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Former player hits a homerun with unique training program |
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Jon Davis
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By Courtney Llewellyn
Reminder Assistant Editor
LUDLOW Baseball is in Jon Davis blood. He played as both an outfielder and a pitcher when he attended Cathedral High School, and served solely as a pitcher at both UMass Amherst and Springfield College.
Davis even pitched one year of professional baseball with the New Haven Cutters in New Haven, Conn., a team which plays what is equivalent to single A minor league ball.
When professional baseball didn t work out ("a 5'9" right-handed pitcher is not what scouts are looking for, according to Davis), the 25-year-old took a different route to stay relevant in the world of baseball. He created the Baseball Power "Fast Bat."
Baseball Power bats use overload-underload training to develop power and improve bat speed. Davis first learned about this training technique while attending Springfield College.
"I love sports," Davis said. "Springfield College was the only place for me to go." He majored in exercise science, graduating in 2006. He wrote a term paper on the concept of overload-underload training and used that information to create a new kind of training bat for hitters.
He learned about overload-underload training firsthand while practicing his pitching skills.
Explained in its simplest terms, overload-underload training allows an athlete to use a piece of equipment -- in Davis case, either a baseball or a bat -- that is slightly heavier or slightly lighter than a normal piece of equipment to strengthen muscles in different ways.
"I'm a motivated guy, and I wanted an edge," Davis said. "I got real results [with the overloaded and underloaded baseballs]. I added four miles an hour to my fastball."
Often players unsuccessfully use overload-underload training by using bats or balls that are simply too heavy! the pamphlet that Davis put together states. "Baseball is about timing and mechanics. If hitters swing bats that are too heavy or too light, they will actually negatively affect their swing. Now, through science, we have found the perfect ratio to help you see the absolute best gains in bat speed."
Davis bats, which come with two resistance rings, are "balanced and weighted to the exact ratio needed to see optimal gains in swing speed," according to the informational pamphlet. And Davis has the proof to back that up.
The players Davis asked to test his bats saw an average increase in bat speed of 14 miles per hour.
"The best we got was an increase of 34 miles per hour," he said. "When I saw that, I knew I was onto something."
According to research by Alan Nathan, a nuclear physics professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, every one mile per hour gained in bat speed equates to roughly six feet added in distance the ball will travel off a hitter s bat.
The wooden bats are manufactured by the Dream Bat Company located in Enfield, Conn., which is run by Tim Mayo, whom Davis met in the New England Collegiate Baseball League.
Davis said it took a year to come up with the best design for the Fast Bat.
"It was difficult to come up with the best way to attach the [six ounce] weights without them flying off and killing someone," he joked. Each bat comes with a small Allen wrench to tighten and loosen the weights. Bats also come with 21-page training manuals.
Players started using the bat last December, and teams around the nation are already using it -- at the University of Wisconsin, at high schools in Florida and California, and at Longmeadow High School.
"We got the bats last year two or three weeks into our season, Longmeadow High School baseball head coach John Mayo said. We didn t have a way to test bat speed [then] but I definitely think the kids got better. They got faster, with stronger wrists and forearms. I have no doubt Jon s system was a big help for us, and we will continue to use his system."
Coach Mayo expects his team to get even better this year using the Baseball Power bats. And he isn t the only one who believes in the success of Davis bats.
"Gene Coleman [Houston Astros' strength and conditioning coach] sent me an e-mail," Davis told Reminder Publications. "He s worked with Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens ... The fact that he showed interest let me know I was onto something."
The patent pending overload-underload Fast Bat is the only product Davis is focusing on right now in what he calls a learn as you go business.
"I m putting everything in one basket with these bats," he stated, "but I'm getting a lot of support from other small businesses and I m doing something I enjoy."
To learn more about Davis unique bat and training regimen, log on to www.getbatspeed.com.
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