Today's article is pretty aggressive, so apologies in advance.
Most people are significantly closer to their careers being over than they realize. They think they are 21-22 years old and a junior in college and the majority of their career is ahead of them. They fail to realize that the cliff is steep, and players can go from being in a great spot to having their back against the wall over the span of a few outings.
You turn down the draft as a junior, you didn't get the money you want so you go back to school to finish your degree. You are one of the best players on your team and you're most likely going to be a huge part of it the following year.
You come back and have a great fall, you pitch great. You start the year as a weekend starter. You struggle in your first few outings, your velocity is down and you're not that sharp. You get bounced to the pen and you're throwing inconsistently. You get way less innings than you think, and your season stats are crushed by the 2-3 bad starts at the beginning of the year.
Now you're 23 with no eligibility left and a 7.00 era in your last year of college.
The chances of getting drafted are near zero with the shortened draft and the number of free agent signings for 23 year olds with 7+ ERAs is pretty limited.
You’re now looking at Indy-ball.
You plan to throw in a pro day before the season, and you get into one.
You now have to get on the mound in front of 50 scouts, general managers and scouting directors and stand out among 100 professional arms that throw 95.
You're up against it.
Life came at you fast.
It's either you throw noise with a bunch of good pitches or go make $300 a week living in some po-dunk town in the middle of nowhere.
Woof.
Been there. It worked out for me the first time, not the second.
The Point:
You do not have the time that you think you have. The amount of effort and intensity you need to train with to simply have a chance at having a chance is infinitely higher and more urgent than you could ever believe. You do not have the luxury to play it safe with your training, you have to put the gas pedal to the floor right now.
The throwing program that has an increased injury risk? Look into it.
The mega overload plyos that only the psychos throw? Throw them.
The insane lifting schedule that is impossible to recover from? Do it.
You don't have the luxury of playing it safe, and the programs that pose the highest risk generally offer the highest reward.
Throw the Black Plyo
I am begging you, give the absurdly heavy plyos a chance.
Yeah, they are more stress.
Yes, at first it feels terrible to throw them.
You have to force your body to adapt. The things you are doing at this moment in your baseball career are simply not enough. You do not have a chance to make the big leagues with where you are at, you need to do everything in your power to simply get a chance.
If you are over the age of 23, you likely have super ingrained movement patterns. You have to do something really stressful on the body in order to get yourself to change. All of the data shows that the heavier the plyo the more likely you are to create mechanical adaptations.
In January of 2024, I threw in a pro day and topped 94.1. It was not enough, I immediately started throwing the black ball (2000g or 4.4Lbs), in any drill I could get it to work for. Three months later I threw 97 for the first time since my 3 back to back surgeries. I hadn't thrown 97 since May of 2018, and I did it again, after 1000 days of missing baseball for injuries because I took a chance and did something considered insane by most people in baseball development.
The injury risks are in my opinion incredibly overstated. With modern understanding of peak and total arm stress, we realize that oftentimes the injuries are increased by peak stress, which is lower with a heavier instrument because arm speed is lowered significantly.
The injury risk is not zero, it never will be. But the urgency you need to have with regards to your career is way higher than you think.
John