July 28, 2025 • 20 mins
In this solo episode, Brett Graves goes all in on answering the question: “What is the P.C.D.L.?”
As the founder of the Premier Collegiate Development League, Brett shares the vision behind creating a league built for the players. He breaks down:
⚾ Why he started the PCDL
🎯 The goals of the league
🚧 The gap it fills in collegiate summer development
📈 How it’s helping athletes sharpen their skills in a competitive, consistent, and high-level environment
If you’ve ever wondered what makes the PCDL different — this is the episode to watch.
🔔 Subscribe to @YouthBaseballMidwest for more player-focused conversations, insight, and stories from the diamond.
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As the founder of the Premier Collegiate Development League, Brett shares the vision behind creating a league built for the players. He breaks down:
⚾ Why he started the PCDL
🎯 The goals of the league
🚧 The gap it fills in collegiate summer development
📈 How it’s helping athletes sharpen their skills in a competitive, consistent, and high-level environment
If you’ve ever wondered what makes the PCDL different — this is the episode to watch.
🔔 Subscribe to @YouthBaseballMidwest for more player-focused conversations, insight, and stories from the diamond.
SUBSCRIBE, LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE
Check out our sponsor's pages!
Powered by Game 7 Baseball: https://www.game7baseball.com
Get all your Gear at Prime Sports Midwest https://www.primesportsmw.com
Follow Youth Baseball Midwest
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/youthbaseballmidwest
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YouthBaseballMidwest
X/Twitter: Youth Baseball Midwest (@YBM_cast) / X (twitter.com)
Website: https://www.youthbaseballmidwest.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
What's going on everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome back, Thank you for checking out this episode of
the Keep Climbing Podcast. Back again today the PCDL at
Carshield Field here.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
And and you know it's July.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
We're working through the tail end really of this development
window for a ton of players, really, really everybody except
for professional players. You know, You've got all the way
down the youth right, You've got youth guys pretty much
wrapping up if they haven't wrapped up their seasons already.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
You've got high school guys.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
You know that might go into the to the little
bit of August here with some other events and things
they're going to. Uh, these college guys all got to
be back on campus, you know, by the second or
third week of August. You know, So this last little
bit of this development window, I've been jokingly saying to
them all the last light week or so, like these
are the couple of weeks that separate the men from
the boys. Everybody's out here tired, you know. Everybody's out
(00:56):
here been playing since February, been training even before that,
you know, and I think as as people start to
get you know, tired of fatigue sets in, uh, execution
starts to you know, get a little bit more complex.
You know, I had some coaches maybe during that time
frame for me, you know, just to express how important
it is to continue taking care of your body. Uh,
you know, what some of the workouts or training or
(01:18):
whatever looks like during this time frame, especially if you
are feeling more fatigued and you've had you have accumulated
a bunch of reps and at bats and innings you know,
throughout the spring, early parts of the summer, that you know,
starts to become really important. Uh, you know, to understand
maybe how to how to transition or taper some of
those things, how to uh, you know, just continue to
(01:39):
take care of your body that it's not always gas
pedal down, you know. And and and I think that's
probably one one very important thing to to recognize is
that understanding workload management comes with a certain understanding of
recovery cycles too.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
You know that that you got two different types of
players really. You know, I always say you got players
you kind of got to kick in the butt, you
got to make them go, and you got players that
you got to pull back the rains. So like this
time of year, the guys that you got to pull
back the rains on really want them to understand, you know,
what this looks like throughout this time frame, so we
don't kind of run ourselves into fatigue issues here to
the back half, backside of this season, this development window.
(02:19):
You know, like I said today's video, this topic, what
I really wanted to talk about, you know, was the
structure of our league here, why we do it, where
it came from some different aspects.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Like that that you know, this league, the pc.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
DL stands for the Premiere Collegiate Development League, okay, and
for us, it's eighteen you committed high school seniors through
all the way through anybody that has college eligibility left.
And you know, our oldest player in the league right
now is twenty three years old.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
So it's got a wide variance there of different demographics.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
People here for all sorts of different reasons.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
To be honest with you, you know, the eighteen you
guy getting his first taste of college experience, and I
think that can be really important too. You Know what
I tell those players is what a great way to
kind of knock the green off, if you will, before
you get on a college campus, because from the minute
you get on a college campus, whether you like it
or not, you're being evaluated. So you get to kind
of like get your feet wet in here a little
(03:18):
bit and not be evaluated.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Obviously.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
You know, everybody here from a very genuine place just
wants to help you get better. And I don't think
that that's not true, and the college you know, realm
college atmosphere, but certainly there's a level of being evaluated
once you get there too, because they're always trying to
recruit somebody. You know, they're they're recruiting somebody to come in,
whether it's the compliment and add to what you're doing
(03:41):
on the field and with their team.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Or if that's ultimately to replace you.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And I think understanding that, you know, dynamic when you
come in is really important. So really good opportunity come
in here, knock the green off all the way to
the older guys that they've been through this a lot
of different ways, you know, like their journeys twisted and
turned and ultimately lead them here to take advantage of
this development window. And that's really why I started talking
(04:05):
about all that at the beginning of this episode, you know,
is that the structure of this league was designed to
emulate what a college fall for the most part looks like.
And there's definitely some college experiences where you'll play more
of a college schedule in the fall, you know, but
even then there's there's always less games. It's really not
(04:26):
the same atmosphere as the spring will be. And you know,
my time at the Zoo, this is exactly what we
would do. We would play a three game series every
single week. Right, So so for the pcdo we play
all Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and you know, the other
days of the week are spent, you know, working on
development things that you need to work on. Right, everybody
(04:48):
that comes to the league gets an assessment, gets a
strength assessment. If they're pitchers, they get a pitching assessment.
If they're doing the hitting program, they get a hitting assessment.
They really identify within their game from a performance standpoint,
what they need to work on, so that we can
really balance within the game schedule, what types of things
and tools that we need to continue.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
To build to be successful at their.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Level or the next level they're wanting to get to,
and then balance that with actually applying it on the field,
because those two things can be very different. You know,
our goals never to to you know build you know
bullpen heroes or you know cage you know, batting practice heroes.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
It's all about how we apply it to the game.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
You know, our our core values, our core pillars for
P three is definitely assess, prescribe, train, and then win.
And I really harp on that win portion of it
because I think, especially in the facility atmosphere, it can
get really lost sometimes that you know, our goal is
not for them to throw their best bullpen in the facility,
(05:48):
you know, the I tell guys all the time, if
we do that, then we did something wrong.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
You know, like your your best.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Outing should come out on the field late in the
year when it matters and actually results, you know, in
in in wins and in success and in hopefully the
accomplishment of that next opportunity that you're seeking.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
So the game format is like that totally on purpose
actually to control the competitive.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Reps of all of this.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I describe to people, you know, the you know development journey.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
If you think about it in like a pie chart.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
You know, certainly the different sections of the pie ebb
and flow based off of what calendar month of the
year that we're in, you know, but but sometimes they
can be way too consumed by certain sections. Competitive reps
is an important section of that. You know, your your
your training and your you know, weightlifting in your arm
care and your bullpens is an important, you know section
(06:44):
of that. Your sleep and recovery and nutrition is all
very important sections of that. And as many months as
we can keep that in a very even sections, the better, Right,
And so go back to that experience at the zoo
that I have and and you know, this isn't this
isn't specific to Missoo or anywhere. This is what it
looks like at upper level baseball to take advantage of
(07:06):
as many months of development as you can. Right, You've
got three days of really high competitive, you know, experiences
and environments and reps like this, and then you've got
three to four other days that you're doing you know,
very high intensity performance objectives you know, back in the gym,
back in the weight room, back in you know, back
(07:26):
in the lab, if you will, and you know, balancing
all that as extremely critical to take the biggest strides
you can, you know, because also at the end of
the day, we're in Missouri, we live in a cold
weather state that you know, we can't play games in
December outside in January and February, and balancing that, you know,
balancing the the you know, big picture workload throughout the
(07:50):
whole year along with you know, kind of balancing what
it looks like day to day, week to week, month
to month, and trying to keep the the development pie
chart there as balance as we can is your best
way to balance building the tools and your engine that
you need to be successful at your current level and
the level that you you know, strive to get to,
(08:12):
along with still learning how to apply those things in
a game like setting. You know, that become very important
and one of my biggest messages to these guys. I
say it every single year on opening day that look
this this you know, train and play format. Okay, that's
what we've called it, you know, because I wanted to
kind of put some branding or some marketing out about
(08:33):
you know what it is. I think when you say
train and play, you understand that it should be kind
of a fifty to fifty deal. There should be even
you know, and I think too often we're probably too
heavy on the train side over too heavy on the
play side, right, I tell all these guys on opening
day that this format only works if you do.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
And what I mean by that is that if you're
not bought in.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
To the other three days or four days being just
as important as the first three days of your week, then.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
It won't work. Then it won't work, you know.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
And and that's my message to them to really hopefully
set the tone coming into the summer, you know that
that these three days are just as important as the
next three days or four days, if you will, so
that they can start to kind of wrap their head
around like every single rep is extremely important.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I think at the end of the day. That's that's
the big picture message that.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Every single rep that we have, you know, you're either
getting better or you're getting worse.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
There's really no stay in the same.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
And then you know, truthfully, like if you are doing
that and stay in the same, the fact of the
matter is that somebody out there is taking advantage of
those reps and will ultimately start to kind of pass
you up. So if you're not getting better, then then
you're probably getting worse or you're at least getting passed up.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Okay, So you know that format was.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Very intentional, It's very intentional here, but it's also very
prominent across upper levels of baseball that you know, even
in through pro ball and different different things like that,
they're they're finding constant ways to to balance that to hopefully,
you know, get these players in the best position possible,
you know, going into you know, their next season or whatever,
(10:07):
preparing them for opportunities and environments that are kind of
down the road for them.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
So that's the biggest thing with this format.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
You know, my biggest message saw all these players, you know,
in this schedule is something.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
That is very individual.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I think you know, through this, through the training environment
in this for us, but the players all need to
figure out, you know, what it is.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
They need to get better.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
At, they need to have goals, they all have their
own injury history. You know, what we try to do
from a training format standpoint is assess them early on,
help them figure out where they're at, where they want
to go, and help them balance a schedule so that
they can maximize those opportunities.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
So, so you know, the back half of this week,
you know, I'll kind of give you two different examples
maybe what it looks like for a position player, what
it looks like for a picture the pitchers that are
out here. The only day that they're even here at
the field is the day that they're pitching the game.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
So all those other days, you know, they're back.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
At the facility accomplishing their development objectives, going through their routines,
preparing for their bullpens. And what that does from a
workload management standpoint, that that none of these guys out
here are throwing you know, you know, big, big like
high volume innings and pitch counts out here. And that's
(11:24):
on purpose too, so that we can get game reps.
But then on the back half of the week, we
still have enough energy in the tank where you know,
on Friday, these guys that pitch today can still go
on Friday and still have a very you know intense
training session, whether that be in the gym, on the mound,
whatever have you. That you know, when when you have
(11:45):
really high, you know, volumes on a given day, you know,
even by Friday, I'm still in like a recovery mode,
you know, for me as a pitcher that you know,
by Friday, I'm still probably not ready to rev the
engine all the way up. It's more of a you know,
midweek bullpen side session touch and feel if you will,
you know, if I'm throwing you know, four and five
(12:06):
and six and maybe seven innings of a start, and
I think within that you really got to understand maybe
who you are, you know, because if you're somebody that
is in this environment and you know at this stage
of your career and your goal, you got the tools
maybe to be successful at that level or you know,
make it to the next level already, then you probably
(12:27):
do need to go out and learn how to turn
the lineup over three times, and you know, learn what
it takes to like really pitch fatigue like that at
the end of a baseball game, you know, and there's
plenty of other leagues out there for you to accomplish that.
You know, this this format is really to help balance that.
And in theory, this this game day for them will
always be the highest intensity day of the week because
(12:49):
you just can't replace the adrenaline and the feeling that
comes with being out on the mound and having a
hitter in there, having an umpire in there and it
be in go time if you will, you know. But
but ultimately to get them a little bit closer to
like two medium days a week, uh too, moderate intensity
intensity days a week mainly just so that you don't
(13:10):
burn up all the energy that you have to give
on a given week, you know, on one particular day. Right,
So so coming back like later in the week, they'll
be able to really go through, uh, you know, some
days and objectives of things to ultimately help you know,
build up their whole engine. You know, everybody, everybody that
comes with us that's a picture wants to throw harder.
And even if they already throw really really hard uh,
(13:32):
you know, you jokingly sometimes ask them like would you
like to throw two miles and hour miles an hour harder?
Everybody says yes, even if they throw ninety.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Seven you know.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
So now those those goals definitely change if you've already
got you know, a higher velocity that that you know,
you can sustain for a long time, you know.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
But but at the.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
End of the day, like the the energy level, the
intensity level in this format really helps them control that
and balance you know, the the beginning of the week
objectives versus the end of the week object you know.
And then as far as the position players are concerned,
you know, at bats are extremely important in this game,
and accumulating enough at bats. To see enough pitches, live pitches,
(14:11):
especially from pitchers you know, at your particular level, is
extremely important, you know, and our guys do a really
good job of making sure that guys are getting enough
at bats, you know. But there's still plenty of things,
you know, on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday and even Sunday,
you know, training schedule that all the position players can
work through some and you know, from a defensive standpoint,
they're usually a little bit i'm gonna say smaller, but
(14:35):
I think what I mean by that is a little
bit more fundamental, you know, of those reps and experiences
to work through some some short hops, to work through
some ground balls, that works through some things in the cage.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
You know that are.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Probably a little bit more routine based and probably a
little bit more like finer nuance of the skills side
of things, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
But the biggest correlations that we have two.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Velocity or exit velocity or bat speed or whatever have you,
performance metrics that ultimately help you build the tools that
you need to be successful out on the field, And
like we've talked about in previous episodes, to continue to
get the opportunity at next levels, don't really happen on
the field. You know, those objectives really come from building
(15:23):
up your engine. And what I mean by that is
building up your physical capacity and tool sets.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
You know that that even on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
to have a more energy in the tank essentially to
have higher output, you know, strength and power and speed
development days on those days for those for the position
players is extremely important too, and I think that sometimes
that can kind of get lost, especially in the position
(15:49):
player sides of things. You know that our biggest correlations
to all of those performance metrics, like I said, whether
you're a pitcher or a hitter, all come from all
come from your physical capacity, right like what your strength
and and you know we're testing with force plates and
and you know biomechanics and things of that nature. I
(16:12):
jokingly tell people all the time that are our big
fancy biomechanics you know software that that people think is
to come in and break down your mechanics.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
And it is, it certainly is.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
But but even that tool shows us that the highest
correlating thing to the velocity that everybody wants to build
from that comes from body comp body mass, body size,
and ultimately we all know you can't really affect you know,
how tall you are. Your your genetics dictate that, but
every single one of us can dictate, you know, what
(16:45):
our body mass looks like. And I think, uh, you know,
not not just to overall get as big as you can,
because there's a balance there. There's definitely a nonlinear kind
of correlation there where you know, too big without being
able to move fast.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
You know, it's detrimental.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Obviously, then everybody playing baseball would look like a bodybuilder,
and that's just not true. You know, your ability to
be strong enough, you know, while still being explosive enough,
you know, to work through your movements. All these movements
out here are very you know, short burst explosive movements,
you know. So we try to take this calendar, in
this schedule to maximize this time for people through this
(17:18):
specific development window. And when I talk about this specific
development window, I really mean like once your spring ends
and like when school.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Starts back up, specifically for these college guys.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You know that that historically, you know, especially when I
was going through it, really your only two options were,
you know, go play in a league where you're going
to throw fifty plus innings, or get you know, tons
of at bats and there's games every day to staying
back on campus and you get zero zero competitive reps.
So it's meant to be a really good hybrid league,
(17:51):
you know. And I think one of the other big
critical things that you know, at least this format helps
our guys do is all the all the games are out.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Here, they're in the exact same location.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
It limits travel it you know, all the games are
at ten to eleven o'clock. The ability to not have
to travel and get really good sleep schedules, being able
to eat and hydrate in an appropriate way. You know,
what I said earlier about understanding the workload dynamics also
really comes through, you know, comes comes into play the
(18:24):
recovery cycles and understanding all that.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
So not only are.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
We helping control the you know, the training and the
output sections of that, but we're really helping control the
recovery cycles. That again, if guys are really maximizing it,
they're maximizing all those opportunities to build their tools while
still being able to apply it to the game out here.
You know, in a very obvious use case scenario is
(18:48):
whatever they're working on in the cage on Friday, they
get the opportunity on Monday to come out here and
actually roll it to the game and see how it's working,
you know, in see how you know, gets opportunity to
do it in a game before they get on campus again.
And now they're starting getting evaluated how they're doing it
on the field. And the same thing is true for
the pitchers, you know. So you know, if they're working
(19:09):
on a news slider grip or whatever have you in
a Friday bullpen session, you know, the next time that
they get to come out here and pitch, they get
to directly apply it to the game and see how
it works. Because ultimately, where they're going to be evaluated
when they get you know, to that next stage of
their career is going to be out there on the field.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
By their coaches, by the recruiters. So really really cool
time for us.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
It's it's I always tell people, it's the most fun
time of year for us. You know, a lot more
going out on the field and and real baseball of
you will.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
We all love it and enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
And I think this summer has been a really good
experience for us and hopefully for all the players too.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
So I hope that the teacher, sorry excuse me.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I hope that teaches you something about, you know, what
what your schedule looks like and can help you kind
of compare where you're at and where you're going what
you need to do through this, you know, cycle this
next time. But the some of the thoughts maybe that
are going through our head to help our guys continue
to develop, train and compete and ultimately win on the field,
(20:07):
you know, whether that's specifically you know, in in outs
or wins on the field, or if that's an opportunity
that they're seeking on down the road. So I really
appreciate you guys checking out this episode. If something doesn't
make sense, feel free to drop a comment to love to.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Talk more about it.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Got any ideas on future topics, You can drop one
down in the comments for us to blow like comments,
subscribe and thank you guys for checking out this episode
to keep comment podcast
What's going on everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome back, Thank you for checking out this episode of
the Keep Climbing Podcast. Back again today the PCDL at
Carshield Field here.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
And and you know it's July.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
We're working through the tail end really of this development
window for a ton of players, really, really everybody except
for professional players. You know, You've got all the way
down the youth right, You've got youth guys pretty much
wrapping up if they haven't wrapped up their seasons already.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
You've got high school guys.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
You know that might go into the to the little
bit of August here with some other events and things
they're going to. Uh, these college guys all got to
be back on campus, you know, by the second or
third week of August. You know, So this last little
bit of this development window, I've been jokingly saying to
them all the last light week or so, like these
are the couple of weeks that separate the men from
the boys. Everybody's out here tired, you know. Everybody's out
(00:56):
here been playing since February, been training even before that,
you know, and I think as as people start to
get you know, tired of fatigue sets in, uh, execution
starts to you know, get a little bit more complex.
You know, I had some coaches maybe during that time
frame for me, you know, just to express how important
it is to continue taking care of your body. Uh,
you know, what some of the workouts or training or
(01:18):
whatever looks like during this time frame, especially if you
are feeling more fatigued and you've had you have accumulated
a bunch of reps and at bats and innings you know,
throughout the spring, early parts of the summer, that you know,
starts to become really important. Uh, you know, to understand
maybe how to how to transition or taper some of
those things, how to uh, you know, just continue to
(01:39):
take care of your body that it's not always gas
pedal down, you know. And and and I think that's
probably one one very important thing to to recognize is
that understanding workload management comes with a certain understanding of
recovery cycles too.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
You know that that you got two different types of
players really. You know, I always say you got players
you kind of got to kick in the butt, you
got to make them go, and you got players that
you got to pull back the rains. So like this
time of year, the guys that you got to pull
back the rains on really want them to understand, you know,
what this looks like throughout this time frame, so we
don't kind of run ourselves into fatigue issues here to
the back half, backside of this season, this development window.
(02:19):
You know, like I said today's video, this topic, what
I really wanted to talk about, you know, was the
structure of our league here, why we do it, where
it came from some different aspects.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Like that that you know, this league, the pc.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
DL stands for the Premiere Collegiate Development League, okay, and
for us, it's eighteen you committed high school seniors through
all the way through anybody that has college eligibility left.
And you know, our oldest player in the league right
now is twenty three years old.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
So it's got a wide variance there of different demographics.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
People here for all sorts of different reasons.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
To be honest with you, you know, the eighteen you
guy getting his first taste of college experience, and I
think that can be really important too. You Know what
I tell those players is what a great way to
kind of knock the green off, if you will, before
you get on a college campus, because from the minute
you get on a college campus, whether you like it
or not, you're being evaluated. So you get to kind
of like get your feet wet in here a little
(03:18):
bit and not be evaluated.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Obviously.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
You know, everybody here from a very genuine place just
wants to help you get better. And I don't think
that that's not true, and the college you know, realm
college atmosphere, but certainly there's a level of being evaluated
once you get there too, because they're always trying to
recruit somebody. You know, they're they're recruiting somebody to come in,
whether it's the compliment and add to what you're doing
(03:41):
on the field and with their team.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Or if that's ultimately to replace you.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And I think understanding that, you know, dynamic when you
come in is really important. So really good opportunity come
in here, knock the green off all the way to
the older guys that they've been through this a lot
of different ways, you know, like their journeys twisted and
turned and ultimately lead them here to take advantage of
this development window. And that's really why I started talking
(04:05):
about all that at the beginning of this episode, you know,
is that the structure of this league was designed to
emulate what a college fall for the most part looks like.
And there's definitely some college experiences where you'll play more
of a college schedule in the fall, you know, but
even then there's there's always less games. It's really not
(04:26):
the same atmosphere as the spring will be. And you know,
my time at the Zoo, this is exactly what we
would do. We would play a three game series every
single week. Right, So so for the pcdo we play
all Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and you know, the other
days of the week are spent, you know, working on
development things that you need to work on. Right, everybody
(04:48):
that comes to the league gets an assessment, gets a
strength assessment. If they're pitchers, they get a pitching assessment.
If they're doing the hitting program, they get a hitting assessment.
They really identify within their game from a performance standpoint,
what they need to work on, so that we can
really balance within the game schedule, what types of things
and tools that we need to continue.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
To build to be successful at their.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Level or the next level they're wanting to get to,
and then balance that with actually applying it on the field,
because those two things can be very different. You know,
our goals never to to you know build you know
bullpen heroes or you know cage you know, batting practice heroes.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
It's all about how we apply it to the game.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
You know, our our core values, our core pillars for
P three is definitely assess, prescribe, train, and then win.
And I really harp on that win portion of it
because I think, especially in the facility atmosphere, it can
get really lost sometimes that you know, our goal is
not for them to throw their best bullpen in the facility,
(05:48):
you know, the I tell guys all the time, if
we do that, then we did something wrong.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
You know, like your your best.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Outing should come out on the field late in the
year when it matters and actually results, you know, in
in in wins and in success and in hopefully the
accomplishment of that next opportunity that you're seeking.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
You know.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
So the game format is like that totally on purpose
actually to control the competitive.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Reps of all of this.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I describe to people, you know, the you know development journey.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
If you think about it in like a pie chart.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
You know, certainly the different sections of the pie ebb
and flow based off of what calendar month of the
year that we're in, you know, but but sometimes they
can be way too consumed by certain sections. Competitive reps
is an important section of that. You know, your your
your training and your you know, weightlifting in your arm
care and your bullpens is an important, you know section
(06:44):
of that. Your sleep and recovery and nutrition is all
very important sections of that. And as many months as
we can keep that in a very even sections, the better, Right,
And so go back to that experience at the zoo
that I have and and you know, this isn't this
isn't specific to Missoo or anywhere. This is what it
looks like at upper level baseball to take advantage of
(07:06):
as many months of development as you can. Right, You've
got three days of really high competitive, you know, experiences
and environments and reps like this, and then you've got
three to four other days that you're doing you know,
very high intensity performance objectives you know, back in the gym,
back in the weight room, back in you know, back
(07:26):
in the lab, if you will, and you know, balancing
all that as extremely critical to take the biggest strides
you can, you know, because also at the end of
the day, we're in Missouri, we live in a cold
weather state that you know, we can't play games in
December outside in January and February, and balancing that, you know,
balancing the the you know, big picture workload throughout the
(07:50):
whole year along with you know, kind of balancing what
it looks like day to day, week to week, month
to month, and trying to keep the the development pie
chart there as balance as we can is your best
way to balance building the tools and your engine that
you need to be successful at your current level and
the level that you you know, strive to get to,
(08:12):
along with still learning how to apply those things in
a game like setting. You know, that become very important
and one of my biggest messages to these guys. I
say it every single year on opening day that look
this this you know, train and play format. Okay, that's
what we've called it, you know, because I wanted to
kind of put some branding or some marketing out about
(08:33):
you know what it is. I think when you say
train and play, you understand that it should be kind
of a fifty to fifty deal. There should be even
you know, and I think too often we're probably too
heavy on the train side over too heavy on the
play side, right, I tell all these guys on opening
day that this format only works if you do.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
And what I mean by that is that if you're
not bought in.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
To the other three days or four days being just
as important as the first three days of your week, then.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
It won't work. Then it won't work, you know.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
And and that's my message to them to really hopefully
set the tone coming into the summer, you know that
that these three days are just as important as the
next three days or four days, if you will, so
that they can start to kind of wrap their head
around like every single rep is extremely important.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I think at the end of the day. That's that's
the big picture message that.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Every single rep that we have, you know, you're either
getting better or you're getting worse.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
There's really no stay in the same.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
And then you know, truthfully, like if you are doing
that and stay in the same, the fact of the
matter is that somebody out there is taking advantage of
those reps and will ultimately start to kind of pass
you up. So if you're not getting better, then then
you're probably getting worse or you're at least getting passed up.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Okay, So you know that format was.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Very intentional, It's very intentional here, but it's also very
prominent across upper levels of baseball that you know, even
in through pro ball and different different things like that,
they're they're finding constant ways to to balance that to hopefully,
you know, get these players in the best position possible,
you know, going into you know, their next season or whatever,
(10:07):
preparing them for opportunities and environments that are kind of
down the road for them.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
So that's the biggest thing with this format.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
You know, my biggest message saw all these players, you know,
in this schedule is something.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
That is very individual.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
I think you know, through this, through the training environment
in this for us, but the players all need to
figure out, you know, what it is.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
They need to get better.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
At, they need to have goals, they all have their
own injury history. You know, what we try to do
from a training format standpoint is assess them early on,
help them figure out where they're at, where they want
to go, and help them balance a schedule so that
they can maximize those opportunities.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Right.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
So, so you know, the back half of this week,
you know, I'll kind of give you two different examples
maybe what it looks like for a position player, what
it looks like for a picture the pitchers that are
out here. The only day that they're even here at
the field is the day that they're pitching the game.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
So all those other days, you know, they're back.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
At the facility accomplishing their development objectives, going through their routines,
preparing for their bullpens. And what that does from a
workload management standpoint, that that none of these guys out
here are throwing you know, you know, big, big like
high volume innings and pitch counts out here. And that's
(11:24):
on purpose too, so that we can get game reps.
But then on the back half of the week, we
still have enough energy in the tank where you know,
on Friday, these guys that pitch today can still go
on Friday and still have a very you know intense
training session, whether that be in the gym, on the mound,
whatever have you. That you know, when when you have
(11:45):
really high, you know, volumes on a given day, you know,
even by Friday, I'm still in like a recovery mode,
you know, for me as a pitcher that you know,
by Friday, I'm still probably not ready to rev the
engine all the way up. It's more of a you know,
midweek bullpen side session touch and feel if you will,
you know, if I'm throwing you know, four and five
(12:06):
and six and maybe seven innings of a start, and
I think within that you really got to understand maybe
who you are, you know, because if you're somebody that
is in this environment and you know at this stage
of your career and your goal, you got the tools
maybe to be successful at that level or you know,
make it to the next level already, then you probably
(12:27):
do need to go out and learn how to turn
the lineup over three times, and you know, learn what
it takes to like really pitch fatigue like that at
the end of a baseball game, you know, and there's
plenty of other leagues out there for you to accomplish that.
You know, this this format is really to help balance that.
And in theory, this this game day for them will
always be the highest intensity day of the week because
(12:49):
you just can't replace the adrenaline and the feeling that
comes with being out on the mound and having a
hitter in there, having an umpire in there and it
be in go time if you will, you know. But
but ultimately to get them a little bit closer to
like two medium days a week, uh too, moderate intensity
intensity days a week mainly just so that you don't
(13:10):
burn up all the energy that you have to give
on a given week, you know, on one particular day. Right,
So so coming back like later in the week, they'll
be able to really go through, uh, you know, some
days and objectives of things to ultimately help you know,
build up their whole engine. You know, everybody, everybody that
comes with us that's a picture wants to throw harder.
And even if they already throw really really hard uh,
(13:32):
you know, you jokingly sometimes ask them like would you
like to throw two miles and hour miles an hour harder?
Everybody says yes, even if they throw ninety.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Seven you know.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
So now those those goals definitely change if you've already
got you know, a higher velocity that that you know,
you can sustain for a long time, you know.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
But but at the.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
End of the day, like the the energy level, the
intensity level in this format really helps them control that
and balance you know, the the beginning of the week
objectives versus the end of the week object you know.
And then as far as the position players are concerned,
you know, at bats are extremely important in this game,
and accumulating enough at bats. To see enough pitches, live pitches,
(14:11):
especially from pitchers you know, at your particular level, is
extremely important, you know, and our guys do a really
good job of making sure that guys are getting enough
at bats, you know. But there's still plenty of things,
you know, on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday and even Sunday,
you know, training schedule that all the position players can
work through some and you know, from a defensive standpoint,
they're usually a little bit i'm gonna say smaller, but
(14:35):
I think what I mean by that is a little
bit more fundamental, you know, of those reps and experiences
to work through some some short hops, to work through
some ground balls, that works through some things in the cage.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
You know that are.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Probably a little bit more routine based and probably a
little bit more like finer nuance of the skills side
of things, you know.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
But the biggest correlations that we have two.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Velocity or exit velocity or bat speed or whatever have you,
performance metrics that ultimately help you build the tools that
you need to be successful out on the field, And
like we've talked about in previous episodes, to continue to
get the opportunity at next levels, don't really happen on
the field. You know, those objectives really come from building
(15:23):
up your engine. And what I mean by that is
building up your physical capacity and tool sets.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
You know that that even on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
to have a more energy in the tank essentially to
have higher output, you know, strength and power and speed
development days on those days for those for the position
players is extremely important too, and I think that sometimes
that can kind of get lost, especially in the position
(15:49):
player sides of things. You know that our biggest correlations
to all of those performance metrics, like I said, whether
you're a pitcher or a hitter, all come from all
come from your physical capacity, right like what your strength
and and you know we're testing with force plates and
and you know biomechanics and things of that nature. I
(16:12):
jokingly tell people all the time that are our big
fancy biomechanics you know software that that people think is
to come in and break down your mechanics.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
And it is, it certainly is.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
But but even that tool shows us that the highest
correlating thing to the velocity that everybody wants to build
from that comes from body comp body mass, body size,
and ultimately we all know you can't really affect you know,
how tall you are. Your your genetics dictate that, but
every single one of us can dictate, you know, what
(16:45):
our body mass looks like. And I think, uh, you know,
not not just to overall get as big as you can,
because there's a balance there. There's definitely a nonlinear kind
of correlation there where you know, too big without being
able to move fast.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
You know, it's detrimental.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Obviously, then everybody playing baseball would look like a bodybuilder,
and that's just not true. You know, your ability to
be strong enough, you know, while still being explosive enough,
you know, to work through your movements. All these movements
out here are very you know, short burst explosive movements,
you know. So we try to take this calendar, in
this schedule to maximize this time for people through this
(17:18):
specific development window. And when I talk about this specific
development window, I really mean like once your spring ends
and like when school.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Starts back up, specifically for these college guys.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You know that that historically, you know, especially when I
was going through it, really your only two options were,
you know, go play in a league where you're going
to throw fifty plus innings, or get you know, tons
of at bats and there's games every day to staying
back on campus and you get zero zero competitive reps.
So it's meant to be a really good hybrid league,
(17:51):
you know. And I think one of the other big
critical things that you know, at least this format helps
our guys do is all the all the games are out.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Here, they're in the exact same location.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
It limits travel it you know, all the games are
at ten to eleven o'clock. The ability to not have
to travel and get really good sleep schedules, being able
to eat and hydrate in an appropriate way. You know,
what I said earlier about understanding the workload dynamics also
really comes through, you know, comes comes into play the
(18:24):
recovery cycles and understanding all that.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
So not only are.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
We helping control the you know, the training and the
output sections of that, but we're really helping control the
recovery cycles. That again, if guys are really maximizing it,
they're maximizing all those opportunities to build their tools while
still being able to apply it to the game out here.
You know, in a very obvious use case scenario is
(18:48):
whatever they're working on in the cage on Friday, they
get the opportunity on Monday to come out here and
actually roll it to the game and see how it's working,
you know, in see how you know, gets opportunity to
do it in a game before they get on campus again.
And now they're starting getting evaluated how they're doing it
on the field. And the same thing is true for
the pitchers, you know. So you know, if they're working
(19:09):
on a news slider grip or whatever have you in
a Friday bullpen session, you know, the next time that
they get to come out here and pitch, they get
to directly apply it to the game and see how
it works. Because ultimately, where they're going to be evaluated
when they get you know, to that next stage of
their career is going to be out there on the field.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
By their coaches, by the recruiters. So really really cool
time for us.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
It's it's I always tell people, it's the most fun
time of year for us. You know, a lot more
going out on the field and and real baseball of
you will.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
We all love it and enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
And I think this summer has been a really good
experience for us and hopefully for all the players too.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
So I hope that the teacher, sorry excuse me.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I hope that teaches you something about, you know, what
what your schedule looks like and can help you kind
of compare where you're at and where you're going what
you need to do through this, you know, cycle this
next time. But the some of the thoughts maybe that
are going through our head to help our guys continue
to develop, train and compete and ultimately win on the field,
(20:07):
you know, whether that's specifically you know, in in outs
or wins on the field, or if that's an opportunity
that they're seeking on down the road. So I really
appreciate you guys checking out this episode. If something doesn't
make sense, feel free to drop a comment to love to.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Talk more about it.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Got any ideas on future topics, You can drop one
down in the comments for us to blow like comments,
subscribe and thank you guys for checking out this episode
to keep comment podcast
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