From 70 mph to 91 mph the Jason lee story

Phase 1: 70 mph to 78 mph: the drift

September ‘22 I had the great opportunity to meet and start working with Jason Lee. Only a Freshman at the time, JLee’s throwing velocity was relatively low, 68-70 mph, even for his age. Quickly we noticed that his first major inefficiency in his throwing motion was the position of his center of mass (COM) at peak leg lift. Using Jacob DeGrom as our base example, JLee quickly saw how he was moving in and out of peak leg lift compared to one of the best throwers of all time. Compare his day 1 video at 70 mph (top-red jersey) to him just a few weeks later topping out at 78 mph (bottom-blue shirt).

*67-69 mph Topped 70 mph

*74-76 mph Topped 78 mph

Our biggest cue or idea that clicked was getting him to think “belly button towards the catcher” as he picked up his front leg. To see his average velo go from 68-69 to 74-75 throughout his outings was also a positive outcome.

Phase 2: 78 mph to 81 mph: the brace

Our next goal after hitting 78 was to get to 80+ off the mound. This jump took a little bit longer than just a few weeks like the previous. After getting JLee’s COM moving forward, our next objective was to get him to move his lower half more efficiently. For us that meant getting him to rotate his pelvis into foot plant so that his belt buckle would be facing the catcher when his left foot hit the ground. If we could rotate into foot plant efficiently then we would create a greater impulse from the ground at ball release-commonly known as front leg bracing. Enter Nathan Eovaldi.

Eovaldi creates arguably the best brace in all of baseball! (Not too shabby throwing 102 mph) We used Eovaldi as someone for JLee to model his lower half after. Once he understood the concepts and what efficient lower half movement looks like, ENTER THE MEDBALLS!! For all the players I’ve worked with over the years, medicine balls have become synonymous with groans and thousands of reps, as we try to change how someone has moved their whole life. JLee tho put his head down and got to work with the medballs.

As you can see in the video above, his lower half movement and his front leg brace are drastically different than his day 1. His pelvis is actually rotating into foot plant, causing his front leg to brace at ball release and resulting in a much cleaner and much more powerful delivering of the ball. Once we instilled that movement pattern with the medball it was time to transfer it to a baseball. Through the use of other constraints, such as time, weight of the throwing implement and starting position, we got him throwing a baseball with a much improved lower half than day 1, resulting in him sitting 78-79 mph and topping out at 81 mph!

*78-79 mph Topped 81 mph

Phase 3: 81 mph to 84 mph: Arm action

From barely being able to touch 70 mph, to sitting 78 to 80 in games and touching 81, JLee had worked his ass off and was starting reap the rewards. With a greatly improved lower half, with the velocity jump to prove it, we then began looking at his upper half. JLee has always had above average layback (around 170-180 degrees-MLB avg ~ 170 degrees) yet was unable to maintain flip up behind his head when his front foot planted. This inefficiency led to his torso opening up way too soon and prevent any amount of disassociation and therefore velocity from being produced. Compared to DeGrom & Chapman, it might be a good idea to flip up behind your head if you want to throw ched.

*Topped 81 mph

Enter the pivot pick-off! We used a 450g plyo ball, about 15oz, in order to help him create a better position to pull from. As Brice Crider has stated “Heavier implements help you learn to get in better positions, and to organize yourself around the most optimal path of the implement, rather than the other way around. There’s a certain level of relaxation necessary to create the “pull” needed to throw overload implements well, because of how much more difficult it is to change its state of motion.”

https://www.criderperformance.com/blog/constraints-based-learning-heuristics-for-throwers

Using this principle, we constrained JLee into an opposite side forward leg position so that he had to use his upper half, and use it efficiently, in order to throw this 450g plyo ball, about 15oz, compared to a 5 oz baseball,

*Flipping up behind head-being able to “pull “from further back

After thousands, if not more, reps over time, his arm action drastically improved, leading to a more closed torso at foot plant, as well as more separation between his hips and his torso. Starting with the pivot pickoff, we then began to blend his throws to be more and more “pitching like” and slowly transitioned from flat ground to the the mound. Once we got to the mound, the video and the radar began to show drastic improvements.

*80-83 Topped 84

With his arm flipped up relatively much more behind his head than before and his torso almost facing third base instead of the on-deck circle, JLee saw his velocity jump considerably. With his velocity now consistently in the 80s, our next goal was clear. We need to hit 90 mph!

Phase 4: the road to 90 mph": “Slow is smooth & smooth is fast!”

From 70 mph to 84 mph off the mound. Not too shabby some would argue but not JLee. He wanted more. He’d come too far, worked too hard, put in too many hours to be satisfied with 84. So, we did what we always do: We reassessed & retested. We went back to the drawing board and figured out where the inefficiencies were, though fewer and further between, in his mechanics. The more video we looked at the more we saw JLee’s center of mass (COM) follow a much different and much less efficient path than guys who throw 95 mph+ do. JLee’s COM would slightly shift forward during peak leg lift, a quality drift, but then almost immediately go down and “sit the the chair”. This stopping of his COM going forward through a wrench in any chance of him being able to create linear momentum and turn that into rotational momentum later in the throw. Enter the Waterbag!

Our focus shifted from trying to “sit” and put force into the ground to trying to stay as relaxed and smooth as possible while moving his COM down the mound as fast as he could. The results were pretty insane and happened pretty quickly. The jump to 87 mph off the mound was almost instant.

Then he hit 88 while looking like he was just warming up pre-game.

Then came 90 mph!!!

And finally 91 mph came this summer in game! Oh by the way, with college scouts watching!

-and he’s not finished yet!

Keep chopping wood.