EYES WIDE OPEN…In 2008, Florida Marlins prospect Frankie De La Cruz was off to a rough start। His first two outings yielded losses- generally giving up multiple runs in the second and third innings. The highly touted prospect- acquired in the 2007 Detroit – Florida wholesale trade of Cabrera and Willis, was 24, with a live arm that touched 97 in spring- but couldn’t make it out of the third inning in Albuquerque.
“He’s tired” was the call that came in after the second start- and that’s when eyes turn towards the strength and conditioning coach…this time – however- not in a negative way।
Pitching coach Rich Gale, (Now Nationals AAA) was insightful - he didn’t point fingers- he simply understood Frankie (real name Eulogio) better than most. Frankie is a loose spirit- will be highly charged up in social situations, will walk around a clubhouse wearing nothing but a loin cloth and a machete। Got the picture?
Underneath all of this is a heart of gold-a son who wants to do well for his family in the D.R. Now the challenge began- I’m in my second week of work with the Isotopes and project one has surfaced.
“He’s not running. He’s not working out. All he must be doing is throwing the ball”, was the call coming from the organization who’d placed some hope on this player even throughout his time in Big league camp.
Rich Gale simply looked at me and said “what do you think?” And that’s where we connected as a team.
“He’s running”, I said… “He’s on a program he likes, he told me day one- a program that’s worked for him, so I have not tinkered with it to date. I see him running- but that’s not the issue. He – like most of our guys are likely running blind”, I said to Rich.
“What do you mean, Mac?”
“Just ask any of them what they are running for and see if you get either (a) the blank stare, (b) the word “flush” or (c) some derivative of the word cardio. The organization has given them a running program- both for starters and relievers – and believe me- it’s a good program. There is however- a problem…”
NO intensity assignment.
How hard should he run? How far? With what recovery? How often? When? Flat Ground? Stadium Stairs?
Step one was to re-review Frankie’s running- he loved the stadium stairs- the problem was- he’d put the intensity into the incline effort and walk down- interval- after interval- lunge after lunge- the days following his start.
What we know metabolically are two things- (1) Training the energy systems for the demands of pitching (specifically in this case- as a starter yielding 75-100 plus in game pitches and a 40-50 pitch warm up session) and (2) leveraging the metabolic system in a way to enhance recovery for the next bout (5 days away) of intensity. We needed to understand more about this individual player - especially his energy systems.
Metabolic Assessment was the immediate action, we can't use aged based heart rate zone equations because we know- they can be "off" by 30 beats or more. Metabolic Assessment gave us the right flush and pre-event interval ranges - as measured by Heart Rate- for Frankie to run in.
Standing on the foul line daily in the Albuquerque heat we were able to now effectively manage his metabolic rate- which in turn- added to his physical performance. Along with mechanical “tweaks” from the supportive eye of Rich Gale- we were able to effectively get Frankie on the upslope to victory.
His last game in Tacoma Washington= 8.1 innings, starting FB Velocity 94, Inning 8 FB 97, 11K’s 2 BB and a September call up... A big deal for a son who wanted to buy his sister a house in the D.R.
As professional strength and conditioning coaches- what we are here for is to take our athletes intelligently to the next level... building the next generation athlete takes individuality- knowledge - and sometimes- avoidance of a machete!
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