NOT good.
Press into the ground and allow the foot to peel off - the ankle should “roll” (ie. invert & evert) before hip extension occurs.
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Here's a quick tip for those that struggle with cutting their Fastball.
Addressing this is important for maximizing FB movement but can also be a low hanging fruit in terms of velocity development. I've seen athletes gain 1-2mph by just increasing their spin efficiency.
⬇️
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Gaining mass is quite simply the lowest hanging fruit for a high school pitcher.
Why pick apart the mechanics of a 150lb soaking wet PO when he’ll fundamentally move differently at 200lb?
We tell our guys the fastest way to their goals is beneath the dinner plate.
Eat up 🍽🥩
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We coach in an era with increasingly more "gimmicks" and a FOMO mindset around the "latest & greatest" device, tech, or coaching tool.
If I was a JUCO Pitching Coach operating with a small budget here are the 5 tools I'd build my program around:
👇
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Throwing things hard at a spot.
Makes skill work fun and challenge the athletes movements through task constraints.
Can progress this little game by varying ball weight, distance of mound, size of target, rules of the game, etc.
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We often see High-School athletes struggle with holding trunk counter-rotation during the stride phase which subsequently affects trunk angle at FP and sequencing.
One of the best drills we have found to address this is the Janitor.
Full demo:
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We're finishing off our Phase 1 of throwing at
@OntarioBlueJays
in style with 'Athletic Catch Play'.
Why train "mechanics" when you can train athletic movements?
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Here's a look at how we structure a day of throwing at
@the__BDG
.
There's quite a lot going on with this throwing card, so let's unpack it.
👇
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What does this mean?
Let the body unwind itself gradually and naturally.
Forcing the arm to come to a stop may cause extra stress on the elbow.
Lasty, for the love of god, stop trying to finish in a fielding position.
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Richards Baseball Bullpen Chart Program:
What started out as a simple print off has evolved into a robust document created for data-driven coaches on a budget.
And what's more budget-friendly than free?
Yes, it's completely free!
Download here ⬇️
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The Foot Tripod is the foundation to a good lower half in the pitching delivery.
With regards to the back foot, we want to maintain contact and put force into the ground through three points.
Holding this position as long as possible into the stride is the goal.
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Not like we collected biomechanics and wrote a whole blog post on a few of these… 🤷♂️
It’s time we talked about it…
Rocker drill
Janitor drill
Pivot picks
Roll ins.
Are 100% eye wash.
They literally do nothing outside of a possible placebo effect.
In fact I think most drills cause most problems.
If ya got data to prove differently share it
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Strapping a wrist weight onto the glove arm, especially with pivot pickoffs, is quickly becoming my go-to for glove arm repatterning.
The weight gives a ton of proprioceptive benefit & encourages proper pathing of glove arm to lead into the acceleration of torso rotation.
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A common thing we find with our HS guys is cutting their FB (sub 85% spin efficiency).
Transitioning into long toss, we're emphasizing getting behind the ball and 'ripping down" on the seams.
Here's an example of coming around the ball and imparting more gyro spin than we want.
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Been having a lot of success lately utilizing
@DrivelineBB
Command Training Balls during the Pitch Design process.
Here’s a short video sharing a few ways I’ve been using them.
Full video here ➡️
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In the last month, we’ve had both a “glute” and “quad” guy throw 96mph+
If your idea of optimal lower half mechanics can be boiled down by using a muscle group as a verb it might be a good idea to reassess...
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I’m still learning to lead.
Truth is, I never thought I’d be in this position at 23. From dropping out of college, hanging up the cleats, to running a business & guiding athletes toward their potential in a 3 year span - there’s no book that’ll teach that
What I’m learning 🧵⤵️
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Off day from the facility meant I finally had some time to figure out how to overlay
@DrivelineBB
Edge on video.
Excited to add this to my toolbelt and be able to show spin visualizations to athletes in this format.
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Our 15u arms at
@OntarioBlueJays
have gained an average of 4mph this off-season.
All without your prototypical weighted ball velocity training.
Here's how
@JaredKennedy34
and I have approached velocity development with this age group👇
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Putting finishing touches on the Bullpen Charting Template.
Sending out test copies to those interested soon.
Will gather feedback and make needed adjustments before making it available to all.
Email me if interested - lennon
@richardsbaseball
.com
@GuruCBG
@FlatgroundApp
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Here’s an example:
Constraint = catch ball with throwing hand.
This promotes a clean arm action, down to pocket and up.
External goal = hit the target.
This forces them to organize to the environment (ie. height of toss, footwork, etc) while trying to accomplish goal.
To me, Youth Development really boils down to teaching efficient movement.
Constraints and external cues are generally the best practice to do that.
This leaves less room for misinterpretation between you and a young athlete that has a limited vocabulary and proprioception.
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Leveraging
@proplayai
with our remote athletes to provide objective feedback has been huge.
Here's an example of what we'd classify as a "Late Arm". Not quite getting up into 90° of ER at FP, causing the arm to play catch up and in this case shoulder IR velo peaks post BR.
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Evan Elliott (
@evanelliott73
), Sophmore
@PrairieBaseball
, 6'4", 240lbs, sitting 94-96mph (top 98) this break.
2021 Draft Eligible & seeking D1 NCAA transfer opportunities for Fall.
Rapsodo Avg ⤵️
FB - 94.6, 2468rpm (t2671)
SL - 84, 2528rpm
CB - 80.5, 2512rpm
@PitchingNinja
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Have you ever been told your Fastball is "flat" or "straight"?
Well, your FB might be suffering from what's called a "Dead-Zone" - where both the VB & HB are equal.
Full video discussing this topic & strategies to avoid the dead-zone:
@PitchingNinja
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I'm looking forward to heading out west this summer to coach in the
@wcbleague
.
Working in the private sector for several years now, I'm excited to step back onto the diamond and embrace the challenge of developing pitchers in-season.
Welcome to the team
@lennonrichards_
Giants are proud to announce Lennon Richards as our new pitching coach for 2023!! Looking forward to seeing how he can help our staff progress on the mound this summer!
#YMM
Go Giants Go!!!
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I recently presented to our
@OntarioBlueJays
arms on the finer details of Workload Monitoring.
I figured I'd share the slide deck as throwing workload is often a convoluted process that many first-time users of
@DrivelinePulse
struggle with.
Slides:
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After combing through
@proplayai
data we know Shoulder Horizontal Abduction is one of the highest correlations to ball velocity, so how do we train it?
Spent this AM exploring the answer to that question with
@drtylerdobos
.
Here we’re experimenting with ShHAB PAILs/RAILs.
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When I first saw the mobile biomechanics of
@proplayai
my mind raced with the possibilities. But one kept eating at me: "what do constraint drills actually do?"
After months of testing, the picture is clearer.
First up: Drop-steps & Janitors.
Full blog:
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Took a bit of elbow grease, but I've created an automated post-game report in google sheets for the
@FMMGIANTS
pitchers with the help of
@OpenAI
and JavaScript.
This still needs manual entry during the game (previous days' starter).
Budget: $0
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Youth throwing development does not need to be complicated.
Shown here is a game I utilized this week at our youth program
@The__BDG
.
I paired Quick Picks with a target, underload balls & a radar gun.
See below tweets for the philosophy behind these implements.
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I've seen a lot of negativity and people tearing each other down on here today. I came across this passage that I hope brings some perspective and positivity to this platform.
"A society grows great when old men plant trees the shade of which they know they will never sit in."
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I am happy to say that I will be joining the staff at
@The__BDG
as a Pitching Trainer starting in September.
Joining the most progressive & growth-minded organization in 🇨🇦 is truly a dream come true.
I cannot thank
@drsosterer
enough for the opportunity.
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When designing a 4-seam Fastball it is important to avoid the “Dead-Zone”.
Ie. where both HB and VB are equal.
This is a pitch that hitters generally describe as being “straight” or “flat”.
Here’s an example of what this looks this.
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In recent years plyo balls have gained a ton of popularity. With that, many athletes lack a firm understanding of the rationale behind this tool.
Here’s a video discussing WHY we use these balls
@The__BDG
.
Full video:
@FlatgroundApp
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Appreciate the opportunity to talk tonight on
@XpertSummit
.
Here is one of the videos I referenced when talking about stabilizing the front leg.
The front leg is a by product of early actions in the delivery and I think this comparison does a good job of showcasing that.
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2025 Uncommitted
@KornyloJackson
putting the finishing touches on an amazing off-season.
FB up to 91mph here, and Splitter averages <600rpm with 16" HB.
Up 20lbs, with room to continue to grow into his 6'5" frame.
@FlatgroundApp
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With the Youth Fall program wrapping up at
@The__BDG
we’re exposing them to as much movement diversity in throwing as possible
I sincerely believe one of the biggest issues in youth ball is too much structured “pitching” practice.
Learn to throw before learning to pitch.
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Excited to be working with the
@OntarioBlueJays
to develop 🇨🇦 arms.
Taking our individualized approach at
@The__BDG
& expanding into a team environment is a welcomed challenge. One made easier when you have minds like
@SteedBaseball
,
@ConnerMorro
&
@chopperk8
to collaborate with
The Ontario Blue Jays and Baseball Development Group (
@The__BDG
) are excited to announce a partnership beginning Fall 2022!
🔗
#ChaseDownYourPotential
#OBJFamily
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Our "Velo Days" are built on training good movement quality at high speeds & transferring that to where it matters - the mound.
Rather than simply program 12-20 reps of pulldowns that require a high skill ceiling, we approach it as a version of contrast training.
Here's how ⤵️
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Pimping the finish reinforces the proper kinetic sequencing.
Try performing this move with your chest drifting into the front leg - you can’t.
As previously mentioned, the “excessive” recoil of the arm and leg are deceleration mechanisms.
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In fact,
@108_Performance
shared an in-house study they conducted in his book “Old School vs New School” that showed 38% of their athletes displayed lower elbow valgus torque when “pimping the finish” vs forcing the finish.
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This week we wrapped up our Fall Player Meetings at
@OntarioBlueJays
.
It gave me and
@JaredKennedy34
a chance to sit down with each pitcher to recap assessment findings, set off-season goals, athlete expectations, etc.
Here are three takeaways from the process 👇
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2020 was a major turning point for
@evanelliott73
- gaining 7mph in just north of a calendar year.
In this article, I analyze past & present
@proplayai
reports summarizing some of the key biomechanical changes that led to this breakthrough.
Read here:
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I spent most of my life in baseball behind the plate.
Here are 3 life lessons that I learned from my days as a catcher:
👇
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Starting to chase after some PRs in my training - leaving no stone unturned, PitchAI report via
@DrMikeSonne
@proplayai
.
#80poo
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This is a fantastic step in the right direction for quantifying industry standards and what “good” actually looks like.
Especially love how “quad” athletes threw harder 🤭
NEW BLOG: Mechanical jargon 🤝 Baseball
We quantified mechanical jargon passed around the gym to see if there was any validity.
The results might surprise you.
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I’ll keep saying this until I’m blue in the face - development takes time.
Athletes (and parents), please stop seeking validation and feedback after every session, rep, etc.
Take a breath, get comfy, and strap in for the long ride.
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Workload management is quite a buzzword right now and rightfully so.
But let’s keep this in mind: workload management = athlete education.
The body is a complex system and one of the best ways to manage it is to ensure the operator (athlete) knows how it responds to stress.
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Lots of talk about “hinging” and “sinking” into the rear leg. While those might be great cues, don’t overcomplicate the role of the lower half. Get in and then get the hell out!
Here
@evanelliott73
showcases a simple, yet highly effective lower half.
✅ Loading
✅ Unloading
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I’m incredibly excited for this new role with BDG.
I can’t thank
@drsosterer
enough for his mentorship these past few months.
Looking forward to getting back into the facility next week and continuing to push
@The__BDG
forward!
[NEWS] Lennon Richards (
@lennonrichards_
) will be taking over the role of Director of High Performance. Our players will continue to benefit from his passion, knowledge, and ability to communicate!
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Here’s a look at the pitfalls of flat ground work.
@VSiharath23
doing a stepback last week on FG. Struggling to get CoM moving without going into a “lunge”.
This week moved to a small slope. Better control of pelvis & initiating forward move via “drift”’instead of a push action
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One of the best clips of a submarine throw I’ve seen.
A few similarities I see to more traditional slots:
1): Front side clearing to deliver the arm.
2): Arm matches shoulder plane.
What turns this into a sub throw is the trunk tilt - not just dropping the slot of the arm.
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Here's a look at how we use
@DrivelineBB
differential command balls to shorten the learning curve in the Pitch Design process.
Manipulating ball size can help with exploring new grips/cues, but can also be used to challenge & solidify "feel".
Full vid ➡️
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Thanks to
@TreadAthletics
for sharing this clip on his socials and giving me credit - class act! 👍
So much great stuff happening in this clip of Stroman. The center of mass shift during leg lift, the drive with a vertical shin angle, the rotation down into landing which seamlessly flips the arm up...and of course pitching with emotion. 🔥🔥
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Uncommitted 2020
@thomasaronowicz
85-86mph shown here - topped 87 a week before.
Rapsodo data available upon request.
To get in touch with Thomas contact him via email: Taronowicz5
@gmail
.com
@FlatgroundApp
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Pumped to head back to Nashville for
@ABCA1945
this weekend.
Hard to believe it was only 3 years ago that I attended my first conference fresh to the industry.
Looking forward to connecting with y’all and talking shop!
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The Pivot Pick is a complicated drill & often butchered.
It’s important that when executing any drill, especially something as advanced as pivots, you’re enforcing positive adaptations - not just feeding bad habits.
Here’s a look at the subtleties that make a bad vs good throw
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If we cue athletes to bring their arm to a complete and abrupt stop after ball release they will tend to slow down into release.
Additionally, to accomplish this they may put more stress on their elbow due to changes in their kinematics.
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The Drop-Step is my go-to drill for teaching the proper timing of intent in the delivery.
Here’s a great example:
Notice how the athlete keeps the upper half loose - holding the trunk back until FFS (could be a bit better) and then violently unloads into a stable lead leg.
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First time coaching youth athletes tonight in close to a year.
Working with nothing but elite guys makes you forget the passion and discipline it takes as a coach to mould a young athlete.
It’s a perspective shift that I always learn something from.
Short 🧵⤵️
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For those that missed our discussion last night with
@Kinetic_Pro
I’ll be hanging around the
@proplayai
booth today from 1-2pm speaking about our process with biomechanics at BDG.
Come swing by and talk some shop!
@ABCA1945
#ABCA2022
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Standing too close to the target can encourage over-rotation, ie. athletes "spin off" - displaying a very quick driveline, poor t-spine flexion/extension, etc.
Adding a distance constraint to a drill like Pivot Picks often promotes better linear utilization of the upper half.
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Man, this quote by
@TreadAthletics
fires me up.
An important message for athletes of all ages to hear.
It is unlikely that Plan A will pan out if you are constantly looking at a Plan B.
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At 18 I started coaching.
I was young, passionate, outspoken, and blissfully ignorant. Here are three things I wish I knew then 👇
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I guess now is as good a time as any to share that I’ll be heavily involved with the
@OntarioBlueJays
pitching program this off-season in a coordinator role.
Very excited to roll out the aforementioned tech org wide to develop some of Canada’s best arms.
#pitchingstrong
A Look into The Future! Check out what’s new this off-season ⬇️
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Some guys are just built different.
Nothing fires me up more to work with athletes that continue to bet on themselves and put the work in.
“Genetic ceiling” 🖕
“Low level athlete” 🖕
Head down, block out the noise, and go fucking get it.
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Gamifying skill work is not just about making it “fun” - it’s also about teaching competitiveness.
Take this game of HORSE, through it, athletes develop ways to handle pressure.
Watch the athlete in the black shirt take deep breathe & sharpen his focus when forced to hit the 1
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Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck was one of the first books I read after dropping out of University.
It was exactly what I needed to hear at the time.
“Who you are is defined by what you’re willing to struggle for.” is still one of my all time favourites.
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This new update to
@DrivelinePulse
is a massive quality of life improvement.
One of our biggest pain points has been athletes overshooting their prescribed workloads simply because they forgot to exit the live mode to check.
🔥🔥
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Here's a good reminder that throw counts, while good, don't tell the whole story of your athlete's daily workload.
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Me and
@BoonTweets
came together to create a free at home resource for athletes while many are forced away from facilities amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
These are crazy times we’re living in. Hope this helps those that need it!
Link:
@PitchingNinja
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The Kneeling 45 is our go-to drill for teaching the "Arm Action".
Specifically, teaching the athlete how to unwind the arm proximal to distal and stay in the same plane of rotation as the shoulders.
For a detailed demo click here:
@FlatgroundApp
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For all of those that reached out and are interested in learning how to create this kind of
@DrivelineBB
Edge overlay for your athletes, I recorded a quick tutorial to show you how!
To view the full tutorial follow the link ⤵️
@PitchingNinja
Off day from the facility meant I finally had some time to figure out how to overlay
@DrivelineBB
Edge on video.
Excited to add this to my toolbelt and be able to show spin visualizations to athletes in this format.
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I love adding "self tosses" into drill work.
Not only does this add some rhythm to otherwise stagnant drills, but it also adds a time constraint.
This promotes an athletic & natural repetition to push athletes further towards the autonomous motor learning stage
Check it out ⤵️
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Absolutely in love with these new overlays from
@proplayai
, relevant information all within frame!
Definitely going to be easier to dissect biomechanics at a glance.
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The Drop-Step is one of the drills we use to address kinematic sequencing - specifically the trunk & pelvis relationship.
With help from
@proplayai
we've found:
✅ Delayed trunk rotation
⬆️ Time between trunk & pelvis peak velos
Full breakdown here:
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Over the week I’ve been using
@proplayai
to investigate if we can see any significant kinematic changes when using the Core Velocity Belt.
As highlighted by the overlay, very little change is seen from a joint angle perspective between these throws.
Further break down below ⬇️
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Saying: “High Spin = throw top of zone. Low Spin = bottom of zone” is a gross oversimplification.
There is much more too it than that.
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Love having our guys send me videos like this. Fires me up to see them continue to get after it.
No excuses. Just find a way. Improve your want.
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MBs are a great way to program additional mound volume in. Especially for athletes that may not be cleared to throw high intensities off the mound yet.
Return to throw plans should not just look to get “healthy” but also aim to use the time to improve underlying deficiencies.
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BULLPEN CHART V.2:
Back with 3 new features:
1): Dynamic Heat Map to toggle between pitch types.
2): Improved formatting of Pitch Data for better charting and readability
3): Custom Data Entry field for increased customization
Download here ⬇️
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A little BTS into what we’ve been building at
@OntarioBlueJays
👀
An inside look on how we have paired technology & New Age philosophy to our pitching program to help our athletes preform to the best of their abilities! Check out the Full Video on our YouTube!
@drivelinepulse
@ArmCarecom
@jaredkennedy34
@lennonrichards_
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As coaches we love structure. Sets. Reps. Etc.
Athletes love exploration and autonomy.
Here's a look at how I'm starting to blend the two with our top arms
@The__BDG
Details below 👇
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Grabbing some baseline
@pitchai_biomech
data for our guys as they ramp up off the mound.
Super excited for the update coming out soon that will give more specific data and reports.
Biomechanics outta your pocket is kinda insane
@DrMikeSonne
👀
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Being good at the drill is not the goal. The goal is to transfer the way a drill forces you to move into your full delivery.
Here are a few thoughts and strategies on "Blending" and practice design 👇
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Here I discuss a framework we've been using to remap arm action.
The idea is to initially constrain the athlete heavily & then slowly reintroduce degrees of freedom - working towards a full arm swing.
A full (7-minute) breakdown here:
@FlatgroundApp
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The arm works from proximal to distal - acting as a lever to deliver the ball. The bigger an arc, the more angular velocity is captured at release.
Here's a cool view to watch this in action.
See how the arm unwinds away from the body and the frontside delivers the arm.
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Early in the off-season as athletes are ramping down intensity, we like to find creative ways to build more robust throwing strategies.
A way to spice up catch & explore new movements is 'Athletic Catch Play'.
Vary slot, timing, posture, etc. Do something different each time.
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I really like the one-hop med ball shot put (top vid) for athletes that can’t hold weight into back leg throughout stride & leak weight into front leg.
Bottom video is an example of weak lower half movements in his throwing drill work for comparison sake.
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Movement off the mound & movement on the mound are irrefutably linked.
Hip ROM has massive implications for pelvic unloading into FP and setting up energy transfer through chain.
Listen in as I discuss how poor rear hip IR & ABD causes this athlete to “push” off the mound
🦻⤵️
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