Recap Show: Perry Husband

Welcome to The Baseball Awakening Podcast where we dive into the raw, unfiltered, unsexy side of player development.

Summary:

On this episode, Host, Geoff Rottmayer, recaps his conversation with Perry Husband of Hittingisaguess.com. The biggest takeaways that he discussed on this show are:

• There is a lot more to learn to become a black belt at EV.
• Interesting the experiment that came to Perry mind when he was trying to figure things out.
• How exit velocity was a way to quantify and measure his theory.
• Data is not science, just a theory until it is tested and measured.
• and many more.

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Email Address: geoff@baseballawakening.com

Transcribe:

Hey guys Geoff Rottmayer here with the Baseball Awakening recap show where I share with you the biggest takeaways i got from my conversation with Perry Husband – as well as how I plan to implement what I have learned with my players that train with me at my academy in Tulsa Oklahoma.

Again, as I always say, we want to hear from you because different things mean different thing to different people so it would be interesting to see how you guys interpret something that Perry said or something that I am going to say today. I will make a show reading your email because we can all learn something from it, so my email is going to be geoff@baseballawakening.com, so so me your thoughts, comment, or feedback.

I have spent several years studying Perry work and it is not the easiest thing to understand which is why i think its not as mainstream as it should be and as it appears to becoming now. But I did learn a lot in the conversation and as I go through this recap show I hope I understood and interpret what Perry said properly.

Perry started his work, on the quest of trying to understand the best and most optimal way to swing the bat, and he tried all the different methods out there and measured it. They many different method did not do well in the exit ball speed and launch angle test. So he began to use some of the things he learned from his time as a golf instructor into the baseball swing and found that he was able to repeat the swing more effective and achieve great numbers in the exit ball speed and launch angle. The reason he even tried it was because in golf you have to be nearly perfect to hit the ball consistency straight, if you are off too much then the ball would spray all over the field. Stretching the muscles like a rubber band was something that everyone in the golf industry agreed on and it measured out. So, that same thought process and creating that stretch produce the optimal results in his teaching of the swing. So interesting that he figure that out. The arm barring out is kind of taboo in the baseball world but it produce the highest exit velocity of which Perry has been able to test.

The other things was he calls it being 100/100 meaning the mechanics are on point 100% and his timing is on point 100%. This is where understanding EV as a hitter comes into play, in my opinion. Sitting on a speed so you can get your best swing and best timing off to produce the optimal result.   

His idea of measuring exit ball speed was to quantify and to stop the guess when it comes to how hard a guys hit the ball and give guys who don’t fit the mold an opportunity. But it was also to say that this is the optimal way to swing to produce consistency in high exit speed. I def think it is a metric for guys to work hard to improve on. Make sure you do not get carried away with it, some guys want to swing out of their shoe to try and get numbers. You want your game swing to produce high exit velocity. At the end of the day game performance is what matters. If are strong, have good mechanics, and are consistently squaring up baseball the exit velocity numbers will be there. The way to train is a big thing right now, but it has to be within a game type swing not cage swings.

So to understand Effective Velocity, essentially he is saying that as the ball works away from you and lower the perceived speed for the hitter goes down and as it comes closer and up it is perceive faster. Which most people understand, but what most people don’t understand is the sequencing between pitches so they are at least 6 EVSpeed apart from one another. So many pitchers and coaches are sequencing and throwing every pitch they have in the down and away corner which essentially brings the speed to close to one another. Hitters are not as good as reacting so we have to strategically move the ball around the zone so we can miss the sweet spot of the barrel with good timing. Understand the hitters and learning to sequence pitches based on EV is the key that Perry is trying to get across. But as Perry said there is allot of education involved in understanding the EV Process. I have been studying for years and i learned more in this conversation so I think its one of those things where when you get him in front of you and talk, you will understand it better and make sense of it. Because its making its way into the highest level of the game and its going to change the way hitters need to train and think about hitting.   

I also love the part where Perry talks about how the Data is not science. Its only as good as interpreted. It just a theory until it has been tests. I think a lot of people get caught up in the data game and have it just to have it but do not understand what to do with it so they never really do anything with it. I think you def need to head this direction of understanding data but i also think one needs to start slow and understand how to use the information to make guys better. Be willing to make adjustments if you are not getting optimal results. Too many are stuck in ways and it becomes a problem for players because they just want to be the best version of themselves and you should encourage that as their coach/instructor.

SO this was a great conversation, and awesome conversation. My biggest takeaway is I still have a lot of learn about it and will do so. He has programs on his website hittingisaguess.com which I immdieatly went on a purchase some programs after hearing him talk. SO get educated. Thanks for tuning in and we will catch you next time.