Rooney Baseball

09/06/2026

Most baseball players are standing in the wrong line.

Travel ball creates games and exposure. But exposure only shows scouts what already exists. Development changes what exists.

In 2026, the Dominican Republic had 93 players on MLB Opening Day rosters from a population of 11.4 million. The United States had 699 from 340 million.

That is nearly 4X more MLB players per capita.

The statistic does not prove one development system caused the difference. But it raises an important question:

Are we buying more baseball—or building better players?

Before paying for another tournament or showcase, find out what your athlete actually needs to improve.

Try the free MechanicsDNA Mini. Upload one pitching video and evaluate five key biomechanics markers—no account or credit card required.

topvelocity.org/mechanicsdna-mini/

Save this post and send it to a baseball parent or coach who needs to see it.

09/06/2026

09/03/2026

Listen here to the latest episode of “Toe the Rubber: Player Development for All Ages”

Podcast Episode · The Real Voices of the Game Productions · September 3 · 1h 15m

08/31/2026

When we become arm centric in our thoughts, “how does my arm feel today?”, “Stay on top of the ball”, as well as arm care programs centered in the arm, instead of the whole kinetic chain. The meaning of this post rings true.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DclZf-rDBJt/?img_index=12&igsi=MWlseTVvbW1jOXlrbg==

08/28/2026

The Intersection of Data-Driven Business Models and
Modern Velocity-Centric Mechanics is Creating a Long-
Term Decline in Sustainable Pitching Development

Over the last decade, two trends have converged in
amateur and professional baseball:
1. The monetization of player performance data as a
proprietary asset by organizations like Perfect Game,
PBR, and private training facilities.
2. The widespread teaching of short-stride, rigid-front-
side, velocity-centric pitching mechanics that
prioritize measurable output over full kinetic-chain
efficiency and long-term health.
Independently, each carries risk to player development.
Together, they create a feedback loop that accelerates the
problem.

1. How Data Ownership Drives Training Priorities
The business model behind large-scale data collection
values:• Quick, visible results that raise a player’s metrics and
make the database more marketable.
• Replicable measurements like radar gun velocity,
spin rate, and vertical break that are easy to
standardize but disconnected from context like
movement quality or injury risk.
• Volume over nuance — getting more players through
events to feed the database rather than slowing down
to teach complex movement patterns.
Because the value of the database comes from its size and
statistical “shine,” there is built-in incentive to push
methods that spike metrics quickly, regardless of their
long-term sustainability.

2. How Modern Mechanics Fit That Model
The modern velocity-first approach — short stride, rigid
front side, early hip swing, arm sling, vertical recoil —
aligns perfectly with the needs of a data-driven marketing
system:
• Fast radar gun gains without requiring athletes to
master deep hip hinges, front-side stability, or full 7-
primal-movement athleticism.
• Uniform appearance that makes video clips and
leaderboard snapshots comparable across athletes.• Lower entry threshold for young or underdeveloped
players, meaning more participants can produce
“marketable” metrics.
This method is attractive to organizations whose revenue
and influence grow when more players post impressive
showcase numbers quickly.

3. The Feedback Loop That Harms Development
When organizations profit from both data collection and
velocity-centric training, a reinforcing cycle emerges:
1. Players are trained in ways that produce immediate
metric spikes.
2. Those spikes make the database more impressive and
marketable.
3. More athletes and parents are drawn into the system
chasing those same results.
4. The mechanics are further normalized, even if they
compromise long-term arm health and skill diversity.
The result is a large pool of pitchers who can throw hard
at 16 but lack the biomechanical foundation, sequencing
ability, and movement durability to sustain performance
into college or pro ball.

4. The Long-Term Negative Effect
This convergence undermines true pitching development
in three ways:
• Injury Risk: Rigid, velocity-chasing deliveries
increase peak joint stress without distributing forces
through the full kinetic chain.
• Skill Ceiling Reduction: Athletes plateau earlier
because their mechanics are built for showcase
metrics, not sustainable command, adaptability, or
velocity growth.
• Athletic De-Evolution: Neglecting foundational
movement patterns (hinge, rotate, lunge) produces
throwers who cannot adjust when facing higher-level
competition.

Conclusion
The marriage of data as a commercial asset and
mechanics built for immediate metric gains is not
accidental — it’s a mutually beneficial business
relationship. But for the athlete, it’s a short-term path with a steep long-term cost. Unless the baseball development industry realigns its use of data toward actionable coaching and embraces movement-efficient pitching models like TripleSpin, the sport will continue producing more broken arms than complete pitchers.

Players Athletic Club DVS Baseball The Kinetic Arm Elite Functional Performance Dave Dagostino Jim Rooney

08/27/2026

The Arm Action Trend Every Parent Is Copying (And Shouldn’t)

Watch a few innings of MLB right now and you’ll notice something: pitchers like Paul Skenes and Shane Bieber aren’t winding up big and long anymore. Their arm stays tucked in tight, elbow bent sharp, ball close to the head. It’s called the “short arm action,” and it’s everywhere.
Here’s the part nobody’s telling parents: that move only works because of what’s happening in the rest of the body first. Elite pitchers generate massive hip and trunk rotation speed, and the short arm is just catching up to that speed efficiently.
When a 14-year-old copies the arm without the rotation speed underneath it, the body doesn’t know what to do with the shortcut. The elbow ends up leading the whole show — dragging the forearm behind it under tension. That’s exactly the pattern behind Little League Elbow.
Your kid doesn’t have an “MLB arm problem.” He has an MLB-arm-on-a-13-year-old’s-body problem.
🎙️ We break down exactly why this happens — and what to look for — on the new episode of Toe the Rubber: Player Development for All Ages, on the Real Voices of the Game network.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-real-voices-of-the-game-productions/id1624830660?i=1000786317575

Players Athletic Club The Kinetic Arm DVS Baseball Elite Functional Performance Dave Dagostino Jim Rooney Rick Dempsey

Podcast Episode · The Real Voices of the Game Productions · August 27 · 1h 5m

08/24/2026

I see this everyday, and attempt to inform young pitchers that you throw the ball with your body, not your arm. warm up the whole body, not just the arm. We have become so arm centric in our approach to training and throwing drills. Focus on the whole unit, body and arm.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1907469636615347/?fs=e&fs=e

08/17/2026

One of the benefits of an extremely large payroll is you can pay for high end interchangeable parts.

Los Angeles Dodgers (based on available mid-August 2026 data and patterns).
No single public source provides a complete, official, real-time leaderboard isolating only pitchers’ cumulative IL/disabled list days for the full 2026 season through mid-August. However, tracking from Spotrac cumulative IL data, FanGraphs RosterResource, InsideThePen rehab/roster-move logs, MLB.com injury updates, and team-specific reports consistently points to the Dodgers having among the highest (often the leading) volume of pitcher IL time.
Key supporting details as of ~August 17, 2026:
* The Dodgers have repeatedly placed multiple starters and relievers on the 15- and 60-day IL (e.g., Tyler Glasnow, Blake Treinen, Gavin Stone, Bobby Miller, Ben Casparius, Justin Wrobleski, and others earlier in the year such as Blake Snell before his return). Several were simultaneously on rehab assignments.
* Spotrac cumulative team IL data shows the Dodgers near the top in overall days and stints (high pitcher concentration historically and in 2026 reports). Other high-IL teams (e.g., Cubs with extensive rotation turnover, Blue Jays, Tigers, Diamondbacks) also rank high, but Dodgers pitcher depth and repeated stints stand out in transaction/rehab trackers.
* Patterns match prior seasons in which the Dodgers led MLB in total IL days (including heavy pitcher usage).
Players Athletic Club The Kinetic Arm DVS Baseball Elite Functional Performance Dave Dagostino

08/14/2026

At Rooney Baseball, I have been using verbal cues to trigger movement intent, attention focus, and feel since the late 1980’s.

Here is the latest research:

The application of verbal cues to trigger movement intent and attentional focus in modern motor skill learning is most notably championed and synthesized by Dr. Nick Winkelman, alongside foundational researchers in attentional focus like Dr. Gabriele Wulf.

Key Figures and Concepts

1. Nick Winkelman (The Language of Coaching)

Core Contribution: Winkelman popularized how specific coaching language (cues and analogies) sets the intent of a movement rather than instructing body mechanics.
The 3D Cueing Model: He developed a framework defining how verbal cues should establish:

Direction: Where the movement is directed (e.g., toward or away from a target).

Distance: Near (proximal) vs. far (distal) external targets.

Description: Use of action verbs and metaphors (e.g., "explode off the floor like a jet taking off").

Intent-Driven Movement: Rather than giving internal mechanical commands ("flex your hip 45 degrees"), the verbal cue delivers a clear goal/intent ("punch the ground away"), allowing the nervous system to self-organize the motor pattern.

2. Gabriele Wulf (Attentional Focus & The Constrained Action Hypothesis)

Core Contribution: Foundational research on Internal vs. External Focus of Attention.

Mechanism: Wulf demonstrated that verbal cues directing intent toward an external outcome (the effect of the movement) free up automatic motor control mechanisms, whereas internal body-part cues constrain the motor system and disrupt performance.

3. Frans Bosch & Ecological Dynamics Practitioners

Core Contribution: Bosch and proponents of the Constraints-Led Approach (CLA) emphasize that verbal instructions should define the task intention and environmental problem, prompting athletes to explore degrees of freedom and self-organize without conscious micro-management.

Elite Functional Performance Players Athletic Club Dave Dagostino Jason Kimball DVS Baseball The Kinetic Arm Jim Rooney

08/14/2026

WHEN DID THE RADAR GUN BECOME THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN?

Velocity matters. But it should be the result of development—not the definition of it.

We’re seeing younger pitchers chase numbers before they’ve learned how to move efficiently, create force, sequence the body, command the baseball, or actually pitch.

A radar gun tells you what came out of the hand.

It doesn’t tell you how efficiently the body produced it—or how sustainable that delivery will be.

That’s the difference.

Build the athlete.
Build the movement.
Build the delivery.
Then let velocity become the outcome.

We shouldn’t be trying to create the hardest-throwing 14-year-old.

We should be developing the pitcher he can become at 18, 21 and beyond.

Velocity is an output. Development is the process.

That’s where baseball needs to shift its attention.

DVS Baseball The Kinetic Arm Elite Functional Performance Players Athletic Club Dave Dagostino Jason Kimball Jim Rooney