Latest / The Mound Visit / Shutdown or De-load?

Transcript

Shutdown or De-load? · The Mound Visit

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Alright, we're in that time of year again where we
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  Speaker 1: have to talk about shutdowns and deloads as coaches plan
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: for the winter and preparing their players for opening day.
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  Speaker 1: This is always an interesting conversation to me and something
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  Speaker 1: that I actually enjoy because throwing programs and systems in
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  Speaker 1: general are one of my favorite things to deal with
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  Speaker 1: because I like to have plans. I like to have
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  Speaker 1: systems and templates and all the fun organizational type things
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  Speaker 1: that you do as a coach. I enjoy that and
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  Speaker 1: I also enjoy helping coaches with those processes for themselves.
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  Speaker 1: So we essentially have two options when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: this time of year as the fall starts to wrap up.
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  Speaker 1: Do we deload or do we shut down completely? I
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  Speaker 1: would say most coaches aren't going to just continue with
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  Speaker 1: full high intent work from now all the way through
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  Speaker 1: the season. There's going to be some form of a
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  Speaker 1: shutdown or some form of a deload between now and then.
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  Speaker 1: It just comes down to what makes the most sense
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  Speaker 1: for each player and how much time do you actually
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  Speaker 1: have to prepare for opening day. So let's dive into
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  Speaker 1: both of these and I think this might sound basic,
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  Speaker 1: but I think we should define what both of these are.
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  Speaker 1: So a shutdown would be where we are completely eliminating
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  Speaker 1: all form of throwing, typically for at least two plus weeks. Deloading,
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  Speaker 1: on the other hand, we are still continuing to throw
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  Speaker 1: in some capacity. We're just limiting our volume and our
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  Speaker 1: intensity during that time. When deciding on this, I always
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  Speaker 1: like to start with the end in mind. So what
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  Speaker 1: I mean by that is we need to fast forward
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  Speaker 1: all the way to February or whenever opening day is
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  Speaker 1: for you. So let's just assume opening day is February 19th.
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  Speaker 1: I think that's when opening day is for Division I Baseball.
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  Speaker 1: From there, we need to work backwards. So if my
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  Speaker 1: Friday guy on February 19th is going to be expected
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  Speaker 1: to go five innings and 80 pitches, then we need
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  Speaker 1: to make sure that he is built up for that.
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  Speaker 1: And the easiest way to do that is just to
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  Speaker 1: work backwards. So if I need him to go five
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  Speaker 1: innings and 80 pitches on February 19th, on February 12th
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  Speaker 1: in a live BP or live inter-squad with our team,
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  Speaker 1: he probably needs to go four innings and 65 pitches.
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  Speaker 1: Prior to that, three innings and 50 pitches, if not
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  Speaker 1: doubling up on that four inning count. So you can
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  Speaker 1: see how it starts to make sense and paints a
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  Speaker 1: clearer picture if we start with the end and then
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  Speaker 1: just work backwards of where do I need to be
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  Speaker 1: a week before opening day, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks,
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  Speaker 1: so on and so forth. So with that in mind,
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  Speaker 1: let's dive into what the pros and cons of a
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  Speaker 1: shutdown and a deload would be. So first with a shutdown,
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  Speaker 1: who this would be good for potentially would be pitchers
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  Speaker 1: that have pitched a lot of innings during the summer
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  Speaker 1: and fall without really any time off. More specifically, these
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  Speaker 1: are going to be for players that just feel fatigued,
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  Speaker 1: a little bit run down, and maybe their performance is
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  Speaker 1: starting to go down. Their velocity is decreasing. They're just
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  Speaker 1: looking like they're sluggish and tired. Probably a good sign
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  Speaker 1: that that person needs to shut down, assuming once again
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  Speaker 1: that we have enough time to build back up. Another
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  Speaker 1: good candidate for this would be pitchers that are in
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  Speaker 1: a great spot from a development standpoint. They're your Friday guy.
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  Speaker 1: They don't really have a ton that they need to
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  Speaker 1: work on. We just want to make sure they feel
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  Speaker 1: fresh and they're ready to go come opening day. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I would say that this would not be the majority
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  Speaker 1: of players, like maybe one of your guys on your team,
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  Speaker 1: and it's probably your ace who you've kind of had
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  Speaker 1: on a consistent buildup. His program has been very specific,
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  Speaker 1: and you know exactly how many weeks he's going to
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  Speaker 1: take off before ramping back up. But the majority of
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  Speaker 1: our guys aren't going to fit into this category. So
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  Speaker 1: now going on to who a shutdown would probably not
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  Speaker 1: be good for. This would be for pitchers that are
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  Speaker 1: fighting for innings and need to make substantial improvements in
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  Speaker 1: their development. So if we're shutting down, let's just say,
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  Speaker 1: It's a three to four week shutdown period, which I
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  Speaker 1: would say is probably standard for college coaches. We really
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  Speaker 1: don't have much time other than just to do a
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  Speaker 1: normal ramp up and build up to be ready come
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  Speaker 1: opening day. Sure, there's going to be a little bit
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  Speaker 1: of development taking place there, but there isn't going to
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  Speaker 1: be a dedicated window where we can go full on
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  Speaker 1: into developing whatever it might be that they need to improve,
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  Speaker 1: whether it's velocity, command, working on a secondary pitch. And
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  Speaker 1: then another person this wouldn't be good for is pitchers
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  Speaker 1: that don't have enough time to shut down and properly
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  Speaker 1: build back up. So this would be more geared towards
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  Speaker 1: our junior college populations. I think JUCOs typically start in January,
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  Speaker 1: at least out here in Arizona. I know it's towards
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  Speaker 1: January 20th to the 25th, usually somewhere in there is
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  Speaker 1: when opening day is. So if we're deciding to take
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  Speaker 1: all of November off from throwing, let's just say, we
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  Speaker 1: literally have six, seven, maybe eight weeks to actually get
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  Speaker 1: game ready. That's just nowhere near enough time to have
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  Speaker 1: guys ready, especially for our starters to be ready to
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  Speaker 1: go five plus innings. So this would definitely be a
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  Speaker 1: situation where if I was a JUCO coach, I would
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  Speaker 1: not be having my players shut down, at least for
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  Speaker 1: an extended period of time. I'll share at the end
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  Speaker 1: of this of how you could calculate this more specifically,
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  Speaker 1: but just right off the bat off the top of
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  Speaker 1: my head, I would say that shutdowns would not be
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  Speaker 1: a good idea for junior college pitchers. Moving on to
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  Speaker 1: the second option, which is deloading. Who this would be
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  Speaker 1: good for is pitchers that need a little bit of
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  Speaker 1: time to recover, but can't afford to take substantial time off.
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  Speaker 1: So basically just the inverse of what I talked about
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  Speaker 1: earlier with our Shut down people is if you are
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  Speaker 1: somebody that is fighting for innings and you need to
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  Speaker 1: get better and you need to substantially improve your performance
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  Speaker 1: on the field, you don't have any time to waste.
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  Speaker 1: You need to make sure you are dedicating as much
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  Speaker 1: time as possible to improving your craft to make yourself
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  Speaker 1: a viable option come season. And there are two simple
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  Speaker 1: reasons why a deload might not be a good option
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  Speaker 1: for certain players. This should go without saying, but pitchers
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  Speaker 1: that are battling an injury, they likely need to completely
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  Speaker 1: shut down. This should need to be further diagnosed by
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  Speaker 1: a doctor and coming up with a rehab plan. But
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  Speaker 1: if you are just overly fatigued, chronic fatigue to where
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  Speaker 1: you're just not bouncing back and it's likely an injury,
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  Speaker 1: you need to further evaluate that and make sure that
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  Speaker 1: you're on an appropriate plan to build yourself back up.
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  Speaker 1: Once again, should go without saying, but just want to
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  Speaker 1: make sure that I noted that. And then the next
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  Speaker 1: reason would be pitchers who have time to shut down,
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  Speaker 1: build back up, and have time to work on development.
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  Speaker 1: So this could be likely a high school situation, probably
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  Speaker 1: not most college situations, but let's just say you're in
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  Speaker 1: a cold weather state and baseball season doesn't start until
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  Speaker 1: April or even March for that matter. You likely could
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  Speaker 1: take all of November off and still have time to
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  Speaker 1: do a proper buildup and then have a decent amount
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  Speaker 1: of time to work on a development part of your
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  Speaker 1: process and improve whatever it is that you need to improve.
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  Speaker 1: And if this is high school kids that we're talking about,
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  Speaker 1: I think high school kids, generally speaking, should have some
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  Speaker 1: time off throughout the year. And November to me makes
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  Speaker 1: the most sense, maybe even bleeding into December a little bit,
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  Speaker 1: especially with the holidays. That's going to be a natural
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  Speaker 1: time where it's difficult to get your training in any way.
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  Speaker 1: I think it makes a lot of sense for that population.
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  Speaker 1: But when we're talking about colleges specifically, probably not the
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  Speaker 1: best idea to do a shutdown. Now, it probably goes
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  Speaker 1: without saying based off of what I've already said, but
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  Speaker 1: in my opinion, 99% of college pitchers should be deloading
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  Speaker 1: this time of year and not shutting down. And the
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  Speaker 1: reason for this is just most pitchers don't have enough
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  Speaker 1: time to properly shut down and then also build back up.
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  Speaker 1: And that's not even mentioning, right, that majority of our players,
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  Speaker 1: they have something they need to work on. They need
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  Speaker 1: to improve their command. They need to improve their velocity,
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  Speaker 1: their stuff, whatever it might be. They can't afford to
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  Speaker 1: take a lot of time off. So deloading just makes
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  Speaker 1: the most sense because you're able to give yourself the
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  Speaker 1: recovery that you need, but it doesn't take as long
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  Speaker 1: to actually get back into high intent work. There are
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  Speaker 1: a few ways to deload, but I just want to
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  Speaker 1: give you kind of a general landscape and idea of
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  Speaker 1: how you could approach this if you're a college coach.
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  Speaker 1: So starting with November, this would be the time where
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  Speaker 1: you're doing most of your deload. And I would structure
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  Speaker 1: this with three to four days of throwing per week.
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  Speaker 1: Two of those are going to be super light effort
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  Speaker 1: at 50%, 60 to 90 feet at the most, and
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  Speaker 1: then another one to two days a week at 70
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  Speaker 1: to 80% effort, maybe 120 to 150 feet. You could
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  Speaker 1: work on grips during this time or even do some
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  Speaker 1: light drill work on the mound. And then as we
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  Speaker 1: shift into December, this is when we start to focus
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  Speaker 1: more on our skill work and our development goals of
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  Speaker 1: whatever it is that we need to improve, whether it's
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  Speaker 1: pitch design related, velo work, command work, things of that nature.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to be transitioning to a little bit higher
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  Speaker 1: volume now. So we're going four to six days a
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  Speaker 1: week of throwing depending on the situation and at what
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  Speaker 1: point in the month we are. And we're going to
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  Speaker 1: be having one to two high intent days during this time.
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  Speaker 1: By the end of the month, once again, this will
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  Speaker 1: vary depending on what opening day is, but by the
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  Speaker 1: end of the month, we should be building up into
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  Speaker 1: our normal progression of our volume buildup and getting ready
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  Speaker 1: for lives in January once it comes to that point.
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  Speaker 1: And then as we shift into January, like I said,
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  Speaker 1: we're starting to focus more on our execution and and
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  Speaker 1: continuing to build up volume for whatever the role is
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  Speaker 1: that we have. So once lives start, we want to
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  Speaker 1: make sure we have a gradual progression. We're not going
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  Speaker 1: from no lives at all to my first one's two innings,
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  Speaker 1: then I go three, and then in a matter of
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  Speaker 1: two to three weeks, I'm already throwing four innings. You
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  Speaker 1: want this to be gradual, which is why it's important
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  Speaker 1: that we have a proper buildup and we have a
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  Speaker 1: proper progression to do this. So the way I would
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  Speaker 1: approach this is once lives start, you're going to add
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  Speaker 1: roughly 15 pitches in one inning per week. So that
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  Speaker 1: first week is likely going to be about one inning
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  Speaker 1: and 20 pitches. Next week would be two innings and 35,
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  Speaker 1: three innings and 50, four and 65, five and 80,
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  Speaker 1: so on and so forth. By that point, you're probably
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  Speaker 1: in your season. I also would say if you have time,
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  Speaker 1: you should double up on some of those innings. So
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  Speaker 1: once we get to two innings, I would likely double
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  Speaker 1: up that first two innings. Three innings if you're able to,
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  Speaker 1: definitely want to do that. Just because we want to
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  Speaker 1: make sure that we're not having too strong or too
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  Speaker 1: high of an acute workload. and that we're having this
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  Speaker 1: gradual buildup. The 15 pitches and one extra inning per
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  Speaker 1: week should allow for that, but depending on each guy,
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  Speaker 1: you might need to slow that down a little bit
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  Speaker 1: and maybe have them repeat the same amount of innings
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  Speaker 1: or pitch count back-to-back weeks. And then as we move
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  Speaker 1: into February, we're preparing for opening day, our final couple
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  Speaker 1: of lives, and making sure that we're purely focused on
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  Speaker 1: executing pitches and making sure that volume and intensity is
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  Speaker 1: in the right place and that we're ready for that
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  Speaker 1: opening day. And then as we transition into February, Opening
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  Speaker 1: day is right around the corner, so we're just continuing
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  Speaker 1: our progression that we had in January, having our last
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  Speaker 1: couple of live VPs or scrimmages with our team to
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  Speaker 1: prepare for opening day. Just to reiterate, this is a
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  Speaker 1: general template. This isn't super specific to each school, but
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  Speaker 1: it gives you a general landscape of how this could
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: look and the type of options that you could have.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, there's going to be some variability with this
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  Speaker 1: versus starters and your relievers. The date of your opening day,
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  Speaker 1: like I said, if you're a JUCO and you're starting
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: in January, This is going to look completely different than
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  Speaker 1: your Division I opening days that are going to be
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: in mid-February. To help with this process, we've created a
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: free throwing build-up resource for you guys. It's essentially a
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: throwing program calculator. You'll answer a few questions like, when
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  Speaker 1: are you shutting down? And at what day do you
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  Speaker 1: need to be prepared to pitch? And how many innings
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  Speaker 1: and how many pitches do you need to be prepared
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  Speaker 1: for for that day? And then it will lay out
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  Speaker 1: an entire program for you that tells you distance, the intensity,
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  Speaker 1: how many pitches in a bullpen you need to throw.
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  Speaker 1: It'll literally have by the day what you need to
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: do from start to finish. You can find that on
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: our website at pitchingcoachu.com. And if you're watching this on
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: YouTube or you're listening to this on a podcast platform,
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  Speaker 1: we'll make sure to have that in the show notes
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: as well. Just to reiterate, if I am a college
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  Speaker 1: coach listening to this, I want you to ask yourself,
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  Speaker 1: how much time can we really afford to take off
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  Speaker 1: from throwing? starting with how much time do we have
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  Speaker 1: to actually build back up so we're not rushing our
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: guys to be prepared come opening day. And the second
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  Speaker 1: question asked within that is, can we afford to take
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  Speaker 1: time off from a development standpoint? Are we actually in
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  Speaker 1: the place we need to be to where if we
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  Speaker 1: had to play today, we are ready to compete at
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  Speaker 1: our full potential? If you can say yes to both
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  Speaker 1: of those, then I'm perfectly fine with a shutdown. But
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  Speaker 1: you need to make sure that you're looking at the
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  Speaker 1: whole picture and not just blindly going into it, assuming
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  Speaker 1: you have more time than you actually do. As always,
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  Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys listening. We'll see you next week.