Over the last few days, I’ve been processing the results of a case study I just finished on the decline of @MLB starting pitchers. I made this video to speak directly to pitchers, especially aspiring professional pitchers, because you deserve to hear this. Case study: Top 3 pitchers drafted/signed each year since 2013 (all 30 orgs). In-org only (stop tracking once they leave). • 1,134 pitchers | $1.27B bonuses • 25.7% reached MLB (with drafting org) • 6.4% reached 200+ MLB IP • 38% arm injury | 28% major The Top High School pitching prospects in this study undergo a major arm injury after just 159 professional innings.

This video is worth a watch, especially for pitchers, coaches, and anyone involved in managing a pitcher's workload. Should a pitcher's arm really feel worse as the season progresses? It's something we've almost come to accept in baseball. But does it have to be that way? After throwing 40 innings in college and another 25 innings in the @uspbl , Kerry Collins was experiencing something different. His shoulder range of motion was improving. His velocity was increasing. His arm felt better than ever. How did he get there? In this video, Will Fox sits down with Kerry to review three months of shoulder range-of-motion data and discuss what changed along the way. Great work guys.

Dante Zamudio’s season changed dramatically during the 2026 @uspbl season. Over his first 24.1 IP: 9.25 ERA | 2.05 WHIP | 53.9% strikes | 7.03 BB/9 Over his final 37.2 IP: 1.67 ERA | 1.14 WHIP | 61.6% strikes | 3.82 BB/9 So how did he do it? In this video, Dante answers that question in his own words. He talks about finding consistency, understanding his process from week to week, being willing to ask questions, staying open-minded, and continuing to make adjustments until he found what worked for him. And that leads to the bigger question: What does it take to be successful in the @uspbl ? Dante’s season is a great example of what that can look like.

Jack Decker threw the first complete game of the 2026 @USPBL season — and delivered one of the best pitching performances in league history. It should come as no surprise. Jack has been one of the league’s most consistent pitchers all season. This was a reminder of just how effective the Art of Pitching can be: dominant in the numbers, efficient in execution, and built to finish what he started. 9 IP | 3 H | 1 BB | 12 K | 112 Pitches And perhaps the best part? Pitch No. 112 was his hardest of the night at 90 mph — the final pitch of the complete game, which you can see below.

Former @uspbl alumni Don Goodson stopped by yesterday to throw a bullpen at UWM Field as he prepares for winter ball. Always a gift to see Don's change-up on display. @doncgoood

Baseball needs to talk more about performance capacity. Since 2012, the pitching industry has pursued performance with extraordinary precision: Velocity. Stuff. Movement. Swing-and-miss. And, by almost any measure, we have become very good at producing it. In 2026, 291 of 664 Major League Baseball (MLB) pitchers who have thrown at least 100 pitches are averaging 95+ mph with a four-seam fastball, sinker, or cutter. That’s 43.8%. What was once exceptional is becoming increasingly common. But performance does not exist by itself. It exists inside a workload, over the course of a professional season. Performance capacity is the ability to produce a desired level of performance, repeatedly, while tolerating the workload required over time. And this is where the distinction matters. It is one thing to know what a pitcher can produce. It is another to know how much of it he can continue to provide when the game keeps asking for more. Consider the other side of the equation. Through August 24: -360 different pitchers have spent time on the IL. -235 have suffered a throwing-arm injury. -MLB pitchers have accumulated approximately 26,372 IL days. -72.6% of those days are related to the throwing arm. -36 Tommy John surgeries are identified in the data. -Approximately $598.6 million in pitcher salary has been associated with injury-related absence. Right now, approximately 180 pitchers are on the IL — equivalent to roughly 46% of MLB’s 390 active pitching jobs. Of those, 135 — 75% — have throwing-arm injuries. The innings those pitchers were expected to throw do not disappear. They must be passed on to someone else: the pitchers who remain, organizational depth, roster transactions, bullpen games, and increasingly, position players asked to finish innings. When velocity, stuff, and short-term dominance continually receive greater value than the ability to remain available and accumulate innings, we should not be surprised when fewer pitchers are developed to do exactly that. Availability is not separate from performance. It is part of performance capacity. The industry is good at asking how much performance a pitcher can produce, while spending too little time asking how much of that performance his body can carry. The @MLB season eventually asks that question for us. And it does not ask it once. It asks again tomorrow. And again next week. And again next month. Performance is what you can produce. Performance capacity is how much of it you can continue to provide.

How you get the velocity matters. Hunter Greene entered professional baseball as an elite phenom prospect with one of the most gifted arms the game had seen in years. At 17 years old, he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated beneath a remarkable collection of expectations: “Baseball’s LeBron or the New Babe?” “He’s 17. He Mashes. He Throws 102.” “Hunter Greene is the Star Baseball Needs.” As a pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, he's averaged 98.5 mph on his fastball from 2021–2026. In roughly 700 affiliated professional innings, he has now undergone three surgeries on his throwing elbow. TJ Surgery in 2019, another surgery to remove bone chips and loose bodies in March 2026, and now a Tommy John revision. Greene is another reminder to the industry that how you get the velocity, how you train for it, and how you understand it matter when it comes to a pitcher’s ability to sustain it. Over the last decade, several predominant methods of developing velocity have permeated baseball. Many have proven capable of helping pitchers throw harder. But producing velocity and sustaining velocity are not the same problem. Pitching injuries are multifactorial, and to some degree injuries will always be a part of the game if you throw long enough at the highest level. But breakdowns this early in a pitcher's career should not simply be accepted as normal. If the game continues to pursue higher velocity ceilings, then our understanding of the foundation required to support those velocities has to rise with them. If you ask enough pitchers at every level, as I have over the last several years, you begin to hear very different explanations for how they believe velocity is created. There is a difference between producing 100 mph and building a routine, body, and delivery capable of carrying high velocities through 500, 1,000, or 2,000 professional innings. The greater the gift, the stronger the foundation required to carry it. And that is where the industry has to evolve. When an elite pitcher becomes unavailable, the cost reaches far beyond the injured list. Innings are lost. Opportunities are lost. Team value is lost. Earning potential can change. Years that should represent the prime of a career can instead become years spent rehabilitating. What if Hunter Greene were healthy and pitching like the version we saw in 2025 alongside what Chase Burns is providing? Does that change the Reds' season? No one in baseball wants to continue watching the game's most talented arms disappear from the mound. We should continue developing velocity. As the velocity ceiling rises, the foundation underneath it has to rise with it.

Big thanks to this group for leading the charge all season long. With one month left, the race for the 2026 USPBL batting title is going to be fun to watch. @uspbl

Congratulations to @GavinBrasosky on the success he has earned this season in the @USPBL. Since June 6, Gavin has thrown 16.2 innings over 12 appearances, with 28 strikeouts and only three walks, while raising his strike rate to 70.8%. His fastball has climbed to 92.4 mph on average and 96.1 mph at its best, with meaningful gains in chase, swing-and-miss, and overall run prevention. #WHOSNEXT

The @uspbl now has its first pitcher this season averaging at least 90 mph while throwing at least 65% strikes. Meet Gavin Brasosky. Why is this important? From 2016 through 2021, this was a simple but powerful profile that routinely earned pitchers opportunities with affiliated organizations: suitable professional velocity paired with the ability to consistently throw strikes. Today, more pitchers possess velocity and impressive pitch metrics than ever before. Those numbers still matter, but they no longer separate a pitcher on their own, especially in our league. To earn an affiliated opportunity, a USPBL pitcher must command his stuff, repeat his delivery, make adjustments, and consistently get hitters out. The standard is higher because our players are competing against a much larger pool of pitchers across independent baseball. That is what makes Gavin perhaps the best development story in the USPBL this season. Gavin is a strong, athletic, quick-twitch, 6-foot, 200-pound left-handed pitcher. He attended Tennessee out of high school and later transferred to Kansas, but never fully established a consistent resume of results in college. The ability was always there. His delivery, timing, and mechanical efficiency were already strong, reflected by a DVS Score of 18. But early in the season, it became clear that Gavin was trying to process too much information between pitches. He did not need more instruction. He needed greater clarity. Clarity is not always found by adding another thought. Sometimes it appears only after the unnecessary thoughts have been removed. We simplified his plan, increased his pace, and began using what we call cardio pens to help him remain in rhythm. Less thinking created more conviction from pitch to pitch. That rhythm allowed Gavin to naturally settle into his front leg after foot strike rather than aggressively trying to force the lead-leg block. As his delivery became more natural, the pitches became better. Since June 6, Gavin’s strike rate has increased from 56.8% to 70.5%. His fastball has improved from approximately 90.9 to 92.1 mph, while its spin rate has increased from 2,117 to 2,308 rpm and its induced vertical break has risen from 16.0 to 16.6 inches. His release has become more consistent as well. Gavin is now repeating a 44-degree arm angle with 93% release consistency, allowing his natural athleticism to produce more reliable pitch shapes. His changeup has also become a legitimate second pitch. Its velocity has increased from approximately 77.2 to 80.5 mph, while producing a 41.9% whiff rate and 42.4% chase rate. Gavin always had the physical ability. His development has come from learning how to access it consistently in competition. Less thought created more trust. More trust created better rhythm. And better rhythm has turned natural ability into repeatable performance. Congrats to Gavin on all his hard work and commitment to his process.

Two of the best pitches I’ve seen at the @uspbl this season were thrown by @SpencaJames last Thursday night on the final out of the game. They did not happen by chance. They were the result of Spencer’s relentless commitment to improving, along with the daily work he and teammate Ben Crumpton have put into their catch play. The results have been showing up when it matters most—in games. When I evaluate a pitch, I first look at its plane from the first- or third-base side. Then, from behind home plate, I want to see its action and depth. We have spoken often this season about the importance of creating more depth within a pitch arsenal. Depth forces the hitter to make a decision. The best pitches look like strikes long enough to make the hitter say yes, then move enough to make that decision wrong. There are many qualities of a pitch we can measure. But some pitches simply pass the eye test. They have the shape, action, and conviction to play at the highest level. The challenge is commanding them consistently and sustaining that consistency over time. That is what separates a good pitch from a great pitcher. Development often appears first in flashes. Then, through enough work and repetition, those flashes become the new version of the player. Congratulations, Spencer. Keep working, brotha. #WHOSNEXT

Last night, @Royals City Royals pitcher Randy Dobnak pitched five scoreless innings against the @tigers. Nearly a decade earlier, his professional career began just a few miles from Comerica Park with the @USPBL. In June 2017, he joined the Utica Unicorns out of Division II Alderson Broaddus University. Dobnak went 3–0 with a 2.31 ERA and signed with the Minnesota Twins on August 2, 2017. Two years later, he became the first USPBL player to reach the Major Leagues. What stood out about Randy was simple: he knew how to pitch. He worked quickly, attacked the strike zone, and trusted his sinker-slider combination. He wasn’t chasing metrics. He was chasing outs. Credit to Billy Milos for recognizing Randy’s potential and giving him an opportunity. The USPBL will continue working to create those opportunities, but players must be prepared to make the most of them. Randy Dobnak went undrafted out of a Division II school. Nearly a decade later, he is still getting outs in the Major Leagues. A great baseball story—and a reminder that the game still rewards pitchers who know how to pitch. #WHOSNEXT

We now have more than a decade of evidence showing how pitch metrics, data-driven technology, and modern training methods have transformed baseball. These advancements have taught us a great deal. We can measure velocity, spin, movement, workload, and physical performance with a level of detail previous generations could never have imagined. But because something can be measured does not mean it should become the measure of everything. The danger did not begin when baseball acquired better information. It began when information ceased to serve the game and the game began to serve the information. For more than a century, a successful pitcher was judged by the whole of his work: command, adaptability, durability, competitiveness, workload, and the ability to consistently get outs. In little more than a decade, that definition has changed. Velocity, spin, movement, and swing-and-miss have become the primary currencies of opportunity. Pitchability, command, durability, and the ability to navigate a lineup have too often become secondary. These traits are not bad. The error lies in mistaking the part for the whole. When the pitch becomes more important than the pitcher, we should not be surprised when the pitcher breaks. Across every level of baseball, arm injuries have risen as pitchers chase the measurable traits most closely tied to scholarships, contracts, draft status, and the next opportunity as Major League Baseball continues to lose millions of dollars and thousands of player-days to pitchers who can no longer withstand the demands of a full season. Meanwhile, the private development industry responds to what colleges, scouts, organizations, and social media reward. Families follow the opportunities placed in front of them. Young pitchers follow the system. No single person needs to intend the final result. The trainer prepares the player for what scouts want. The scout identifies what organizations value. The organization acquires what the modern game demands. Each decision may seem reasonable on its own, while the combined result becomes deeply unreasonable. Data and technology are not the enemy. But they must remain tools. Data should inform wisdom, not replace it. Technology should sharpen judgment, not narrow it. Training should develop the complete pitcher, not merely improve the measurable characteristics of a pitch. We should not abandon innovation. We should demand a better version of it—one that develops performance without sacrificing durability, values pitchability alongside measurable traits, and prepares pitchers not only to earn an opportunity, but to survive and succeed once they receive it. The tools must serve the pitcher. The pitcher must not be sacrificed to the tools. Cheers to a balance, but we need more voices to speak up and help the next generation of pitchers. Don't be negative, cruel, or argumentative; just help progress the game and maintain the value of pitching success.

One of my all-time favorite moments at the USPBL was watching Nic Wilson win the 2017 Home Run Derby with a walk-off home run as time expired.