Elite Baseball Development Podcast: Beyond Pitch Design with Mark Lowy

Written on March 18, 2020 at 9:08 am, by Eric Cressey

We’re excited to welcome Cressey Sports Performance – Florida associate pitching coordinator and strength and conditioning coach Mark Lowy to this week’s podcast for an in-depth discussion on how we create comprehensive development programs for our professional pitchers. Mark flies under the radar, but he’s a tremendous asset to our offerings at CSP-FL and has built a loyal following of elite arms.

A special thanks to this show’s sponsor, Athletic Greens. Head to http://www.athleticgreens.com/cressey and you’ll receive a free 10-pack of Athletic Greens travel packets with your first order.

Show Outline

How Mark Lowy and Brian Kaplan have expanded analytics in the off-season preparation of pitchers at CSP-FL
What work the CSP-FL pitching staff is doing to create individualized pitching reports for their pitchers
How Mark approaches collecting and compiling each pitcher’s pitching report and what makes CSP’s model and application of evaluating pitchers unique
How Mark’s role at CSP involves the translation of data and biomechanics into simple, understandable recommendations
Why Mark aims to be subjective before objective and apply a human element to his coaching and analysis of pitchers
Why you can’t make pitch design or pitch usage recommendations based purely off data
How understanding a pitcher and their approach influences how data is applied to their game
What is Mark’s primary focus when developing pitching skills with younger athletes and why building pitchability should evolve from what an athlete’s body allows them to do and what their delivery does for them
Why coaches need to appreciate pitchers’ unique attributes and avoid coaching towards average
How a player’s movement capabilities influence their mechanics and why appreciating how a player moves can explain the authenticity of their throwing motion
What aspects of the delivery impact horizontal and vertical release points in pitchers and how identifying and understanding specific release point trends can lead to the proper mechanical fixes
What vertical approach angle is and how it impacts how a hitter perceives a pitcher
When diving into player analytics, what are some numbers that blew Mark’s mind and caught his attention to look into further
How coaches need to appreciate how a pitcher’s arsenal plays uniquely to hitters
Why synergy between skill development coaches, strength and conditioning coaches, and sports medicine professionals is differentiated at CSP and how Mark uses his resources to create the best experience for his pitchers
What high school and college pitchers can do to best prepare themselves for success in baseball

You can follow Mark on Twitter at @Mark_Lowy and on Instagram at @CSPFL_Pitching.

Sponsor Reminder

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