Brad Edmondson

A week before the 2024 United Shore Professional Baseball League Season began, Andrew Huffman, an RHP for the Utica Unicorns, signed a professional contract with the Minnesota Twins, making him the 52nd player in USPBL history to join an Major League Baseball (MLB) organization. Huffman, a graduate student from SUNY Brockport, was named the 2023 USPBL Pitcher of the Year, leveraging his impressive season to elevate his status as a potential prospect for 2024. Upon hearing the news of Huffman’s signing, I reached out to Shane McCatty, the current Director of Baseball Operations for the USPBL, to learn more about his journey. Shane, who served as the USPBL pitching coordinator from 2018 to 2021, has been instrumental in integrating the DVS Methodology into pitchers across the league. Huffman's rise as a pitching prospect mirrors the path of many pitchers who diligently work on their areas for improvement and are committed to making necessary changes. When Huffman first arrived at the USPBL, his command and results were inconsistent. However, with his strong physique and promising rising fastball, he was identified as a potential prospect. Early in his training, Huffman’s inconsistency was traced to his throwing mechanics, specifically his arm action. His throwing arm would rotate into position before his pelvis, leading to larger margins of error at release. After six weeks of focused training and adjustments to his timing, Huffman began to see significant progress by July. His transformation was evident in his performance: May through June: 10.3 IP, 8 ER, 24 K, 8 BB, 11 H, 6.99 ERA July through August: 35.2 IP, 6 ER, 43 K, 18 BB, 15 H, 1.53 ERA Jim Essian, manager of the Utica Unicorns, commented on the decision to make Huffman a starter: "His confidence grew. His off-speed pitches started to land in the zone more consistently, hitters continued to chase his fastball, and he became a prospect for us. We wanted to get him more innings to give him more exposure and allow him to get out of here." The process of developing a pitcher involves teaching and time commitment, helping to build a "confidence loop." Consistent visual feedback enables pitchers to trust their improvements and see the ball’s trajectory more optimally. This growing confidence in their pitching skills during catch play, bullpens, and games propels their success to a higher level. Congratulations to Andrew Huffman, his family, and the entire USPBL for creating another remarkable story to share!

36

5 Comments

Tomorrow at 7:30 pm, there will be a Land O' Lakes Metro Division Baseball game between the Racine Kiwanis Baseball [0-2] Milwaukee Heavy Hitters [1-1]! For the first time since July 26, 2023, I will be PA announcing baseball at Horlick Field for the Racine Kiwanis. This will begin season 2. #announcing #career #landolakesbaseball Milwaukee Heavy Hitters: • Entering Horlick Field, the Heavy Hitters are 1-0 up to this point. On May 18, Milwaukee defeated the Brookfield Blue Sox narrowly on home soil. As a whole, the Heavy Hitters mustered up 6 runs in 11 hits. Brookfield accumulated 5 runs on 8 hits. • Second Baseman, Max Stocco, was Milwaukee's most valuable batter during May 18th's contest. He recorded 4 at bats, a run, and 2 crucial hits, one leading to an RBI. Additionally, Outfielders Madison Santos and Miguel Baez recorded a run each, 2 hits, and 2 RBIs. • Needless to say, Milwaukee is still great. In Land O Lakes, the Heavy Hitters finished 12-6 overall, with a playoff win against the Racine Kiwanis. In the Rock Baseball League, Milwaukee finished 15-1 as the #1 seed. Accolades surround the incredible quality of play. They'll be a treat to watch. However, a certain bird seeks revenge. Racine Kiwanis • After having a developmental year with new players affecting regular season stats, Racine managed to win two playoff games in Summer 2023. On August 6, 2023, the Kiwanis defeated Merton Amvets 10-0 and Hartland Oilers 10-6. • In wake of Racine's fall to Sussex 14-3 on August 12, 2023, this team proved that they could win playoff games. • As the Summer 2024 campaign begins, Racine sits at 0-2 on the season. Losses to the Brookfield Bulldogs and Waterford Rivermen have been recorded. • With a new roster again, time will tell how much Racine can grow. The Kiwanis became a late playoff powerhouse last year after experience. Hopefully, Summer 2024 will bring the same heatwaves. A win tomorrow night over the decorated Milwaukee Heavy Hitters would offer an early win and sweet revenge. Who will win this Land O Lakes Metro Division matchup? Will Milwakuee continue to rack up the heavy hits, or will Racine swoop in and steal the victory on home soil? Come to Horlick Field and find out! Admission is free. Concessions and a 50/50 Raffle will be on site.

5

Calling all parents of athletes, coaches, athletic directors, and club programs. You are missing the most important ingredient in developing your kids. Let’s start giving them the tools for success. Message me if you want to try Athletic Mindset where we measure how an athletes thinks while practicing and competing in sports.

11

5 Comments

94% of Hall of Fame Pitchers took their hands over the head in the traditional windup, a style we rarely see across baseball today. This style can help save some current high-velocity pitchers, but only some pitchers will venture outside their comfort zone to understand it and, most importantly, attempt it. Why? This post strongly advocates for the Traditional Windup, particularly the 'Old School Windup,' a technique that helps naturally recruit the pitcher's body to throw a baseball. This technique enables the pitcher to throw a baseball with a rhythmic cadence of movements that can tolerate the increased torque of high velocity over a more considerable accumulation of innings. That's a pitcher's overall goal in 2024. Throw hard, reach a higher level, and be rewarded. Therefore, understand the "Windup" to help you. We call it "Windup" for a reason. Pitchers traditionally learned to wind up and throw from higher, sloped mounds starting at a young age. This practice developed a consistent movement pattern, optimizing ground reaction forces, momentum, and body mass alignment, allowing for efficient transfer of upper body mass over the center of mass with each pitch. This sequence helps both transfer higher force into each throw and sustain it over a series of pitches and seasons. How beneficial! I provided the video to illustrate the crucial steps the pitcher can make to incorporate the critical movements of the windup into their delivery. On average, I throw much harder from the video on the right (old school) than from the video on the left. But it all starts with shifting the weight backward to go forward with a properly aligned back foot that helps propel the lead leg into a knee lift. Throwing through this windup helps recruit and train the muscles and proprioception needed to sustain high-velocity pitches. You don't need to destroy your arm by throwing a weighted ball into a wall or kill yourself in the weight room to reach some arbitrary benchmark to throw harder. Pitchers are stronger than ever but break down faster because the torque and shear forces on the elbow and shoulder aren't distributed properly. We want torque, but it has to be distributed appropriately for sustained function. Most pitchers leave some potential velocity on the table because their delivery sequence is poorly executed. Because of this, they have to make up for it in strength and higher velocity strategies that don't help sustain the function of the elbow or shoulder. This scenario is the reality in 2024. Very few people show the "why". Show is better than tell. Before I get too old, I will show you because there is a lack of modern-day examples. Don't knock it, until you try it.  #windup #oldschool #SaveTheArms

207

59 Comments

This article sheds light on the stark reality of adults exploiting players and their parents to capitalize on their amateur success. The focus is to offer the opportunity to play in college or professional baseball while perpetuating a culture of fear of missing out if you don't participate. The revenues will continue to be funded by the mass herd of youth players participating in multiple events, all for a ranking and profile to platform you to the next event. What a cycle. Now, players can or have signed away their NIL rights for this organization to continue to scale while offering more tournaments and showcases all year round to a younger and younger player demographic. Renowned MLB agent Scott Boras said in the article, "There are many other facets of illustrating your skills where you don't need Perfect Game, and to give away rights that potentially could be of substantial value to you going forward," he said. "That is not the original intent of what this was, which was a fee-for-service. Now it's a fee-for-service, plus a loss of monumental rights for no remuneration to the player."  With the prevalent use of social media, the NCAA's move to pay players and NIL usage, the industry will continue to pressure parents and players to do anything possible to secure their players' opportunities to play at the next level. The best players rarely have to pay to participate, with their expenses often compensated for playing in large-scale or marquee tournaments. They frequently move from team to team and showcase to showcase, seldom competing within their local communities. The focus has shifted from team success to building their brand. Injuries will continue to rise, and Major League Baseball (MLB) will continue to inherit a generation of players who have spent most of their time focusing on what they need to do to boost themselves and less on the teams that can help them succeed. I really hope and would love to see MLB Playball, USA Baseball, and MLB Pipeline's platforms efficiently marketed and integrated inside more communities to help offset what is currently happening to amateur players on their journey. After all, many of these players who are paying for these tournaments, are all dreaming of playing MLB. Starting off playing in your community league with a pathway of opportunity for more players to play at higher levels shouldn't come with such a high price tag.

50

5 Comments

Lots of talk about MLB Pitching Injuries. Little talk about the actual arm. I have one key study at the end of this post that may not change narratives, but at least some minds. First, I want to dispel 3 myths and then provide 3 truths to this situation. 1. The Inverted-W has not shown to cause pitching injuries versus "clean deliveries." https://lnkd.in/gC2uEsSm 2. Competitive workload metrics or innings restrictions are not predictive of future injury. https://lnkd.in/gQP8YuJB 3. More season ending injuries to professional pitchers are happening in practice that consists of throwing at submaximal intensities (slower velocities) - not in games. https://lnkd.in/gviZqGfP Some Truth (All free downloads)..... 4. Altered biomechanics due to fatigue, or changed motor preferences can increase strength losses to the throwing arm. https://lnkd.in/gY_w54UY 5. Flexor digitorum superficialis strength (a key forearm stabilizer of the inner elbow) can become more fatigued in pitchers who increase throwing velocity due to increased elbow torque. https://lnkd.in/gmJwCcBK 6. MLB-affiliated pitchers who come from North America have the weakest throwing arms in all of professional baseball. Of all the articles above, I want to thank Lori Michener, Adam Barrack, MS, CSCS, Bernard Liebeskind, Ryan Zerega, Jonathan Sum, and Hillary Plummer for inviting me to be part of this critical paper below that is free to download. It has educated me and inspired me in my career and I am grateful to share it with you all. I really encourage people to take hold of the results, as acting upon analyzing and improving throwing arm strength qualities for your developing throwing arms can change the current state of the game. https://lnkd.in/gJhBw5Kh The current "causes" we are reading and hearing about today may in fact be associations in reality. Strength Matters Most.

75

22 Comments

Last Sunday, out of 126 starting pitchers in minor league baseball, only Sem Robberse and Zach Plesac threw over 100 pitches. Additionally, only 20 pitchers threw at least 6 innings; of those, only 12 exceeded 90 pitches. Throughout minor league baseball, there has been a noticeable trend among all MLB organizations to limit starting pitchers' pitch counts. This is one day worth's of data but the trend among scouts is consistent. Here's the summary by Level on 5/19/2024 AAA: 4.34 Average Innings Pitched with 73.03 pitches per start AA: 4.51 Average Innings Pitched with 72.07 pitches per start A+: 3.60 Average Innings Pitched with 62.47 pitches per start A: 3.98 Average Innings Pitched with 65.91 pitches per start Here are three explanations for this trend: 1. A shortage of capable starting pitchers who can pitch deep into games. 2. A strategy to win games by limiting starting pitcher exposure. 3. A strategy to reduce pitching injuries. For the last three seasons, I've been studying the decline of traditional starting pitchers as an ongoing case study, especially tracking the workloads, injury history, and success of each organization's top pitching prospects. A few organizations have emerged to develop better, but a vast majority have been unable to produce quality starting pitchers from the MLB Amateur draft. As John Wooden once famously said, "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail." We can't expect to develop the next generation of traditional starting pitchers by adopting a cautious approach that fails to prepare them to meet the demands of the game. Regardless of their background or previous exposure, the job expectations and demands must be clearly communicated to maintain quality control in their development. Most importantly, pitchers must be incentivized to meet these expectations and needs. The current usage approach needs to be revised. By limiting exposure and increasing intensity over shorter workloads, we are witnessing a rise in injuries and a decline in the development of future quality starters at the highest level. As I mentioned last week, the value of the starting pitcher and the bargaining power for future contract demands could be impacted in the next several years. #startingpitchers #mlb #milb

27

7 Comments

With 34% of Major League Baseball (MLB) starting pitchers on the injured list and 18% on the 60-day injured list, the door is wide open for young starting pitchers in the minor leagues. This surge in injuries creates an unprecedented opportunity for aspiring pitchers to get called up and make their mark in the major leagues. However, the youngest generation of starting pitchers often can't stay healthy once called up, perpetuating the cycle of injuries. Currently, eleven MLB teams have three or more starting pitchers on the injured list, with the Miami Marlins facing the most severe challenge, with an astounding seven pitchers sidelined. Interestingly, 43% of starting pitchers in Major League Baseball are pitching for the team that initially drafted or signed them. While it's unclear if 43% is high, low, or standard, what is evident is that more pitchers at the MLB level are being used to meet innings demands, highlighting the gradual decline in the traditional starting pitcher role. It raises the question: what are minor league development departments doing? Developing quality starting pitchers seems to be a significant challenge. Outside of a few organizations that have proven successful since 2012, most minor league development departments act more as "player facilitation" rather than true "player development." Expanding the size of player facilitation departments isn't the answer. The solution lies in shifting goals and leadership to truly develop talent. On a positive note, some teams are making strides. The Philadelphia Phillies who led in mitigating pitching injuries last season, continue to excel. The Tigers are showing signs of reducing injuries, and organizations like the Mariners, Royals, Pirates, Astros, and Cleveland are successfully elevating pitchers from within their organizations. #startingpitchers #mlb #playerdevelopment

47

41 Comments

Baseball Rules in Black and White App has helped thousands better understand, and retain the rules of baseball. See the difference in Black and White. https://lnkd.in/g_6N6GN

2

In their words—Lisa Bluder, Iowa Women’s basketball. In the June 2024 issue of The Coaching & Leadership Journal. And much more! Get your issue today! https://lnkd.in/e4H3iQ_U #teamwork #leadershipjournal #teambuilding #leadership #motivation #success #entrepreneur #inspiration #mindset #entrepreneurship #leader #coaching #leadershipdevelopment #motivationalquotes #quotes #leaders #inspire #education  

2

Tight Hips Reducing Your Bat Speed? The most important part of bat speed is hip speed. The problem is, if your hips are tight, you can’t turn them fast.

1

This really highlights what the Steel Sports Coaching System is all about! Check it out!! #kidsfirst #youthsports #buildyourlegacy

15

1 Comment

Three MUST HAVE Paint Options 👀👇 1️⃣ Drive and Kick 2️⃣ Drive and Floater 3️⃣ Drive and Finish at the rim All three of these are great options when you hit the paint, but it's the skip hesi and read that allows you to decide. #HoopStudy #basketballtraining #ballislife #pointgod

8

1 Quick way to make your transition to calling B2B in sports sales a little easier? Start by focusing on an industry that you are familiar with. Whether it's in an industry that you use to work in, or your family worked in, it gives you a little more confidence knowing you have some insight into that industry. Hope this helps. #LinkedInSports #SportsBiz #Business

33

1 Comment

Put Tommy John, the pitcher, in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. How many future starting pitchers between the ages of 20-25 will be able to win 288 games, have a career era of 3.34, and accumulate 4710 Major League Baseball (MLB) innings over 26 seasons? On September 25th, 1974, the first Tommy John Surgery was performed on left-handed pitcher Tommy John. Almost 50 years later, could that first Tommy John Surgery also be the most successful? By the time Tommy John underwent the now familiar but at the time revolutionary surgical procedure to repair a pitcher's elbow, he was 31 years old and had pitched 2,142 MLB innings. After undergoing Tommy John surgery, Tommy John went on to pitch until age 46, adding another 2,346 innings to his MLB career. Remarkably, in the five seasons following his surgery, John threw at least 200 innings each year and won 20 games or more in three of those five seasons. In the clip provided, a 38-year-old Tommy John is warming up to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1981 World Series. The clip embodies an era of starting pitchers who have been forgotten and remain overlooked because they didn't possess the big fastball. Tommy John was a pitcher, not a rite of passage. The statistics related to the return to a previous level of performance after Tommy John Surgery are well-known, but what's more intriguing is the evolving landscape of the game. The surgeries are now happening too soon, before careers are ever established, ushering in an era of pitchers with two or three Tommy John surgeries. Achieving at least 1,000 innings after Tommy John surgery is increasingly unlikely in the modern era due to various factors, including evolving pitching strategies, and more conservative management of pitchers' workloads. Given his remarkable post-surgery success and durability, it is time to reevaluate why Tommy John is not in the Hall of Fame. Tommy John, the pitcher, belongs in the Hall of Fame. #tommyjohn #HallofFame

116

37 Comments