Odds and Ends, Updates, and Stuff to Read (8/17/2012)

This summer’s been a packed one for me – I’ve had a ton of work to tackle, lots of athletes in-and-out of the facility, and lots of Remote Consultation programs to stay on top of.

Here’s some quick updates in list form:

• Joe Marsh (77 MPH to 90 MPH in five months) finished up his summer college league, throwing a complete game to cap it off, striking out five, walking just one, with his fastball touching 89-90 off a mound. He’ll be competing for a slot on the UC Davis team in 2013.
• Karsten Sherman joined us this year, halfway committed between basketball and baseball. He went full-bore for baseball in 2012, making huge gains in strength and velocity. He just threw in his first game in the Centralia tournament for the St. Louis Cardinals scout team, logging five innings, striking out four, walking one, and allowing just a single run while topping out at 86 MPH. Given that he’s just been hitting the facility hard for the last 6 months, I look forward to seeing what the 6’6″ LHP is capable of next year!
• Reid Martinez will be returning to Yakima CC, where he won a bunch of accolades and registering in the top 25 in batting average in the conference.
• Eli Mathieu will be returning to Whitman College with the aim of pitching out of the rotation.
• Jack Scheideman will be attending the University of Washington, starting his first scholarship year as a freshman on the track and field team. He’s been motivated by his disappointing finish (his words) in the WA state competition where he placed 2nd in the shot put, and he’s added a ton of muscle mass while getting in much better cardiovascular shape. I look forward to posting some videos of his peak lifts next week – they’re scary for anyone, much less an 18 year old!

And now, some stuff to read:

• Body Weight and Throwing Velocity – As always, a great article on this subject from Eric Cressey
• Strasburg and the Inverted W – With Stephen Strasburg being shelved for the rest of the season by the Washington Nationals, this is a must-read about pitching mechanics.
• Correlation of Throwing Mechanics with Elbow Valgus Load… – A great research paper on pitching mechanics and valgus stress.

Hope your season is going well, and remember, we’re accepting clients for our semi-private Elite Baseball Training group, which is starting to ramp up bigtime!