I was introduced to biomechanics at the age of 12 via an odd Christmas gift. A laminate poster of a New York Times article was the center of my curiosity for a number of years. This article featured Glenn Fleisig and the ASMI lab. From Christmas gift to wall decor that poster sat on my wall like an old rock band poster for my entire teenage existence.

Like many of you reading I was intrigued by the idea that someone out there was studying something in baseball that I knew very little about. The term "Sports Science" didn't even exist in my vocabulary yet but my mind was trying to comprehend the idea of it. It wasn't so much about what the poster said but more about how it looked that kept my attention. "Internal Rotation Velocity... psh it would be cool to have some nerd explain to me what that means one day but man look how cool does this look!" (probably me at 14 years old). 

I have a unique relationship and fascination with the topic of biomechanics. On one hand I have become intertwined with the practice of using biomechanics daily. From technology that I have developed (The KP Sleeve) to technology I have helped advise over the years (PitchAi), I firmly utilize the feedback of biomechanics daily for a various of helpful data. On the other hand, biomechanics and those claiming to teach from "research", in many ways derailed my career path costing me opportunity and maybe my dream.

There are a lot of gurus in the game today all claiming supreme rule of pitching philosophy 180 characters at a time via Twitter. Pitching drills have become less about process or system and more about clicks. Make it looks as odd as possible, as skill specific as possible, use a good filter with some flashy transitions and oh yes you can't forget to google what songs are trending on reels because other wise it just won't "reach".

You know what you won't see on social media? A kid doing a basic lunge... You know what in many cases a kid needs in order to improve performance? A basic lunge. We hide chaos and disorder behind "skill acquisition", we try to pass our own bias self collection of data as "research", we say here is a "biomechanics breakdown" but then proceed to only talk over a video. The industry is messed up and its hurting kids. The misleading nature of false narratives is causing kids to believe what they need is the click bait. I would know... I lived it. 

Quick story time:

I was 16 years old when I did a biomechanics evaluation for the first time. In nothing but my underwear and markers from head to toe I managed to touch 90 mph. Everyone was shocked. A well known coach at the time approached me and asked if I knew how hard I was throwing. After he told me the result he proceeded to inform me that if I didn't "fix my mechanics" and I kept throwing that hard that I would have Tommy John Surgery within 2 years. 

Now let's be clear. This coach didn't have a crystal ball. He didn't even get the chance to look at a report before he approached me. Using fear as a sales approach he was trying to get me to commit to training with him. He was asking for money I didn't have and driving fear or injury in a way I didn't understand. 

Sure enough within 2 years I was under the knife with Dr. James Andrews. 

 

A few months ago I faced a decision, pay someone to come in and completely redo our kitchen cabinets or do them myself. After a few hours diving through blogs and watching Youtube videos I built up the confidence that I could rebuild my cabinets on my own. Im not a cabinet expert but following a step by step process via the internet I was able to grab ideas I liked while customizing my cabinet build to my own desires over time. 

This is how this course should be viewed. I want to make it clear that this isn't the end all be all model for managing and implementing biomechanics but my hope is that it serves as the foundation to getting started on your journey. As you get comfortable following the process steps and understanding the basics of a biomechanics analysis you can begin to experiment with how you find the best results with your athletes.