Economics, LaVar Ball, Context & Pitching To Contact - Academy Youth Baseball Podcast EP 45 

I didn't give LaVar Ball a second thought, until you all brought this up and now I am impressed by him. Great work!

Thanks for the response. I still have the last 12 minutes to go, but I wanted to get this on paper before I went too far down the rabbit hole. I think you guys misunderstood my context about weight training, nutrition and pitch counts "at the highest level". I was not referencing those implementations at a youth level, I'm not that naive. The correlation I was trying to make is that...by my perception of not just watching your podcast, but listening to the industry as a whole...there is a dominant focus on max effort pitching. And as velocities continue to rise in relation to age/experience, injuries are growing congruently. To me, it would seem to make sense that everyone in the industry should openly promote pitching concepts beyond just hitting your PR. Now, I know you guys went indepth in this particular episode about your pitching philosophy, but if you go back thru the previous 40+ episodes, there is a HEAVY emphasis on PR and very little discussion about the other facets of being a successful, healthy pitcher. And if I was the layman parent or impressionable teenager, what message do you think I would absorb from your podcast and others like it that focus heavily on max effort/PR? I just wanted to highlight that introducing more balance to the discussion would course correct any assumptions as you guys put it. Again, I appreciate the podcast and the discussions you guys have and what you try to do for those kids who are underprivileged. Just trying to give some feedback on the content and hopefully expand the conversation. And please don't assume that some of us haven't spent months or years absorbing the same amount of information that you guys have. I wasn't making any assumptions about what you guys do, you just rarely discuss it without adding the letters PR to it.

Spotted an interesting thread from Ben @ Tread on perceived vs actual effort from a physics perspective. Running the numbers, 80% of a max effort 80mph = ~72mph. Putting this information to use, what are your thoughts on the potential of using a radar in game as a way to get an idea of actual effort being exerted?

And now that Pandora's box is open and I can't help myself...any thoughts on high school players attending D2/D3 colleges to gain experience as underclassmen vs going to a D1 school and possibly sitting for a year or two while being on a partial scholarship? It would seem that most D1 coaches are looking at the transfer portal before looking at high school recruits. Do you think this changes the level of the performance bar if more high school kids go to lower division schools that may not have the academic requirements or the on field performance standards that a D1 might have, and is that a good thing for being able to play longer if more opportunities are presented?

Also, what's your take on sliders for teenagers? I havent heard much in favor of it, so I'm curious to know what data you guys have that supports it. I listen to a few baseball podcasts that are specific to biomechanics and haven't really heard pitch types discussed at length outside of fastball vs curveball. Behind the Seams is my current jam.