South Arkansas Community College Pitching Coach and Recruiting Coordinator and long time FlexPro Grip partner, Hayden Dow, joins The Layback Podcast for episode 34. Hayden is an Arkansas native who started his coaching journey fresh out of college. Beginning his coaching career at El Dorado High School under Cannon Lester, ironically the same town as South Ark CC, prior to taking the grad assistantship at Southern Arkansas University. After just one year, newly hired South Ark CC Head Coach Cannon Lester offered Dow the Pitching Coach position.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9ghqrLuyMFw

Episode 33 of The Layback Podcast features the Athletics' newly appointed Pitching Coordinator, Mike McFerran. Formerly of Wake Forest University and Skidmore College, plus experience in the private sector, McFerran brings experience and perspective from all levels of the game. Adam and Mike talk about pitcher identities, making coaching interventions, as well as the power of doing nothing. The two take a deep dive on defining personal purpose, especially post-injury. Mike shares his excitement to review, integrate, and build systems as he enters year two with the club, but his first in the new role. Top it all off with a few analogies, anecdotes, cliches, and laughs in the mix, and you've got yourself an episode.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xVP7ZSs1KIc

Wake Forest's Pitching Lab Coordinator and Director of Player Development, Sean Fisher, lays back with us this week to primarily run through the plans for the 2024 Wake Forest Player Development Seminar. This event was previously known as the Bridge Seminar, headed up by Sean's predecessor, Mike McFerran (now with the Oakland A's). Sean details changes to this year's format and teases the renowned roster of presenters. Also in the midst of conversation, Adam and Sean discuss Fisher's journey into the player development sector and his own evolution as a pitcher and coach, leading him to where he is now. Fisher previously worked at Tread Athletics and played collegiately both at Maryland and Virginia Tech.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vH_bqO92Uqo

Daryl Moreau, FlexPro Grip CEO / Co-founder, makes his Layback debut to discuss three different studies the FPG team has coming down the line. Daryl and Adam explore the current progress and findings of what they call the Longitudinal Virginia Tech study, the Flexor Muscle Imbalance study, and the Breaking Ball study. The various studies showcase FlexPro Grip's push to provide actionable information that can better the baseball world. These findings can open the door for an entirely new realm of baseball research that the industry can build upon. Also included on these works is Dylan Newcomer, Physical Therapist at Driveline Baseball / Athletic Potential Performance, Dr. Matt Fury, Dr. Gunnar Brolinson, and VCOM students Tobias Addis and Andrew Hagen, among other members of FlexPro Grip's network.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9AS48fNoMe4

Fellow Eckerd College Triton alum, Cam Lanzilli steps in for episode 30 of The Layback Podcast. Lanzilli is currently the Lead Throwing Strategist at KineticPro Performance in Tampa, FL (working with previous guest Casey Mulholland, https://youtu.be/xpTFZyrkXNI?si=jg2XPihOYwc7U-dt). Cam and Adam spend a hefty portion of the episode discussing pitch design, or possibly the more fitting name for the topic, arsenal design. The two tackle what goes into design, where to begin, how to individualize, what to look for, and how to prevent steps backwards. Additionally, rehab is of course discussed, especially when pitch/arsenal design gets reintroduced in the process. Lanzilli offers insights from specific athlete cases that hopefully can help listeners make decisions on how to tweak their own repertoires.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/RwqnhKNxyn0

Episode 29 of The Layback Podcast features Doctor of Physical Therapy, Terry Phillips. The New York native and Washington state transplant joins the show to discuss exercise and program design, rehab progressions, industry debates, and athlete engagement and education. The former Driveline Baseball physical therapist recently started his own practice in the greater Seattle area, Phillips Rehab and Performance. Early on in the episode, Terry talks through his own personal evolutions in arm and elbow care, setting the stage for an honest back and forth about the baseball rehab world's progress over the years. Adam and Terry also debate the role and importance of time considerations in the rehab process. Terry's website is https://www.phillipsrehab.com/.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/GHy7y4v2Fz8

Matt Tometz joins The Layback Podcast for Episode 28. Tometz was a LHP at Truman State before heading on to a Sports Science Grad Assistantship at TCU. On top of his work in the private sector, Coach Big Toe (as he is known on social media) most recently served as the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Northwestern Baseball program, giving him a great perspective on performance training in the team setting. Tometz has a passion for sprinting and athletic development, and he even claims that PITCHERS ARE ATHLETES. Adam and Matt discuss program design, individualization, athlete ceilings/floors, and the communication loop in college sports, among a handful of other topics. Big Toe has quite the presence online himself, so be sure to checkout what he has going on with this link: https://linktr.ee/CoachBigToe.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LLKajPzvehY

Dr. Matt Fury, a leading orthopaedic surgeon in baseball, joins The Layback Podcast to discuss all things UCL care and surgery. Matt is well versed in the world of UCL's, experiencing a tear and Tommy John of his very own while playing collegiate baseball at LSU. Fury lays displays the map for possible UCL injury treatments, as well as which injuries may present candidates for which procedure. The New Orleans native also nobly states where sports medicine, and specifically doctors and surgeons, have dropped the ball when outlining risk factors and suggestions to reduce injury risk. Adam and Matt also take some time to dive into the hot topic of off-season throwing shutdowns, in addition to sport specialization. Fury represents a new wave for the medical field and baseball. This conversation should depict a sign of good things to come.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/haHnJ4FOLZw

Bob Keller joins The Layback Podcast to discuss the hot topic of Motor Preferences. After an extremely successful 27 year college coaching career and a few more as a scout for the Mariners, Bob has taken on a new venture as part of the BPS group (Hattiesburg, MS) in performing Motor Preference assessments to help athletes find their natural tendencies and methods for movement and body control in sport. According to Bob, these assessments are designed to help athletes understand the way their bodies want to move. From there, the assessment team will offer the athlete movements, tools, drills, and positions that will be most advantageous for on-field health and success.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UOokKGF0xtk

The submarine slinging, Rec Spec wearing, number crunching, RHP, Josh Hejka, joins The Layback Podcast for episode 25. The Mets Minor Leaguer takes us on a journey through his baseball career beginning outside of Detroit with stops at Johns Hopkins University, the USPBL, and a few minor league teams on the way to 2A Binghamton. The righty reliever has been a workhorse on the mound, and it seems like nothing can stop him. He holds the appearance record for the Brooklyn Cyclones. He also pitched both the 2021 and 2022 seasons on a torn UCL. Hejka spent 2023 rehabbing from Tommy John (UCL Reconstruction), but he has not missed a beat since returning, putting up some of the best stats/metrics of his career. When he is not on the bump, Hedgertronic, as Hejka is known on social media, serves in a data/analytics role with Driveline Baseball and routinely pushes his work across multiple social platforms.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/sAXk9kBPCBA