Kirby Retzer began his career with the Boston Red Sox Strength and Conditioning staff as a college intern in 2013. Upon graduation from the Exercise Science program at Florida Gulf Coast University, he was hired by the Minnesota Twins where he oversaw their rookie-level operations and injury rehabilitation programs for two seasons. Then, from 2016 to 2023, Kirby returned to the Red Sox and held 4 different leadership positions throughout his 8 seasons with the team. During his tenure with the Red Sox, he earned a Master’s degree in Kinesiology with an emphasis on Orthopedic Rehabilitation and studied to become a Certified Muscle Systems Specialist. Kirby has been able to prolong the careers of present Major League players and develop some of the young rising stars in the game today. He left the Red Sox organization to spend more time with his family and work with Symmetry.

Topics covered in this episode:
-Working with Chris Sale on his journey to a National League Cy Young award
-The value of training with machines
-Being a Certified Muscle Systems Specialist

Quotes:
-"It's just of paramount importance for us to be able to develop tension in positions and under load and different configurations" (9:40)
-"But if we take the principles of what the machines afford us to do and apply that training methodology while we're in a hallway, we can be creative with banded resistance" (10:08)
-"It's a way to systematically analyze a person to help them reduce pain or eliminate unwanted sensation like tightness of stiffness" (25:34)

If you'd like to learn more from Kirby, you can find him on social media:

Instagram:
@kirbyretzer

or Kirby can be reached at:
[email protected]