Progressing on Skill Building

In our previous posts, we covered setting the foundation for player development: strength and nutrition. While many will go straight to building skill into a player, we need to realize that skill will fail us in the long run without a foundation of strength and nutrition. This belief, opinion, or whatever you want to call it comes from someone who makes a living through baseball instruction. Which should tell you how much I value setting strength and nutrition as the development foundation.

Now that we have the previous weeks going over that foundation, we can start reviewing some ways to build on it. I was lucky to have coached for 1 season under Joe Maddon, a World Series champion coach, and a player development genius. He had a straightforward philosophy. Do the basics better. Joe emphasized every day in spring training, and that simple message also bled down into the minor leagues. I bring this up to show how they do the basics better, even at the highest levels. What this equates to is they are not trying to recreate themselves and add a new pitch. They are not trying to overhaul their swing. They are not trying to add a new drill to enhance glove work. They are simply mastering the basics.

What we do in our system is what we call individuals, or Indo's. These basic drills emphasize the fundamentals of infield, outfield, catching, and pitching. Indo's are looking for steady progress over time. Like a retirement account, we are not chasing the next investing trend or hot topic; we are chasing the constant and steady growth of the 401K and IRA. Once we have mastered our Indo's, we can add more layers of complexity. But too often, coaches and players want to start with the complex. Through Indo's, we are investing in our development for the long haul. We are committing to a process that builds fundamental baseball comprehension.

To give an example of what our daily indo's look like, here is a quick example of our infield progression:

1: 2 Knee Fielding Short Hops Straight on

2: Standing Fielding Short Hops Straight On

3: 5 Step Ranging Glove and Arm Side

4: Ground Balls From Fungo or Machine Straight On

5: Ground Balls From Fungo or Machine 3-5 Step Movement

That progression is not complex, but it covers almost 100% of what you will see in any baseball game. Once you have mastered that progression and performed above adequacy in the game, you can begin layering onto your indo's to make them more complex as you continue to build athleticism. It is also straightforward to start. All you need is a glove, a ball, and someone to hit or roll you balls. If you don't have someone to roll you balls, get a tennis ball and find a stable wall to throw against.

Don't make it complex; make sure you are training. If you want somethign more individualized or help planning, shoot me an email at jordan@utahrotationalathletetraining.com

Post Game Nutrition: Starting the Recovery Process

Post-Game Nutrition: Starting the Recovery Process

Here in Utah, we are beginning our High School baseball seasons and, shortly, our recreation league seasons. With the start of the season comes increased inflammation and wear and tear on the body. Post-game nutrition is one incredibly overlooked aspect, no matter the competition level. While it is easy to speed through the drive-through and grab something to take home, it is not what is best to maintain or build upon the progress from the off-season. Here are some post-game nutrition thoughts to help keep your athlete recovering for the year.

1: Beet Root Chews: Beets help with blood flow, which is a key to recovery. I recommend that my athletes take a beetroot chew before they begin their warm-up for the game and, ideally, directly after the game. This helps start the activation process by helping blood flow before the game, and it dramatically speeds up recovery by keeping blood flow active after the game. If you cannot do pre- and post-beet root chews and can only pick one, I would prioritize the post-game beet root chew.

The post-throw is more important because the blood vessels begin to restrict through inflammation, so anything you can do to stimulate the blood flow is ideal. Below is a link to beetroot chews I recommend and use myself.

Beet Root Chews Link: https://amzn.to/3wCust3

2: Post-Game Meal: If you prioritize food quality, not quantity, on the post-game meal, it will significantly improve recovery. If you are strapped for time and must go to a fast-food restaurant, my top pick is Chipotle. Chipotle uses the least amount of high-inflammatory oils and additives in its cooking. Even though Chipotle is not ideal, it is the best and worst option. I love hamburgers and fries. They are not an ideal post-game meal as they contribute to inflammation and do not help you combat it.

With travel at the youth level not being large distances with very few overnight stays, it would be beneficial to invest in a crock pot. Crock pots were my best friend at the minor league level, as they allowed me to put higher-quality lean protein, vegetables, and anti-inflammatory seasonings into the pot on low before I left for the field. When I got back, everything was cooked and ready to eat. Even though professional-level teams provide post-game meals, they are not always the best; they usually are the cheapest option. Taking control of your post-game feed through a crock pot not only saves you money compared to the fast food bill, but it also helps you build during your season instead of regressing.

With the crock pot taking care of your proteins and vegetables, you can always add some mixed fruit, whether frozen, fresh, or from a can. Regardless of your method of consumption, it still beats the drive-through.

Crock Pots: https://amzn.to/3wxSy8b

While it may seem extremely easy to just run to the drive-through, don't make it a habit—these small changes of preparing food in a slow cooker and adding in better options for blood flow will help you not just in the short term but the long term of your entire baseball career.

The Three Types of Training

Concentric, Eccentric, Isometric: 3 Types of Training

Last week, we went over the bottom of the training pyramid.  This week, we will focus on the three types of muscle contractions—concentric, eccentric, and isometric.  All are important; one may be a higher priority based on your current situation.

Concentric Training:

Concentric training is shortening an angle.  The simplest example of this is a bicep curl.  The angle shortens between the upper and lower arm when the hand moves toward the shoulder.  This movement is what we commonly see in a majority of workouts.  

Eccentric Training:

Eccentric training is lengthening the muscle.  This occurs on the negative movement.  To use the bicep curl as an example again, once the hand is closest to the shoulder, you slowly lower the weight back to the starting position.  The eccentric phase of the movement is when most injuries occur in athletics.  Eccentrics should be a high priority in pre-season training and should be done at a 3:1 work ratio.  For example, if it takes you one second on the concentric, the eccentric should be 3 seconds.

Isometric Training:

Isometrics are when there is no movement around the joint at all.  Isometrics would be flexing.  Using the bicep as an example again, if you make a muscle and hold it without any weight, this would be an isometric.  Isometrics help build stability around joints and movements.

So what does all this mean?  Where should you start on your training journey?  Well, combining these three muscle contractions is critical to year-round success.  We usually like to put the training in blocks.  Block I would be the isometric focus, block II focused on primarily eccentric movement, and block III combines all three.  A progression like this allows for a progressive building of intensity while focusing on activities that keep the athlete healthy.

Where is the best place to start?  If you don't know where to begin, we offer a free 4-week training program to focus on body weight movements.  If you want this, email me at jordan@utahrotationalathletetraining.com.  If you want something more in-depth and specialized toward your athlete, use the discount code throwfuzz15 on ArmCare.Com.  The ArmCare.Com system focuses on all three movements and adds resistance to these movements using the Crossover Symmetry system.  You will notice my writing theme on the importance of physical training to learn skills.  I have some research posted in previous posts on how exercise impacts the CNS for skill development.

While I am not going into the depths of training theory and practice, I want to ensure you leave with a basic understanding of starting your training journey.  If you aren't setting the foundation, you are setting yourself up for failure.  If you are interested in the free bodyweight training program, email me at jordan@utahrotationalathletetraining.com   

Functional Training: Building Upon Nutrition

Functional Training: Building Upon Nutrition

We just put on our hitting clinic and had a great turnout of youth athletes. Many of the questions we received from the parents were about what we can do to strengthen our young athletes without weights. In our last post, we talked about nutrition and the importance that it has on athletic development and how it impacts the CNS. Nutrition will be the foundation of strength development regardless of the age of the athlete. A coach I had in college constantly repeated the phrase, "Success is built in the kitchen," and I never really understood that until recently. What my former coach meant was regardless of how hard we train or how serious we are in our drill work, none of it matters if we don't have nutrition figured out. So, before jumping into this post, be sure to go back to the post on nutrition.

Below is a picture of the strength training pyramid we use at Utah Rotational Athlete Training. We set the foundation as broad as possible so that we can build on top of it with high stability. Just like building a home or structure, the better the base, the more sound the building overall.

 

In this post, we are going to focus on the base of the pyramid. "Pre-Hab" work is about making sure we don't run into injuries. This level will focus on speed, endurance, coordination, stability, and utilizing concentric, eccentric, and isometric types of movement. This level can vary between footwork with ladders and cones and linear or curved sprints. Change of direction is also a must in this phase. But, the most critical aspect of this phase is building stability in movement. Our coaching manual goes much more in-depth on all these aspects. See this article on the importance of building resilience and strength (lumbopelvic control) for injury prevention in baseball.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25159541/

How do we build this stability? The easiest way is to use the ArmCare app. It will give you the essential training you need to develop balance and strength throughout your body. If this is not something you are interested in using, then I would recommend using the general Watkins Back Program. If you can build up to a level 3 in his free program, you will be more than stable and strong enough to build skill on top of that foundation. The Watkins Program will focus on double and single leg isometric, core work through concentric and eccentric training along with adding in light dumbbells and resistance. While doing the Watkins Program is a very good starting point custom training is where you get a large amount of progress. Thankfully ArmCare gives that custom training. It is also where a lot of our large velocity increases at West High have come from due to the fixing the imbalances the athletes have. Also, as a general rule of thumb, the younger the athlete the more they need to focus on bodyweight and resistance band training as opposed to weight training. When an athlete is showing balance and comprehension in movement I personally like to add in a weight vest before moving onto weights. I will recommend a weight vest at the bottom of the post as well.

While this post is not an all-encompassing view of training, it is a good starting point to get you seeking your own solutions. If you need help we are more than happy to help you along the way. Our goal is to keep kids playing as long as possible and as healthy as possible. Feel free to reach out with any questions you have. Thanks for reading.

Weight Vest: https://amzn.to/3OK0idK

ArmCare/Crossover System: www.armcare.com

Use code: Throwfuzz15 for 15% off 

Nutrition: The Building Blocks for Success

Nutrition: The Building Blocks for Success

In the previous post, we went over the direction we want to go in our development journey. This week, we are going over the foundation of development, which is nutrition. A highly valued but little cared about development aspect: most don't realize that most of our battles are won or lost in the kitchen. In America, we do not have access to food problems; we have a relationship with food problems. Most of what we put in our body hurts our development. My mentor, Tom House, always used the analogy of two Ferrari's. Ferrari #1 put all the high-end oil and gas and kept up on maintenance, while Ferrari #2 just put in whatever it could find. Ferrari #2 will outperform all the Honda Civics on the road, but when it comes head-to-head with Ferrari #1, it will lose. Ferrari #1 has better nutrition, or at least as food applies to a car. The same would apply to the human body.

Since I moved back into youth baseball, it is apparent that most players will take the extra swings and ground balls, throw their bullpen, and do whatever the coach asks. They still don't make the progress they expect or hope to make. It is not a work ethic issue. It is a nutrient issue. If you don't believe me, here is a published research study showing how mal/poor nutrition can impact the Central Nervous System (CNS) development. 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0079612308600588

If our CNS is not developing to its maximum capability, why would we improve from the training we are doing? The CNS is fundamental in movement, and proficiency in a skill-based game like baseball and nutrition is fundamental in developing the CNS.

There are also great studies on baseball players in professional baseball and their body compositions. You can find that article here: https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Fulltext/2009/11000/Development_of_a_Baseball_Specific_Battery_of.00001.aspx

In a summary of the article, professional baseball players have high lean body mass. As they progress to higher levels, they see a rise in overall body fat %, but it is also important to note that MLB players still have a higher lean mass than minor league players. We can gather from this article that our athletes must strive to have high body mass with as much lean mass as possible. MLB players run faster, jump with more power, change direction better, and are more physical than the minor league players. But we will discuss that in more depth in a future post.  

So, I bring up that information to give you some jumping-off points to research why nutrition is essential. We need to build high body weight that contains large amounts of lean mass. If we are not putting the correct fuel into our body, we will not develop that aspect in our physical development or our CNS. Nutrition allows us to combine the nervous system (movement) with body composition to produce the most force and speed that we possibly can.  

If you are looking for one specific place to look for nutrition, I cannot recommend enough the ArmCare.Com course MLB Performance and Recovery Habits Course, which will cover many aspects of food. You can find the link to that course here: https://armcare.com/products/2429064

and use the discount code throwfuzz15 to give you 15% off that course. 

Also, if you are looking for just general weight-building nutrition, I recommend the following items:

Muscle Milk Protein: https://amzn.to/3OKJBi7

Athete Cook Book: https://amzn.to/3wli7sW

Nutritional Bar: https://amzn.to/3uFXJSV

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