It Gets Late, Early In The Offseason
The other morning I woke up to take my son to daycare, and my windshield was frosted. Football season is in full swing. There are pumpkins everywhere, and I can’t wait for some thanksgiving food.
More importantly, the World Series is just finished. So what do you mean it’s getting late in the offseason? It has barely begun. Well, that’s where you’re wrong.
Let’s start by doing some simple math. To make it easy, we will begin with the first whole week the Lab is open and taking assessments, December 6th. With the estimated start of High School practices being March 28th, that gives pitchers 16 weeks. So let’s break down how we would break out the phases of training:
Week 1; Assessment
Week 2-6; On-Ramping
Week 6-11; Velocity (pulldown based)
Week 12-13; Mound Blending
Week 14-16; Mound Development (Pitch Design and Live ABs)
Unfortunately, for this offseason, the Lab won’t be open for athletes to start any sooner. There would be another week or two of Mound Blending and a week of Mound Development in an ideal world. However, this would have a pitcher going into day 1 of high school practice ready to pitch and dominate while others try to get their arm back in shape. Talk not only impressing your coach, but your game will be on a completely different level compared to your peers.
Now let’s say you wanted to wait until the new year to start; that gives us 12 weeks. Here is how that would break down:
Week 1; Assessment
Week 2-6; On-Ramping
Week 7-11; Velocity (pulldown base with light bullpen work)
Week 12; Mound Blend
OR
Week 1; Assessment
Week 2-6; On-Ramping (mound based)
Week 7-10; Velocity (mound based)
Week 11-12; Mound Development
As you can see, the assessment and on-ramp are the mainstays. That takes a minimum of 6 weeks and is a must. No way around it. To take part in a velocity phase or any high intent mound work (including pitch design), one needs a baseline of throwing fitness. That is one of the points made in this article by Driveline, detailing ways velocity training can go wrong. This is the only way to do it. So as it gets later in the offseason, we have to cut out from the velocity phase or the mound development phase. We then focus on the athlete’s essential needs (spoiler: most high school pitchers could use more velo).
When we get into February, we cut out the velocity phase completely. There is only time to get assessed and on-ramped before getting into Mound Development time at this point in the offseason. Another route for the athlete starting in February is to have a short velocity phase instead of mound development. This could have the athlete going into high school practices with increased velocity but not quite ready to take the mound in a game. There is usually a couple of weeks of high school practices before games, so there is time to get adjusted back to the mound but not much.
To sum things up, training velocity isn’t as easy as flipping a switch. Getting a baseline of throwing fitness and making movement changes take time, which makes each training day available valuable.
Don’t Wait, Prepare to Dominate
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