Happy Monday! And, to all the Dads out there, I hope you had a great Father's Day. Here's some good strength and conditioning content from around the web as a belated gift:
How I Accidentally Raised a Professional Athlete - This awesome ESPNW article was written by Edie Ravenelle - who happens to be the mother of long-time Cressey Sports Performance athlete Adam Ravenelle. Adam has trained with us since he was in 8th grade, and won a national championship with Vanderbilt before being drafted by the Detroit Tigers.
Cressey Sports Performance on Snapchat! - CSP just started up a Snapchat account; you can follow us at CresseySP.
On Wednesday night, the Vanderbilt Baseball team won the first men's national championship in any sport in school history. I'm absolutely ecstatic, as we've trained several current Vanderbilt players as well as some of their former players who are now in professional baseball, and I have a great relationship with the coaching staff.
To make the moment even more special, a long time Cressey Performance athlete, Adam Ravenelle, came on to get a six-out save in the deciding game three:
While Vanderbilt baseball's 2014 season is a amazing story in itself, there's a sub-plot that warrants mention as well, and Adam serves as a perfect example. "Rav" was a 5-10, 125-pound 8th grader when he first timidly walked in to Cressey Performance back in the summer of 2007. At the time, he was a baseball player - but also a golfer, tennis player, and basketball player.
As a freshman and sophomore in high school, he played golf, basketball, and baseball. As a junior, he pared it down to basketball and baseball. Only when he was a high school senior did he trim things down to one sport - and even then, it was after he was already committed to play at Vanderbilt, and a serious MLB Draft prospect (he was drafted in the 44th round out of high school in 2011, and then again in the 4th round this year).
His teammate, Tyler Beede, is another one of our athletes. Ty played football, basketball, and baseball as a freshman. He went to football and baseball as a sophomore, then down to baseball only as a junior. He regretted leaving football, and went back to playing his senior year - and was still a 1st round draft pick in 2011 (and again this year).
I vividly remember a conversation I had with Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin in the winter of 2009-2010 when he talked about how he's always reluctant to recruit baseball-only guys. There are so many incredible benefits to playing multiple sports, from avoiding overuse, to developing general athleticism, to making friends in different social circles. If you look at the roster that just won a College World Series for Vanderbilt, you'll see that recruiting perspective is readily apparent. Look at their roster, and only 9 of the 34 guys come from states that could be perceived as "year-round baseball" states: Georgia, Florida, Texas, California, etc. There are a heck of a lot more guys from Massachusetts, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Kentucky and (of course) Tennessee - all states where it gets cold and snows in the winter, making year-round baseball a lot tougher. Most of the guys on the Vanderbilt roster were great athletes in other sports as well. In fact, of the 9 to which I alluded above, two - Carson Fullmer (FL) and Dansby Swanson (GA) - were praised by the ESPN announcers for their success in other sports (karate and basketball, respectively).
Early specialization might work out for a small percentage of young athletes, but it fails miserably for the majority. And, you can never go wrong with finding and developing general athleticism. Look at Vanderbilt's track record of success over the past decade (and their significantly lower injury rates), and it's impossible to argue. Let kids play, and not just baseball...they might just "surprise" you by winning a national championship.
Congratulations to the Commodores!
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This past week was the 2014 Major League Baseball Draft, and we watched the three days excitedly, as 18 Cressey Sports Performance athletes were selected - including six of the top 100 picks. Among these 18 picks, there were actually several kids who spent their entire high school careers training with us, and one even started with us in middle school. With these guys in mind, I got to thinking a lot about factors I believe helped them to be successful over the long haul. Here are a few that came to mind:
1. They were all multi-sport athletes for at least part of high school.
There's a common misconception that professional athletes have been destined to be professional athletes from the time that they were six years old, so that should be all they should do. It's simply not the case. Time and time again, when I ask our pro guys what sports they played growing up, they share that they did everything. In this group of draft picks, we had basketball captains, great golfers, a D1-caliber football quarterback, a potential NHL draft pick, a long snapper, and one that even started out as a better tennis player, then switched over to baseball. The point? You have to be a good athlete before you can be a good baseball player.
Where does strength and conditioning fit in? Well, to some degree, I see it as another sport that guys can play even after they specialize. Among other things, it affords them the variety they lose in their daily movement patterns.
2. They were "likable" guys and could roll with different social circles.
This might sound weird, but I think the ability to make friends easily is important for long-term athletic success. If you're someone who can't get along easily with others, you'll always be distracted in a team environment, and never able to put full focus on training. Unless they're unbelievably skilled, the guys who say and do the wrong things invariably wind up weeding themselves out.
As a funny example, check out this video of Adam Ravenelle and Tyler Beede. They first met and became friends in 2008 at Cressey Sports Performance. They were from different towns, but actually both wound up committing to Vanderbilt in 2010.
Both were drafted out of high school, but chose to honor their commitments to Vanderbilt - where they were roommates. And, look who was sitting next to Ty as his name was called in the first round of the draft last week:
Adam was drafted in the 4th round a day later, and I know Ty was his biggest fan. Both these guys made friends easily, and it allowed them to benefit more from the environments they were in. They could bounce ideas off of big leaguers who trained at the facility, find throwing and lifting partners to push them. Perhaps most importantly, their likable demeanors made it possible to treat CSP as an "escape" for a few hours when other parts of their lives were distracting or chaotic. When you're a self-centered ego-maniac jerk, you can never escape. With few exceptions, you have to be a good person before you can be a good baseball player.
3. They wanted to be part of something bigger.
One of our 18 players came from a troubled family life about which few people know, and it was a huge step for him to fill us in on the struggles with which he'd dealt. As a sophomore in high school, he did his initial evaluation with Brian St. Pierre (our first employee). About a year later, Brian moved to Maine to go back to school, and the athlete opened up to me about how bummed out he was about it because Brian was one of the few who "knew his story." In short, the coaches at CSP had become more of an extended family than just a bunch of coaches.
Since then, he's been one our biggest advocates, referring several teammates from high school, summer, and college ball to train at Cressey Sports Performance. Much like he's always been a great teammate on the baseball field, he's been a valued part of the CSP Family. You have to be a good teammate before you can be a good baseball player.
4. They never put the carriage in front of the horse.
Looking back on the initial evaluation day for each of these athletes, I can honestly say that not a single one of them ever told me that professional baseball was their goal. As an interesting story, I'll never forget the day I evaluated Forrest Wall, the 35th overall pick this year by the Rockies. It was literally weeks before I had any idea that Forrest was a very established prospect - and I only found out that was the case when someone else "in the know" encouraged me to look him up in more detail. Here was a family that had every reason to brag about how talented their son was, and they went out of their way to avoid it, staying incredible humble the entire time.
Had they told him and everyone around him how great he was all along, would have ended up with the same outstanding character and work ethic that he has today? And, would he have been drafted the other night? It's impossible to say, but what I can tell you that my experience has been that there is generally an inverse relationship between how much a parent brags about his kid, and how hard that kid works.
Looking at our 18 guys, I can honestly say that on their first day at CSP, some didn't even comment that they wanted to play college baseball (even though it was obvious they did). Rather, they all talked about wanting to be bigger, stronger, healthier, or something to that effect. They wanted to find the means to their ends - but not talk about the ends. You've got to be patient, humble, and process-driven before you can be a good baseball player.
5. They all were very consistent.
This is something I really noticed in hindsight. This collection of guys were always good about getting their training in not only during the off-season, but during the in-season period as well. It's always frustrating when guys put in great work in the off-season, only to put it on cruise control during the season, which inevitably leads to them coming back lighter and weaker at the end of the long season; it's just one step forward, and one step back. For these guys, they were at least maintaining - but more often than not, improving during the season. Slow and steady improvements with no hiccups is the name of the game. With such a long competitive season and challenging calendar, you've got to make taking care of your body an "all the time" job to be a good baseball player.
6. They came from strong developmental programs.
While there are a lot of tremendous coaches involved with these 18 players, I want to highlight the one with which I'm the most familiar: Sudbury, MA. In Adam Ravenelle (4th round), Carl Anderson (19th round), and Billy Bereszniewicz (30th round), Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School had three players drafted - all after successful Division 1 Baseball careers. While there may be a few other high schools schools in the country who can boast this, I doubt they're in northern states, where the talent may be thinned out from lacrosse or hockey.
It starts with good feeder programs at the youth levels; Sudbury Little League does a good job of emphasizing development over winning and showcasing talent, and kids don't show up to high school overused or injured. In high school, these three played for Kirk Fredericks, one of the best coaches I've seen at any level of baseball. He hammers home fundamentals, respects the game, and establishing a culture of winning (13 of the last 14 league titles, with three state championships worked in). Perhaps most importantly, the accountability he emphasizes prepares kids for college ball - or whatever the next step in their journey is. At the end of his freshman year of college, one of them actually said to me, "I never really appreciated how good Coach Fredericks was until I got to college and felt more prepared than everyone around me." That's what good coaches do; make it about the team by patiently cultivating habits in impressionable young minds over the long haul.
These three also played for the New England Ruffnecks, one of the premier baseball organizations in the country, and certainly the Northeast. Again, the emphasis is development and playing challenging teams to get kids out of their comfort zones. They aren't just trying to rack up an impressive win-loss record or accumulate trophies. And, the trains always run on time, so players know what is expected of them.
It all comes down to clear and consistent messages. Everyone these guys played for expected quality effort from them every time out, and these coaches all modeled positive behavior. You can't expect kids to develop when coaches show up late, smoke butts in the parking lot, cheat on their wives, and completely disrespect the game. It's about habits more than it is outcomes, so you have to make sure the right person is teaching those habits. You have to be around good people with good skill sets before you can be a good baseball player.
Wrap-up
What you might have noticed is that all of these key qualities related to habits and not outcomes. It's not just about being able to deadlift 400 pounds or long toss 300 feet; it's about having the traits that allow for consistent, high-quality effort in the right environments to make the most of the coaching you have at your fingertips, and the natural abilities with which you've been blessed. If you take care of the habits, the outcomes tend to take care of themselves.
Congratulations to not only the 18 CSP draft picks, but also the many other players reading this post who've had this great experience as well. You've surely done a lot of these things right along the way, too.
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This past weekend was really special for me, as I got to watch about two dozen Cressey Performance athletes go out and win the Massachusetts Division 1 State Championship for Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School.
While we work with kids from dozens of high schools in the area, L-S baseball was the first program that “took a chance” on me when I was the new guy in town, and from that initial group of guys grew the Cressey Performance “baseball empire” that now includes loads of professional and college players. I’ve become great friends with the entire coaching staff, and the players’ families have really adopted my wife and me as part of the L-S baseball community.
This year’s senior class included kids who actually started training with us in eighth grade, and therefore marked the first class of guys who spent their entire high school careers with us at Cressey Performance. In thinking back on the progress one athlete, Adam Ravenelle, made over those four years, I felt compelled to write this blog.
On Adam’s first day at CP, he looked pretty intimidated – just like any 14-year-old would when stepping into a weight room for the first time. However, when I went to do his shoulder assessment, I quickly realized that he’d fit in just fine. When I found that he had almost 140 degrees of external rotation in his throwing shoulder, I turned to my business partner and commented that he had “a big league shoulder” and that if he was willing to put in the work, he’d be a pretty good pitcher (even though he was a shortstop/third basemen at the time).
Four years later, with a fastball in the low 90s, Adam is a 44th round draft pick of the Yankees and a State Champion with a baseball scholarship to Vanderbilt. He’s pitched at Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, and at all the major competitions – Area Codes, East Coast Pro, USA Baseball Tournament of Stars – that an accomplished player could attend.
You know what, though? These accomplishments didn't magically happen; rather, there were thousands of small, but extremely significant moments along the way that took Adam from a "kid with a good shoulder" to the athlete he is today. There were all the days when he came in to get his arm stretched out the day after a start, and all the times that he came in to lift on a Sunday afternoon in-season when he could just have skipped lifting during the season, like many players ignorantly do. There were all the meals he ate along the way to gaining over 50 pounds – even though he wasn’t hungry, most of the time. In fact, sometimes we even made him attack loaves of bread in the office before he was allowed to leave.
Adam was really a microcosm of the entire state championship Lincoln-Sudbury team. LS has now won 11 straight league titles and three of the last seven state championships, yet their head coach, Kirk Fredericks, called this “the best practice team” he’s ever had. In other words, they did the little things well day-to-day in order to succeed. They never skipped steps.
They also didn’t have a single player miss a game due to injury over the course of the entire season. Their consistency not only afforded them the best possible outcome, but kept them healthy in the process.
It was a remarkably fresh breath of air for me. I’ve seen a change in young athletes over the past few years where they all want something badly – whether it’s a state championship, college scholarship, or a trip to the big leagues – but very few kids really seem willing to put in the work to get it. The fitness world isn’t much different; many folks want the fastest way to drop 30 pounds before a wedding or trip to the beach, but all the while ignore the valuable lessons to be learned and habits to be acquired along the way. They want the destination, but don't care for the process.
Tim Collins didn’t go to the big leagues because he was more gifted than anyone else. He went to the big leagues because he was the first guy back to train at the end of every minor league season, and he lived at the gym and did absolutely everything each of his coaches told him to do.
Tyler Beede wasn’t born a first round draft pick. He earned it by learning to command his fastball and develop his change-up when all the other kids thought it would be fun to screw around with curveballs when they were 11. He made himself into a first round pick, in part, by driving 40 minutes to CP, training, and driving 40 minutes home 3-4 days per week for the past three years - also gaining almost 50 pounds in the process.
Jordan Cote didn’t just get called in the 3rd round by the Yankees or win the New Hampshire Gatorade Player of the Year award this year because he was 6-6 and “projectable.” He worked to get it by driving two hours every Saturday morning for the past two years to throw and train at CP at 9AM when everyone else his age was sleeping in. And that’s why he went from 185 pounds to 218 pounds over the course of 18 months – almost half of which was during the in-season period. He also drove a long way to play for the New England Ruffnecks program, which is 2.5 hours away in Massachusetts - but consistently produces some of the best talent in New England.
In no way am I saying that Cressey Performance alone was responsible for these guys’ success, nor are these the only guys who did what it took to succeed in recent months. Rather, I’m showing you that in two aspects of their preparation – training and nutrition – they did the little things that it took to excel. They certainly did the same with on-field practice, school work, and community service to get to where they are. There were obviously end goals in mind, but they never interfered with accomplishing day-to-day, hour-to-hour, and moment-to-moment objectives.
To that end, the next time you find yourself fantasizing about your athletic dreams or fitness goals, take a step back and consider whether you’re doing what you need to do in the present to get to where you need to be.
Are you waking up ten minutes early so that you can have a good breakfast before you go to school, or are you the guy that simply complains that you “don’t have time” for a good breakfast?
Are you blocking off an hour in your day to go to the gym, or are you going to allow it to fill up with other obligations that can’t possibly be more important than your health?
Are you dropping hundreds of dollars on showcases when you should be spending time developing your abilities by taking ground balls and batting practice, long tossing, strength training, and working on your mobility?
There is no single way to get to where you want to be. Likewise, there is no magic pill. It takes time, consistency, attention to detail, and an appreciation of what must get done in the short term in order to attain long-term success.
Now, shouldn’t you be doing something right now to get closer to your long-term goals?
Congratulations, Lincoln-Sudbury baseball, and thank you – both for the lessons you’ve taught us and for having us along for the ride!
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You may have noticed that this week's blog updates have been a bit more infrequent and to the point - and you can thank the Major League Baseball Draft. Fortunately, it was for all the right reasons, as we had a bunch of Cressey Performance guys drafted.
In addition to Tyler Beede, who went 21st overall to the Toronto Blue Jays, the following CP athletes were drafted and deserve a huge congratulations:
Jordan Cote: 3rd Round to the New York Yankees
Jack Leathersich: 5th Round to the New York Mets
Andrew Chin: 5th Round to the Toronto Blue Jays
Max Perlman 35th Round to the Oakland A's
Ryan Thompson: 36th Round to the New York Yankees
Adam Ravenelle: 44th Round to the New York Yankees (a Cressey Performer since 8th Grade!)
Scott Weismann: 46th Rounds to the Chicago Cubs
John Gorman: 50th Round to the Boston Red Sox
In addition to these guys, several players who have done one-time consultations at CP and taken programs home with them to execute had some great draft showings: Anthony Meo (2nd Round - Arizona Diamondbacks), Travis Shaw (9th Round - Boston Red Sox), and John Brebbia (30th Round - New York Yankees) all deserve a congratulations as well.
We're really proud of all our guys!
Yesterday was a good day at the office for the "Cressey Performers" out there, so I thought I'd devote this "Stuff You Should Read" to the CP cause.
The day technically started off on Tuesday night, when Tim Collins made his Yankee Stadium debut, pitching brilliantly and ending up with a line of 2IP, 0H, 0BB, 0R, and 3K. You can actually watch the highlights HERE. What was even cooler for me, though, was watching Tim and Mitch Williams break down his delivery on MLB Tonight, a video you can watch HERE. There are some great messages for the young pitchers out there.
Wednesday continued with a call-up to the big leagues for CP athlete and Oakland A's prospect Trystan Magnuson. Trystan's an awesome guy and deserves all the success that comes his way; I'm really happy for him.
The day continued with three sparkling performance by CP high school athletes. Tyler Beede threw a perfect game, striking out 15 and going 2-3 at the plate along the way.
Adam Ravenelle, meanwhile, lost his own perfect game in the 6th inning - but still managed to throw a complete game shutout with 18K and 0BB. He also had two HR at the plate.
Third, Jordan Cote had two HR and 6RBI - and struck out 13 in a complete game shutout where he only allowed 2H and 0BB.
The strikeout numbers and home runs are great, but to be honest, it just absolutely fires me up to see these three guys throw 21 innings and allow ZERO walks. Commanding the strike zone - particularly with one's fastball - is everything for young pitchers and these guys did exactly that yesterday.
Lastly, I gave an interview to Nick Bromberg on the topic of using exclusively jumping rope for fitness, and it was featured on The Post Game on Yahoo Sports. Check it out.
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It's been a few months in the making, but we just finished up a promo video about how we attack off-season baseball training at Cressey Performance for our professional, collegiate, and high school baseball players.
We'd love to hear what you think - and hopefully you'll like it enough to help spread the word on Facebook and Twitter. Thanks!
A big shoutout goes out to Jamie and Matt at Lasting Memories Videotaping; these guys do an awesome job, and we can't recommend them highly enough!
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November 10 might seem like just any day to most people - and it certainly wouldn't have any significance to the baseball training world to the casual observer. However, it's actually a pretty big day to celebrate here at Cressey Performance.
Today, a bunch of guys in our class of 2011 sign their national letters of intent to play Division 1 baseball - and I wanted to give them a shoutout in this blog to recognize their accomplishments. Looking at this list, we have guys from three separate states - which means that a few of them travel up to two hours just to get to CP (and two hours home). Some have been with us less than a year, and others since they were in eighth grade - but I wanted to recognize them all together nonetheless. Here they are (and the universities/college to which they're headed):
1. Jordan Cote - Coastal Carolina
2. Tyler Beede - Vanderbilt
3. Adam Ravenelle - Vanderbilt
4. Barrett O'Neill - Virginia
5. Matt Luppi - Connecticut
6. Colin Egan - Wake Forest
7. Joe Napolitano - Wake Forest
8. Aaron Fossas - Wake Forest
9. Andrew Chin - Boston College
10. Devin Perry - Boston College
11. John Gorman - Boston College
12. Carl Anderson - Bryant
13. Cam Hatch - Maryland
14. Lorenzo Papa - Rhode Island
15. David St. Lawrence - Brown
16. Matt Mottola - UMASS-Lowell
There are certainly quite a few more to come as a few other guys wrap up the decision making process, but I thought I'd mention all these guys at once on the day that they sign. Congratulations, fellas; it's a party at CP!
1. Mike Reinold polled some of the best in the world of manual therapy, physical therapy, and strength and conditioning (plus a schmuck named "Cressey") to ask for their best career advice for students and young professionals in our fields. Here is the post that emerged; it came out really well - and actually serves as an awesome adjunct to yesterday's advice on starting out in the fitness industry.
2. I'm pumped to report that my advanced copy of Gray Cook's new book, Movement, arrived yesterday. I'm digging in to it tonight. You can pre-order your own HERE.
Gray's been talking about this book (and working on it) for years now, and there is no doubt in my mind that he won't disappoint. I'm really looking forward to it.
3. Here's a link to an interview with Cressey Performance and Lincoln-Sudbury athlete Adam Ravenelle, who is committed to play baseball at Vanderbilt:
Player Perspective: Adam Ravenelle
The thing I like the most about this interview is the fact that Adam emphasized the importance of in-season training and how valuable it is to young pitchers. You'd be amazed at how many guys work their butts off in the off-season and show up to the start of the season strong...only to skip their lifting and flexibility work for the next 6-8 months. It's one step forward, and one step back - but not for guys like Adam who "get it." "Rav" has gained over 50 pounds with us since 2007 while going from the high 70s to low 90mph range - and having an open-minded and dedicated attitude toward in-season training has been a big part of it.
3. Speaking of throwing the baseball faster, Haag et al. found that pre-throwing static stretching did not negatively affect baseball pitching velocity. This is pretty significant, as many modern coaches generally encourage players to universally avoid static stretching right before training and competition for fear of reductions in power output (that research horse has been beaten to death).
Personally, though, I've always felt that it was really valuable to stretch the throwing shoulder in the majority of our pitchers before they threw (the exceptions being the ones with crazy laxity). Typically, we stretch guys (or encourage them to stretch themselves) into shoulder internal rotation and flexion. It's safe to assume that getting range in their directions is going to not only minimize the effect of the peel-back mechanism for SLAP lesions at lay-back, but also enable them to have a longer, smoother deceleration arc.
While more research is definitely warranted, my hunch is that static stretching is less "inhibitory" in the upper body than the lower body because the upper body deals with predominantly open-chain motion, and is therefore more heavily reliant on mobility than stability.
5. Last, but certainly not least, here's a quick article about CP athlete Tim Collins, who was traded for the second time in three weeks, this time to the Royals.
Related PostsThe Importance of Strength and Conditioning for High School Baseball PlayersThe Lucky 13: Cressey's Top Reading RecommendationsEnter your email below to subscribe to our FREE newsletter:
I don't know if there is something in the water that the reporters around the country (and particularly the Massachusetts sports scene) have been drinking, but Cressey Performance's Elite Baseball Development Program has gotten a lot of love in the news this weekend.
Last week, CP athlete Tim Collins was part of a blockbuster trade, as he went from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Atlanta Braves. Tim didn't disappoint in his debut, striking out five batters in two innings pitched without allowing a walk, hit, or run. In a recent posting about Collins in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, beat writer David O'Brien wrote the following:
"I asked [Braves Manager] Bobby Cox if he knew anything about him, and Cox started talking about seeing video of him. Said he's extremely athletic, a muscular little guy who's real aggressive. Apparently the video showed him pitching and also working out, because he made quite an impression on Cox and others with the workout portion."
Apparently, Bobby Cox is quite a fan of the EricCressey.com and Cressey Performance YouTube pages. Hello, Bobby!
Saturday night, CP athlete Kevin Youkilis had the game-tying and game winning RBIs for the Red Sox in a come-from-behind win at home against the Rangers.
These features were followed shortly by another one - this time on a talented pitching prospect from Worcester, MA, Louisville pitcher Keith Landers. The Worcester Telegram just did this feature on Keith and the training he started up about eight weeks ago at Cressey Performance as he works his way back from a shoulder surgery.
Finally, here's a blog post from ESPN.com's Brendan Hall that features a boatload of CP studs who have had great summer showings: Tyler Beede, Adam Ravenelle, Carl Anderson, Barrett O'Neill, John Gorman, Jordan Cote, Ben Smith, Matt Luppi, AJ Zarozny, and David St. Lawrence.
