The Fall and Winter in Colorado is a tough time to be a baseball player. Inconsistent weather, poor field conditions, and other sports, not to mention the current COVID-19 pandemic which has made everyone’s life more difficult, hamper the baseball players ability to improve their skills. Unfortunately, we do not have the luxury of great weather and the ability to train outside as other states down south. We see that weather as a luxury, but most would be surprised to know that many middle and high school players in the south do not play all the time in the summer due to the oppressive heat. What do those players do instead? They Train! They train for velocity, develop new pitches, learn how to swing the bat harder, things that do not involve playing. The best players in the world make sure to develop new skills in the offseason, and rarely are those things develop when they are constantly playing in season.

On the FAST Performance Podcast, legendary Baseball Strengthen and Conditioning Coach Gene Coleman said, “You can not microwave success.” Our athletes were taught that line a lot this offseason and took it to heart and success followed. Over the past 3 months, our athletes have dedicated themselves to honing their crafts and that hard work has paid off.

Of the 16 athletes that we have a solid sample of data, all of them have increased their velocities, We have seen an average increase of 5 MPH of maximal fastball velocity over those three months.

Along with an increase in maximum velocity, we also saw an increase in the average fastball velocity of 4.5 MPH.

Through our athletes’ hard work over the past 3 months, they are now throwing their fastballs harder than they have before. This the testament to what consistent dedication to improving yourself can accomplish. A few athletes in this sample chose to forgo playing Fall Baseball and had greater velocity increases that were not taken into consideration.

This should be used to know that playing will not necessarily make you better. Dedicated attention to detail and meticulous work ethic creates the greatest degree of change and had set up these athletes for success this spring.