Integrated Performance Blog

One of the most common questions athletes and parents are asking this time of year is: Should I play fall ball?

The short answer is – it depends. Fall can be an excellent opportunity for development, but it’s not the right move for everyone. Whether you’re a pitcher trying to add a new pitch, clean...

As the baseball season winds down, I always get the same question:

"What should I do now that the season is over?"

Totally fair question. The competitive grind has wrapped up, and a lot of athletes immediately start thinking about next season. The drive to keep improving is awesome –but let me be ...

 If you’re like most athletes right now, you’re starting to feel it. The grind of the season is real. You wake up sore, it takes longer to get loose, and by the end of practice, you’re wondering if your body’s just tired or if something more serious is going on.

This is one of the most common quest...

One of the most frustrating things you can experience as an athlete is getting injured and thinking your only option is to shut everything down. I get it. You’re told to rest, step away, and wait. But here’s the truth:

Completely shutting it down might be the worst thing you can do. 

Let me exp...

Let’s talk about one of the biggest mistakes I see baseball players make—especially during the season:

They stop strength training. 

And I get it. You’re trying to save energy for game day. You don’t want to risk being sore. You’re already dealing with long practices, tight schedules, and extra tr...

Let’s talk about something that catches a lot of athletes off guard: compensation patterns.

Your body is smart. When one area isn’t moving well—say, your hips or shoulders—it finds a way to keep you going. It “cheats” by making other areas work overtime. This might help you push through a game or a...

What does it take to throw gas? I’m talking about those heaters you see Ben Joyce throwing at 105+ mph. What do he and other baseball flamethrowers have in common?

They all move extremely efficiently. Not only is their movement clean, but they can also take that clean movement and put it in their p...

What is the main goal as a pitcher? To throw absolute fire, right?! We want to blaze it right past the hitter, don't even let him have a chance to get the bat off his back shoulder. If he does, the ball is already in the catcher's mitt. 

We also want to paint the corners. If for some reason the hit...

We want to hit bombs... like nukes! Every time we step up to the plate.

You ever get the feeling when you swing the bat that you just feel smooth. There is no point in your swing that feels as if there is a block that you have to push through before the rest of the swing is smooth?

That is the fee...

Pitching requires absolute perfect timing. We want to be able to load the back hip, take a long stride to produce as much force as we can. Transmit that force from our trunks, to our arms, and ultimately into the ball to produce the highest velocity possible. 

In order to have the perfect timing in...

The average length of a baseball inning is about 20 minutes. As a baseball pitcher, especially a starter, that means you have to maintain your performance for 140 minutes if you go 7 innings. 

In between innings is a great time to make sure that you can maintain that pitching performance for the le...

By Dr. Edwin Porras, PT, DPT, OCS and Dr. Nathan Denning PT, DPT, SCS, CSCS

Are you looking to prevent common baseball injuries?

Are you wondering how to improve performance as a baseball player? 

Well, what if you only needed to do three things to reach the highest level? 

What if that also m...