Brockton Tryout Showcase - Day 1

Brockton Tryout Showcase - Prologue

I was pressed for time in recording the first video as we got lost on the way to the ballpark--I'm very happy I once again decided to do a walkthrough the day before--and I was faced with diminishing daylight once we finally found Campanelli Stadium.

Thus, I rushed through this video and quickly touched on what I'm feeling going into tomorrow's tryout. My aforementioned throwing session went well as I worked out some kinks and felt my muscles getting looser after a nine hour drive. Just about to hit the hot tub now.

Back tomorrow evening with the results of Day 1.

Contract Signing and Final Brockton Prep

My baseball plans for the summer are beginning to take shape. I signed a playing contract with the London Majors of the Intercounty League. I will begin the season in the bullpen as a reliever, with perhaps a chance of cracking the back end of the starting rotation at some point throughout the season depending on my success on the hill.

Obviously, this new role as a reliever will be an adjustment for me as coming out of the bullpen late in games is not something I’m accustomed to. In fact, I’ve been a starting pitcher every summer and college season since my first year playing university baseball. There will be a learning curve in terms of my preparation before and during games; also my strength training regimen between games will also have to be tinkered with.

I will need to find the delicate balance between being rested and ready to throw at a moment’s notice and not letting my training program fall by the wayside. I’m sure the first couple of weeks will be filled with a lot of experimentation.

The big difference for me is that I’ll have to come out of the bullpen with all of my pitches raring to go and be ready to throw with intensity and at a stress level that I’m not used to at the beginning of my outings. Typically, for most starters, it usually takes one or two innings to really get into a groove; to a point where we feel like we can throw the ball wherever we want. If I allow a couple of baserunners early in the game or even a run, it’s not a big deal, as there is plenty of time for me to right the ship and my teammates to score runs.

However, there is no such luxury as a reliever. In this new role, allowing a couple of baserunners or giving up a run can be the difference between winning and losing the game. This will be a new type of pressure.

One way to counteract any ‘rust’ at the beginning of an outing is to oil up like the Tin Man in the bullpen before entering the game. And no, I’m not talking about some fancy new designer performance-enhancing drug. I mean throwing 40 or 50 pitches in the bullpen to work out any kinks in my pitches or delivery, so when I get on the mound, I’m at the same point I would be in inning three or four during a start.

Of course, these are relatively minor concessions to make for the opportunity to play baseball at a (semi) professional level. I just want the chance to prove myself against the best hitters I can find and if I have to do that while occupying a spot in the bullpen then I am more than willing to do so.

The above will also undoubtedly apply if I’m able to get signed to an independent league contract at the conclusion of the Brockton tryout this weekend. From what I’ve been able to ascertain, the tryout will pretty much follow the same format as the Indy Pro Showcase in Fort Myers, so I will be throwing to batters on both Saturday and Sunday.

For blog coverage, I am once again planning on posting videos from each day of the trip to give my thoughts on how things are going, my results on the hill etc. Thus, if the internet connection and my video editing program are behaving, expect video updates on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings.

It’s been almost three months since my last US tryout, so it’s time to see what I’ve learned since then and put it into practice. I’m throwing long toss and a bullpen session twice this week and only working out hard once to ensure I’m in peak form for the weekend. If I want to make a dent on those radar guns, I’m going to need it.

Strength and Conditioning Update

I figured I would spare the regular visitors to this blog the pleasure of once again reading one of my dissertations on the art of achieving perfect pitching mechanics like I was Stephen Hawking discussing string theory.

(Using that comparison in no way means I think I am as knowledgeable about pitching as Hawking is knowledgeable about the inner workings of the universe; I merely mean that I’m sure both topics would eventually cause most people to glaze over in complete disinterest).

Thus, I decided to spend this week’s column updating my progress on my strength and conditioning regimen. I last touched on my travails in the gym back in December (read it here), which detailed my fascination with heavy weight, multi-joint functional movements all completed at a breakneck intensity. I’ve continued training hard since then, but have recently had to taper my workouts because I need to be fresh during my throwing sessions under the watchful eyes of scouts and coaches, and also for another reason which I’ll explain in a moment.

I continued setting personal records in a variety of different lifts and metabolic conditioning workouts well into the New Year. As for my upward trending bodyweight and march towards 200lbs? I’ve stalled just short of the summit: 195lbs. I’ve been at 195 for probably six to eight weeks; putting on that last five pounds proved to be an insurmountable climb.

If I had more time remaining in the offseason, I think I could reach 200lbs but, as I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve been forced to dial back my workouts to ensure I’m fresh to take the mound when it matters most. However, I’m more than confident that I will not see another precipitous drop-off in weight throughout the course of the summer. I should be able to plan my workouts in such a way as to maintain my current strength base and bodyweight, with little to no effect on my pitching prowess, and be fresh and strong during the dog days of August.

The other reason I’ve had to lessen the intensity and volume of my workouts is that I’ve entered myself in a fitness competition called the Crossfit Games. It’s a search to find the world’s fittest man and woman. The world championships are held in Los Angeles in July (yes, there would be a conflict with baseball but, fear not, I am nowhere near strong or fit enough to qualify).

There are feeder competitions all over the world to find the athletes who will compete for the annual title. Last year, I entered an Ontario Sectional competition which fed into a Regional and then led to the final competition. I placed 38^th out of 100 in the Sectional last year.

This year, the Sectional component is taking place online with one workout every week for six weeks, with each workout having to be completed at a registered Crossfit affiliate for judging purposes. I am competing in the Canada East region which comprises Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime Provinces.

The top 60 in each region qualify for the Regional competition in Toronto in early June. Thus far, through four workouts, I am in 80^th place out of 412 athletes. Obviously, the talent pool is much greater than it was last year, with a greater geographic area to cull from, so I am quite pleased with my results thus far.

Crunching some numbers, last year I languished in the top 40%, whereas this year I’ve been able to crack the top 20% with two workouts remaining in the Sectional competition. I would like to crack the top 60 even though it is doubtful I would be able to attend the Regionals; however, it would be a nice accomplishment.

Obviously, my hard work in the gym has paid off in the strength and conditioning realm, let’s just hope I’m able to carry that over to the baseball field in Brockton in a couple of weeks.

Last Chance?

I registered for my final US tryout showcase late last week. The tryout is being run by the Brockton Rox of the Can-Am League on the last weekend of April in Brockton, Massachusetts (about an hour south of Boston).

In addition to the Rox, there will be team representatives from other teams in the Can-Am League—one franchise from Quebec City—as well as teams from the Frontier League and the American Association.

The format of the showcase will be very similar to the one in Fort Myers. The tryout will be held over two days and will be a combination of drills and intrasquad scrimmages. When I called for further details on the showcase, I was sure to confirm that pitchers would in fact be throwing in game situations as opposed to just throwing bullpen sessions.

It will be a great opportunity for me to build on the confidence I gained in Fort Myers, as well as see the results of all the work I’ve put in on my mechanics and delivery over the past two months. This will more than likely be my last shot at playing in the States for this summer.

Yes, there is still an Indy Pro Showcase in Detroit in July, but my attendance at that tryout will depend on a myriad of factors; specifically, where will I end up playing for the summer. That, along with my pitch velocity and success on the mound, will be the contributing factor in my decision to attend.

If I’m unsuccessful at the Brockton showcase, but I am able to finagle a roster spot with a team in the Intercounty League—thereby playing semi-professional baseball for the summer and earning a ½ mark in the box for reaching the aforementioned titular goal of this blog—and continue to build on my success from last season then it would make sense to give the Detroit showcase a shot.

However, if I’m able to achieve that success, but the radar gun readings are still languishing in the bottom half of the eighties, then there’s not really a point in giving the Indy Pro Showcase another attempt. I know what they’re looking for radar-wise, so I’m not attending without a fastball that regularly lives above 85 miles an hour.

And this Brockton tryout, besides giving me an opportunity to show my stuff in front of independent league scouts and hopefully acquire a contract, will let me know where I stand velocity-wise.

So the next three weeks are extremely important for the gestation period of my fledgling delivery and will be filled with maintenance training sessions, liberal amounts of long toss and a lot more work fine-tuning my mechanics and finding that consistent, hard-throwing release point.

Video Review

My indoor session last Wednesday was one of the best bullpens I’ve thrown all off-season. My fastball stayed consistently at the bottom edge of the strike zone and had plenty of life (both velocity and movement). Also, my curveball was really diving into the strike zone and had lots of depth. I think it’s benefited from this commitment to better mechanics more so than any other pitch.

How hard was I throwing? I don’t want to get anywhere near a radar gun until absolutely necessary—most likely the end of April showcase in Massachusetts—because falling in love with the numbers on the gun is what causes most pitchers to overthrow, abandon all semblance of mechanical consistency and throw primarily with their arm.

Sandwiched around my bullpen were two throwing sessions at a nearby park where I threw ball after ball into a fence practicing my new, lower-half dominant (hopefully) delivery. The video above is four pitches from that session taken from the side. This is where I need all of you armchair quarterbacks (I’m looking at you TDR) to pore over the footage like it’s the Zapruder film and look to see if I’m properly utilizing the big muscles in my back and legs to propel the ball to the plate.

My thoughts on the video? My delivery is definitely better than it was down in Fort Myers, but there is still a lot of work to be done. I can see a little more action and drive off of my back leg. However, there still seems to be a little bit of ‘laziness’ in my mechanics. There is still more power to be derived from my body, but I haven’t yet figured out how to harness it. My delivery needs to be more violent and ‘harder’. I can’t be soft when I pitch.

This is where things get difficult. To counteract the laziness or softness, one would think it makes sense to move faster through my delivery, thereby creating more power, right? Wrong. Yes, I need greater rotational force and stronger drive with my hips, back and shoulder, but speeding up all of the complex moving parts of a pitching delivery can throw things out of sync and actually lead to slower pitching speed which is the antithesis of what I’m looking for (here is video of four pitches from the back).

While visions of perfect mechanical efficiency dance around in my head, two analogies keep cropping up to help (or hinder?) me in this process. The first is from Forgetting Sarah Marshall when Koonu (Paul Rudd) is trying to teach Peter (Jason Segal) how to surf. Koonu advises Peter to “do nothing” and “do less” on his board as trying to do too much can lead to complications once you’re on the water.

Unfortunately for my analogy, Koonu was an idiot, but I think the point is salient. If I try to do too much with my delivery and rush, I am going to mess myself up. I need to stay calm and relaxed out there. And not get eaten by a shark.

The second analogy is akin to shifting gears in a car. I have to hit first gear before moving to second gear. And second gear before third gear. And third before fourth and so on. I have to pitch with the same sequence in mind. I have to generate power from my back leg before my glutes. And my glutes before my hips. My hips before my back and my shoulder before my arm. If I miss a step, the car won’t go as fast. Neither will my fastball.