Centerfield's quest for Division I and 90mph

[centerfield2150]

Well, I have finally decided to start a log and keep it posted online. Some various people have been curious as to what I've been up to for workouts and preparation for next season and I find logs to be good motivators.

I completed my sophmore season among the JV ranks which was a little disappointing. Since then I've definately improved my game in only two months time.

I haven't established a definite velocity I'm at, but my catchers tell me I'm cruising in the low 80's. I actually threw at a showcase a week ago, but they aren't announcing anyone's velocity. Either way, I see it as completely reachable goal to try and reach mid to upper 80's for my junior season. In reality that's only one mph per months of my off season.

I'm still developing and growing so I feel that also adds to where I can be out down the road. I still cannot grow any sort of facial hair, and shave every two weeks or so.

I'm currently 6'1" 162lbs. I've added over 5 pounds and improved my physique in short time. I'd like to reach at least 175lbs for next season. I feel size alone could contribute to more velocity.

My life essentially involves baseball and preparing for it, and not that much else, but I'm enjoying every minute of it. That being said I will be incorporating everything possible into my off season to put me in peak condition to play.
When I'm not doing something to physically prepare myself I'm always trying to learn more and further educate myself. I feel like the more I know the better my chances are to succeed.

I'm currently taking in right around 4000 calories a day, and I have been able to gain some weight that has been out of my grasp for a long time.

My strength and conditioning PR's are the following:
(Keep in mind these PR's are at 155 to about 160lbs, it's about percentage in relation to weight more than actual weight lifted)

Squat: 235x 3
Deadlift: 300x 1, 270x 3 (2x's BW when I pulled the single)
Power Clean: 150x 3 165x 1
Pullups: 8 Bodyweight
Broad Jump: 8'5"
Vertical Jump: 25"
Box Jump: 35"
60 Yard Dash: 7.45 seconds

All these marks are meant to be destroyed on a regular basis, so I'm pretty pumped. Breaking records (even your own) is extremely encouraging to keep working hard and keep progressing.

I also understand weight room NUMBERS mean little to actual performance, but I'm light and the best way to add good size is lifting. I've also been able to better utilize my body and be more explosive.

Feel free to comment, ask questions, share own experiences etc, I'll be posting in my log at least 4 times a week hopefully if not more.

I've put in around 6 solid weeks of lifting thus far.

[centerfield2150]

Today was dynamic lower body day;
I cut out volume and some auxileries as I'm scheduled to pitch tomorrow;
Workout went well and I felt strong throughout;

DE Deadlift (focus on bar speed) 4x6: 135, 155, 160, 165
Lunge (Barbell) 3x10: 65, 80, 95
SLRDL 3x10: 35, 45, 50

That shouldn't leave me sore for tomorrow, but it still felt good to get work in and the main body of the workout completed.

I threw a bullpen earlier today and my catcher told me it's the hardest he's ever seen me throw. I'm extremely pumped to see the mound tomorrow.
----

Oh and on a side note I had tried out for a showcase through my summer league. College coaches and a few pro scouts selected players to be placed on teams for some showcase games in a couple weeks.
I was selected, although I have not been told if it will be for position or pitching. (Possibly both) I'm hoping that this will be an opportunity to get talk with some college coaches.

[centerfield2150]

Today was a game day (3 games this week) so I was in need of modifications to my program to be 100% to play.
I will probably do my max effort lower body friday and then do max effort and repetition upperbody for saturday. The week after I'll be taking it easier as I've got some showcase games at the end of next week and I consider them top priority for now. Next week will probably be a max effort lower and a full body day. I really want to finish off my squat cycle and that would allow me to do so.

Anyways I was scheduled to start our game today. We had a great start (Away team) putting up 4 runs on the board in the top of the first. I came out for the bottom of the inning with everything feeling great. All my pitches working, great velocity, and the ump was calling especially low strikes regularly. Threw my warm up pitches and then a huge bolt of lightning and the game was called.

So now I have to make sure I'm ready to throw some innings tomorrow.

Stats for today:
Offense:
0-0 1BB

[centerfield2150]

Had a game today against our local rival. I got the starting job again today.
All my pitches felt solid but the fastball didn't feel quite up to par after preparing to start yesterday. It took me a while to get comfortable on the mound (away today) as it was significantly flatter than most.
The team we faced today is the best hitting team we have faced this summer and the scoreboard reflected it (just not while I was on the mound).

First inning started off well weak grounder back to me by the leadoff man. The 2 hitter is a highly touted recruit that has apparently committed to ECU during his junior season (08 grad) and was invited to the final tryouts for the USA team. I'm not from around here so I don't know players that well and and find that as an advantage as the guys that weren't even pitching feared this kid. I was told pitch around him. (I'm not huge on this as a walk is 100% success for the hitter, if he hits it even the best he can do is 50% success.)
Through a 1-1 curveball to him, he hits a week choper down 3rd baseline. Everyone just kinda stands there and he returns to the batters box as it is obviously foul. Lo and behold the umpire is standing there signaling fair ball.
I lost focus for one batter to many. I through a first pitch changeup to the next hitter, low yet over the middle and he put it over the 340 sign in rightfield power alley.
Strikeout, groundout inning over.
2nd inning was a couple cheap hits an unearned run, and 2 K's.
3rd inning was short, 1 error, although I got the 2 hitter to hit a lazy pop up, and the 3 hitter to hit a lazy chopper.

Came off the field with the score 1-3. And then told we were bringing in a senior to pitch. I was dissappointed to because I had 6,7,8 coming up and well I mean I wanted the next inning. We ended up getting ten runned in the 6th inning with a final score of 2-12.

My line for the game.
Offense:
0-1 fly out to right.
Pitching:
The Loss, 3 IP, 2 ER, 3K, 0BB.

So far I believe I've thrown 18 innings this summer and only surrendered 2 walks and 1 HBP.

What I take away from this game is to think about what the desired result of every pitch I throw is before I throw it. When I get frustrated I get into a mode where I'm ready to throw as soon as the catcher gives me the ball. That's foolish and will be punished by good hitters.
On the upside I've been throwing a ton of strikes, almost to consistent where guys are ready to hit the first pitch they see. Need to throw more first pitch curveballs. First pitch changeup is still hittable cause they haven't seen what a fastball looks like and aren't fooled.
They had me well scouted after I threw 10 innings against them in the spring.

[kballs08]

hey CF what kind of leauge are you playing in?

[centerfield2150]

It's a "scholastic" league. I believe 36 high schools in the area are in it. It's basically spring baseball continued, just can't have regular season head coaches. I'm in the varsity division (08 and 09 grads).

Most of the teams we play start almost purely 08 grads. We had a lot of guys elect not to play summer baseball or play at different places so we are extremely thin this summer. We've only had 10 guys most games and 4 are 2010 grads.

[centerfield2150]

Today I lifted Max Effort Lower Body.
I actually woke up tired and wasn't feeling to great, but everything went great.

ME Squat (Triple) (#xReps): 95x10, 135x5, 155x3, 185x3, 205x1, 240x3 PR!, and then destroyed that with 250x3 PR!.
Step Up (3x8) 35# Dumbells, 35#, and 45#.
Glute Ham Raise (Natural) (3x8) BW with a slight push off the ground.

Grip Superset:
Iso metric hold 100#: 1 minute overhand then wrist roller for 1 minute, then underhand hold for 1 minute and underhand wrist roller for 1 more minute.

I destroyed my squat PR of 230x3, I nailed 250x3 today. The last two reps at 250 were grinders but were great to complete and I felt like I had another rep in me. I have my partner give a command when I hit parallel (crease of the hip in line with top of the knee) and he told me both of my last two reps I drifted a few inches deeper after the command so they were both well below parallel.

I've got one more max effort Squat day in my current cycle.
I'm frustrated with how I should set up the end of this cycle.
4 games, and another saturday. Then I'm traveling and won't have access to equipment.

My summer ball ends this coming week and I think my traveling will be a good break for my arm and can be applied as a deloading week as well.

[centerfield2150]

Well I'm still unsure how to setup my lifting this week if at all.
I have 5 games in 6 days. So basically I don't see any opening and don't want to be sore as I will be pitching in probably 3 games.

My goal is to finish my squat cycle in the next 9 days and then I'll be gone so I'll take a break from lifting and throwing. After that it will be non-stop training until February 11th I believe.

I didn't do anything specifically for baseball today. I did go on an 8-10 mile mountain bike/trail ride type things. Lots of hills and hard intervals. If anything it's a lot of fun. And actually I wake up feeling good the next day after those for some reason. Not sore at all, heck I wake up sore even if I didn't do anything usually.

[lbarber4]

[centerfield2150]

Understood, and point taken lbarber.

I shouldn't say I've planned until February 11. It is the first day of actual sanctioned baseball. I know there's a lot that can occur, remaining injury free is going to be huge.

[centerfield2150]

Another frustrating day at the yard. Our 4th extra inning lost in only 10 games. I think our 5th 1 run loss, and we lost 2 of the extra inning games by more than 1.
As a team the lack of motivation is frustrating and at times pitiful. Our guys preparing football are no longer interested in baseball. Half the team would rather be at the pool or a party than at the game. Only a select few of us are really into the game and want to perform at all time. 2 Guys have laid out for baseballs this year, myself and another both have made a few diving plays. It's amazing to watch guys stand there and watch balls roll by or drop in front. It's not a lack of ability really, it's desire and motivation.

I played rightfield the entire game and will be starting our resumed game tomorrow.

Rough day at the dish, the ump loved that low and the corners and the pitcher did a good job of hitting his spots. I took a couple good pitches and never got in a rhythm.

Had a single, sac fly, and 3K's. I generally strike out 5 times in a 20+ game season. The starter through all of 80 mph and the reliever fastball broke more than my curveball it was so slow. My final stikeout the pitch could have not been better thrown though. He was in consistent and I worked a full count. I crowded the plate to force him to throw me something or break down and bounce one as many kids will do. He through it all of one inch of my hip, and I couldn't touch it.

I need to get comfortable at the plate, I'm starting to commit myself to one approach. I consider myself a very versatile hitter and have been changing my style way to much this summer.
For a while I took the Barry Bonds approach and swung only if it was exactly what I wanted until I had two strikes, taking the first pitch almost always. I walked a ton, 11 times in my first 7 games. My average was pitiful though.
I take the aggressive method and I find myself with weak contact because I haven't gotten my timing registered, or I go for a so-so pitch.

Going between these approaches hasn't given me any sense of consistency. And my number show it. I should be one of our power guys, so walking so much is extremely frustrating. When I was just walking we were leaving tons of guys on base, for as much as I've been on I haven't scored hardly any. I've leadoff with a walk, stole both second and third. And didn't score.

My rant/vent. 3 more games, and a showcase game. We'll see what happens and I plan to finish the year out strong.

[centerfield2150]

I got the start today. It was a frustrating outcome, but overall one of the best games I've pitched all season.

My line:
5IP 7K 0BB 2ER 5R

Offense:
0-1, 2BB

I debut my slider in a game today, and it was well worth it. My curve is a 12-6 moderate speed curve. However, I give up cheap hits off of it. The slider produced frozen hitters and swing and misses. And because I use two different grips I'm comfortable throwing the pitches back to back. It fools a hitter so much to recognize breaking ball, yet have two entirely different movements and speeds. I don't think most high school hitters are trained well enough to determine slider vs curve on a regular basis, especially if you've got some pop on the fastball.

I pounded the heck out of the strikezone today, only working 2 full counts and nothing worse than 1 2-0 count. All 4 pitches were working. I couldn't be more happy with my personal performance. My catcher told me the pop on my fastball was excellent, and I managed to throw the ball by several kids, although many were setup with good offspeed.

We committed 7 errors while I was on the mound.
This included a 3 run 5th inning in which we committed 5 errors. 2 balls got out of the infield during the inning.
The low point was achieved with the go ahead run on second base and I had a count of 0-2 on the hitter with 2 out. The runner got half way between 2nd and 3rd so I spun and picked off. We drop the ball in the run down and he advances safely to third. A weak grounder of a changeup to the 3rd baseman and they take the lead.

I made an error myself as well. Didn't achieve a good throwing angle on a bunt and hit the runner in the arm.

Overall though I'm pumped about my performance. I've walked 2 hitter in well over 20 innings this summer and over a strikeout per inning. I think I'll be called on to throw this thursday. But, if this is my last outting of the year, I am extremely pumped where I'm headed in the future.

Oh and I started a new personal thing, some may call it lame or dumb but it gets me pumped and focused. I write an FL on the back of the mound, telling myself "fearless" I do this because in the past I find myself ahead in the count but to timid and never making that clutch pitch for the big out. Confidence in my own game is what it's all about for me.