What to expect at a MLB tryout!

If you are planning to attend a MLB Scouting Bureau tryout then you need an idea of what is expected of you. When you arrive at the tryout you will need to check in. Arrival times are usually early in the morning and it is good to be a little early. When you check in you will be asked to fill in a questionnaire. The information they will be requesting is basic contact information, what schools have you played for, have you been drafted before and if you are under the age of 18 you will need a legal guardian to sign for you. There is a number at the top of the sign up form that is your identity for the rest of the tryout. Do not forget your number. The scouts hate it when someone forgets their number.

After everyone has checked in you will then be asked to meet on the field and organized into lines based on position. YOU CAN ONLY TRYOUT FOR ONE POSITION. Do not ask if you can tryout for two or more positions. Once you are put into your lines based on your position you must remember your position in the line. This is the order you will tryout in for your position.

The first event of the tryout will be the 60 yard dash. This is for all positions except pitchers. Pitchers will not run the 60 yard dash. Pitchers will wait on the side while all positions run the 60 yard dash.

Two players at a time will be timed in the 60 yard dash. It goes pretty quick so make sure you are paying attention when your number is called. Do not ask for your times after you run. You can ask for them after the tryout is over. If you have a good time you may be asked to run again at the end of the event.

After the 60 yard dash is finished, this is when the pitchers will pitch off of the mound in the bullpen. You will be put into lines to warm up before entering the bullpen. You must be warm before entering the pen. They will clock your velocity on the first pitch and remember that first pitch is critical to your success in the tryout. You should get about 6-8 pitches and make sure every pitch is 100%. They will ask you to throw some off speed pitches at the end if they want to see it. The worst thing you can do is not be ready!

After your 6-8 pitches in the bullpen the pitchers are done until cuts are made for the simulated game in the afternoon. Find a comfortable place to sit and stay out of the sun.

While the pitchers were throwing in the pen the position players are hitting in the cages. They are looking for bat speed. You will not get many pitches to show your skills so make sure you are ready right out of the gate.

After hitting in the cages all position players will go to their position. They will start from the outfield and work into the infield evaluating your arm speed and quickness. Once again you will not get many throws so take advantage of what you get.

Once all players have been given their opportunities to show their talents the scouts will make their cuts. They will have you all meet together and give you a speech about how it is getting close to the end of the road in your career and you all have some discussions to make. Blah Blah Blah. Then they will call out the names of those who they would like to see perform in the simulated game in the afternoon.

If you do not make it, don’t worry, because the odds of making it out of a Scouting Bureau tryout is poor. Just continue to attend any tryout you can find. I would also recommend independent minor league tryouts. If you do make the tryout then get some lunch and get ready to sit around again.

The simulated game is exactly that. Pitchers will pitch two or three batters and position players will face the pitchers and play the field. They are mainly looking at the pitcher and hitter at this point. They want to see how the pitchers perform against live hitting and vice versa. Pitchers make sure that your velocity is up and your location is on point. They are still recording your velocity and they want to see how effective your pitches are with the hitters.

The simulated game is your opportunity to show them more of what you can do. If you perform well they will stay in contact with you and if you perform poor they may not. It is really a crap shoot and if you are going to make it somewhere it will be determined on how well you persist. Just like I said to the guys who will not make the first cut, don’t give up if you really want to play professional ball. I believe if you don’t give up, something is bound to happen. Search the web and this site for more tryouts. Remember if it doesn’t work out there is always next season.

Related articles:

• MLB folds under pressure!
• FAQ MLB Tryout Camps
• Fast Twitch Pitching

Dick Mills Quote:

You see what happens when ice is initially administered is it brings blood to the site where it is applied, for the pitcher to the shoulder or elbow. And blood is good because it provides healing. However, as the ice stays on the blood can no longer get into the area so after a few minutes of icing the area is prevented from beginning the natural healing process. Icing stops an immune response which is healing.

This is a perfect example why you should NOT get all your information from one source. Dick Mills has definitely let his ego get the best of him here. All you have to do is search the web for medical websites documenting studies and articles on icing for injury or cryotherapy. In my career, I heard it through the grapevine that icing may not be good for pitchers but out of all the Doctors and Physical therapists I went through, during my five years of hell after rotator cuff surgery, I never once received any information that could back this up.

After reading Dick Mill’s article on icing, I then took some time to research the web and I found several websites reference the work of Dr. Meeusen from Antwerp, where I played some professional baseball. He based his life study around icing as a means to help heal a damaged muscle. His documentation describes how ice can be effective and where it can cause problems.

When body tissues are cooled, nerve cells in the chilled area initially force adjacent blood vessels to constrict, leading to a marked reduction in blood flow to that part of the body. However, if the temperature of the affected area continues to drop, nerve activity is depressed and the blood vessels begin to open up, flooding the injured tissues with blood, even though cold is still being applied. This flood-of-blood (Hunting effect) is the human body’s reflex reaction to thwart severe cold injury in a body part subjected to chilling stress.

Dr. Meeusen’s studies showed that icing initially stops the swelling and blood flow of the damaged blood vessels into the local muscle tissue but after a period of 10 minutes it can begin to have an opposite effect to the area. His documentation continues to state this damage continues on to another important system of healing.

Lymphatic Vessels: Prolonged ice application can cause lymphatic vessels (which ordinarily help carry excess tissue fluids back into the cardiovascular system) to increase in permeability. This causes large amounts of fluid to pour from the lymphatics “the wrong way” into the injured area, increasing local swelling and pressure, potentially contributing to greater pain. If icing goes on too long, the lymphatic vessels can actually be nearly obliterated, losing all of their fluid to surrounding tissues.

The lesson here is NOT that icing is bad. What we have learned is that icing is effective initially but begins to cause problems after about 10 minutes. Read the description below for the proper way to ice the arm after a game to help aid the healing process.

Ice the elbow or shoulder region for 10 minutes immediately after pitching (DO NOT PUT ICE ON ULNAR NEVER), remove the ice for about 30 minutes, and then reapply it for 10 additional minutes. Repeat this cycle of about two 10-minute icings per hour as often as desired, based on how many pitches thrown, during the first 24 to 48 hours after pitching.

Related articles:

• Pitching Coach Critique
• Separation, the Safe Zone and the Power Curve
• Fast Twitch Pitching

The only reason I was able to play Professional Baseball after a major rotator cuff tear in my first college appearance was because of one thing, Velocity. For five years all I focused on was getting back to my velocity before the surgery, which was about 86mph and then adding as much more as possible. I never expected that I would soon reach 94 mph. This is why I started this website and also started the Guerilla Baseball Academy in Louisiana.

The biggest question I get is, how did I gain so much velocity after surgery?

Well, during those five years of starting over with the skill of pitching, I obsessively read ever book I could find on strength and conditioning and pitching mechanics. This helped put me headed in the right direction and then I started training with Kurt Hester who was the strength and conditioning coach at LSU during the 90′s when they were called “Gorilla Ball.” Kurt changed my career.

Kurt put 35 pounds of fast twitch muscle fiber on my body through Olympic lifting and plyometric training. After one year of his program I was throwing 90 mph. At this point I didn’t have much time left in my career so I decided to go to California and tryout for the Golden League. This is an independent minor league organization. I hit 91mph in the tryout and was drafted in the first round. I then meet one of Tom House’s certified pitching coaches Mike Layseca and he taught me about hip to shoulder separation, which I had none. When I started my season in San Diego, one month into it as my mechanics got better, I topped out at 94mph. At this point in my career I felt complete. I had made it to Pro Ball and beat the odds against me. I also got to play with a childhood ideal, Jose Canseco.

I would have never made it to the professional level without learning all of the secrets to Velocity. I would have never increased my velocity from 86-94mph without this knowledge and hard work. This is why I created this website and put together the Ace Pitcher Handbook. You are not going to find this type of information in books or websites that are created by athletes who didn’t overcome the impossible to achieve the success that they claim to have had. Those athletes are just giving you or selling you information that helped them to maintain what talent God gave them. Therefore if you are an athlete who is trying to overcome the impossible then you are wastering your time and money learning from those nature athletes. Even if they label themselves as All American or Major League.

If “YOU WANT TO GO PRO” then you must learn from those who made it to the professional levels and came from a similar background as you!

Related articles:

• Fast Twitch Pitching
• How to increase pitching velocity?
• Pitching Velocity Mechanics aka Speed Mechanics

If you are a tall and skinny freak who throws 90+mph then stop reading and have a great career. If you are like most of us, average in size and believe you have the potential to throw a lot harder without causing injury, then you must begin to learn what the strength and conditioning world has discovered.

The strength and conditioning profession has proven that pitching is an anaerobic exercise. An exercise that does not involve oxidation. The systems involved in creating energy for pitching, during the anaerobic exercise, are phosphagen and glycolysis systems. This is the use of creatine phosphate and sugars to make ATP (energy). What this means is, if a pitcher trains these systems in the off season then the muscles will develop more fast twitch muscle fibers to support the anaerobic exercise. More fast twitch muscle fibers means you have a higher capacity and storage of ATP. You also have the ability to recruit more muscle fibers, to add to the intensity of the workload. More muscle fiber recruitment creates more muscle strength during exercise. This increased muscle fiber recruitment during exercise causes more damage in the muscle during fatigue and in return promotes more testosterone to be released in the muscles to heal the damage tissue.  This will build more muscle mass for future damage control. These side effects of high intensity anaerobic training, without a doubt, will lead to an increase in velocity. This is  why pitchers who get bigger, stronger, faster, throw harder. When I say bigger, I do not exactly mean larger muscles like a body builder. I am talking about muscles that are more dense. A good example would be a light weight Olympic lifter. They look like little kids and can lift like machines.

I have dedicated this website to the secrets of velocity.  They are velocity secrets because conventional wisdom doesn’t want you to know.  Conventional wisdom sees pitching more as an art, instead of a science. If you have the desire to take it to the next level of pitching, you are going to have to overcome the old school techniques of coaching this position. You must learn the science of strength and conditioning for athletes. You must understand that if you need the most out of your body, you must learn what that is and what does it take. The first step in this process is questioning conventional wisdom and learning the science in everything you do. The next step is training fast twitch muscle fiber in the off season and maintaining the gains into the season. It isn’t an easy task but done correctly, it will mean the difference from a college career to a professional career.

I recommend the Ace Pitcher Handbook as an excellent off-season and in-season program that will promote  fast twitch muscle fiber development.

Related articles:

• Boost your Testosterone and Growth Hormone Levels Naturally
• Bad Mechanics is a sign of Muscular Weakness
• How a BAD Pitching Coach Can Ruin a GOOD Pitcher

Definition of throwing:

Definition of pulling: the act of pulling; applying force to move something toward or with you; “the pull up the hill had him breathing harder”

What definition best describes what a Major League Pitcher does on the mound?

Yes, it is correct to state that the definition of throwing is the more conventional answer but as someone who played professional baseball, when I was pitching my hardest, it felt more like a pull. The definition of pulling uses the word force and the illustration of breathing harder. This is my experience of power pitching. These two definitions best describe the difference between average velocity and top velocity. Look at one of my favorite pitchers Felix Hernandez and you will see it looks more like he is pulling than throwing as the definition states as throwing with the arm and wrist.

The key point of the “Pull Perspective” is the amount of weight you are pulling. The more the better. If you are pulling a lot of weight you will not be doing this with just the arm. Your body will need to recruit the core and legs to handle the bulk of the work load. Therefore your hips will need to drive towards the plate first, while holding the throwing arm back with the shoulder, until your core and legs have given you all they got. Then the back shoulder will fire through and release the ball. This picture of Greg Maddux illustrates holding the shoulder back while the hips drive to the target. This component is called “Separation.”

The best way to implement this “Pull Perspective” into your own delivery is by visualizing that you are not holding onto the ball but instead a towel or resistance tubing. You could actually do this. I have a few drills in the AcePitcher Handbook that perform this action. The towel or tubing is connected to a sled or a person standing towards second base. You can also visualize a harness around your hips with tubing secured towards second base. Now, perform your delivery following each of the AcePitcher Components.

In the picture of Felix Hernandez above and Tim Lincecum below this is where you want to finish the drill. This position is the point of the drill. By visualizing the pull you should find this position more naturally than if you where just throwing the ball like usual. If you notice his arm is way behind his head, back arched and hips under his belly with landing leg supporting all the weight. The upper body is flexed and ready to release the energy or power into the ball.

The reason for implementing the “Pull Perspective” is to prevent the arm from leading the body. If you find that your arm is drifting in front of your chest before your shoulders have committed to the plate then you are not recruiting your core and legs to handle the work load and generate Top Velocity. This is common in young pitchers. This is what most coaches call throwing with all your arm.

The “Pull Perspective” is actually what it states, it is only a perspective. A way of looking at the act of pitching differently. It is important that you look at pitching differently because conventional thinking continues to fail us as pitchers. This is why a microscopic amount of pitchers make it to Major League Baseball. So this perspective is my little gift to you.

Related articles:

• Pitching Velocity Drills – The Sled
• How to Develop Top Velocity
• 10 Legitimate tips to Pitching Velocity

The Ace Pitcher Handbook has over 10 years of experience and knowledge of what it takes to increase the level of your game to that of a professional athlete. This handbook focuses on Velocity because Velocity is what gets your foot in the door. It is the single component that all scouts use to assess the value of a pitcher.

Why waste your time buying anything else to increase your performance than a handbook that has all of the answers and the programs listed in the manual are what I used to beat all of the odds? If you are someone who loves the game but needs some more juice in your fastball then you must purchase this book.

What is Included?

1. Physics Driven Velocity Mechanics.
2. Velocity focused pitching drills.
3. Pitching Guidelines.
4. Fusion strength and conditioning system. (This workout isolates Fast Twitch Muscle fibers for developing a Bigger, Stronger, Faster pitcher).
5. Nutritional Guidelines (What supplements pitchers should be taking).
6. A FREE promo code to all the Fusion System Instructional Videos for learning the program at www.BaseballVideoStore.com.

Why should you purchase this Handbook?

• You have a short window in your career to prove yourself and this handbook will give you an edge that your competitors will not have.
• You will gain 5-10 mph on your fastball if you complete the entire handbook with all of its training programs and drills.
• You are paying for over ten years of knowledge, developed by a professional pitcher who overcame a career ending shoulder surgery as a freshman in college to play minor league ball and top out at 94 mph, for only $49 plus shipping and handling.
• This handbook will give you an understanding of pitching that most coaches do not have.
• This handbook will turn you into a pitcher that every coach wants and every hitter hates.

If that isn’t enough to convince you then I will give you my personal phone number here in my home town in Louisiana 985-249-9508. Call me anytime with any question!

If you are ready to take your career to the next level and open your eyes to the potential that you have not tapped into yet then select the “BUY NOW” button above and purchase the book! I will ship it to you ASAP!

3X Velocity Camp Instruction Videos – Stream them TODAY!

If  a paper manual is not enough for you to soak up all this valuable information and you want more Top Velocity. Then add the 3X Velocity Camp Instruction Videos to your purchase. These videos will walk you through the velocity drills in the Ace Pitcher Handbook and also give you more advanced drills to take your velocity gains from the velocity drills to your pitching delivery. I highly recommend that you stream these videos with your Ace Pitcher Handbook. To learn more about the 3X Velocity Camp read more!

Supporters

Related articles:

• What you need to know about the shoulder.
• How to prevent or overcome shoulder surgery?
• Pitching Coach Critique

Guerilla Baseball Academy – Mandeville Louisiana

985-249-9508

Contact Guerilla Baseball
Request a Membership Today!
View Larger Map

Brent Pourciau

Pitching/Throwing Instructor
Covington Louisiana, Mandeville Louisiana, Abita Springs Louisiana, Hammond Louisiana, Slidell Louisiana, Metairie Louisiana and New Orleans Louisiana.
Read BIO
Phone: 985-249-9508

Related articles:

• Baseball Pitching Instruction Louisiana
• Fast Twitch Pitching
• The Pull Perspective