In the fall of 2021 Luke Summers was referred over to us from his cousin who was training with us for about 2 months. Luke was a current indy ball pitcher after finishing up his college career at Fontbonne University. During his D3 tenure, Luke absolutely dominated on the mound logging 353 innings with a career 2.62 ERA including a .67 ERA over 77 innings in 2019. Luke was upper 80s to low 90s and touched 92 throughout his college career. However, the biggest issue Luke faced was a throbbing elbow pain. The pain eventually bled into Luke's performance as he went from upper 80s to 85-87 mph. His pain even carried into his professional career as he continued to lose velocity in each of his starts. Prior to training with Connected Performance, Luke had explored other options in the industry. Although he saw glimpses of success, they did not always translate to the game and even caused setbacks at times. Luke knew that if he want to continue to pursue an opportunity to play affiliate baseball he had to switch things up.
Once Luke signed up to train with Connected Performance the first issue we had to address was his throbbing elbow pain. In just over a month, we were able to resolve Luke’s pain through pain free throwing, isometrics, and an aggressive lifting structure. Over the next month we slowly rebuilt Luke’s body. Not only did we work to change his body composition but we also attacked his mobility structure. We wanted to ensure everything in his elbow was properly firing so we spent a large emphasis on his weight room components.
Two months into his off season, training Luke and his cousin Jack decided to join members of the CP team and other pro trainees at Combine Academy in Lincolnton, NC. Luke and Jack drove halfway across the country from St. Louis to stay in a small house filled with other minor league and indy pitchers in hopes to develop an opportunity at the affiliate level.
Luke’s first few months consisted of some adversity. Although he was progressively becoming stronger, more mobile, and feeling better, he would still have the occasional flare up. Luckily Ben Baggett and Ian Walsh were able to address and modify his program on the fly to suite his needs each day through our online training platform, Connect. Through the winter months Luke continued to progress to the point where he could consistently throw a high volume of high intensity throws. This was a huge win for Luke. He continued to put together good days that consisted of high intensity and pain free throwing.
Finally, it clicked. Luke was pulling down one day and his numbers continued to PR. Luke was consistently pulling down over 100 mph, numbers that he had never seen in his life. Finally Ian saw enough and forced him to get on the mound.
Luke then proceeded to sit 96-98 mph, something he had never done in his life. However, we believe that the velocity PR’s were not his biggest accomplishment. After undergoing a high intensity throwing day, Luke was able to bounce back and sustain a healthy arm moving forward. Now that his velocity was above his peers, Luke was able to focus on developing plus secondary pitches with for the remainder of the off-season.
In early January, Luke threw in front of scouts at X2’s pro day. Luke sat 94-96 with a plus changeup and slider. While continuing to train with CP, Luke was prepared to return to Indy ball to put up similar numbers to his college days. However, his plans were interrupted when the Colorado Rockies reached out offering Luke a free agent signing. Luke is a guy who took a risk and bet on himself to drive halfway across the country for just a chance. At the end of the day, what are you willing to sacrifice to accomplish your goals? For more information on training contact Training@Connected-Performance.com.