Brad Presler

I started my coaching career as a volunteer coach of the Yankees in the South End Little League in Boston, MA in 2011.

During this time I also coached at a facility named The Base in Boston.

From there, I became a coach of 14U team and a private pitching, hitting, and defense coach for little leaguers all the way through to college level players at the highly competitive private facility in Waltham, MA called the Farm, the home of Minutemen Baseball, working with and learning from many retired and current pros. There we developed and worked on athletes biomechanics, human kinetics, and body force generation and enjoyed using video to see the true chain or breaks in the chain of energy from the ground to the ball each athlete was utilizing and then improving.

During this time, I also earned the assistant and then Head Coach positions of Beaver Country Day's (Chestnut Hill, MA) Varsity Baseball team helping several of the student athletes earn spots on college rosters.

The South End Baseball Organization also chose me to be the head coach of their Yawkey League South End Astros that included many ex, rehabbing, or recently released and needing to show scouts they can still perform at a high level players (who then get picked up again) and college athletes.

While in Boston, I also umpired as part of the Massachusetts Baseball Umpires Association.

With all of this baseball, while in Boston, I was helping kids and adults with the game almost daily.

Next, I moved to South Korea and began the baseball program at the international school called Chadwick International, coaching and training the student athletes in hopes they can play at the next level there.

Since my return to Columbus, OH, I've been coaching Robotics at Reynoldsburg High School (Reynoldsburg, OH) - a little different than baseball, and making me miss the game - hence why I'd love to start training athletes again!

Lastly, I've been playing baseball for fun and helping coach the COMABL Ohio Pirates during my summers for the last several years and will begin umpiring again this season.

Many of my players I have coached throughout the years have gone on to become college student athletes as well as pros. I enjoy helping all age levels, but historically have focused on youth looking to up their game and get to the next level; from little league to high schoolers looking to get to continue their playing careers in college or to go pro.

I grew up in Churchville, NY just outside Rochester and played my High School ball there for Churchville Chili High School as well as many summer ball leagues. Next I earned a spot on the Columbus State roster in Columbus, OH. Our team earned a World Series birth the first season and had a better record the second season but due to some Admin paperwork issues, the NJCAA did not allow us to earn a second post season birth or individual players honors or to be ranked (after having been ranked 3rd in the nation pre season my second season). During this time, I earned the Coaches Award (one of the only awards we were allowed to earn by the NJCAA), and played many positions as a utility player with a focus on pitching and second base. I then earned a spot on the Savannah College of Art and Design Bee's baseball team (NAIA) in Savannah, GA where I continued my utility role with a focus on pitching and second base. We also earned a World Series birth. After earning my Industrial Design degree, I signed with the Coastal Kingfish of the Continental League. Later I signed with the Vieques Rebeldes in Puerto Rico's Class A. I have continued my career by playing for fun in Boston's Yawkey league, in Korea, and now that I am back in Columbus, OH, with the Ohio Pirates in the COMABL, still keeping up the utility role and still helping teams get to championships having reached the finals last season.

Sessions depend heavily on the needs of the athlete.

For Most Athletes (age and position training for will vary the needs): A typical hour long session will start off with some static stretches progressing into some cardio to get the blood flowing that includes going into some minor strength and motion exercises to wake up the body and get the range of motion going with a focus on loosening anything that feels tight. These can include medicine ball drills such as trunk twists, over head tosses, etc, exercise ball drills such as sit ups and mixed drills with the weighted/medicine balls such as overhead tosses with a sit up, cords/bands that include moving through the throwing motion, V's, internal and external rotation drills, etc, body weight exercises such as lunges (normal, reverse, side, and with a twist), squats (normal body weight and spilt squat jumps), walking and touching toes with a leg raised (focus on balance and range of motion), finger flicks (for forearms and grip strength), etc - Trever Bauer does a great routine for athletes here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDd2yMSSnY&t=101s) but the weights would vary for younger athletes and the exercises I would provide would come from a mix of my college and pro coaches as well as my own training I've developed. Another group I like to learn from is the TopVelocity group, now on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/topvelocity/) which is very similar to how we used to train athletes at the Farm as well as what I've done over the years as a player at many levels.

For Pitcher onlys and position players looking to gain velocity and healthy, consistent, repeatable throwing mechanics: We can start throwing by going backward through the throwing motion at a short distance from a wall or myself. That means working and focusing on the following with a consistent release and target hit:
1) the finger and wrist motions (standing or laying and tossing the ball to oneself consistently accurate with a strong height or distance),
2) moving to including and focusing on the forearm combined with the wrist and fingers generally standing square to the target,
3) moving to using the upper arm and shoulders with a good follow through standing square to target,
4) then with the shoulders and feet turned and in the landing position, starting the arm in the landing position and using the hips, abs, and glutes to rotate into a light toss with the above included.
5) after a slight backing away from target, starting with the ball near the landing foot, Then really focus on shifting the weight from front to back to front into the hip rotation and include the above making sure to have a solid/strong front side/lead leg (not letting it collapse, but instead using the force of the body pushing into the ground to your benefit) and to have the arm up so it can utilize its external rotation at the proper time in the mechanics.
6) After a further backing away from target, for pitchers starting in the stretch position (instead of the throwing hand down at landing foot), do some step behinds and the rest of the above with a focus on feeling the energy coming from the ground through the hips and core and into the shoulder, arm, and then wrist and fingers, not moving at 100% (of your goal depending on time of season, health, etc) but getting loose.
7) Continue step behinds for a few tosses separating from the target more and more, increasing your % of power used.
8) Once to a good distance for your goals and body - work into a more "regular" throwing motion (get rid of the step behind - utilize a normal single stride), focused on being relaxed, consistent release points, and the energy coming from the ground through the body as mentioned and into the ball.
9) Long toss can occur now, making sure not to over extend and to try to keep the release point consistent - too much long toss with the wrong mechanics can hurt a pitchers/throwers accuracy and mess with a practiced release point, so pitchers especially should not just try to launch the ball into space to get it to the target). Making sure to use the legs!
10) Work your way in to about the mounds distance (depending on the age), or depending on the days needs, to a flat ground distance a few feet short of the mounds distance for pitchers - for others they too can end the throwing routine about the mound distance making sure to keep release points consistent and all of the above true.
11) for Pitchers, after a bit of flat ground, move to a mound to work on specific pitching mechanics, release points, timing, biomechanics, grips, pitch movements, locations, etc.
12) Most players benefit from a brief cool down jog/poles to lengthen the body/stride, help with back, leg, arm, etc health to end a session.
Pitchers may also utilize PFP's (pitcher fielding practice) where they get some ground balls focusing on a safe, strong landing position after each pitch, covering bases, pick offs, etc...

Hitters: instead of throwing off the mound, we'd go to hit off a tee for starters, with a focus on baseball hitting mechanics, such as grip, elbow locations (keeping the L), feet positioning, body weight shifts, rotational vs linear (or combo of) hitting styles, bat positioning throughout the swing, shortness of swing (staying short but not casting), length of bat on the ball path, loads, timing mechanisms, energy transfers from ground through knees, quads/hamstrings, glutes, hips (core), shoulders, arms, hands (level, not turning over), and finally bat to ball, and most importantly, getting your eyes to SEE the ball - without seeing the ball - the spin, the way it comes out of a pitchers hand, etc, it is very hard to read pitches. I've done drills with numbers written on balls and while you hit it, you need to read out loud the ball number. We'd then go to some short side toss with a focus on at least one of the above mentioned (narrowing it down though to attempt to get good consistent contact without needing to over think each swing). Then we would move to front toss or overhand BP depending on the timing and skill progression of the athlete, again focusing on at least one part of the above, especially looking for consistent solid contact.

Fielders: We'd start with close up drills, often times starting without a glove, progressing to a flat "glove", to the real glove, with a focus on keeping the glove out front, not letting the ball eat you up (going to the ball, not just letting the ball come to you), counting hops (making sure to SEE the ball), back hands coming through the ball, using the glove to stop the ball and not letting it close too soon or be pulled up too soon or to be presented to the ball in a way that doesn't show the catching area of the glove to the ball essentially blocking the balls entry into the glove, two hand drills, short hops, long hops, fast rollers, slow rollers/bare hands, getting around balls so you can field through it (seeing the ball slightly off to the side of straight on can help with depth perception - keeping the feet slight off square can help with this too as well as help with a quicker release), and then get some throws in off grounders from their position of choice to each bag, double play flips, tosses, coverages, footwork at the various bases, pop ups at the positions of choice, etc.

Outfielders focus on learning reads (judging the distance and location to go to to catch the ball - some can get used to using the bill of their cap for reference), first steps (step back drills, etc), running without the glove sticking out the whole time (this slows you) aka getting to the spot just behind where the ball will land so you can come through the ball into your throw, staying behind the ball, crow hops, hitting cuts (keeping throws in low and through targets or to the bags), reading the swings, the sounds of the bat to ball, knowing the pitch type (if possible to work out with your team or if you can see the pitch calls - the last 3 are good for all positions) etc.

Hitters and fielders could end the day with base running drills such as the cycle drills (single, double, triple, HR) with a focus on proper lines to each base, pitcher reads on pickoffs, etc.

All players need to practice knowing where to go with the ball when they get it and expect to get the ball at all times - know situations.

All players will benefit from both regular speed and slow motion video.