For this blog we were fortunate to hear from one of our remote trainees, Thomas Spinelli. During quarantine he decided to reflect on his past year and the transformations he’s made in his game and to his body. So here is Thomas:
My name is Thomas Spinelli and I am currently a R-JR at Florida Southern College and as I prepare for the 2020 MLB draft I thought this would be a valuable time to share my story of how Connected Performance has impacted my life. My baseball journey started during the fall of my junior year of high school. This is when I decided to solely focus on one sport after being a three-sport athlete in football, wrestling, and baseball. Shortly after this time I was fortunate to commit to Ole Miss to play baseball. I was a big lefty and my fastball ranged from 86-89 mph topping at 90. Fast forward two years and I was on campus in Mississippi, ready to compete but naïve in understanding the nature of the beast. I had stellar results in high school but was not ready to compete at such a high level of college baseball, therefore I was redshirted. During that fall my velocity and command fluctuated leading to inconsistent performance. At the end of the 2017 season I decided to transfer out of Ole Miss and continue my career at Florida Southern. My first year at FSC we had a great run but came up just short of a national title. I logged a solid amount of innings but was not satisfied with some of my statistics and numbers. I was only sitting mid to upper 80s during this time with decent secondary pitches. I was determined to improve my game but was unsure how or who to turn to.
In the fall of 2018 I was first introduced to Alec Hammond when he came to Florida Southern as a graduate transfer. During our year as teammates I got to know Alec quite well. He was a wealth of knowledge and a tremendous resource, however, I still had my apprehension about new age style of development and refused to completely buy into these types of methods throughout the 2018-2019 season. Again, that year I had a similar stats as 2017-2018. At the end of that season I told myself time is running out and I need to buy into my development as a pitcher if I ever wanted to achieve my goal of becoming a professional baseball player. Immediately after the season I decided to train with Alec and the company he founded that summer, Connected Performance. I was slated to play in the NECBL in the summer of 2019 and was hesitant how to balance training and playing but Alec reassured me we could make it work. One thing that Alec did was give me a definitive road map and outline goals for me for the entire summer. He worked around my outings to help me ensure I was maximizing my weight training, throwing, and mobility. My biggest jump came from the nutrition aspect as I lost 20 pounds of fat and added 8 pounds of muscle. During that summer I took my velocity from 87-90 to 90-93 and was named to the NECBL all-star team. Not only did I increase my velocity but I also made extreme strides in developing secondary pitches and increasing command. This led to me finishing the summer season with 33 strikeouts and 3 walks as the team’s closer. I was fully bought into Connected Performance and I continued my training throughout the fall, winter, and spring. By the time spring hit, I was sitting 91-94 topping 96 with elite secondary stuff. Due to the mutual commitment and programming of Connected Performance I am only inches away from achieving my goal. I went from having contact with a few scouts to receiving dozens of phone calls. It’s hard to summarize the benefits I have had from working with Connected Performance. No one will ever come and save you, you have to take your personal development upon yourself. The earlier you realize this the better. However, if you’re serious about your development and want to empty the tank, Alec will find a way to get you there.
