Wally Briganti, Online Hitting Trainee
2024 high school grad Wally Briganti is focused on becoming the best version of himself at the plate.
That drive from the New York native eventually led him to Driveline’s online training program a few years ago.
“I’ve always looked for ways to improve myself with whatever resources I could find online,” Briganti said. “So I found all of Driveline’s free resources online, and I decided I wanted to perfect that and do better with all of that. So I thought the virtual online program would be the next logical step.”
Briganti’s programming looks pretty much identical to what an in-gym athlete’s workout would be at Driveline.
The technology is the same, the implements are the same, the same terminology is used, and the same gains are made.
“I really like everything they do with the communications systems,” he said. “All the online platforms are integrated and are able to be seen by the trainer. So it’s not like I have to do a ton on my part to make sure he gets the Blast data or whatnot. It’s really easy to upload it all onto TRAQ. It really doesn’t feel like remote training.”
Just since this past August, Briganti’s max exit velocity has jumped from 96.2 mph to 99.8 mph – one swing away at any given moment from reaching the 100 mph club. His bat speed gains are even more impressive, sitting around 64 mph last summer and consistently popping 73 mph these days.
Briganti credits a lot of his improvements to his trainer, Zack Jones. In his words, Jones is “freakishly smart” when it comes to breaking down his swing. If Briganti feels something during a workout and reaches out to Jones with questions, the answers are immediate.
Jones will say the credit goes to Briganti, whose preparation on a day-to-day basis allows for his success. Both are right – Briganti’s hard work and willingness to learn paired with Jones’ dedication and expertise have turned Briganti into a Swarthmore College commit.
“He’s just totally owned his training,” Jones said. “He’s learned as much as he possibly could about his swing…He’s essentially his own coach now. I direct him toward what I see, and he’s figured out how to go about that.”
The ownership Briganti has taken with his training has made him extremely efficient. At this point, if he feels like there’s something mechanical that needs to be worked on, he will go ahead and make the tweak before his Driveline workout so that he can focus on whatever he needs to do that day, be it bat speed or something similar.
“I’ll make sure that I’m prepared for it,” Briganti said. “If I have anything that I’m looking for swing-wise, I’ll make sure that it’s tackled…If it’s a bat speed day, I’ll obviously do all that. But when I get to machine work, I’ll say, ‘Okay, we’re working on trying to make sure that we maintain our hands throughout the strike phase.’ And I’ll keep that in mind.”
After all that looking around Briganti did for the right online training, he knows he’s in the right spot now.
“Everything Driveline does is based on results,” he said. “If what we have been doing is working, we can see that it’s working. You can guarantee that what you’re doing is working. And if it’s not, you have evidence to see, ‘Okay, since I’ve been starting this different type of programming, I’ve seen no results. But when I did this other thing, I saw great results.’ It guarantees you go about things the best way.”