D3 College Pitching Log

#1

Information:
I am currently a D3 Freshman Pitcher/Outfielder for a college in Iowa. We have been actively doing things for the season since the 3 week of school. I started out 6’ tall 164 lbs, and now weigh 177 lbs (Freshman 15 I guess, but I look healthier than ever).
We have a great lifting program here that focuses on the 3 main lifts: Squat, Bench Press, and Hang Clean. I will post later the weight that I started at and the weight that I currently lift. We lift Monday 6 a.m., Wednesday 4 p.m., and Friday 6 a.m.
In the beginning of the fall we were tested on the 5 components of a good baseball player: Running Speed, Arm Strength, Hitting for Average, Hitting for Power, and Fielding. I had a rotator cuff injury in the spring and started the fall workouts constantly in our athletic training department with a very weak scapula/shoulder area that allowed the whole shoulder blade to completely move out of place (The athletic trainers said they have never seen someones scapula move that far out of place before). I got clocked, the highest I hit was 77, but I consistently hit 74, so I am not by any means a fireballer. I am hoping with the lifting regimen that I am on and my therapy that by the spring I can hit the low 80’s and be consistently hitting 77-79 with my fastball. My curveball right now is at 60-64 mph, and I have a changeup that needs work at 63-65 mph.
I’ve always been in my book an above average baseball player, but coming into a D3 college, I am at average and I have to work my ass off to maintain that level. There are about 40 guys out for the team and the college does have a JV to develop the freshmen on. My speed on the bases is average, my arm strength is average, my hitting for contact and hitting for power is below average (NCAA rules requires the new bats, and right now, nobody is where they want to be with their hitting). I am a good fielder, but this is not saying much since I play in the outfield and I am average with my speed and arm strength which is what you look for in an outfielder (Right or left field since I obviously do not have the running speed of a center fielder).

My goals:
Get my 60-yard dash below 6.9 seconds (I was at 7.23 seconds in September and have not retested since).
To increase my fastball from an average of 74 mph to average at 79 mph, topping out at 81-82 mph.
Increase control of all pitches.
Keep my curveball speed at 60-64 mph, while getting a greater spin and late break on the pitch.
Develop my changeup to hit the same speed as my curve, and look exactly like my 2-seam fastball.
To get my hitting to above average in both contact and power.
To have confidence in my pitching, to be poised at all times, and work fast with my batters.

I will upload a video of my pitching mechanics over Christmas break to be evaluated, if you have any questions, suggestions, or any sort of advice, please post. I take baseball very seriously, as it is my love and my passion.

Edit: I throw 3 times a week, as all the pitchers on the team do. Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, for about 20 minutes, and then we do conditioning (basketball).

I also hit a minimum of 3 times a week with my hitting group, but my way of relaxing is going to the cages and spending an hour in there, and usually that is tee work.

Nutrition:
I do not drink, smoke, drink caffeine, soda, etc. All of that is cut out of my diet. My strength and conditioning coach here at the college really has stressed the importance of taking care of yourself and I am all for it. I drink a minimum of a gallon of water a day and consume 3000-4000 calories a day (I know it is a really broad amount but that is workout and non workout days). I aim for 150 grams of protein a day, but usually only hit 120. I am currently not on a supplement as I cannot buy the ‘cheap stuff’ anymore beings that certain supplements on the shelves are under a NCAA ban, the expensive stuff is just too pricey for me to buy. I never go more than 3 hours without eating (except for when I sleep) to keep my metabolism up.

30-Mar-11
185.6 lbs

11-Aug-11
170.0 lbs

12-Oct-11
187.7 lbs

28-Feb-12
194.3 lbs

28-Aug-12
201.6 lbs

3-Dec-12
194.5 lbs

#2

CSOleson-
you sound very motivated.
Keep it up! :!:
People like you are a motivation to other baseball
players as well.

#3

I think we would all like to see some video…keep active both on the field and on this forum.

#4

So we started into our strength and conditioning sessions the week before fall break (We lifted Friday the 8th and Monday the 11th before fall break). In this we tested how much weight we could do for Hang clean, squat, and bench (these are the three main lifts we do at our school, but do not be deceived, we make sure to follow a well rounded lifting schedule put together by the S&C coaches).

I started my hang clean at 135 lbs max, at the beginning of this week, hang clean max is 161 lbs.
My squat max start at 235, and has since been increased to 266.
My bench press max was increased from 150 to 161.

Keep in mind that we do not actually lift our maxes, so we we started out, I would do about 8 reps for hang clean at 100, 8 reps for bench press at 110, and 8 reps of front squat at 120. I do not have those exact numbers, but they definitely have increased since this Monday I lifted 190x3 max front squat, 145x5 for hang clean, 145x6 for bench, with another workout due on Friday where my back squat is set at 200x8. And these are all maxes for the day.

The reason we lifted today instead of Wednesday is that fall break starts tomorrow, and most people are leaving town. I personally get to leave at noon and make a lovely trek across Nebraska to be back home. The biggest thing about this break is I have to find someone to lift with me on Friday after my 9 hours shift at work, then do conditioning on Saturday morning before I head out to come back to school (leave at 2 p.m.)

One more thing to add to this is that my body weight on 8-Oct-10 was 167 lbs, I weighed in before lifting today(23-Nov-10) at 177 lbs. So I have increased my weight considerably in a short time period.

CardsWin-Thanks, I like to find that other people are as motivated as me for the game, if not find someone more motivated to push me.

Buwhite-I do not believe I can get video for everyone until Christmas break since fall break for me is so short lived. I’ve got a friend back home with a great video camera (HD) and I’ll see if I can convince him to spend an hour with me getting my pitching and hitting (I know this is a pitching site, but hitting will be posted elsewhere for evaluation).

If anybody has questions about the lifting regimen, what lifts we do besides the main 3, or my conditioning in between, feel free to post!

#5

Got back early this morning from Thanksgiving, the drive always is a killer.
Saturday morning I lifted and I really struggled with my squats, and my lifts in general seemed a lot harder. In fact, I was supposed to max out at Back Squats 2x8 and ended up doing 3x3, because by the fourth rep, I could not get up and had to have my dad who was spotting me help. a I don’t know why this was, but I feel as if the altitude difference might have played a factor, though I’m unsure. I am pretty upset about this, as this is the first time I did not hit or exceed the expected number of squats.

Today I am sore from the workouts and I lift early tomorrow morning again with the team, front squats is what we have as the main lift.

On a different note, it was pointed out to me that my left side is considerably stronger than my right side, yet I am right handed. I don’t know why it would be this way.

#6

This week lifting went well for the most part. I increased all my lifts, except my back squat I didn’t hit my max on (I was pretty mad about that, it’s the first time I didn’t hit my max here with the team). I am still trying to figure out why I can front squat almost as much as I can back squat. In fact, I think if need be I could front squat the same amount as my back squat, but on my lifting card my front squat max( 200lbs) is 10 lbs under my back squat max (210lbs).

The thing I am happy about is we keep a weight increase record for all the freshmen, and I’m tied for the most weight increase with one other freshman.

My hang clean I need to work on, because I’m still not doing the lift completely right, after conditioning tomorrow morning I am going to do just the bar with a teammate to help get the form correct.

Next week we test the following on these days:
Monday 5:00 – vertical jump, pro agility, 40 yd dash
Tuesday 5:00 – hang clean, bench press
Thursday 5:00 – squat

We tested all of these initially right before fall break, so I will be able to see how much I have increased and that can give me a benchmark for where I am currently and then how much more I want to increase by the time the season starts aka February.

I was able to fix a flaw in my hitting this week, I was casting my hands (a great demonstration of how casting is done and how to fix the fault can be found on page 116 of the Louisville Slugger Complete Book of Hitting Faults and Fixes). I noticed today that I didn’t have any issues with it, and I was hitting with a senior on the team and he commented on how much it had improved, so I’m excited about that.

My throwing regimen is good, the only thing that worries me is that I have not been on a mound since before October, though we have done flat ground work. I need to start working on my mechanics. I think I will start with towel drills in my dorm room (yes I have enough room to do that). On a side note, I was accepted as an RA for next semester, so I will have to juggle that with baseball, but it gets me out of the school cafeteria.

#7

In your work out how many seconds are your positives and negatives reps what about your TUL (time under load) for each exercise?

#8

UnDiscovered, what exactly do you mean by that? I’m not aware of a lot of terminology used while lifting. What is the difference between a positive and negative rep? I’m assuming TUL is the total time I do each exercise?

#9

On a chest press a positive rep would be when your pushing out and a negative rep would be when your coming back. You are correct about TUL.
Do you guys not time those?

#10

[quote=“TheUnDiscovered”]On a chest press a positive rep would be when your pushing out and a negative rep would be when your coming back. You are correct about TUL.
Do you guys not time those?[/quote]
I’ve never timed those no…
We don’t have time to time those. We get in during the mornings, lift with 40 other guys, and that is assuming just the baseball team is in the room. By the time I get out of lifting I barely have enough time to hit the cafeteria and lift. I am working on being more explosive with my weight sets as I come up from lets say a squat. I’m also still struggling with the hang clean form.

This week we have the different schedule so I’m lucky enough to sleep in an hour and a half later than normal. I will update once I get the results, and possibly the information of how much I have increased vertical jump, pro agility, 40 yd dash, hang clean, bench, and squat.

#11

I PR’ed on both Pro Agility and 40 yd dash, but I’m unsure by how much. I did not for my vertical, which ended up .4" less than previous. I will update the official stuff later.

Today I got two new vitamins in. One is Greens+ Original Powder, which tastes like crap but is supposed to be great. The other is ZMA, which I just took. I will let you know if I start feeling a difference.

#12

Here are my statistics from 13-Oct until 9-Dec-10:
Original:
Body Weight 167 lbs
Vertical Jump 28.4"
10 yard dash 1.86 s
40 yard dash 5.30 s
Change of Direction/Pro agility 4.55 s
Hang Clean 125 lbs
Squat 190 lbs
Bench 150 lbs

Current:
Body Weight 174 lbs
Vertical Jump 28.2"
10 yard dash 1.84 s
40 yard dash 5.30 s
Change of Direction/Pro agility 4.55 s
Hang Clean 180 lbs
Squat 315 lbs
Bench 180 lbs

This past week was our last week of lifting as a team, this week is finals, and we will continue lifting and training on our own until the end of Christmas break. I will see what our S&C coach tells us that we need to do over break. I really need to work on core strength, my scapula stability, and my speed (sprints).

My hitting is going well, same with my throwing. I’ll be back home in less than a week and hopefully, there will be video in less than a week as well.

The Greens+ tastes like crap, but I can feel the energy from taking the stuff. As for the ZMA, it puts me to sleep well enough and I actually remember my dreams (before I never remembered them).

#13

Just my opinion, but i think you should and could be a lot faster and have a much better vertical. It could help you on the mound gain some velocity, and just be quicker and faster all around. What do you do to increase your 40 and your vertical?

#14

I honestly think my 40 and vertical could be faster too. My issue is I am flatfooted, and I run on my heels half of the time.

In the mornings before lifting we do drills for sprinting, pro agility, and also box jumps for vertical. However, I do not really know how to increase my vertical and 40 and I need to do so, especially to hit my goal for my 60 yard dash in the spring (60 yd < 6.9 seconds) and they both would help me tremendously if I could increase them a lot more.

#15

What i do is dedicate a whole workout day to plyo’s and speed training. Here are most of the exercises i do. Box jumps, med ball vertical leaps, tuck jumps, long jumps, diagonal leaps, side-to-sides over 20in box, split jumps, single leg leaps, and step ups. The first set is done with a 20lb weighted vest, and the second is done with just bodyweight on all the exercises. Step-ups are done with dumbells, and the med ball vert leaps are of course done with a med ball.
After that i do some cone and ladder work for footwork and agility. If you can, 3 sets of 30yd sprints with a power sled is what really helped me increase my 40 from 4.9 to 4.7 in just a few months. Of course i am younger though, 15, and gains come harder as you get older. Although if you have never done any work like this, then it could jump very quickly. Don’t think you have to follow this and do everything i do. Try to learn as much as you can and make a workout that fits what you can do. And don’t forget about the heavy lifting you do in the weight room, just add some of this stuff to it. Hope this helps.

#16

[quote=“beaver26”]What i do is dedicate a whole workout day to plyo’s and speed training. Here are most of the exercises i do. Box jumps, med ball vertical leaps, tuck jumps, long jumps, diagonal leaps, side-to-sides over 20in box, split jumps, single leg leaps, and step ups. The first set is done with a 20lb weighted vest, and the second is done with just bodyweight on all the exercises. Step-ups are done with dumbells, and the med ball vert leaps are of course done with a med ball.
After that i do some cone and ladder work for footwork and agility. If you can, 3 sets of 30yd sprints with a power sled is what really helped me increase my 40 from 4.9 to 4.7 in just a few months. Of course i am younger though, 15, and gains come harder as you get older. Although if you have never done any work like this, then it could jump very quickly. Don’t think you have to follow this and do everything i do. Try to learn as much as you can and make a workout that fits what you can do. And don’t forget about the heavy lifting you do in the weight room, just add some of this stuff to it. Hope this helps.[/quote]
Yes, this does help. My speed has always been something I’ve struggled with. My vertical is not great, nor is it terrible. I’d like to to get my 40 under 5 to begin with and my vertical about 30" at least by the time I come back in January (I’ll be back on campus the 12th, and I leave this Friday).

As for my workouts over the break, I picked up my lifting sheet. Week 1 is this week, and the weight increases all the way until week 5.

Day 1:
Warmup:
Includes jogging, dynamics, torso, plyos, and conditioning.

Jump Squat:
80x3, 85x3, 90x3, 90x3, 90x3

BB Reverse Lunge:
110x5, 120x5, 125x5, 125x5

Pullups:
4 setsx8-12

DB step-up:
45x5, 50x5, 50x5

DB Row:
55x5, 60x5, 60x5

Day 2:
Warmup:
Includes jogging, dynamics, torso, plyos, and conditioning.

Hang Clean:
110x3, 125x3, 145x3, 145x3, 145x3

Bench Press:
110x4, 125x4, 135x4, 135x4, 135x4

RDL:
140x5, 150x5, 160x5, 160x5

Alt DB Military Press:
35x5, 40x5, 40x5

Back Extension + Wt:
3 sets x10-15

Day 3:
Warmup:
Includes jogging, dynamics, torso, plyos, and conditioning.

SL Plyo Step-Up:
5 sets x3

Back Squat:
180x4, 210x4, 225x4, 225x4, 225x4

Chin Ups:
4sets x8-12

BB Military Press:
75x5, 80x5, 80x5

SB Leg Curl:
3sets x10-15

Back home I have a weighted vest and I plan on running with it. I will start the first week getting accustomed to running at the higher elevation. Sprints 3 days a week, distance 1 day a week. I am also planning on using a day to swim as well. It is good rehab/prehab for my shoulder. It works the rotator without putting any stress on it.

Here is my question that I posed about my nutrition. Back home it is going to be harder for me to hit my nutritional values since we don’t eat as much. I’ll right away start on a protein shake after workouts, which I haven’t done all fall.
http://www.letstalkpitching.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=14505

Over Christmas break pitchers will throw long toss and flat-grounds, 3-4 days a week according to my schedule. I was told specifically not to work on a mound. I’m going to try and stay off of one, but I do need video of my mechanics so that way it can be evaluated by you guys.

I’ll also be hitting 2 times a week at least with some drills for outfield/infield.

#17

Hey is my plan for my lifting/conditioning schedule each week, my pitching schedule, and my hitting schedule. Please let me know what you think.

Sunday-Long Toss 1

Monday-Day 1 Lifting, Hitting 1

Tuesday-Day 2 Lifting, Flat Ground 1

Wednesday-Swimming, Hitting 2

Thursday-Day 3 Lifting, Long Toss 2

Friday-Conditioning day 60 yard sprints and Pro agility, Flat Ground 2**, Hitting 3*

Saturday-5 mile run, Hitting 4**

*Denotes that workout starts week 3
**Denotes that workout starts week 5
^Lifting weight increases each week
^^Workouts time will increase each week for throwing and hitting

#18

I finished finals at 10 a.m. this morning, been packing up some stuff, getting ready for the drive home. I did my first two lifts mon and tues, but I had nobody to lift with today, so I will be doing lift day #3 on Saturday. I’ve got a nice 12 hour drive ahead of me, everything is packed. Breakfast then hitting the road. Also, I have a slight cough and cold. I’m not happy about that.

#19

So today I was on the mound for the first time since early October. I had my dad use his HD camera to take pictures of my pitching but he couldn’t figure how to use the video. I’m currently trying to get them compiled into animated GIF’s in order for you guys to see what my motion is like, but I’d also prefer to see some video. We’ll get that later.

First off, I noticed 2 things that are off, and maybe you guys have some ideas on how to fix it. My first issue is the landing. I land with my toe pointing somewhere between 3rd and home, but never pointing straight home. I’m not sure what the easiest way to do this is, but it is something that definitely needs to be taken care of. Also, on that foot landing, I land on my heel, not my toe, and I spin on my heel. Any ideas how to fix that?

Also, when I throw and I hit the “T” position, I am not level with the ground, I am in fact at a 45 degree angle with the ground with my head leaning towards the glove side/first base side (remember I’m an RHP). This is something that I have had issues with in the past and I’ve never had anybody tell me what to do about it.

#20

So lifting here has been going pretty well with one exception. At the bottom of my back squats I get pain in my left pelvic area, and during conditioning today it didn’t bother me but was sore. I am guessing that since I’m stronger on my left side (very odd for an RHP) than I was overcompensating during my squats and I strained the muscle. I’ve strained it in that area before and it feels like the same issue. So I’ve got a week until my next set of squats, I’ll be hydrating a lot and stretching the area.