To The Dream

#1

Hello all, I am a freshman and I pitch for my school and travel team (Rawlings Tigers). All freshman at my school are automatically on JV. The season is over and I finished with 1.8ish ERA. I have always been pretty successful but I am the “junk” guy. I throw high 60’s to low 70’s which I know is slow especially compared to the pitchers that I am going to face this summer with my team; I get by with my curveball. I guess my arm slot gives me natural movement because my fastball also moves an inch or two. Also, I am left handed which helps me a great deal. However, as I get older I know that kids will no longer be afraid of the curve and I know it isnt going to daze many kids I am going to face this summer.

I always do what I can to get better at baseball. With my summer team, I get unlimited access to a batting cage facility; I go every other day and would go more often if my parents would take me. I am really working on getting my license because of this.

I haven’t really worked out yet and I am going to go really hard at that this summer. I am fit and all but I never really tried to gain muscle mass. However this summer, it will be different. I bought these things called Perfect Pushups and they are things that wiggle to make pushups a lot harder (they rotate with your wrists and they are above ground so when you go down your wrist shakes which moves the thing). I know you guys are going to tell me not to work out my arms but I am not going to take protein powder so I won’t get jacked or anything; I also want to develop some power in my swing.

I will always be open to any comments or suggestions so please ask.

Height: 5’ 9
Weight: 125
Average Speed: 68-73
Left-Handed

#2

Regarding your section on you lifting this summer. Don’t be afraid to go hard on upperbody, Kris Benson worked only on upperbody following his Junior (I believe) of college at Clemson and gained 10 mph on his fastball. Pushups are helpful to a pitcher because they strengthen your scapular muscles. You gain gain weight without gaining huge muscles, when I was in the Army my weight at the beginning of basic training was 153 lbs (this was after my senior year of HS where I topped out at 78 mph) and by the time I graduated basic training I weighted 180 lbs but remained the same size, my muscles simply got denser. 2 months after returning home from basic training I threw at a showcase for the college I was attending, I topped out at 85 without hardly throwing. I also take protein powder now and don’t gain any muscle mass, protein speeds up your muscle recovery.

Have you ever thought of starting a weighted baseball training program? I’ve seen guys make huge jumps velocity-wise doing them

#3

Thanks so much BOSBlueJays31 for your advice regarding working out my upper body. You got rid of my doubt about working that section of my body out. I have never pitched with weighted balls but I have a job for this summer which will give me some spending money so I will probably pick some up.

I didn’t throw today but I will probably throw tomorrow. I always like to give a day off after working a muscle out to give it time to recover. So tonight, I am going to work my forearms out and then do some ab work.

#4

nUmber17…
Welcome to the board. Real quick about the weighted balls. You mentioned you have not pitched with weighted balls, you do not want to pitch with them. Dont throw them off a mound or play long toss with them. You want to throw them, throw them hard, into a fence or net is best.
You would be well advised to find a program…Tuff Cuff has a program in the back and Kyleb on this board has a very good weighted ball program through his site. You want to work both overweight (6 oz) and underweight (4 oz) balls. You would also want to make sure youve been throwing on a regular basis and your arm is in shape before picking up the weighted balls.
Weighted baseballs can be effective but they are (in my opinion) a nice addition to a program that consists of throwing, lifting and speed/agility work.
Weighted balls can carry an increased risk of injury (inparticular the lighter balls), but, like most things this is because guys just pick them and try to use them however. Same as someone trying olympic lifts having never lifted before and with terrible technique. Do some research and find a good weighted ball program before you start using them.

#5

Sorry for not posting for a couple of days, I was on a school trip so I didn’t work out or throw anything for the last couple of days. However I feel freshened up so I am going to work tonight.

Thanks fearsomefour, I probably would have thrown them off the mound without your comment. I believe Tuff Cuff is a great program but I do not have it yet and I will probably buy it in a month or two after I work up enough money from working.

I got back from the trip yesterday morning and surprisingly I saw my name on the varsity dress list for their last game. This is kind of a complicated situation that doesn’t make a lot of sense so they lost in the district finals. But there was a game that got rained out scheduled at Busch Stadium against our biggest rival. Busch Stadium has this program that if a school sells around 500 tickets, they get to play there. It was originally scheduled for a couple of weeks back but it got rained out so they let us play yesterday. We were put as the away team due to a coin toss. And in the bottom of the sixth, had some sort of muscle cramp and had to leave the game. So with 2 outs in the bottom of the 6th, they put me in (I normally play right field when I don’t pitch). And luckily enough, the next batter hit a pop fly directly to me. It was really easy and I caught it and that was the end of the inning. Of my entire baseball career, that probably was the coolest experience I had ever been exposed to. We lost so we didn’t play the bottom of the 7th so I didn’t go back in; I also didn’t bat.

So tonight, I am going to a resistance exercise for my rotator cuff with a band. Then I am going to do some pushups and then a lot of ab work.

This is the resistance workout that I was talking about earlier. I have like a door thing that lets me put the band in the door jam.

#6

I am going to throw tomorrow also. I will tell you guys how I do. I will see if I can get someone to record me.

#7

That’s a pretty cool memory and experience.

#8

Ok I have been lazy lately and didn’t post for awhile. But I haven’t stopped working out and pitching. My travel team started three weeks ago and since then I have had practices Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with tournaments on the weekends. Two weeks ago was supposed to be our first tournament but it got rained out and we only played one game; I didn’t pitch but I went 1-3 with a double. Last weekend, we played in another tournament and went 2-0-1 in pool play. The last game I pitched and threw a complete game allowing 2 runs, striking out 7. It was my first ever complete game and it was against a pretty good team, the Rawlings Prospects. I was pretty ecstatic because I went all the way in my first start for my new team. I was able to throw my curveball for strikes often and my fastball had pretty good velocity. We had to win that game to win our pool and the game made us the number 2 seed in the whole tournament. Of course there was a large front predicted to come in so they canceled the whole tournament. But it barely rained at all…

I have another tournament that starts tomorrow and I play at 3:45. I don’t know yet if I am going to pitch but I am not looking forward to pitching this weekend. We play twice at a college named Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and their infield is turf, including the mound. And they aren’t letting us use metal cleats and I don’t have any rubber cleats or turf shoes so I am going to have to use tennis shoes.

I am going to do some ab work tonight and lay off the weights because of the game tomorrow.