Jake Klein

If you are a healthy pitcher and your plan is to completely shut down from throwing for a month or two this winter to "rest" your arm... you are doing yourself a disservice. I hear this VERY often that coaches are prescribing 5-8 week shutdowns because they want their guys to be healthy and ready for the season. If you take a month or two off of throwing and then expect to get ready for high intent/heavy volume in 3-6 weeks of throwing... you are putting your body in a bad position from both a health perspective and a quality of performance perspective. NO THROW periods lasting longer than 2-3 weeks often have diminishing returns.. particularly when you have a season that is rapidly approaching. If you are mapping out your throwing shutdown based on some random date that your fall season happens to end or that your last showcase camp is scheduled for... Try this instead ⬇️ Work with the end in mind. Set your target date for return to competition, set your anticipated volume, and work backwards from there. For example... if I need to be ready for 50-70 pitches by February 13th, then I am going to build my program backwards from February 13th to make sure my volume in each week leading up to that is actually preparing me to be ready. Low intent throwing > no throw in most situations IMO. Keep your engine oiled and don't let it sit for too long without taking it on a drive. Hitters hit, and throwers throw!