Utah Rotational Athlete Training Introduction

Utah Rotational Athlete Training: My Background

Many people have asked who I am and why they should trust me and my group with their athlete's baseball development.  While I am not much of a self-promoter, I will list a few of my accolades so you can understand that my background qualifies me to speak on baseball development.  

• 6 Seasons Coaching at Vanguard University

o Pitching Coach

o Recruiting Director

• 5 Seasons Coaching with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

o Scouting

o Player Development

o Coordinator

o Analyst

• 8 Years Mentoring with Tom House

• Current Director of Pitching with ArmCare.Com

o Workload Monitoring

o Player Development

o Course Creation on Baseball Performance and Health

• Current Head Baseball Coach at West High, Salt Lake City, Utah

• Current Consultant with MLB/NCAA Teams and Individuals

• Masters Degree: Coaching and Administration

• Bachelors Degree: Exercise Science

• K-Vest Certified

• Rapsodo Pitch Design Certified

• ArmCare Specialist Certified

• ArmCare Biomechanics Certified 

While this is not a full list of my background and accomplishments, I would like to focus rather on the goal I have set forth, which is changing the landscape of youth baseball development.  While most of my coaching and professional background has been at the collegiate and professional level, focusing on high-level talent development, I see a drastic need for change at the youth level of baseball.  This increasing issue at the youth level has caused me to create the Utah Rotational Athlete Training group, take a job as a head coach at the high school level, and leave professional baseball altogether.  The current landscape of youth baseball has caused a continual decline in High School baseball participation, not just in my home state of Utah but across the country.  As the website projectplay.org points out, baseball is declining at an average rate of 6% reduction in participation per year.  This decrease is not a good sign for the health of the sport.  

So, how do we combat the decrease in baseball participation?  We need to restructure how we develop our athletes at the youth level.  Our country's focus on travel baseball is causing strain mentally and physically on young athletes.  These young athletes often play 80+ games in a calendar year, which is more than a professional player would play in their first season.  Our youth development does not align with the long-term development of high-level baseball.  We see this in how we compete not just at the youth level but at the highest levels regarding countries like Japan and the Dominican Republic, which both have drastically different player development models for their youth than we do here in the United States.  I have linked a great video below on the Japanese Baseball Model.  While I do not agree with everything Japan and the DR do for youth baseball development, I believe we can learn how to improve the development process here in the United States.

Showing more support for my belief is a research article, which I have also linked below, showing injury risk and your odds of reaching the MLB/Professional baseball level in comparison to showcases attended.  The United States Baseball culture has become a culture of showcase baseball.  If you don't want to read the article, a summary is that more showcases = higher injury and less chance to play past high school. 

So what is my goal?  To restructure youth baseball.  I want to move away from the showcase development style and build the foundational skills and knowledge that allow athletes to succeed when they are ready to attend a showcase.  My goal is to increase the length of the amateur career.  Most players will not play High School Baseball; I want to see a high percentage playing in college.  Just this last season alone, we had a 50% placement into college from our Senior class of athletes, which greatly outperforms the National average of 8%.  This number may have changed since I last checked.  We accomplished this by changing the structure of normal development.  We put a process in place that allowed athletes to develop the physical tools and strengths needed to play at the next level.  So what does this entail?  My plan would involve the following implementation.

• Less games, more training

Higher Focus on Individual Skills

Drills that Translate to Game Success

Games are Development Focused and Process Based

• Individualized Development of the Athlete

• Through Planning

• Nutritional Work

• Arm Health and Strength

These are just bullet points

 of what I hope to accomplish and set the foundation of this system.  And I use this opening post to introduce myself and my ideas.  If this is something you would be interested in, and I hope you are, then keep an eye out and follow us on social media to see how we truly are a better development system.

-Jordan Oseguera

jordan@utahrotationalathletetraining.com

Instagram: uratbaseball

Project Play: 

https://projectplay.org/state-of-play-2023/participation#:~:text=Baseball%20dropped%206%25%20and%20soccer,between%20the%20sports%20since%202019

Japan Development Process: 

https://youtu.be/xbSWjb3tlJg?si=WgyTq1xqzFEJIVgW

Showcases and Player Development: 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/03635465221150509