By Jonathan Massey –
It was November/December of 2021. Travis Sykora was in the facility and recently decided to pursue pitching full-time. At the end of our session—just like we always did—we sat down and created his personalized plan for the next six to eight weeks.
Nearing the end of the meeting, I told him, “Travis, at some point this year, you are going to throw a baseball 100 mph. You’ll need to become proficient in two areas over the next few months.
Number one: Throwing strikes—period. Most high school hitters won’t be able to hit 100 mph, so you’re going to face a bunch of guys who are just standing there, hoping you throw ball four before you throw strike three. If you can’t fill up the strike zone, you are going to drive your pitch count up and be done by the third inning every game.
Number two: Again, most high school hitters won’t be able to handle 100 mph, so you’ll have a ton of success going fastball strike one, fastball strike two, fastball strike three—see you later. The problem is, the moment you get to high-level travel ball, where you are facing other potential draft picks, they’re just going to sit fastball. They’ll know you don’t have another pitch that you can reliably throw for a strike, so they’ll just sit hard. And when you do throw your fastball for a strike, they’ll tee off on it.”
To Travis’ credit, he bought in and really went to work on those things. Not only does he have exceptional command of his fastball, but he also has exceptional command of his slider and splitter.
In this interview with Jemele Hill, I think Kobe Bryant expresses my point very eloquently:
“I play to figure things out. I play to learn something.”
Summer ball is in full swing right now. If you are busy trying to win today’s game, then you are missing a huge opportunity to develop skills that will help you at the next level. Just like Kobe said, every game is an opportunity to learn something—to figure something out. It doesn’t have to be extreme. It can be as simple as throwing an extra five changeups each game or starting one batter every inning with an off-speed pitch.
Yes, in the short term, it will look ugly and probably not go as well as you would like. Stay with the course.
Eventually, if you play this game long enough, you’ll get to a level where you’ll need to throw more changeups, you can’t just throw a first-pitch fastball, or you’ll need ‘X’ skill. When that time comes, you’ll be thankful for the hundreds of game reps you’ve had—and you’ll be in a better position to execute.
We play to figure things out.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Important TBR Updates
- There are still several dates remaining this summer to join us at one of our 3-Day Elite Pitchers Bootcamps and take advantage of our world renowned training. Upcoming dates include:
July 18-20 (Fri-Sun)
Aug. 1-3 (Fri-Sun)
Aug. 30-Sept 1 (Sat-Mon)
To register or learn more CLICK HERE
- Interested in our “Summer Intensive Development Program”? We are halfway through but spots are still available in the remaining 5 weeks. For more information on this one of a kind Summer Training experience and for a registration form visit https://www.
texasbaseballranch.com/events/ tbr-summer-program/.
- Would you like to participate in the Ranch Summer Program but can’t find 2+ weeks in your schedule? We have an option for you! Attend one of our 3-Day EPBC’s and add the summer program week after. It’s seven days of training and is a great option for those players with an extremely busy summer schedule. Give us a call and we can provide you with more details – (936) 588-6762.
- Coach Wolforth is hosting a special 90 minute webinar – “The Velocity Code: 3 Secrets to Improving Velocity and Staying Healthy” on Thursdays at 7pm CST. If you’d like to attend the next webinar, CLICK HERE to register.
- NEW VIDEO on our YouTube Channel: “The 5% In-Season Edge Most Pitchers Ignore”. Watch it at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=XXhDdgo3Q-w and share your opinion in the comments.
