MLB Strength Coach Available for Advice

Hi Dana,

Thanks for all the info but what happened to the rest of the thread? My question, what do you think of the college and JC practice of lifting weights early in the morning as it applies to pitchers? Shouldn't these weight sessions/workouts be done after practice or pitching or should the pitcher rest after pitching? I know the SF Giants' strength and conditioning guy brings in relief pitchers right after they come out of a game and puts them through a workout. I don't know if he does that with starters too. Thanks for your input.

Sorry I missed this. I usually check this on my phone so sometimes I miss pieces of the thread. Anyway all of our bullpen pitchers lifted 3-4x per week in season. With that said if I knew somebody was unavailable for the night we work them harder. If I knew a picture was going to go extended innings that night out of the pen because the starter was on short pitch counts I would save a lighter work out for them that day and hit them harder the next day. If you have the ability to lift in the morning it should have minimal to no impact on afternoon performance due to the amount of rest that is present. In addition in season training volume is typically lower than off-season which further supports the claim that lifting early in The day would not have much effect on pitching performance. For starters we never left them on game day but hit them hard for the three days after. This too is adjusted based on time of season usually leading to the day after start being a swim day.I hope that helps and gives you some insight. If you train them to be what you want them to be, that is what they will become. This was always my philosophy and over time we built a great program and players  believed in everything we said.

"Pro guys would be discouraged of this and many have realized the negative of it on their own as a result of an injured shoulder, wrist, and or hand."

No disrespect intended, Dana, but pro guys are discouraged by MLB organizations from doing all sorts of things that would benefit them. And the inverse is true too, that many MLB organizations use training ideas and techniques with no transfer to performance at all.  For the life of me, I can't understand why there's still a video on Youtube of a strength coach working with Hunter Pence doing squats on a Smith Machine.

Heavy bag drills can be used in a variety of ways to train young pitchers and hitters. Not talking about going three minutes rounds, throwing combos, and dancing. I'm talking about purposeful drilling using rep/set construction.  For example, when working with a cross hitting kid (Throws right/Bats left), I found that teaching him how to throw a low hooking cross with his left while standing southpaw was a great cue for maintaining a solid top hand. Top hand can be a problem for these types of hitters. 

And don't get me started on the over half of MLB that discourage something as simple as long toss exceeding 120 feet during the season.

Hey Dana!  Thanks for your contribution to the board.

Just some follow up.  (seems like my old post/question didn't migrate to new format so quick refresher)  14 yo son, player, but good success as a pitcher.  Was looking for a trainer in Houston area, you recommended Fairchild Sports Performance.  A little too far at this stage, but will consider.  I am meeting with Danny Arnold at Plex Athletics next week for a "consultation/assessment".  Curious if you have heard of him?  He trains mostly pro / college football players, but athletes for all sports.  At a minimum I want my son trained to do some basic lifts that will strengthen his lower half.  But definitely looking forward to hearing Danny's views on training an athlete.  And it's only 10 min from the house!

http://www.plexathlete.com/#!clients/c249g

I will post a follow up in a month or so.

Thanks again

got it. I do not know him. I figured Ben would be a good option due to his baseball focus. Andy Pettitte and his boys train with him now and have had great results. Keep me updated.

@CoachCavaleaML posted:

Hey Guys- DANA CAVALEA here- if you have any questions in regards to baseball strength and conditioning please feel free to ask any questions! I have spend the past 15 years in MLB and am happy to help you improve. Any questions- please feel free to ask. I will do my best to search topic threads and give you my input. I will give you straight answers from a Professional Perspective. My motivation is based on seeing a lot of poor advice being given to youth athletes and their families by guys that have minimal to no experience in the world of professional coaching. I look forward to helping you TRAIN LIKE A PRO.

Hi Coach, My son is a 2024 Catcher.  He needs a weight training/workout program  to increase strength and speed.  We are in NC--30 miles east of Charlotte.  I was hoping that you could provide a simple weight training/workout schedule that he could do at home (we have bands, bench, weights, BOSU ball, --also bike, elliptical, and BowFlex--but those are 3 are probably useless for this purpose).  I can get medicine balls (just watched Cressey's videos) and do not yet have a squat bar--but we can get those.  Also a recommendation of a gym/trainer in our area that would understand baseball would be great.  Thanks!