Our Throwing Manual is broken down into 5 Phases. As you will see, each Phase will have a dedicated section that explains the “why” behind that particular section, and how it strategically and systematically impacts each successive Phase in a beneficial way.
Below, you will find an overview of how these 5 Phases are broken down, including the start and end date, along with the amount of weeks that are dedicated to each Phase. And whether you are reporting to Major League Camp (~ February 15th) or Minor League Camp (~ March 1st), our Manual is designed to ensure that you are peaking as you head into Spring Training.
Note: This will be addressed later on in the Manual, but if your Off-Season starts later than September 9th, and therefore, you have “less” time in your Off-Season, we will address how to best manage this time by “adding or subtracting” time from any of the Phases in order to keep the effectiveness and integrity of this format. But the one thing we would recommend is to not “borrow” time from Phases 2, Complete Rest, and to some degree, Phase 1 Off-Ramping – especially if you had a much longer season.
Having a proper Off-Ramp, and most of all, Rest period sets the tone for your entire Off-Season. We’d much prefer you reduce the time in any of the other three Phases – Active Rest (4 Weeks), Throwing Build-Up (7 Weeks), Mound Work (5 Weeks) – because ultimately, it is much easier to condense those time periods because a great deal of time has been allotted for these Phases (there will be much more on this later on in the Manual).
The 5 Phases of our Throwing Manual – Outline
Phase 1) Off-Ramping/De-Loading (3 Weeks)
September 9th – September 29th
Phase 2) Complete Rest (4 Weeks)
September 30th – October 27th
Phase 3) Active Rest/Arm Care/Light Throwing (4 Weeks)
October 28th – November 24th
Phase 4) Throwing Progression/Build-Up (~ 7 Weeks)
November 25th – January 12th
Phase 5) Pull-Down Integration + Bull Pen’s (5 Weeks)
January 13th – Feb 16th
As you will notice, once you get through the first 2 Phases (Off-Ramping/Complete Rest), the subsequent 3 Phases are designed to progressively build up your arm throughout the Off-Season in the same manner that a wave gradually gathers size, strength, and momentum.
Because you have the luxury of 5 months to work with, as we referenced earlier, the main focus throughout Phases 3 & 4 is to build a great BASE, and then incrementally “stack this base” as you prepare the arm for the higher intent throwing that begins in Phase 5.
One of the major benefits of being in Professional Baseball is that you have the opportunity to build your arm up in the most optimal way because you have so much time to work with. This time affords you the luxury of going through each of these phases steadily and sequentially without feeling a need to “rush”, because the last thing we want you to do is rush any part of your Off-Season.
For this reason, we highly recommend that you REFRAIN from any type of high intent throws in the early stages of your Off-Season, including working on Pitch Design. Though we can understand why you would be eager to improve on various aspects of your metrics (spin rate/spin efficiency/pitch shape etc.), the bottom line is that your arm is best served to work on any type of high intent throwing (for any purposes) much later on in the Off-Season (January and February).
In other words, whatever you feel is important to work on this Off-Season is optimized by working on it AFTER your arm has gone through a proper Off-Ramp, Rest, Active Rest, and optimal throwing Build-Up/Progression. This is when your arm can show the best progress and development as a result of it being in peak shape, not to mention, it’s in the healthiest position to recover from high intent throwing sessions. Besides, you would still have, theoretically, 6-8 weeks to work on your Pitch Design prior to Spring Training.