In the past year we have a lot to be thankful for. This is Connected Performance’s first annual review because we believe we have a lot to look back on and share with you. Since our unofficial start in 2019, we’ve seen some remarkable growth.
Let’s start with the people.
I’m ecstatic to announce Ben Baggett (@builtbybaggett) is an official partner in Connected Performance. Ben comes to us after 4 years of playing baseball at and attending Stanford University. He later graduate transferred to Florida Southern College and where I had the pleasure of coaching him and his 95+ mph fastball. Ben brings an original, unique, and forward perspective to training and manipulating the body to achieve high velocity positions. It makes perfect sense since he is a self-taught 100+ mph thrower who can also bench press over 400 pounds. Be on the lookout for more on Ben’s story as he pursues his professional baseball career.
Other Help:
I’d be remiss not to mention two interns that have helped me along the way this year and in 2020. Evan Faxon and Steve Spidell are both Connected Performance athletes who have trained with us since 2019 and have gone from either high 70’s or low 80’s throwers to 90+ mph arms. Whether it has been running reports or taking a deep dive into performance books, their insight and hard work have been valued over the past two years while CP continues to reach new heights.
Rebranding:
If you’ve been following us for about a year you’ll notice that our website’s changed more than Dennis Rodman’s hairstyle. We’d like to thank Dodeka Digital for taking us through a complete face lift and creating a clean website and design.
Free Resources:
Over the past year we’ve worked tirelessly to bring you some free resources. With all three e-books complete and pending release, I’d like to announce that Connected Performance will be offering up a free e-book on college off-season player development, a free summer throwing e-book, and a free mental performance book. Please be sure to keep an eye out when these resources will be available.
Connect Software:
In the summer of 2019, I started out with 5 athletes on a bunch of Google Docs. A few months later I found out that Excel could evolve our programming as we grew from 5 to 10 athletes. As we went from 10 to 30 and 30 to 50 I needed a better formula to serve our athletes. Since the middle of 2020 we’ve worked to develop the best-in-class software to program our athletes and make available to college baseball programs. After almost a year and a half of developing, testing, and retesting, we are proud to announce that our Connect software is available for purchase. See how top programs like Lander University and Baldwin Wallace have used our software to streamline their development and gather a larger ROI on each of their athletes.
Check Out Our Connect Platform
Partnerships/Consulting Services:
Over the past 6 months we’ve been working with the Baldwin Wallace University pitching staff. We’ve programmed everything from lifting, mobility, throwing, and nutrition for each individual athlete. Over this time, we’ve seen some remarkable gains not only in velocity but in the gym as well.
We’ve also partnered with Lake Erie College to bring them the best-in-class player development software and services. Landon Hutchinson has done a remarkable job investing in his athletes to progress and develop. We are stoked to be working with Lake Erie and expect to develop some elite arms over the next few years.
Last but not least, Our Athletes:
I think this goes without saying but we would be nowhere without the commitment of our athletes. As mentioned before, in the summer of 2019 I started this business with 5 athletes and some feeble Google Doc sheets. As of today is 2021, we’ve trained well over 250 athletes with 3 top 10 draft picks in the last two years while developing over 15 professional baseball players. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights of this year:
Brandyn Sittinger, from Indy ball to The Bigs in one year. Check out Brandyn’s story here.
JJ Niekro, after JJ tore his UCL his senior year of college the 89-92 righty’s professional career didn’t look promising. Luckily, JJ was given one more shot and went from Tommy John Surgery to the Atlanta Braves in 13 months while developing a 96mph fastball. Read about his story here.
Vaun Brown, from Division II career .235 hitter to All-American, .400 hitter, conference leader in home runs, and 10th round draft pick to the San Francisco Giants. Check out how we helped Vaun Brown transform his body here.
Nate Madej, we’ve helped Nate solve his aching arm pain and took him from sitting upper 80’s to low 90’s and finished his Northwoods League campaign with a sub 2 ERA as a starter sitting 90-93.
Jacob Peaden, Jacob came to us in the upper 80s-low 90s mark. Now he’s been up to 97 for the Wildcats.
We’ve also been investing money into resources to get our guys even more dieseled.
We started a monthly Newsletter:
Each month we bring you a new topic on the body, the mind, and the athlete. Be sure to sign up and inquire on our website.
Our Plans for 2022:
We are growing! We are looking to add on 2-3 more schools for consulting this upcoming year while maintaining our excellent service to our remote athletes. If you’re interested in becoming part of the Connected Performance team, be sure to contact us at Training@Connected-Performance.com. Until then, keep pushing the rock.
Cheers,
Alec Hammond and The Connected Performance Team