Latest / The Layback Podcast / SJ Mousseau, 3PD's Lead Floor Trainer and HS Pitching Coordinator (Ep. 74)

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SJ Mousseau, 3PD's Lead Floor Trainer and HS Pitching Coordinator (Ep. 74) · The Layback Podcast

0:00
What's up everyone, welcome back to the Layback Podcast.
0:03
Joining us today is SJ Musso. SJ is quite the journeyman.
0:08
For those of you that were with us way back in the early days of
0:12
Flex Pro Grip, you may remember the name Peachy Ballet.
0:15
I think SJ is following in Peaches footsteps.
0:19
SJ, this is my reminder now to myself to connect you with
0:22
Peachy at some point. Because as far as travelers
0:26
across the country go, just for opportunities in the game that
0:30
we know and love, you are following that dude's footsteps.
0:33
So I think you guys could share some stories, but SJ, it's an
0:37
honor to have you on. I know I probably stole a little
0:41
bit of your Thunder. They're talking about traveling
0:43
across the country. Naturally, you're doing the
0:45
interview from a car, but thankfully this time the car is
0:48
parked next to a building with Wi-Fi with you always on the
0:52
move. I feel like that's the risk we
0:54
take. But looking forward to the
0:55
conversation today. So where where are you actually
0:58
tapping in from today, SJ? Well, I'm glad you mentioned the
1:02
journeyman, the journey, because like that's how I perfectly
1:05
described just not only just like my journey in coaching, but
1:08
just my overall baseball and life journey in general.
1:11
But I'm just outside of three PD performance in my car, just
1:16
because as great as three PD is, you know, with advancement and
1:19
tools, my office is still just behind a door in which it's
1:23
like, OK, we could still hear like the cages going, the plow
1:26
balls being thrown. So we're going to roll with
1:28
this. We're going to embrace this
1:29
today. Good.
1:31
Yeah, I if you're anything like me, every plyo ball against the
1:34
wall or every Ding of a metal bat would be another
1:36
distraction. And I don't know if I'm the best
1:39
public speaker, but anytime something starts dinging I get
1:43
significantly worse. Like I, I feel you're there
1:45
completely. SJ How about you take it away
1:48
for a quick little bio? Of course, I know there's a lot
1:51
that goes into who you are, but maybe the elevator pitch, just
1:55
to give people a little bit of a background would be a great
1:58
place to start. Yeah, absolutely.
2:00
I'm session. So I'm originally from Boulder,
2:03
Co played high school at a Fairview High Go Knights.
2:07
I wasn't really the best athlete growing up.
2:09
I played four years of football. I happen to be a four year
2:12
Letterman in varsity football, but I wasn't really the best
2:15
athlete growing up. I had, I topped out at like 72
2:17
mph my senior year and only had one college offer, largely due
2:21
to the fact that I'm 64, but just had a lot of setbacks
2:24
growing up and I think that's what made me the coach I am
2:26
today. Diagnosed with three learning
2:28
disabilities. Definitely, I left the year I
2:30
lost my father at the age of 16, so had a lot of setbacks, but
2:34
that's definitely helped me throughout my journey.
2:36
Started out my journey at Barstow College in California,
2:39
played one year there. Then I was like I'd never want
2:42
to visit Barstow again. So I transferred to Western
2:45
Nebraska Community College, had a probably my best college
2:49
season there, which earned me a scholarship to Upper Iowa
2:52
University. After three years at Upper Iowa,
2:54
that includes the COVID year, I had one more year of eligibility
2:57
and I decided to take my talents to North Park University to play
3:01
one more year of college ball with a couple of my best
3:03
friends. And pretty much right after
3:05
North Park, I had actually got hired by Driveline Baseball.
3:08
And before that, I spent a summer internship at Push
3:11
Performers, both as throwing trainers and then immediately
3:15
after my time at Driveline, got director of pitching role at
3:19
Erskine College, a small D2 in South Carolina.
3:21
After that, earned a spot as the pitching coach at Saint Cloud
3:24
State University, which was my most recent stop.
3:26
And now I'm here at 3 PD in Waterford, MI just getting after
3:30
it. Love it SJ, you've obviously
3:32
taken every single opportunity and ran full steam ahead.
3:36
You're hungry for knowledge, trying to learn everything you
3:39
can from various places. Let's start there.
3:43
I feel like the way I view your content, I see you somewhat as
3:48
an aggregator in a way, because I know you've been so many
3:52
places. So you've had a handful of
3:55
mentors in this game, You've been on the private side, you've
3:59
been in college baseball. Maybe highlight a few of the
4:03
people that you feel have shaped who you are.
4:07
To be honest with you that there's too many people that I
4:09
would say just name maybe the top five people that come up to
4:12
mind is, well, for starters, Andrew Amato and the entire team
4:16
of push performance. Just giving me the chance
4:18
because without them I wouldn't have got my start in coaching in
4:21
general, not to mention just learning the little basic things
4:24
like all right, what is a riding fastball?
4:27
What defines A sweeper or what's proper layback?
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Just a little small things like that.
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And then I mean, I too many people at Driveline to
4:34
highlight, but I think the big one that gave me that chance was
4:37
Jackson Sigmund, who was at the time pitching coordinators.
4:41
If you're a affiliated or in the ball team looking for a low slot
4:45
righty, he's currently a free agent and.
4:47
Now he's that dude. Yeah, I don't think they'll
4:49
regret him as well as Coach Dolan and then Coach Graco at
4:53
Erskine and Saint Cloud State. And well, now with my new role,
4:58
Max Bain, who I'm learning from every single day, and I mean, I
5:01
can't get enough knowledge from that guy.
5:03
Not only is he a great coach, but he has four years playing
5:06
with the Cubs. I think his story is definitely
5:07
worth hearing, but just learning about that and learning his
5:10
experiences and his knowledge is definitely amazing to say the
5:14
least. For sure, I think we're going to
5:16
keep some of the hot topics with Max on the DL because definitely
5:21
want to have him on at some point.
5:23
But you're right, his story is pretty incredible.
5:26
The rise from Indy ball all the way up to throwing.
5:30
I think he said 99.9 mph is the hardest he's ever thrown a ball
5:35
so he won't give himself 100, which I don't know.
5:38
I would say I respect but I can't fathom a ball leaving my
5:42
hand that fast. I tend to think anything over 95
5:45
might as well be 100, so he is certainly in that camp.
5:49
Oh yeah, for sure. I, I, I kill for that.
5:51
I, I think the hardest ball off the mound I threw was 88.
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And I'm, I don't know what I had to eat that day to do that, but
5:59
I think I'm, I'm not even kidding about this.
6:01
My last pitch was my hardest pitch ever.
6:03
Hey, at least you can hang your hat on that.
6:05
That's kind of how I feel ending my career.
6:09
It's always weird for me to talk about doing so much in the
6:11
pitching world now, focusing so much on elbow injuries.
6:14
But I was a middle infielder. My last ever at bat was against
6:19
a sidearm lefty and I was leading off the inning.
6:22
And if you go back in my career as a little kid, the things that
6:25
I was always afraid of was swinging first pitch, leading
6:29
off and facing lefties. I was a left-handed hitter and
6:33
lo and behold, the last at bat that I ever took in baseball was
6:37
a sidearm lefty that was brought in specifically to try to Get Me
6:41
Out. And I went line drive right back
6:44
up the box. Nothing that cool, just a single
6:47
up the middle, but being able to hang my hat on, I guess a final
6:52
at bat that rounded up everything that I fought through
6:55
when I was a little kid, it just felt so good.
6:59
So I I'm sure there's aspects of that with you ripping your final
7:02
bullet as the hardest one that you've ever thrown.
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Well I will say this, that bullet ends up being a walk off
7:07
Homer unfortunately. No, nobody cares about that.
7:10
You didn't need to add that part of the story.
7:12
Well, I, I consider it just big on my story because you know, it
7:15
just shows that my in my career that I have 0 regret that does
7:20
in that position. Me being at North Park, I should
7:22
have been done with baseball 2 years earlier.
7:25
In reality, if you saw me in high school, I should have been
7:27
done six years earlier. I shouldn't have been a college
7:30
baseball player. So that's why I consider that
7:33
significant. Well, what do you credit all of
7:35
that to SJ? You say your career should have
7:37
been done two years earlier. You obviously got the COVID year
7:41
back. You had a red shirt year
7:43
somewhere in there that you got back.
7:45
So you you got to play as a sixth year, which is amazing.
7:48
But obviously you said you were topping out in the low 70s as
7:51
high school senior. What made you keep pushing?
7:55
Because obviously with some of the schools you were at and I
7:59
guess your status as an athlete, right, you were certainly
8:03
fighting an uphill battle. No, for sure.
8:06
And I think the largest part of it is I never, first and
8:10
foremost, I never stopped believing in myself.
8:12
I always knew that I could make it in college baseball.
8:16
I knew I could always pitch. I knew I was always play.
8:19
But as far as like the steel acquisition was always my lowest
8:21
hanging fruits. And also just the adversity and
8:24
background I had. Baseball was really the only
8:27
thing I I felt like I had at the time.
8:29
Cuz again, I mentioned earlier in the podcast, I was diagnosed
8:33
with three learning disabilities.
8:34
I'm actually 70% deaf in my left ear.
8:36
My father passed away. So like in reality, baseball was
8:39
the only thing that really kept me going.
8:41
And when I was like going through the college process and
8:44
when I was discovering like what plyos were, that was like, I
8:47
think six months after my dad passed.
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So it really was the only thing I had going for me.
8:52
So that's that's what kept me going forward.
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I know it's weird to jump to your exposure to plyos after
8:58
mentioning all this adversity. I hope everyone doesn't think
9:02
like I'm insensitive. I'm just trying to hit on the
9:04
baseball topics. These, these are the
9:07
conversations SJ and I have offline.
9:09
So I guess if anybody wants to tap into our phone calls, feel
9:13
free. I'll, I'll throw that offer out
9:15
there so we can hear a little bit more about the, the true Rd.
9:18
bumps in SJ's career. But I, I'm sure he's going to
9:21
offer some detail throughout the stories.
9:23
But you mentioned your exposure to plyos when you were 1617
9:27
years old. In a private conversation, you
9:30
mentioned that that was your Christmas gift that year, if I'm
9:33
not mistaken, you were begging for them.
9:36
And that was like your first exposure to driveline.
9:39
So I mean, even early on, you obviously had this internal
9:44
drive to get better, to explore. What was your first aha moment
9:48
in throwing in pitching that you feel gave you this feeling of
9:53
belonging? Growing up, I always knew I had
9:55
a decent ability to play. Like I was always thrown on the
9:58
mound because I was the most competitive pitcher.
10:00
I felt like I was one of the most competitive pitchers in the
10:03
state of Colorado. Just as far as like, I don't
10:06
care how good you are. I don't care.
10:07
You know what your name is, where you're from, what school
10:10
you're committed to. If you're a draft prospect to me
10:12
versus you, at the end of the day, I'm going to find a way to
10:14
win. And then like once I got exposed
10:16
to playos, I, I mean, I did my own online research as far as
10:20
like what driveline is and everything.
10:22
So of course I begged my mom for Christmas for playos.
10:25
I was like, I I'll even pay for them myself.
10:27
I'll figure out a way to do it because they weren't really
10:29
cheap at the time. They were like I think 92 bucks
10:33
because they were just so brand new and out there.
10:35
That was, so that was my exposure as far as that goes.
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And what I discovered, I noticed they made me better.
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Granted, I didn't know what I was doing.
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I just like looked on YouTube and fortunately I was a visual
10:47
learner. So I, I think I was able to roll
10:51
with that. And but I noticed that like I
10:53
started gaining velocity overtime and by my sophomore
10:56
year at Western Nebraska again, I had topped at 88.
10:58
Granted, there were some days where I was like 78 to 82 and
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then the other day I was 8588. Looking back on it was probably
11:05
because I didn't know how to manage my work float at all and
11:08
I just fought every day. And that's probably why I end up
11:11
having this journey, man's journey, just for the fact that
11:15
I simply just didn't know how to manage workload.
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And if I have the right guidance, I feel like who knows,
11:20
maybe my career could have another story.
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But in the end I don't regret anything.
11:24
It make makes me the coach I am today so.
11:27
For sure, Yeah, it's a It's kind of funny.
11:29
As you start to figure one thing out, you get hit with another
11:32
roadblock. And again, not to call these
11:36
baseball roadblocks something that even compares to some of
11:38
the things that you've experienced in your personal
11:41
life. Again, I promise I'm not that
11:43
insensitive. This is just a baseball podcast
11:45
everyone, but you run into the roadblock of acute to chronic
11:49
workload ratio and maybe not fully understanding how to
11:54
assess your own readiness, which probably brings you to some of
11:58
your discoveries in the private sector.
12:00
So what was your first exposure to that?
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Was that when you were at push? Was that from a coach?
12:05
Was that a driveline working with pulse?
12:08
When did acute to chronic workload enter your life?
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It definitely occurred when I trained at Driveline.
12:14
So I trained in 2021. I finished my degree early at
12:18
Upper Iowa and I started my master's.
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Like I'm getting my second master's degree this year which
12:24
I guess. Congrats.
12:25
Thank you. But my graduation gift, my mom's
12:28
like, I want to give you a graduation gift and I tried not
12:30
to be that kid who asked for anything, but you know, if, if
12:33
she sends it my way, I'm going to take full advantage of it.
12:36
So I said, hey, what are the chances I could go up the
12:38
driveline? It's something I've always
12:39
wanted to do. And she's like, well, like
12:42
you'll have to pay for it a little bit, but you know, I'm
12:44
going to support you. That could be your grad gift.
12:46
That could be your birthday gift because my birthday is around my
12:49
birthday is in May. So of course, graduation time.
12:51
So combo. Yeah, exactly.
12:53
When I got up there, I remember it's just like seeing Pulse for
12:56
the first time and I was like, what?
12:58
When in the world is this? And I download the app and
13:01
manage workloads, sync the data. And now she's like, this is
13:04
probably why I'm not throwing hard every day.
13:09
It's like recovery days, like you shouldn't be no higher than
13:12
X amount of velocity less. Yeah, I would say that was be my
13:14
first exposure. And then as I the very next
13:17
year, that summer 2022 is when I started working at push as a
13:22
throwing intern. And that's how I was able to
13:24
like help guys in that process because I mean, as great of a
13:29
tool as pulses, my personal opinion, I think just the value
13:32
of a radar guns that much better because everyone has peak
13:36
velocities. Let's just say you're a 90 mile
13:38
per hour thrower and I'm recovery day is like, all right,
13:42
shoot a goal to throw 74 mph. That should be where you're at
13:47
on a recovery day. And that's kind of like, oh,
13:50
visual, it's like I can, I can actually execute my throwing
13:54
without thinking too much about like my arm speed or the torque,
13:57
but pulses without a great tool. So yeah, hope that brings some
14:01
closure into it. No, for sure.
14:03
It's very hard to visualize what a certain arm speed is just
14:07
because there's less exposure to arm speed across the industry.
14:11
Unless you have a large background on pulse or something
14:15
else that measures arm speed, it's going to be very difficult
14:18
to think about what 750 RPM really means.
14:24
Versus I think any thrower, especially someone playing in
14:29
college or above, can picture what Max velocity is, 9091 or
14:35
whatever, and then what it actually looks like on a radar
14:39
gun to step things back to 7374. And you obviously have instant
14:46
feedback of what 7374 is and you can make adjustments in a snap
14:51
just like that. I want to hear what you're doing
14:54
at 3 PD now, like what your day-to-day looks like, your
14:57
official title, and just talk a little bit about your short
15:01
couple month experience so far. Oh, yeah, my, my role at 3 PD
15:06
is, I mean, I wear multiple hats.
15:09
I would say I'm considered a performance coach.
15:12
So I'm the high school pitching coordinator, but I also work
15:15
with plenty of college pro guys. I'm also assistant in the
15:18
strength conditioning side of things.
15:20
And I'm also doing data analyst stuff with our partnership of
15:25
Flexpro and Paragon Sports. So I, I basically go over the
15:30
data, help Max go over to data and yeah, that's kind of the,
15:35
that's kind of the fun part. So I'm doing, I'm doing
15:37
everything and I love it. Do you have direct training with
15:41
anything in SNC? Like have you achieved any of
15:44
the letters after your name or is it just passion from being in
15:47
the industry and grinding in the weight room yourself?
15:51
I would just say I'm naturally a meathead my sophomore year in
15:53
high school and yes, I'm going back to high school about this.
15:56
My high school football defensive line coach kind of
15:59
officially unofficially adopted me just cuz my parents were not
16:04
really going through the best time I was.
16:06
It definitely was like that misguidance that we're talking
16:08
about. We all want to achieve a goal,
16:10
but not all of us know how to get there.
16:12
I kind of hit my growth spurt a little bit.
16:14
I was like 6-3 at the time. I'm now 6/4 and that was 175
16:18
lbs. So he was just like, I think you
16:20
have potential to be an all state defensive lineman.
16:22
I mean, I still don't know what he saw me in that in that end.
16:25
He just said, you know, I want you to train with my so.
16:29
His sons are named James and Ben Davidson.
16:31
He's like, I want you to train with them after after school
16:34
every day during weights and we're going to get you 100 times
16:37
stronger. And I consider James and Ben
16:39
like brothers and Coach Cortese shout out to him like my second
16:43
dad. And that was like by far the
16:46
greatest experience in my life. And I think, I think that's
16:47
actually what sparked me into coaching in general, because I
16:50
saw that great, I saw this great quote a while back saying that
16:54
like a good coach can change a game, but a great coach can
16:57
change a life. And that was life changing more
16:59
than anything. So yeah.
17:01
But yeah, that's that's something I've always had
17:03
interest in. I've never majored in exercise
17:05
science and college. I'm dyslexic.
17:07
I've never been the greatest at math.
17:09
So I figured I'm not going to set myself up for failure.
17:11
So I just kind of just learned the skill myself and picking
17:15
Blake Mcrae's our strength condition coach's brain every
17:18
single day. I'm just trying to build
17:20
connections at that end because a lot of my best friends are
17:22
strength conditioning coaches. For me, it's just learning all
17:26
around and just being a meathead myself, just diving deep.
17:29
I can relate to that on our side with Flex Pro RIP.
17:33
It's not like Daryl or I achieved any degrees really,
17:39
whether it's exercise science, whether it's kinesiology,
17:42
Physiology. Neither of us are doctors, MD or
17:46
PhD in anything related to human anatomy or muscle function.
17:52
But what we did was dedicate ourselves to learning as much as
17:55
we could. Just live on publicly available
17:58
information and YouTube University.
18:00
Basically pub Med is our best friend.
18:02
It is really remarkable how much information is readily available
18:08
for free and if you are dedicated, you can figure these
18:12
things out and learn just as much as you could with any
18:17
degree associated with it. 1000% all it takes is really
18:21
commitment and consistency when it comes to that.
18:23
And just like anything you do great in life, if there's a
18:26
will, there's a way. I loved how you describe that,
18:29
so thank you. Yeah, usually we finish it with,
18:32
no, we're not doctors, but we stayed at a Holiday Inn Express
18:35
last night. That's one of those millennial
18:37
commercials. You might even be a little too
18:39
young for that one. But no, that that was prime
18:42
television. So anybody in the like 3045,
18:47
maybe older age range for sure knows that one.
18:50
So shout out you guys for consuming way too much
18:53
television. Let's get back on the floor with
18:56
EPD. You're the lead pitching trainer
18:59
for the high school group. What does day-to-day look like
19:02
for you guys on the training floor?
19:05
Well, as of right now, since we're in the middle of summer,
19:08
it's primarily the college pitching group.
19:10
So I'm mostly working with college guys right now.
19:13
So that's that's basically my main focus.
19:16
I do have a couple pro guys under my belt right now.
19:19
One of them's actually flying in for assessment, I think in next
19:23
week, next two weeks. And one of them is actually
19:26
living in my living room right now.
19:28
It's the indie ball grind. He unfortunately got released
19:31
and he's like, dude, I need a place to train.
19:32
And I was like, look no further than Waterford, MI.
19:35
He's originally from Florida, so he had no idea what he was
19:39
getting into. But so far from everything I'm
19:41
told from him is that he loves it.
19:44
So it's kind of my day-to-day. And then after that I'm helping
19:48
out on the weight room side and I'm just doing my own research.
19:52
Like I today I, I posted a Twitter thread tomorrow I'm
19:55
planning on marketing 3PD on a TikTok video slash Instagram
20:00
video. So my day-to-day really just
20:02
depends on like what's asking me and what problems can I solve?
20:06
My day is like hey if I can solve one problem hell like
20:10
let's go. The next piece of this where I
20:12
was going with the previous question, obviously everybody
20:16
wants to come in to throw harder.
20:18
What, other than velocity are most of these players coming to
20:23
see you guys for? We do have a lot of high level
20:26
throwers and the next step is like, guys, someone all right,
20:29
someone who throws very hard. Like what's preventing him from
20:32
being maybe a Division One pitcher to an MLB prospect?
20:37
And a large part of it either has to do with like maybe
20:39
they're they're great on the skill side, Like we clearly know
20:42
that, but maybe they don't have like that wipeout pitch or
20:46
whatever, or maybe they lack so much strength that that's the
20:49
reason why they are not 97 versus 94.
20:53
So that's kind of like what we're figuring out.
20:55
So it can be mechanical even for a high level thrower, but it
20:59
could also just be like guidance like we're talking about earlier
21:02
with the workload management. So that's kind of the problems
21:05
that we're solving more than anything.
21:07
But it's also still like like one of the greatest problems I
21:09
really love solving is what can make a high level thrower a lot
21:13
better. And so far with that like that
21:16
pro guy mentioning, you know, like the problems I'm dealing
21:19
with right now is how do I get this guy from 94 to 96?
21:22
And turns out he's just very weak in the upper body.
21:26
So me, I told him, like, hey, just take the the rest of the
21:29
summer off as far as like getting off a mound, like you're
21:32
still going to throw, you're still going to have your high
21:34
intent days. But dude, get big and strong
21:36
with the upper body. If you look at like the hardest
21:39
throwers in the world, like the Paul schemes, the roles,
21:42
Chapmans, those guys look like middle linebackers or defensive
21:45
ends in the NFL. So therefore it's like, why not
21:48
build that upper body? Like what's the worst case
21:50
scenario that happens? I know you guys are using Flex
21:54
Pro grip as part of your testing gamut, but are there other
21:58
things that you are using to test like you?
22:01
You said this athlete who can hit 94 but for whatever reason
22:07
94 isn't good enough for him, whether it's the way it fits
22:10
with his arsenal or just more. Velo, let's face it, is pretty
22:14
much always better because you can get away with more.
22:17
But you said what's holding him back could very well be his
22:21
upper body strength. So how did you guys figure it
22:25
out? Was it as simple as his bench
22:27
press sucks or is it just he can't create a lot of force
22:31
whether it's doing like Med ball throws or like pyo push ups or
22:35
things like that. It was without a doubt just the
22:37
weight room side very first week in the athlete.
22:39
He didn't have like a structure lifted program.
22:41
So I said, all right, for your assessment week, I'm just going
22:43
to give you like some just basic exercises to kind of see like
22:47
what you're doing. I'll have you log your weights
22:49
that way. Like it just tells me where
22:51
you're at. And when I see him doing like 70
22:54
LB dumbbells, I'm just kind of thinking myself like.
22:57
And also on top of that, communication, I think that's a
23:00
skill that really gets underestimated for sure is
23:04
definitely the art of communication.
23:06
You could figure out a lot of problems just by simply talking
23:10
to the athlete without even just looking at them.
23:12
Just could be a mental adjustment or it can just be as
23:15
like, yeah, just never trained upper body before.
23:18
In his case, he's just never really trained upper body
23:20
before. In what she told me after I saw
23:23
that he'd been 70 LB dumbbells. And on top of that, you get to
23:26
know the athlete in which how you communicate best with him.
23:29
In his case, like with him having a poor bench press and
23:32
knowing his background a little bit, I could just casually just
23:35
say to him, like when he found dumbbell.
23:38
Yeah, I remember being in middle school, like small, small ends
23:41
like that. It's a flex pro.
23:42
I mean, he got a score of 0. So that just proves how much
23:45
force he's actually producing. So just imagine the whole
23:48
offseason, just clean that area up.
23:49
I mean, Sky could potentially be the limit.
23:52
I want to go back to that assessment question.
23:57
So I guess the next piece you said communication plays a
24:01
massive role. You can find out so much from
24:03
just talking to a player. And for this guy, like it didn't
24:07
really take fancy technology for you guys to figure out what his
24:12
lowest hanging fruit is, right? In a lot of cases, do you really
24:16
think it is that simple? Like do you think as an industry
24:20
where we tend to overcomplicate because we have fancy tech and a
24:25
bunch of assessments, sometimes you can just watch a kid move or
24:29
watch a kid go through a workout and figure out if the weight
24:33
room is the lowest hanging fruit?
24:35
Oh, absolutely. And I think it goes back to like
24:38
mastering the basics like and that's like when we're I know
24:41
you and I like are going to talk about drill selection and that
24:43
and this is like part of my process of drill selection.
24:46
It's like, all right, can they execute the simple drill such as
24:49
like a step back, a walking wind up or can they execute like a
24:52
simple goblet squats? You can just tell a lot just by
24:56
a bad end. And if they can't execute, it's
24:57
like, OK, let's take some baby steps.
25:01
I mean, I know with you being a father soon, one step at a time,
25:04
it's. For real.
25:05
Athletes are really just no different as far as that ain't
25:08
go. So it's more just like you learn
25:10
a lot from watching and asking questions.
25:12
So I hope that answers that question.
25:14
No, it totally does. And I think it provides a decent
25:17
segue into drill selection. So SJ, I'm just going to throw
25:22
it right back to you. How do you go about selecting
25:25
drills for an athlete? I mean, I wish it was just a
25:28
simple answer, but it's a very complex answer.
25:31
But to make it simple, I look at the athlete first.
25:34
Is he able to be a good athlete in the weight room?
25:37
Like one of the cool things that we do is F3PD versus like other
25:41
training facilities, at least the ones I've been at, like I
25:45
mean, Driveline does this pretty well, but in different group
25:48
slots. We we have all the college guys
25:50
come together. We do a group dynamic and then
25:52
we do like a different game every day, whether that's like
25:55
Med ball volleyball or running routes with the football or like
25:59
today I had to demonstrate how to do a proper handstand on a
26:02
wall. And you'll see like right away,
26:05
like guys are a little hesitant and some guys are the quote UN
26:08
quote athletes just have no problem.
26:09
You can figure out a lot just by, you know, the athletes side.
26:13
But then step number 2 is figuring out the skill side
26:16
because there are really horrible athletes out there who
26:19
are very elite throwers. I mean, you kind of just hear
26:22
like the common terminology is like, oh, he's stiff as a
26:24
billboard when he throws. Therefore he's probably not the
26:28
greatest athlete in the world, but hell, he's a hell of a
26:30
thrower and he can make he can make all that work.
26:33
So it's definitely going athlete first, then thrower second.
26:36
And let's just say this, if it's like a little bit of the in
26:40
between, like he's not really great athletes, not really great
26:42
thrower. All right, How can we blend both
26:44
of them together? So that's kind of my personal
26:48
process. And if it's just like the basic
26:50
high school kid, like I'll probably just give him the
26:53
simplest things like executing the goes back to executing the
26:55
basics. Like we're not here to change
26:57
the wheel. We're just here just to give you
26:58
some guidance. And if you master that, let's go
27:01
to the next step. Let's kind of hit our different
27:04
age groups or skill levels to a certain extent.
27:07
High school kid walks in, It's your run-of-the-mill high school
27:11
kid. Let's say no real injury
27:13
history, just a kid who wants to play college baseball.
27:16
Is there a typical drill set that that kid is normally going
27:20
to get on the throwing side? I know it is individual
27:24
dependent, but maybe if you look across all your high school
27:28
programs, are there a couple of drills that maybe are
27:32
implemented in like 75% of those populations?
27:37
If you asked me this last year I would just say like every kid
27:40
should have reverse throws. Peppa pigs walking windups.
27:44
Now me being in the stage I am and just watching every level of
27:48
thrower, my answer has changed. Like I still give every athlete
27:53
reverse throws because I definitely think it's the best
27:55
exercise and fly O drill to work on the back of the shoulder
27:58
because the back of the shoulder really doesn't get worked on a
28:01
whole lot. Not to mention it gets the T
28:03
spine and core kind of loose. But I give them instead of like
28:07
just pivot picks, I give them dead man's or I give them lassos
28:11
or I give them 10 toes. That way they can really just
28:13
figure out just like how to be a better thrower because at the
28:17
end of the day, throwing is throwing.
28:19
Like all we're changing is the path to get there.
28:22
The first major insight I actually had on the throwing is
28:27
just throwing across the board concept came from Peyton
28:31
Lobdell. So for anyone that's looking for
28:34
an interesting conversation on the podcast, go find the Peyton
28:38
Lobdell episode. He definitely has an interesting
28:41
throwing background, but that's one of the things that he talked
28:44
about. Although pitching and throwing
28:46
are often talked about in different sects, they should be
28:50
treated roughly the same. And it all comes back to what
28:52
you said, being an athlete, understanding how to move and
28:56
just matching that movement to the constraints.
28:59
So for pitching, you're just on a slope, so you have to figure
29:02
out how to match that plane coming down the hill and catch
29:05
that momentum shifted up into the ball and let it RIP towards
29:09
home plate. So I, I guess maybe let's step
29:12
this forward then let's stick with a specific athlete.
29:15
I don't know if you want to just name one of your athletes, John
29:19
Doe, take us through what he presented us with or presented
29:23
you with and how you prescribe drills for him.
29:26
I I would love if you could just go case study mode for us.
29:30
Oh, yeah, absolutely. One of the throwers that I have
29:33
his, he actually just committed. I don't think he'll mind me
29:36
mentioning his name. His name's actually, ironically,
29:38
John. John Whiteside is his name.
29:40
Very good athlete, very good. Like if you just watch him, you
29:44
just think of the word smooth, OK?
29:46
Like he like it's his delivery is just so clean.
29:50
It's so I mean, it's pretty buttery.
29:53
However, he doesn't block very well and he doesn't like have
29:57
the greatest hip shoulder separation, which isn't the
30:00
worst. But however, you could clearly
30:02
tell that like those areas are limiting him from throwing.
30:06
Let's just say 95 versus topping 93 on a great day because like
30:11
right away that he's a great athlete.
30:12
Like he pulled down 100 multiple times with a baseball.
30:17
Like he just guys like told me he's like that felt really easy.
30:19
It's like, so my assessment process through him was just
30:25
mixing up the variance of throwing every day and whether
30:28
that's not only just the drill selection.
30:30
Because like another thing I'll mention about the drill
30:32
selection is I'm not a, I'm not the biggest fan of giving
30:36
everyone like at least on the high intent days.
30:38
I'm not a fan of giving every athlete the same throwing drills
30:43
for every high intent days. It's like we separate them here
30:45
at 3 PD. We separate them between like
30:48
red, yellow, green, which red being your recovery days, yellow
30:52
being your hybrid C or hybrid B type of days, which we can't
30:55
have mountain blend in between. And then the green days would be
30:58
like, you know, RIP it. On the green days, I give him
31:02
primarily rotational drills because clearly he's very good
31:05
at rotating. So let's save it for the days
31:07
that you want to rotate fast. So on his yellow days or his
31:11
hybrid B days, I actually mix it up for him every week, to tell
31:15
you the truth, just because we're trying to like work on
31:18
separation, but he doesn't need to have like the Max separation
31:21
in order for him to reach his goals.
31:23
He just needs to improve on that a little bit.
31:25
Therefore, he can be a little more forceful for the ground.
31:28
So I think that process had actually helped him make
31:32
progress in the summer. And also like if we're
31:34
mentioning like how to assess an athlete, him on the pitch design
31:37
side, like he very good sweeper, not express how great his
31:42
sweeper is, like just the grossest pitch.
31:44
You know, pretty good riding fastball can be designed at
31:46
times based off the intensity. But like that's another thing
31:49
that's a whole nother topic. Intensity plays a big role in
31:51
how a pitch profile actually goes.
31:53
He shows a pretty good curveball considering his low slot.
31:56
Like he throws A curveball like around 5 feet.
31:59
Remind you the guy's 6/4 guys, 64 throws, A5 foot slot and
32:03
pretty decent curveball. However, he lacked a pitch going
32:07
arm side so showed him some grips.
32:10
I wish I had a better story about how great his changeup was
32:13
or out or how great some you know the development was
32:16
changing. But it was just as simple as
32:17
just like this pitch grip right here and it was able to roll
32:20
with it and all of a sudden it's 5 IVP and 20 inches arm side.
32:24
So that just proves how communication and just giving
32:27
him some simple could really go. I know we went out a lot of
32:31
different routes, but that is how I assess athletes and that
32:35
current case study. Don't worry, I'm gonna, I'm
32:37
gonna bring us back down to earth because you're not off the
32:40
stand just yet when it comes to drill selection.
32:43
I would love if you could get a little bit more specific when
32:46
you talk about those deficiencies he has.
32:49
So lead leg block separation. You did say separation for him
32:55
isn't something that you're necessarily trying to chase
32:58
more. According to bio mechanics for
33:01
this kid may be better like according to an assessment.
33:05
But of course it's it's not the end of the world.
33:07
You guys just believe it could potentially help him transfer
33:10
force better. So what?
33:12
What are drills or movement solutions that you are trying to
33:16
give him, either to improve that lead leg block or improve
33:22
separation? Or is it really just exposing
33:25
him to different stimuli? It's definitely, it's definitely
33:28
a combination of everything you just said that different stimuli
33:32
in which like in this catch play, I make sure he throws a
33:35
baseball as the least amount of possible, at least in the yellow
33:37
days. Just like I'm a big fan of like
33:40
having a softball being thrown. What I found out about John very
33:43
early is that he's very good at throwing a football.
33:46
Like he could actually, if he if he wanted to, he could probably
33:49
play Division 1 college football as a quarterback.
33:52
Yeah, like I'm not sure how he is reading defenses, but like if
33:56
we're talking about just like pure raw athleticism and pure
33:58
talent, he is a great thrower. So just mixing up the objects as
34:02
far as like 7 oz 6 ounce softball, like making sure he's
34:07
doing different types of drills. And by the drills, I mean like
34:09
different constraints. Like I make sure that he's, even
34:12
though we're trying to improve on the lead, like block, like
34:14
let's just try to be athletic. Like let's see how far you could
34:18
throw a ball, like as far as a 7 oz goes on your one knee or even
34:23
just a split stance. That way like we can improve
34:26
maybe the upper half of the motion.
34:28
Now as far as like the lower half of the motion, 1 drill I've
34:30
been like absolutely flirting with and I don't really have an
34:33
official name for it, but it's very similar to like a step back
34:37
and a janitor. So it's like I call it the
34:39
three-step as of right now. Basically you step forward, step
34:43
back into a gender and then you rotate fast.
34:46
All that without moving your back foot.
34:48
That way I can prove separation and force fall on the ground and
34:52
I actually can pull up his program right now and see what
34:55
I've been because I change him every week for him.
34:57
So let's see what I have for him this week.
35:01
I have him doing the Darvis drill this week as far as that
35:04
end goes. So I mean, that's those who
35:07
don't know what the Darvis drill is.
35:09
Very similar to you. Darvis basically shows the
35:11
pelvis to the wall, then comes back into a coil and then be
35:15
forceful down the mound. So kind of given him a different
35:19
goal every week. Now let's jump ahead into maybe
35:24
Arsenal design. You started to tease it a little
35:27
bit with this individual. You talked about what I think is
35:30
a really cool topic, how intent can impact pitch profiles.
35:36
So maybe that will be our jumping off point.
35:39
Please just take that topic and run with it.
35:41
Oh yeah, absolutely. And I'm glad you mentioned that
35:43
because when we add like the yellow or the touch and feel
35:47
days, is being on a track man really the most important thing
35:52
in the grand scheme of things? Probably not.
35:54
You just want to feel the mound. You want to like feel your
35:56
shapes, You want to make sure everything's going.
35:59
But at the same time, like this is where we're talking about the
36:03
intent. I'm not a big fan, and I tried
36:05
to do this with guys at SCSU and Erskine, but some guys like
36:08
throwing off speeds on the recovery days.
36:10
Do I think it's the brightest move?
36:12
Probably not. But you know what, who am I to
36:14
say that? But intent really does play a
36:16
role as far as like how a pitch goes.
36:18
Because I mean a lot of the biggest adjustments being pitch
36:22
sign processes. The guys just simply need to
36:24
throw the pitch harder. Like the grip is there, the
36:26
movement is there. They maybe cannot find the zone,
36:29
but like have them RIP it like a fastball.
36:32
Next thing you know they find the zone.
36:33
Not to mention the pitch moves X amount of inches.
36:36
I mean I hell, I even had an athlete today just told him to
36:40
throw a slider a little bit harder and then all of a sudden
36:42
he threw it for a strike with five more inches of horizontal
36:45
brakes. It could be just as simple as
36:47
that. I am a big fan of just the
36:49
intent of the pitch can result into the overall movement.
36:52
So. I don't think it is ever worth
36:55
doing pitch design at anything. Sub Max intent.
36:59
Now, can you get away with it at 9095% quote UN quote RPE?
37:05
Sure. Maybe like maybe you can.
37:08
I'm not going to say no. But now now shifting this
37:11
conversation to the rehab side, it's incredibly important to
37:16
incorporate breaking stuff or off speed in a return to throw
37:21
because you need to accumulate a tolerance to that stress.
37:25
Throwing a breaking pitch has a different stress than throwing a
37:28
fastball or throwing a change up or throwing a split finger.
37:31
All these different grips affect the medial elbow and the flexor
37:35
mass differently so you need exposure to it.
37:38
So for instance, going back to what you said, I personally have
37:41
no issues with guys throwing off speeds on a recovery day or on a
37:47
low to mid intent day. But being concerned about a
37:51
shape on a low intent day or mid intent day, that's asinine to
37:55
me. Like there's no point.
37:58
There is no point in trying to do pitch design if you are
38:03
nowhere close to simulating what's going on on the mound.
38:06
And I I guess maybe that's the other piece.
38:09
That's a hill I'm willing to die on.
38:11
If anyone is ever concerned about the shape of a breaking
38:14
pitch when they're down the left field line playing catch with a
38:17
partner, you, you need a reality check because you you throw on a
38:22
slope in the game. I don't care what your curveball
38:25
looks like when you're throwing it to your partner in the
38:27
outfield 4 hours before first pitch.
38:30
That is not going to impact the way the ball moves when there's
38:34
a hitter in the box and the lights are on and you're coming
38:37
down that slope. No, I most certainly agree.
38:39
I think like in reality, if you are going to do that, it should
38:43
just be based off feels like saying, hey, I do to say I
38:47
worked on it today even though I didn't do off the slope.
38:50
I just I felt it today. And I think that's like a common
38:53
misconception that not only just like coaches breach, but also
38:57
just like athletes believe in. It's like, yeah, it's not the
39:00
end of the world. And you mentioned something
39:01
great in the rehab side of things.
39:03
Throwing those off speed pitches in the rehab is vital.
39:07
You know, with my experience at push driveline and hell even
39:10
like with college right now, I noticed that some guys arsenals
39:13
like even just like a symbols like being a pronator super
39:17
there change even after like a life changing surgery.
39:20
Therefore, they really need to be dialed in on that as far as
39:23
like intent goes, making sure they are at the right stage of
39:26
doing it because it really plays a big role in like how your
39:29
career is going to shape up that upcoming season.
39:32
SJ There's no doubt about that. I'm in 100% agreement.
39:36
Obviously, I started the point, but given what you said, the
39:38
pronation supination, how that changes after a major surgery,
39:42
there's so much of A learning curve as well as the health
39:48
implications that need to be considered when it comes to that
39:51
on ramp. When we're in the on ramp post
39:53
surgery or in rehab, we're trying to come back from
39:57
multiple things. Not only are we trying to prove
40:00
to ourselves, prove to our bodies, that we are healthy
40:04
again and can perform this task, we also actually need to perform
40:09
statistically or metrically. Because let's face it, feeling
40:13
good is one thing, but being good is another.
40:17
We would love to reward everyone who feels good coming out of
40:21
rehab. Unfortunately, baseball doesn't
40:24
reward you for feeling good. Baseball rewards you for being
40:28
good. That's just another piece.
40:29
I wanted to make sure that we hit on there, but I want to keep
40:33
this on Arsenal design for a little bit or on pitch design.
40:37
You did bring up sweepers and I know you are passionate
40:41
specifically about a pitch known as the Hand of God slider, so I
40:46
want to give you a little bit of a runway to talk about that.
40:49
How I would describe the hand of God slider and it was brought up
40:52
to me at Driveline that terminology came from Chris
40:55
Langan. Shout out to him and just
40:57
everything he's done with, like just knowing what we know about
41:00
shapes. Like the hand of God slider as
41:03
of 20/21 was only thrown 1% in the MLB.
41:07
And so how I would describe a hand of God slider, a lot of
41:11
people describe it as like a rising sweeper.
41:14
I, I like to describe it as, and this could just be the fact that
41:17
I transformed the submarine halfway through college was I
41:21
describe it like imagine a Tyler Rogers slider, just a UFO
41:25
slider, but from an over top arm.
41:27
That's how I would describe it. Tyler Rogers for our non MLB
41:31
crew is a submariner. Correct, Correct.
41:35
Yeah, the lowest, the lowest slot arm you could possibly find
41:38
out there. A true knuckle scraper.
41:41
Correct 100%. So one guy had a SCSU when I
41:44
recruited him. I saw his Trackman plot and he
41:47
said, hey, I want to learn a cutter because I think that
41:49
could run in very well and I most certainly agree.
41:51
So I showed him just a simple pitch grips like, all right,
41:54
like imagine showing the back of your pinky and throwing that.
41:58
And next thing you know that that sucker just is riding 15
42:01
inches moving -13 inches on average and throwing like 81 mph
42:07
off his 91 to 93 mile per hour fastball.
42:10
So he was able to use that this year.
42:12
And Dexy, you know, he leads the NSIC and save.
42:16
Yeah, that's definitely something I'm researching more
42:18
moving forward. Like I, I remember like when
42:21
over spring break, we, we were in Arizona for our spring break
42:25
at SESU. So I decided to stop and push
42:27
for a couple days and talk to a motto about it.
42:29
And he's like, and then he just casually tells me he's like,
42:31
yeah, Walker Buehler throws that and he throws that 90.
42:34
And I was like, that's that's unfair.
42:37
That's. But to give a little brief
42:39
description, we don't know all the answers about the Hand of
42:42
God slider or even like the classification.
42:44
But it's something I'm obsessed with.
42:46
It's something I'm trying to discover.
42:47
And one thing I've learned about the little, let's just say the
42:51
little evidence I have of it, the most common grip is like
42:54
close to A2 SIM orientation. I mean, those who are watching
42:58
on YouTube, I'll just show them right here.
43:00
Museum orientation. Your pointer finger is in the
43:03
middle in between the the train tracks.
43:06
And the idea is like almost trying to backspin backspin a
43:10
slider or flip off the catcher. And the reason why I say like
43:13
little samples now is because I've seen it from all different
43:15
types of arm angles, such as like the low three quarter guys.
43:19
Like prime example would be like the Joe Ryan arm slot.
43:23
And I've also seen it from the big over the top, like the
43:26
toilet glass now. So, you know, that's something
43:30
I'm thinking myself. Can it be taught?
43:32
That would be my next discovery. But at the same time, the reason
43:37
why I don't think like, guys really are aiming the T-shirt
43:39
right now is because it has to blend in the arsenal's vacuum.
43:42
Like, is it truly going to make a pitch better?
43:44
Or are we chasing like a Max movement?
43:47
Because if we're chasing a Max movement, it might not always be
43:50
the best solution for the arm itself.
43:53
Now, if we're chasing a pitch that can blend in to a pitcher's
43:56
arsenal in a vacuum very well, and yeah, that should be our
44:00
goal. So the point I'm making is keep
44:02
the main thing the main thing. But it'll be cool to discover
44:05
more about the hand of God. And you offered the Velo for
44:08
Walker Buehlers as well as the individual at SCSU.
44:13
Are you normally seeing it at sweeper velocities?
44:17
How hard off the fastball are we normally seeing it?
44:21
Or can we not even make that distinction because so few Hand
44:25
of God sliders are being thrown? I would say it's somewhere in
44:29
between like we've seen so few, but the little sample size I
44:32
have seen it's usually around gyro slider velocity so.
44:37
Really that hard? Yeah.
44:39
So like like I said, the guy at SESU, he was like 8081 with it
44:44
with a 91 to 93 mile per hour fastball, so roughly 10 off the
44:50
fastball. Gyros are typically 10, nine to
44:53
10 off the fastball and sweepers are typically 11 to 14.
44:57
So that's the small sample size I have.
44:59
Again, this is like some project in the future I would like to
45:02
calculate. So I'm writing notes every day
45:04
and if you have someone, if those who are listening on the
45:07
podcast, if you have somebody who's throwing like a hand of
45:10
God type of slider, please send it my way.
45:12
I would love to just dive deep into it more.
45:15
I'm, I might have a couple of names for you offline.
45:17
I, I don't want to disclose too much of what a few of these guys
45:21
are doing because I know some of these guys are always tinkering
45:24
and some of its org dependent. But I, I've got a guy or two
45:27
that we work with that maybe you want to look into their data and
45:31
we can figure something out. So just remind me offline.
45:34
I got you. You mentioned not necessarily
45:37
knowing who is a candidate for this pitch.
45:39
Can it be taught? When should it be introduced in
45:42
the arsenal? So for you on the coaching side,
45:46
is it literally just you're trying to teach maybe a cutter,
45:50
you're trying to teach maybe a sweeper and it just happens Like
45:53
is it literally that much of like a quote UN quote miracle at
45:58
this point? I would say so, yes, just simply
46:01
based off the name the hand of God, let's just say those who
46:04
are religious or not, let's just say the Lord just bless down and
46:07
say I'm going to choose you to throw this pitch.
46:11
That's or you know, those who are not religious 1% of the MLB
46:15
through in 2021. So you could just be that 1%.
46:20
So that's, I guess that's an interesting way to think about
46:23
it. And the most interesting thing
46:25
about this picture is like I've seen both pronators and
46:28
souvenirs throw it. That was my next question.
46:30
So that therefore it's like that just proves how much data we
46:34
have on. It is like we don't have enough
46:37
to really classify like is someone a candidate for it?
46:42
Definitely food for thought. I'm excited to dig into this a
46:45
little bit more. I have one more rabbit hole that
46:48
I really want to go down with you, SJ, and that is a
46:52
revisitation to a Twitter thread that you threw out into the
46:57
world a month or so ago. At this point, I guess maybe at
47:01
the time of the release, we might, we might be pushing two
47:03
months on that thread, but regarding the importance or lack
47:07
thereof of Plio Velos. So let's start with the basic
47:13
summary of the thread. So I'm going to give you the
47:15
floor for that and I'll ask you some questions in the process.
47:19
Please take it away. Well, you know, as far as like
47:21
Plao Vilo goes, we got to think about it this way.
47:24
It's like some people might think like, I think Plao Vilo is
47:28
bad. I don't think it's bad, but I
47:30
definitely think a lot of like there's some coaches out there
47:33
who take away from the main thing.
47:35
Are we chasing a number on the Plio Vilo or we're trying to get
47:38
the athlete better at throwing a baseball off the mound?
47:40
A lot of coaches, I hope all of them would say we're trying to
47:44
get better off the mound. Therefore, I think Plio Vilo is
47:47
not really the route to go. However, I do think it is a
47:50
great way to start a Vilo phase because we're coming off a like
47:55
4 to 6 week on ramp and the athlete has not really had many
47:59
days that he threw very high, intense and matter of fact,
48:02
it'll be his first day throwing 100%.
48:04
And this is just a great, great intro way to have him throw
48:08
relatively hard for the first time without blowing his
48:11
workload. So I think it's an excellent
48:14
intro. However, would I ever program a
48:17
guy to do Pliovilo for six weeks?
48:19
No. When might you actually consider
48:23
doing Pliovilo testing and who might that be for?
48:29
I guess you mentioned early in a program for Introduction to high
48:33
velocity, but are there other cases that you might be using
48:37
it? Yeah, absolutely.
48:38
I would say, you know, just like I said, introduction to the
48:41
velocity phase, but it can also identify low hanging fruits.
48:45
Like when I was at push performance, there was this one
48:48
big leaguer. I'm not going to mention his
48:49
name probably because he'll be pissed at me, but he he really
48:54
sucked. If we're going based off the
48:55
standard playoff set, you know, the blue, red, yellow, Gray, he
48:58
was really bad if we're talking about putting full effort in, he
49:02
was really bad at throwing the blue and red.
49:05
Like I'm pretty sure my numbers were better than his and I and I
49:10
topped out at 84, but he throws 96 with a Gray ball and he
49:13
throws 97 in game. So therefore it's like, OK, he
49:16
has a very elite arm speeds going back to the drill
49:19
selection that we're talking about and the workload
49:21
management. And it goes like OK, yellow
49:24
days. The lightest ball he should
49:25
throw is a red ball, which is 8 oz 225 grams.
49:30
That way we can manage the workload and we can keep 97 on
49:34
days you need to throw 97. So that's like how I would view
49:38
Plio Violo. And it's also just if you're in
49:40
the right environment, like the driveline or the push or the
49:43
three PDS and you have like all your buddies around you yelling,
49:46
you hit a number. It is the most exciting day.
49:48
I will say it is, it is fun to RIP some, but the idea is to
49:53
keep the main thing the main thing as far as throwing a
49:56
baseball goes. Like at the end they were
49:58
throwing. We're trying to get better at
49:59
throwing a baseball. Not a great plyo because no
50:02
coach cares about your great plyo vilo.
50:04
I do really like that you mentioned doing plyo vilo
50:07
testing almost to set up the parameters for how to use plyo's
50:14
to warm up properly or to pursue Velo or pursue a movement change
50:20
or mechanical adjustment. People don't think about that.
50:23
At least I don't think about that commonly.
50:26
If we're ripping a ball way too fast, it's as you said, going to
50:30
spike workload or maybe unnecessarily stress something.
50:34
But if we know that we can put a 7-8 oz ball in a guy's hand and
50:40
it's going to slow him down, it's probably easier to make
50:44
adjustments that day. Or maybe we can keep workload at
50:48
a manageable level to ensure that the guys recovered and
50:51
ready to go the next time he's out on the mound.
50:54
So I think that's a great look into the applications of plyo
51:01
Velo. Aside from just literally
51:04
chasing velocity, you can use it to set the guardrails for a more
51:09
successful throwing program. Absolutely, because plows are a
51:13
tool at the end of the day, like everything that we use are
51:15
tools. I think that's another
51:16
misconception is that everyone says plows are bad.
51:18
It's like plows are a tool, just like weightlifting, just like
51:22
bands. At the end that everything is
51:23
just a tool to make us better. And I think if coaches out there
51:28
just understand and are educated about it, I think their opinions
51:31
will change and that the same goes with players.
51:33
Like everyone just says plows make my arm feel bad.
51:36
It's like, well, you're probably doing the wrong.
51:38
It's kind of like saying back squatting is bad for you.
51:42
It's not the actual exercise, it's more like how you're doing
51:44
it. So I think if we change the
51:46
mindset, like how we approach things versus the actual
51:50
product, then I think we'll make the right steps moving forward.
51:53
And that goes with anyone and everyone.
51:55
That concludes my line of questioning at this point.
52:00
I'll open it up to you if you feel we missed anything in the
52:02
process, if there's anything you want to highlight before I let
52:06
you go. No, hit the nail on the head on
52:09
everything. Those who are out there, feel
52:12
free to always DM me for questions.
52:14
I'm always, I'm always looking for a topic to deep dive and
52:18
research because at the age of 26, I know for a fact I don't
52:21
have all the answers in the world, nor will I ever have all
52:25
the answers in the world. I'm always trying to sit there
52:27
and learn and try to improve my skills.
52:29
And this is going to be my marketing tool right here.
52:32
But like, hey, if you're looking for a great place to train or
52:34
looking for remote training, look no further than three PD.
52:37
So that's all I have to say. Perfect.
52:40
I actually did think of one last question I want to hit you with.
52:43
I said the defense rest, but I apologize.
52:46
We're back on. We're calling you to the stand
52:48
one more time. What is a deep dive that you are
52:54
into right now? It can't be the hand of God
52:57
slider because you already mentioned it.
52:59
So I want to know what right now is keeping you up at night or
53:03
when you go home, when you actually take this car to the
53:06
place that you sleep. What are you looking at on the
53:08
Internet to try to get better? And this one will be non-stop.
53:12
And I even posted a thread ironically today about it.
53:15
It's a command. I will live and die on the hill.
53:18
That 90% command is mental. Some people think it's 100%
53:22
mental, but I firmly believe, just like what Yogi Berra says
53:26
about the game of baseball, it's 90% mental.
53:29
The other 10 is physical, but the other 10% of the physical
53:33
side is kind of like, all right, is it mechanics?
53:35
Is it Arsenal, how it's used? It's is it your physical
53:39
condition? Is it your training or lack of
53:40
training? So to me it's command.
53:43
It's going to be command for a while.
53:45
I'll take it. We'll ask for a check in at some
53:47
point or maybe we'll just monitor your Twitter to see what
53:49
breakthroughs you have. I did see that come across my
53:52
screen today as we record this Tuesday, July 22nd, for anyone
53:57
that wants to go find this on SJ's Twitter feed because this
54:01
won't come out for a few weeks. So we'll, we'll consider this
54:04
the bookmark for everyone to go back and check it out.
54:07
But SJI know you mentioned three PD, you mentioned reaching out
54:11
to you. How about you hit everyone with
54:13
the socials? Yeah, absolutely.
54:16
Those who know how to spell my last name.
54:18
So my baseball page is Musso Baseball.
54:21
Look up SJ Musso. Follow me on both accounts.
54:24
D feel free to DM me on both accounts.
54:26
It's SJMOUSSEAU at or Musso baseball.
54:32
And then on Twitter, you know, I was 15 years old when I created
54:36
Twitter, so I forgot that you unless then shout out dyslexia,
54:39
but it's SJ MOUSSEA on Twitter. I haven't bothered to change it.
54:47
I mean, why, why should I? But that's that's the best way
54:52
to reach out to me. Perfect.
54:54
And then 3PD socials. Yeah, 3PD performance on
54:59
Twitter, 3PD performance on Instagram.
55:01
Simple as that. Perfect, man.
55:03
Well, I appreciate the time today.
55:06
This was an excellent conversation.
55:08
I believe most of the talks we have, you're in some sort of
55:12
transportation. I'm just happy this time the
55:15
transportation was not moving. Oh, thank God.
55:18
Yeah. And best part is we had Wi-Fi
55:20
pretty much 95% of the conversation when we are, I
55:24
mean, we might as well say it out.
55:26
We had a test run two weeks ago. I was in my girlfriend's car in
55:31
middle of nowhere Iowa on hotspot and we might as well
55:34
have it refreshed. And thank God we did it.
55:36
I'm not a lot of bad connection this talk.
55:39
Yeah, yeah. We we fought through anything we
55:41
might have faced. But yeah, I flushed that last
55:44
performance that we tried to put on.
55:46
I deleted that thing as soon as it downloaded and I chose to
55:49
forget about it as soon as humanly possible.
55:54
SJ, this was a great chat today. I really appreciate you coming
55:57
on sharing your life journey. And of course, to all the
55:59
listeners out there, thanks for laying back with us.