Another year of the Slammers South Advanced Velocity Program (AVP) wrapped up recently and once again, across the board, everyone’s velocities are up. With Max Kuhns running point on the throwing side and Bailey Collins running point in the weight room, the AVP continues to thrive through a combination of optimal programming and continuity of experienced individuals.
The program was at capacity again this offseason as 88 participants came through the doors between October and the end of February to work on improving throwing velocity in a holistic way that focuses on both mechanics and building the athlete in the gym. The average velocity gain during the program was +3.9 mph. Multiple athletes gained over 10 mph on their previous highest recorded fastball (Owen Elser +13 mph and Ben Adams +10 mph).
AVP participants completed a Rebound Jump test using the Loden Sports Performance Lab App at the start and at the end of the program. This was done to track progress in the weight room – specifically, power output in the legs (more on that later). As you can see from the above chart, significant gains were made in the weight room as well.
Additionally, for the first time, a rotational med ball throw was incorporated into the AVP evaluation at both the beginning and the end of the program.
As we discussed in last year’s recap, power in rotation is a variable for throwing velocity. Athletes were tasked with throwing a 6 lb. med ball as far as they could. Distance was measured to the point where the ball landed.
Where Does Velocity Come From?
There are four primary variables for increasing velocity – in no particular order: the length of the athlete (height and wingspan, essentially), proper throwing mechanics (a good mover can efficiently use all they got), power in rotation, and power in the legs.
Performance Score
For any athlete’s that completed a Loden Sports evaluation, please reach out to Bailey Collins or Max Kuhns directly for your Performance Scores.
At Slammers, we measure progress across a number of key indicators in what we’re trying to improve. The Performance Score helps take this to another level. Our strength staff is well-versed in building programs that build stronger and healthier athletes and that translate into performance gains on field.
Objective data points create accountability for Slammers: are we programming to the best of our ability? – as well as for our athletes: am I showing up and working hard enough? We’re not guessing and we want our athletes to be educated on what ingredients contribute to their advancements on field.
While the Loden Score alone is a strong indicator for throwing velocity, the Performance Score is a bit more specific to rotational athletes as it combines both the jump power metric from the Loden Sports 3 Rebound Jumps test with how an athlete performs on their rotational med ball throw (from their dominant side). This new metric (0-1) gives an even stronger signal for expected velocity performance on-field for baseball (and softball) players.
Is it a surprise that Owen Elser’s Performance Score improved from .47 to .70 (+.23) and he had the largest increase in velocity? (+13 mph). His throwing velocity increased by over 3x greater than the average gain across the whole group (+3.9 mph) and his Performance Score increased by over 5x more than the average across the group (+.04). A key contributor to his massive gains? He went from being in 20th percentile in the med ball throw to the 65th percentile. Owen has never rotated as powerfully as he does right now.
How about Grant Shepardson who added 16 good lbs. during the program? Grant saw his Performance Score go from .59 to .83 (+.24) – the single highest gain in Performance Score across the whole program. He saw his 3 Rebound Jumps Power go from 53rd percentile to 95th percentile. Grant topped at 97 in February (up from a game-high 94.4 mph in Jupiter last fall). Grant has never had the lower-half power that he has right now.
When we break down, measure, and track the various ingredients that contribute to velocity, we realize that not every athlete needs the same thing to continue to improve. Our programs aren’t one-size fits all, cookie cutter, etc.
The Performance Score is a Pretty Good Indicator Huh?
If you are an athlete that is serious about goal-setting, the Performance Score is a good tool to use to track your gains. It is also a hard number that you can set your sights on if you have aspirations to be a high-level competitive collegiate baseball player or pro. See below for an all-time leaderboard (we just started this past fall) for all athletes that score .75 or higher.