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ATHLETE STORIES
The Sal Biasi Story:
Squeezing out velocity through a complete approach
Sal Biasi began training with us remotely after getting drafted in the 11th round of the 2017 draft. By all accounts he was near his genetic velocity limit, touching 96 miles per hour at 5'10” 225 lbs. He wasn't weak either – already deadlifting over 500 lbs – and his mechanics had no glaring issues either. In these cases, you generally won't find low-hanging fruit that leads to 5 or 7 mile per hour jumps in velocity. Instead, it's about screening for these smaller limiting factors, and the sum total of these minor improvements add up to small but significant gains.
This is the law of diminishing returns – where it takes exponentially more energy or effort to fight for each small improvement. But here's the kicker – those small percentage points are everything.
A couple miles per hour in this example is the difference between “great” and “elite” velocity. Averaging 92 miles per hour, topping 96 is fairly standard for a pro pitcher – but averaging 94 or 95 really begins to separate a prospect from the competition.
This is what happened with Sal. Here's some of what he focused on to squeeze out these small but significant improvements:
- Ankle mobility – Sal was missing dorsiflexion and pronation, causing energy transfer issues further up in his hips and torso. This helped him stay in his rear glute for longer, which translates to better velocity.
- Body composition – Sal was strong, but he carried a higher body fat percentage, holding a significant amount of weight in his upper arms, which slowed down his arm during acceleration. Our nutrition approach helped him quickly shed body fat while gaining strength.
- Intent / sequencing – He learned to apply full effort into each throw, while staying better sequenced. Shuffle step pulldowns helped him transfer the pattern to his delivery, while focusing on rotating down into landing. This transferred immediately to his mound work, as opposed to taking a 50 foot running start and losing his sequencing.
- Strength – while Sal improved his strength (while losing fat), our focus was more on power output and positional strength, training more rotational and lateral movements.
