Driveline Plyocare Balls

My son (2017) did the free 11 week program this past off season, saw mound velocity boost from 79/80 to 84/85, and OF velo boost from 81 to 87.  He grew 1/2 inch and gained 5 lbs, More importantly his fastball (4 seam) strike rate increased from ~60% to 80%.   He uses the plyocare balls in recovery mode in season and the heaviest weighted ball for quick warm up.  Driveline is a great company, he needed a replacement set of J-Bands and they were sent within 12 hours of notification.  My son is planning on getting Hacking The Kinetic Chain as soon as school is done.  

Can you summarize the throwing program?  Interested in increasing velocity  a bit for a 14u player (8th Grader so 2020) so that he can add pitching to his repertoire.    He's a special hitter with an average glove.  He was not a pitcher but grew a foot (6'1 190-all good weight) and now has the makings of a change of pace pitcher.  Looking at high school ball I think that his best chance of playing up with the older boys and making a better travel team is as a pitcher who can hit  (man can he hit).   Thanks

Throwing program is at Drivelinebaseball.com.   

Thanks.  Their videos which I've watched show them throwing heavy balls into a screen all day long. Is there more than that?  Is it worthwhile? 

Kyle may reply, but I think it would be worthwhile to visit the website and explore the free material, as well as all the blog postings.  There is a lot of very good data there which will help you get started and understand the philosophy of what Kyle believes and how they do things.  I think you will find that it is much more than throwing heavy balls into a screen.  I have the Dynamic Pitcher(for my younger son) and HTKC and they are both very good resources and I think well worth the price paid.

Absolutely go to the website.  The free program is outstanding.  My son currently does the online program and loves it.  It is tailored to him and his current pitching schedule.  It has been more than worth the investment.

To answer the original question, yes you can use the plyocare balls in season.  My son went to Kyle for rehab after surgery and the use of the plyocare balls were part of his pre-game warmup before throwing.  He'd even bring the small trampoline into the bullpen. He told his coach that if he wanted him to pitch then he was going to follow Kyle's way or he wasn't going to pitch.  Coach said fine.

It is long my policy not to comment in threads about Driveline Baseball unless misinformation is being spread (and even then, it would have to be factually obviously wrong for me to interfere). I am a believer in free discourse and discussion and I think my involvement in threads on topics about my company limits that.

Our latest promo video is here and gives an idea of what we do, as well as interviews with select pro athletes who train here:

That being said: If you need more help or specific direction, I interact freely on Twitter (@drivelinebases) and our support staff works 7 days per week to return emails as quickly as possible - support@drivelinebaseball.com for more info, and you can schedule a phone call with a Driveline trainer by emailing in as well.

Goblue33 posted:

Can you summarize the throwing program?  Interested in increasing velocity  a bit for a 14u player (8th Grader so 2020) so that he can add pitching to his repertoire.    He's a special hitter with an average glove.  He was not a pitcher but grew a foot (6'1 190-all good weight) and now has the makings of a change of pace pitcher.  Looking at high school ball I think that his best chance of playing up with the older boys and making a better travel team is as a pitcher who can hit  (man can he hit).   Thanks

Hah. My 8th grade 2020 is 6' 1" @ 193. But he's just a big lug who throws pretty hard. Not much bat in him.

We'll be doing something close to Kyle's free prog, informed by the HTKC manual. Starting late this summer. And we're in Michigan (I'm assuming here) too. We go down to see Kyle visit the Indiana Chargers each fall. Justin & Joel there have great experience running the weighted ball stuff with their program. Justin has helped me flesh out some of the practical stuff involved in getting the prog done. 

Goal is to have the boy at 6' 2" & 210-215 by start of frosh tryouts next March.

I'm a senior in HS and I use the plyocare balls about 5 days a week during the season. Day of start I use them after doing a fairly extensive warm up; foam roll/lax ball/dynamic warm up/J-bands. I just do a quick set of Reverse Throws and low-intensity Pivot Pick Offs (about 10 throws each with the green 1kg ball). Then the next two days I do a good amount of recovery drills with the green and black balls (Reverse Throws, light PPT's, and rebounders). 3 days after a start is when I mix in Roll-ins, walking wind ups, and rocker throws prior to long tossing. I definitely use the Green ball the most, but the entire set was a GREAT investment. All of the drills i mentioned can be found on his site or social media pages. 

what is the reason for using those heavy balls (1-2+ Pounds)? normal overload Training is just 20%+ or so over game weight.

Is it basically a form of weight Training to get stronger? wouldn't such a heavy ball alter the throwing Motion?

maybe kyle can chime in on that (I know he wants to not comment on his program but I think this is more a General question).

i think the heavier balls promote a healthier throwing motion.  I was listening to a pod cast with Kyle being interviewed and he noted that javelin throwers  prior to throwing will get the javelin in a proper cocked throwing motion because its heavy and their body realizes i need to get the elbow inside of 90 degrees and closer to my body to throw it properly.    With a lighter ball or baseball you can get away from that since its so light and still throw it generally hard,  with a heavier ball your body will naturally figure out the best place, method of throwing it correctly and i would guess over time you would hope that it would translate to regulation weight ball,  proper sequence and follow thru.