As I covered in Part 2, reviewing the videos of him pitching the day prior he reacted with humility. He set aside the excuses that he had, and he was ready to change and ready to learn.
The other main emotion he had though, was anger. Because in that moment of seeing himself throwing such pathetic velocity as a High School Senior, he realized that everything he’d done in the prior 3 years was a waste.
That was the thing: he had been working very hard the prior 3 years
He’d just been working very hard at all the wrong things
He’d been told running poles was good for him as a pitcher, so for 3 years at the end of practices he’d run poles
Not understanding whatsoever that baseball is NOT a lactic sport: it’s an alactic-anaerobic sport
So like so many low level baseball kids find out the hard way, all his jogging only served to make him Type 1 fiber, slow twitch, low force output dominant.
He’d also faithfully gone to physical therapy workouts for 3 years. Placed in an unchallenging environment and performing workouts that were indistinguishable from what an elderly person would do, he got no results.
He was thin, lacked muscle and power, and had zero explosive strength
And as icing on the cake, his elbow hurt all the time, despite being at a place that’s supposed to deal directly with aches pains and injuries.
3 years of hard work: 74-76mph, elbow pain and rooted to the bench
That’s the thing. There are many baseball kids who are NOT frauds. They have real drive, and they work very hard
But they’re often working hard at all the wrong things.
Working hard is assumed
But you have to work hard at the RIGHT things- you have to work SMART
-Fenske
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