Wow. What a year.
While a ton happened, I'm going to take the time here to highlight some of the most noteworthy milestones and accomplishments of 2021.
Last year we added 11 new members to the Tread staff, cranked out tons of content, started a newsletter, and added 9 MLB players to our remote training roster. Not a shabby year.
At the end of that post I wrote that our main goal for 2021 was to launch an in-house training offering in addition to the remote training service, continue growing the Tread team, launch an internship, continue cranking out a large amount of content and partner with more colleges & organizations.
While we accomplished all of these goals, this was just the tip of the iceberg.
So what happened in 2021, and what does 2022 have in store for Tread? Here's an overview.
1. We added 20 new members to the Tread team.
If you couldn't tell from looking at our team page or the constant hiring posts on social media, we've been adding members to our team at a rapid pace.
It's a fun environment when virtually every month we have one or two new members joining the team here in Charlotte, NC.
There's excitement towards the collective mission of Tread, and many of these new faces have stepped up to the plate in a big way for us in 2021.
As we reiterate to our team, our company mission is simple: Tread exists to help athletes re-write their stories.
Simplifying and articulating this mission has allowed us to more clearly connect with talent from around the country, establish if there are shared values and help show them the path to a long term career at Tread.
“Tread exists to help athletes re-write their stories.“
By the way, we're still looking for a Content Specialist, Baseball Operations Assistant, Business Associate and Performance Coach, so check those out if you're interested in applying.
Performance Staff
We added 12 performance coaches to our staff, including Turner Givens, Matt Marsili, Cory Wilder, Zach Mort, Hunter Townsend, Jason Foster, Tanner Pruett, Ryan Kirk, Chase Cunningham, Scott Firth, Lucas Still and Austin Roark.
Check out their bios, as they all have some unique stories and bring a wide range of expertise and personalities to Tread's athlete experience.
We also hired Nancy Newell as our Director of Performance, and I can't say enough about the impact she's had from the very start. Most notably, she coordinated the official launch of Tread U, an internal education platform that we designed in order to quickly educate & train up new hires on all things performance.
If you could major in “Pitching Development” in college, you would have taken that major. So would I.
That's what we're building with Tread U – dozens of courses and hundreds of modules to give our coaches an environment in which to learn and develop at an incredibly rapid rate. Nancy has been instrumental in spearheading this one-of-a-kind initiative.
Support Staff
Jake McSteen joined Tread as our Internal Operations Manager, former MLB pitcher Kyle Crockett was hired as a Business Associate, former remote athletes Michael Voveris and Chris Apecechea came on as Athlete Representatives, and Jamie Johnson joined us in facility operations.
Content Team
Apurba Apu joined us last January as a Content Specialist and has become one of the key individuals that allows such a high volume of content to make its way to our social media platforms on a weekly basis.
With a number of positions still looking to be filled for 2022, we're excited about what the future holds for Tread.
We firmly believe that the team we've assembled rivals anyone else in baseball, and look forward to the impact we can make over the coming years across thousands of high school, college and pro players.
2. We had 11 pitchers drafted and 10 free agent signs.
11 of our remote athletes were drafted and another 10 signed free agent deals in 2021. That's pretty freaking cool. (See our full list of signs & draft picks here).
All of this in a shortened 20-round MLB draft.
We also had several of our pros debut this year, including Will Vest, Paul Campbell, Brent Honeywell and Joe Ryan. Here's a look at the remote athletes who were drafted this year:
While first rounder and remote athlete Maddux Bruns was a noteworthy pick, how about this story on Rohan Handa, who I mentioned in last year's write-up?
He essentially took a gap year due to the pandemic, opted out of the 2021 season and was still drafted in the 5th round after impressing in the NECBL this summer throwing 97 mph. Something tells me this approach is only going to become more common.
Even Peter Gammons had something to say about this one:
Or what about remote athlete Clay Holmes, who had historically struggled through 2020 with the Pirates. He started working with us in the fall of 2020. His average sinker velocity went from 92.4 in 2020 to 96.1 in 2021 (and he sat 97-98 all postseason). He also had one of the highest ground ball rates in the MLB and was one of the best relievers in baseball since being traded to the Yankees in the second half.
Talk about nasty!
A few more stories I decided to highlight, as there are frankly quite a few to choose from (follow our social media accounts to catch them all):
- Jason Reynolds sitting mid 90's in bullpens after averaging 91.6 last year.
- William Saxton throwing upper 90's after sitting upper 80's prior.🔥
- Travis Kuhn gaining ~4 mph on his fastball and getting invited to the AZ Fall league
- Toren Herrick throwing mid 90's this fall after throwing low 90's this summer.
- Mason Kasprisin throwing 88-91 after being mid 80's a year ago.
- Remote athlete Asa Lacy hitting 100 mph for the first time during the AZ Fall League
This list is just the tip of the iceberg, so make sure to follow our social media accounts for regular updates of many more athletes.
3. Dozens of MLB Pitchers joined Tread.
While hundreds of high school, college and pro players respectively began training remotely with Tread this year, there was a strong push from pros at the highest level – with more than two dozen current and former MLB pitchers joining us this fall.
Given how complex many of their issues are (with many of these guys having long injury histories, compensations, altered mechanics and more), this provides an opportunity to solve some of the most challenging cases out there.
We strive for our team to be the “problem-solvers” of the industry, and we're excited to continue refining our training methods and putting them to the test at the highest levels of baseball.
“We strive for our team to be the “problem-solvers” of the industry.”
Plus it's pretty cool when almost every in-house group this off-season has a few guys who throw 98+ mph. Here's a 97 mph rocker throw recently from Lane Ramsey (AAA, White Sox):👀
4. We doubled down on content for YouTube & Social Media
We cranked out 45 new YouTube videos in 2021, many of them 20-40 minutes long. When we do a topic, we like to go deep, but at the same time we have gotten feedback that shorter videos are more digestible by our viewers. We'll be mixing in some shorter videos in 2022 for those of you with ADHD as there seems to be a desire for this.
Speaking of content, here are some of the most viewed posts and videos from 2021:
Breakdowns:
- How Does Chase Petty Throw 100 MPH?
- The Evolution of Jacob DeGrom's Pitching Mechanics
- The Cuban Missile: Exploring the Dominance of Aroldis Chapman
- Shohei “Showtime” Ohtani | Mechanical Breakdown
- How Does Triston McKenzie throw 97 MPH at 6'5″ 165 lbs?
Q&A Videos
- Should Pitchers “Stay Back”?
- Why Don't My Pulldowns Transfer to the Mound?
- Customizing Your Pitching Mechanics : Hip Mobility
- Understanding the “Timing” of The Hinge
- Is Your Warm-Up Hurting Your Velocity?
- Designing a Throwing Program
- How To Throw An Efficient Bullpen
- Why Spin Rate Isn't THAT Important for Pitchers
Drills & Tips
- Top 7 Pitching Velocity Hacks to Try [Not Clickbait]
- Struggling to Throw Strikes? | 5 Tips to Improve Command in Pitchers
- Loading the Hinge: How to Improve Pelvic Loading
- The “Clevinger” Kettlebell Drill
- Fixing Your Lead Leg Block
5. We launched a Data Package Add-On to our Remote Coaching
This fall we officially added a data package to our offering.
This is primarily geared towards our pro athletes (as they have significantly more data available for analysis), but has also been extended to high school and college pitchers who have access to Trackman / Rapsodo data.
Pitchers now get a 25+ page data report with this package, but most importantly, we're able to devote the time to regularly breaking down and problem solving everything from pitch usage and outcomes to movement profiles and pitch design, to pitch grades, comps and more.
Here's an example of how powerful this data can be:
We determined that one of our pros had been using his best pitch (his curveball) less than 12% of the time!
We identified this when he came to us mid-season and with a simple tweak to his pitch usage, an adjustment to his approach, and a subtle mechanical tweak, he finished the year with an MLB post-season call-up.
He actually added several mph to his curveball and began generating strikeouts again even as his walk % decreased.
A few screenshots from the initial data report:
6. We opened Tread 2.0 🎉
What, you thought I wasn't going to save the biggest news for last?
After more than a year and a half of coordinating, and a very cramped and overflowing Tread 1.0, we finally opened new and improved Tread 2.0 this December.
A few shots we took last week (click to enlarge):
This private training facility in Charlotte, NC is 33,000 square feet and contains everything our athletes could need from a development standpoint.
- 3 motorized drop-down cages give us the ability to host live at bats
- A full 160 foot throwing lane
- A full-time in-house catcher
- Trackman & Rapsodo feedback
- High-speed video
- A state of the art weight room, with 17 racks and a suite of Keiser machines for Velocity-Based Training
- A 1:3 coach to athlete ratio
The space is far from complete, but it's already an electric atmosphere in here with high school, college, pro and MLB pitchers training side-by-side.
Here's a glimpse at Padres' prospect Jason Reynolds training at Tread 2.0:
While the space is exclusive to remote athletes at this time, feel free to reach out to express your interest in joining our athlete community.
Where are we headed for 2022?
What do we have in store for 2022? While there are some key partnerships, exciting projects and pending hires that we can't announce yet, here are a few goals we can discuss:
- We will be launching a marketing department at Tread. The goal here is to be able to spend more time on initiatives that share Tread with the world. We want to be able to highlight and tell our athlete's stories and give a window into what Tread is all about. We've built an incredible group of people and a vibrant culture – but many casual followers don't see that until they step foot in Tread 2.0. Our marketing division will change that.
- Continue to expand our in-house presence in Charlotte, NC. We seek to roughly triple the number of daily in-house athletes hosted at Tread 2.0 by winter of 2022, ensuring that all of our remote athletes have the opportunity – at some point throughout the year, to take advantage of this unique training experience.
- From a hiring standpoint, we're still looking for a Content Specialist, Baseball Operations Assistant, Business Associate and at least 3-4 more Performance Coaches in 2022, so check those out if you're interested in applying.
I also wanted to take the time to thank our team – and especially my partner and Co-founder Coan McAlpine for believing in the vision and kicking ass in 2021. Now it's time to double down on that mission in 2022.
Closing Thoughts
Are there any products, content or offerings you would like to see us add in 2022?
Let us know by shooting an email to [email protected].
We take your feedback seriously and incorporate as much of it as possible into our planning.
Here's to reaching your potential,
Ben Brewster
Athletes or coaches interested in remote one-on-one or team programming? Reach out via this application form.
