Craig Stem

This NAIA pitcher went from 88-89 MPH to 96-98 MPH In 10 months.... 🤯 Here's how: ⬇️

Checking in on Ethan Hochendoner's numbers as we close in on one month of games: 20 IP 1.80 ERA 9 hits allowed 29 Ks 12 BBs .125 BAA Velo plays

Free Agent RHP with experience in the Atlantic League. Seeking Indy ball, open to playing overseas. Fastball up to 95. Recent live AB’s /sinker/cutter/sweeper/changeup. @CraigStem @IndyBallJobs @BBJobsOverseas @FlatgroundApp

Legit stuff. Figured out the command this winter. Might catch lightning in a bottle with clay

@slater_hp I’ve got these mechanics as… not good

Literally a perfect example of why fixing your mechanics won’t help you throw harder (99% of the time) You need to get stronger and more explosive

FREE AGENT RHP Cole Patten has had an incredible off-season and is ready to sign his next contract! (affiliate only) Some big developments with Cole: ✅ New indoor PR of 96 mph ✅ New cutter that is filthy ✅ Re-vamped curveball (more depth, less horizontal) ✅ Improved command Cole can fill any role on a pitching staff and is in shape and ready to go. DM me for more info on Cole!

There shouldn’t be any enforced pitch limits in the WBC. I know they’re there to protect MLB arms, but if someone like the Czech electrician wants to throw 250 pitches, he should be allowed to. MLB arms can stick to their own individual pitch count without it needing to be built into the rules

INDY BALL TEAMS Need arms? Hit me up! Starting with my guy @claykennedy25 who has been GRINDING all off-season in Australia. Stuff has never been a question with Clay. His fastball is up to 95 mph, sweeper is legit, and he throws one of the best changeups I've ever seen (not exaggerating). Clay has never been given the chance to throw a bunch of innings to figure out his command, not even in college. That was the reason he went to Australia, to get guaranteed innings and figure out the command. It's gone extremely well. Stats from last 30 days (all the games in video clips): 16.2 IP 25 Ks 10 BBs 4 Hits allowed 3 Earned runs Clay will be back stateside soon and is looking for a place to play this year. DM me for more info on Clay!

Lot of people just learned about Jackson thanks to his dominant spring training appearance with the @Cubs . Read about how he got his foot in the door 👇 x.com/craigstem/stat…

@SalGabriel4 @DEvanAltman Yes. Age doesn’t matter much. Size does

@CraigStem @DEvanAltman Awful lot of growth and strength develops between 9th and 11th grades.

When I was a freshman, I could throw it about 60-65 yards. When I was a junior, I could routinely throw it through the uprights. You can absolutely teach it and learn it

"How many times you seen a guy throw 99 indoors?" 😅⁠ ⁠ Not many, @CraigStem, not many. ⁠ ⁠ Jalen Evans just signed his first affiliate contract with the Detroit Tigers and looked filthy in his final live before heading to spring training.

@JBray47 @DrivelineBB I’ve heard of them

@CraigStem Craig, you’re 100% right. You can teach velocity. Some people’s ceilings are a little different but force = mass x acceleration. So figure out what you have and what you need to work on… people make velo so complicated. Follow @DrivelineBB best program around, hands down

@GLaysonANC @BallMechanic Any 14 YO that can throw it that far/hard is likely massive compared to their peers

@CraigStem @BallMechanic Or. It could be one developed earlier than the other. My brother in law grew six inches in his junior year.

@65hole Yea that definitely helps 🤣 and I was not 6’5” when I was a freshman. But I bet the MLB player he was referring to was a lot bigger than he was at the time as well

@CraigStem You’re 6’5” lol.

@henrybeede Probably 30-50 feet further than me. I’d eventually throw 100 mph

@CraigStem If you improved that much, imagine where the MLB player was throwing it as a junior.

From being cut in Indy ball to signing with the Orioles in less than a month. A guy that’s metrically “average” found a way to get into affiliated ball. You can too

Here's the exact process we used to take a college pitcher from 89 to sitting 96 and topping 98 mph in 10 months: A coach's post from @CraigStem The Problems: Ethan Hochendoner's throw was full of compensations: ▪️Incredibly rotational ▪️Poor first move with almost no drift ▪️Back knee dumping toward third base, front leg swinging open, throwing arm getting stuck behind him like a human turnstile. March-April: With @EthanHochendon1 in the middle of his competitive season, we kept the plyo drills extremely simple. Pendulum drill to capture momentum so he doesn't get stuck behind. Got him off his quad and more linear to home plate. He threw a complete game and topped 91 for a new PR. May: The feel that really worked for Ethan was a more elbow driven flip with the arm. He had this hand-driven philosophy where he would take his hand way behind him with a really long inefficient arm action. By cueing elbow driven flip, it keeps the arm short and captures momentum better. What really stood out was how much his arm avoids external rotation. So we kept him in IR as long as possible and got to ER late. June: First velo phase with pulldowns. Pulldowns help guys who don't throw hard feel what it's like to throw really hard for the first time. He got up to 94 and texted his coach "That's the hardest I've ever thrown in my entire life." That's the purpose of pulldowns! He ended up getting his pulldowns up to 97. July: Plyo testing phase. Throwing plyos hard 2 days a week with more athletic drills to feel quick and explosive. He threw a bullpen and hit 92, which at the time was a bullpen PR. October: This is when he really started to pop. We introduced lateral tilt, and this was the piece that really clicked. Rocker with lateral tilt, get that front foot up and try to dip into the velo bucket and come out of it a lot more explosively. With the shorter arm action, he's able to rotate very quickly and pull that arm through like never before. December: Ethan texted Craig: "I just hit 94.8." Then he hit 95.4. The next week he ran that up to 95.9. January at Tread HQ: He came out sitting 96 and topped 98 indoors. An NAIA pitcher who was sitting 90 eight months ago. Potentially the coolest part? Ethan made 90% of these gains remotely.

This college senior has an insane transformation🤯⁠ ⁠ @CraigStem breaks down how he did it ⬇️⁠ ⁠ The mechanical breakdown showed a delivery full of compensations that were killing his velocity. Poor first move out of leg lift with almost no drift. Back knee dumping toward third base. Front leg swinging open way too early. Throwing arm getting stuck behind him in a "power T" position. ⁠Landing with his front foot wide open. Upper half having to overcomperate just to get back on line.⁠ ⁠ The fixes started simple during his spring season. Pendulum drill to relax the arm, getting off his quad, more linear direction to home plate. He topped 91 for a new PR in April.⁠ ⁠ May-June: Introduced elbow-driven arm action. Ethan had a hand-driven philosophy that created a long, inefficient path. Cueing elbow flip kept the arm short and captured momentum better.⁠ ⁠ Craig discovered that Ethan avoided external rotation. He wanted his hand on top of the ball. So he kept him in IR as long as possible, got to ER late. Late layback became his power move.⁠ ⁠ October: The lateral tilt piece changed everything. "Dip into the velo bucket" then explode out of it. Shorter arm action + more efficient lower half + ability to rotate fast and pull that arm through.⁠ ⁠ December: Ethan ran it up to 95 MPH multiple times.⁠ ⁠ January at Tread HQ: He came out sitting 96 and topped 98 indoors.⁠ ⁠ Potentially the coolest part? @EthanHochendon1 made 90% of these gains remotely.

The @Tigers signed Detroit native Jalen Evans this off-season. Here's how Jalen is looking in his last live AB at @TreadHQ before heading to minor league spring training (spoiler alert: he looks really, really good) @JalenEvans23