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General | General | 1/26/2005

Interview with Performance Enhancement Consultant Mark Noble

Patrick Ebert

This past week I spoke with performance enhancement consultant Mark Noble, who has an impressive resume working with some of the finest athletes in the nation, including players from the basketball programs at Duke, Alabama and Clemson, the Team USA handball team and Olympic figure skaters. He has also served as the strength development director for the athletic program at the Army's West Point Academy, along with working with both the United States Air Force and NASA. While most of the tests Mark Noble conducts are quite detailed and scientific, the underlying idea behind his work is pretty simple: To understand your body as a whole as much as you can to maximize your physical performance while preventing injury. We talked about the different things an athlete can do to enhance performance while preventing injuries, some of the common misconceptions young athletes may have about their bodies, and how these applications can be used for the players that attend the showcases and tournaments of Perfect Game USA.

Patrick Ebert (PE): To give our readers a general background of yourself, given the extensive range of work you do for a wide range of clients, would the title "sports medicine consultant" be a fair title for what you do?

Mark Noble (MN): Or "performance enhancement consultant. "Performance enhancement is more descriptive because that's really what I'm doing. When I had a physical therapy clinic I used the words "sports medicine," but I sold the PT clinics. Since I'm not really in medicine anymore, although I do continue to teach at a medical school, I try to keep the word "medicine" out of it. PE: Who would you generalize to be your biggest client base? MN: It's really diverse. The biggest client base is probably baseball players, ranging in age from 10 up to the professional level. Most of our baseball clients tend to be 16 and over, but we have an extensive database on baseball players all the way down to 10 year olds. Second biggest is basketball (players).

PE: Could you explain some of the specific things that you do for your clients?

MN: (One of the things that we do is) speed work, looking at various levels of strength: What is their (a client's) leg strength? What are their ankle versus knee versus hip strength? What is their core strength? What is their flexibility? (For example) the formula for speed is stride length times stride rate, so stride length is a function of flexibility. There's a group of 12 muscles that we look at, and if any one of those muscles are tight it's going to limit their stride length. If they take short steps they will not be able to run as fast as if they take long steps. A long first step is critical. When a base runner decides to steal second he better have a long first step. This is all a function of flexibility and the proper strength ratios to enable him to explode on the first step.

We also look at foot speed. Foot speed is a function of body reversal. When an athlete is sprinting and he lands on a foot he is going to immediately reverse body direction and propel himself back up as quickly as possible off that foot. How fast they can reverse body direction is the second half of the speed equation. So we measure that. It is a neuromuscular training technique that we use to help an athlete improve his foot speed, which dramatically improves footwork as well as running speed and lateral speed and agility. We leave no stone unturned. We examine as many variables as we need to in order to find what will help each athlete.

Then we perform a biomechanical analysis of running speed. This is an evaluation where we photograph them while they are sprinting. Most young athletes haven't been taught how to run properly. So we teach them how to run. We break down the basic elements of running and expose areas where they can become faster. Then we do another photography shoot to show them angles that we're looking for, and different teaching points after we have helped them develop better mechanics.

So speed is a big part of it, and that's probably equal to the injury prevention and strengthening exercises to increase throwing velocity and bat speed. We measure core strength and we give them (our clients) computer print-outs of all measurements. We do the same thing with shoulders, elbows, knees, ankles and hips. So we stress joints and measure everything, and then we relate that to the sport, in this case since we're talking about Perfect Game, baseball. This is what intrigues a lot of people, including Jerry (Ford). We'll find a guy whose throwing elbow is 75% weaker than the non-dominant elbow. This truly is amazing! His knees are strong, his legs are strong, his core is strong, his shoulders are strong, but he's got a weak elbow. And it astonishes me how often I find the throwing elbow is weak and the non-dominant elbow is strong. We find that quite often. Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if something breaks, it's going to be a structure in that elbow if all of the other structures we have tested are strong. That's a possible "Tommy John," procedure, but this is also easily correctable. But if you are unaware of the muscle imbalance or the strength deficit you don't know to correct it. I have never found an elbow like this where the athlete suspected anything was wrong. That is why I believe it is so important to expose all pitchers to comprehensive testing. I believe that is the only way to curb the number of "Tommy John" procedures that are being performed each year.

PE: What are some of the methods you use to prevent something like that?

MN: First, we stress-test the elbow. We put the elbow in what's called an isokinetic dynamometer in which the athlete is working his elbow as hard as he can back and forth, and the computer is measuring a variety of forces to identify "markers" that we're looking for. When we get the print-out we find out what is weak. Injury is defined as; when force is applied to a tissue, and the force is greater than the strength of the tissue then it causes the tissue to break or tear (tissue can be muscle, tendon, ligament bone (etc.)). In this case, if a force is applied to the ulnar collateral ligament repetitively over time, and the muscles aren't strong enough to absorb it, the force is going to tear the ligament. Then you're looking at a surgical repair, and that takes a long time to rehabilitate. In the case where a pitcher has strong legs, core, shoulder and a weak elbow, it is easy to prevent many of the injuries by simply strengthening the elbow.

Kids grow, and you want to manage that growth. Just as if you manage your money or construction of a new building. If a kid is really gifted, or maybe he's not as gifted and he just loves the sport, and he wants to make the high school team or the college team, and he has muscles that are growing like weeds: They're out of control. One muscle gets stronger than another muscle, and before you know it he is pre-disposed to an injury. So, you test all of that, you evaluate it, and you keep them going in the right direction. This is what I mean by managing the growth of the musculature and the body. Jerry Ford grasps this concept completely because he has seen so many promising athletes develop severe injuries and have their performance hampered as a result of those injuries.

PE: Basically, are you trying to improve the way athletes and people in general use their muscles and bodies overall, to give them a better understanding of how their body works to enhance their performance, whether it be by jumping higher or running faster, while staying healthier?

MN: Yes. It is critically important to understand the kinetic chain concept. Kinetic means movement. So from ankles to knees to hips to spine to shoulder to elbow to wrist represents a movement chain. A lack of strength in the legs will influence throwing velocity or bat speed just as much as a weak shoulder or elbow will. But so too, will a weak core.

Physicists refer to this concept as summation of forces. The concept is all about the development of forces in your lower extremities. Try sitting in a chair on the mound and throw an 80 mile per hour fastball. You just can't do it. This is because critical pitching forces are initially generated out of the legs. When those forces reach your core, or your trunk, then the core muscles in the trunk (the abdominals, the lower back, the obliques, (etc.)) generate their own forces and add those forces to the forces coming out of the legs. The sum is greater. The sum of the leg and core forces is then transferred to the upper body. Now the shoulders and elbows generate their own forces. But the forces generated by the shoulder and elbows are simply added to the sum of the forces coming out of the legs and through the core. That is why some people can throw an 80 miles per hour fastball when they are standing up but cannot throw anywhere close to 80 mph when they are sitting down. Of course, not everyone can even throw an 80 mile per hour fastball. But nevertheless, most of the time when the core is weak, it is the lumbar rotators that we find that are the weak link of the core. So whether it's rotating at the waist to throw a ball, or rotating at the waist to swing a bat, the force comes from the same places and magnify as they move up the body. That's the summation of forces concept in a nutshell.

Another example that we try to teach athletes is that if you draw a graph with an X and a Y axis, the summation of forces should take off at a 45 degree angle from where the X and the Y axis meet each other. In this example, the bottom one third of the plot represents leg strength. The middle one third represents core strength and the top one third represents shoulder and elbow strength.

But what if, for example, their leg strength is below where it should be? Then the plot of the leg strength will be less than 45 degrees. It will be 30 degrees, or whatever it is. If the leg strength is lacking, then in some muscles somewhere, these strength deficits will have to be made up for. This compensation can cause injuries and may contribute to performance deficits. If your legs are weak relative to your body weight, you're not going to generate as much force, it doesn't matter if you're running or jumping or swinging a bat or throwing a ball. The force simply will not be there if you lack leg strength.

On the other hand, if the leg forces are strong but the core is weak, then where the trunk, or core forces merge into the leg forces on the plot, there will be a decrease in power as it relates to trunk rotation. This represents a negative momentum shift at the point where momentum is transferred from the legs to the core. This will cause a slight deceleration in bat speed or throwing velocity. A young player must remember that in this instance, he is generating these forces out of his legs and he is accelerating. But then his bat speed will decelerate when the trunk takes over, if the trunk is not as strong as it should be. Then if the wrists are strong enough, his bat speed will increase again when his upper body takes over from the core. Or, in the case of throwing, his velocity will increase again, and he will begin to accelerate again if his shoulder is strong enough, once the momentum is transferred from the core to the upper body. So we identify (a player's) strengths and weaknesses by examining the body as a whole.

We also measure flexibility. There's a saying in baseball "loose shoulders, tight hips; loose hips, tight shoulders." We've found a lot of shoulder injuries that develop because of tight hips. When you throw a ball, and your shoulder is internally rotating, your hip should also be internally rotating. If your hip is only rotating half of what it is supposed to, then you're not (properly) transferring those forces from your legs through your trunk up to your shoulder.

In January 2003 I tested a 17-year-old RHP in Ft. Myers at a Perfect Game Showcase Event. He had worked hard to add strength to this throwing arm. He was throwing an 85 miles per hour fastball two months prior to the testing, but in the past couple of months it appears that he had tightened up and lost flexibility. The loss of flexibility probably occurred as a result of a growth spurt. At the time of the testing he was throwing 79 miles per hour. He had lost 6 mph. Like most athletes he deduced the loss of velocity was coming out of a weakened shoulder, so he tried to strengthen his shoulders to make up for the loss of velocity. Given his frustration he was overworking his shoulder on the mound in an attempt to reclaim his lost speed.

In attempting to throw harder he stressed his shoulder to the point that he developed some pain. This is why his mother brought him in for testing. The testing revealed a loss of shoulder acceleration just before the release point of his pitching motion. It was amazing to look at the plot coming out of the computer. Once he had this information he knew exactly what to do. The information is the thing. Knowledge is power. I showed this plot, anonymously, to Jerry Ford of Perfect Game and I believe that was a turning point in Jerry understanding and grasping exactly how important this testing is.

On this athlete, if he had known that it was the hip that was causing the problem, all he has to do is fix the hip, and then instead of throwing 79 miles per hour he may be capable of throwing 88, 90 miles per hour. You see, he was throwing 85 miles per hour with a tight hip. As his hip tightened up he lost even more velocity. He is tested, I identify the tight muscles, I show him how to correct the problem and his 79 mph fastball goes back to 85 and possibly even beyond. He is better than ever because he has more degrees to impart force to the ball and his flexibility issues have been resolved. Now he can pitch smoother, without struggling and his mechanics return to normal. And that prevents the shoulder or elbow injuries that often occur as well. It's a synergism. The whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts.

PE: That's very interesting. I think most people would think that to be able to throw harder one would have to work his or her arm harder to add the needed strength. What are some of the other common misconceptions you encounter from athletes?

MN: One of the biggest things we learn is running speed and how it is tied to leg strength. I mean this sounds like common sense. But when you study it and examine the data it is really eye opening.

If you hit a ground ball to third and you're trying to beat the throw to first base, gravity does not care if you're an AFLAC All-American or a Major League Baseball player or a T-ball athlete. Gravity just says either you're strong enough to move your body weight fast enough to beat that throw from third to first, or you're not. Gravity is the enemy of speed. Strength is our best way to develop power, which helps us overcome gravity.

We test thighs and we know that the quadriceps (the muscles on the front of the thigh) should be at least 100% of body weight. The strength can be a little higher. But it shouldn't be lower. It's amazing how many people we test and find their strength to body weight ratio in their quadriceps is 50-60% of their body weight. I just had a great big old guy in here, a really good catcher, but he is slow because he doesn't have good quad strength. His thighs are really big. They look strong, but when we test we find out they are not as strong as they look. His pop speed is a bit slow. He is also a slow base runner. Again, gravity doesn't care whether he's going to throw that guy out or not. Gravity just says if you're going to move up fast enough to get the power out of your legs to make this throw to nail that guy at second, you better have enough strength to make the throw properly.

The other big thing is when we measure core strength we're looking at the muscles that control the spine and control the center of gravity of the body. If you can control the center of gravity you can control all movement patterns. Acceleration, deceleration, change of direction, rotating, pivoting bending over to field balls, lateral movement, quickness (etc.). The muscles that control rotation and pivoting, which is what we do so much of in baseball, typically are about a third as strong as the muscles that extend and flex the spine. That's a huge muscle imbalance and it's almost universal. In baseball pivoting and rotating may be more critical than any other sport. And it is 100% preventable and correctable. You just have to know what to look for.

PE: How did you come to work with Perfect Game, and in what ways do you help them and the players they organize across the nation in showcase events and tournaments?

MN: Jerry Ford knew about what I was doing with Duke basketball for the past 18 years. Over that period of time they have not had a single ACL tear. In fact, the last knee injury that required surgery was in 1997. Now, I am not saying that I have a cure for preventing all ACL or other knee injuries. But I do know there are "markers" out there. If we can identify those areas that predispose an athlete to an ACL tear, or other knee injuries, we can prevent some of those knee injuries. So anyway, Jerry asked if I could do that with shoulders and elbows as well as knees, and I said, "well, I don't see why not. I've been working with baseball players here for a long time and have been very effective at reducing shoulder and elbow injuries." I guess a year and a half ago we started working together, where I would go to Perfect Game events, Jerry asked me to attend the AFLAC All-American High School Baseball Classic this past year in Baltimore. We only tested pitchers there, and we developed a very important component to our database there. In the past I have been going to Perfect Game events and doing the testing, but we can't take all of the equipment that we need on the road. Perfect Game and I are working out a program so that people can come to our facility in Huntsville, Alabama to be tested. This allows our testing services to be much more comprehensive. We can do all of the testing here. We provide each athlete with an incredible amount of information. We then sit down and explain it to them. There are printouts, written explanations, a written summary, lists of strengths and weaknesses, and a plan of action of how to go fix it. I'm putting together CDs right now to help show these players how to do the specific exercises and conditioning drills to strengthen each critical area.

PE: Do you work for any other baseball organizations, professional or otherwise?

MN: I don't work for any other baseball organizations. A lot of individuals come to see me. The Huntsville Stars (AA affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers) workout here in our facility, as do their visiting Southern League opponents. I'm constantly being asked questions from these guys. Pros will remember and from time to time we'll see people as they develop a problem and they will schedule an evaluation. I primarily evaluate individuals, from middle school to high school to college to the pros. All shapes and sizes and many different skill levels. But the concepts are all the same, what works on one works on another.

PE: Are these practices that you institute common throughout baseball, or do you feel you have some methods that could benefit how arms are being conditioned and/or rehabilitated?

MN: Well, I've talked to a lot of professional coaches, trainers, and strength coaches and I have learned a lot from them. Much of what I do is a synthesis of these ideas. But yes, it is my opinion that all Major League teams could benefit from this. I have not met any team that measures all of these variables and holds their athletes accountable for objective improvement. But I don't know how to crack that. It is hard to obtain an audience with Major League coaches. And all Major League coaches have their own training methods and they are successful. They wouldn't be where they are if they weren't successful. And they're going to do things their way. After all, if it's not broke you are not going to fix it. But if I could get in the door to show them my techniques and my data I think it would open their eyes.

There are many injuries that could be avoided if they were identified earlier. For example, we perform these flexibility profiles, and we know pretty much what to expect. But we find aberrations. Some guys are really flexible and some are really tight.

Let's say we have a pro pitcher that comes in and he's 30 years old. We measure shoulder external rotation, and (for instance) on his dominant pitching arm he's 10% tighter than his non-dominant arm. Well, we know the right arm can equal the left arm. We have some idea what (profiles) some elite players will have, but we also know each individual is different. We really don't want to impose a set of values on an athlete, but we do know the right shoulder can be as flexible as the left.

At the professional level, the trainers and the strength coaches are very good at implementing stretching, conditioning and strengthening programs. But if you're not measuring them and holding them accountable on a regular basis throughout the season, when something starts to tighten up, an injury may occur or one's performance may suffer. With Duke basketball I go up there two or three times a year and test them, because Coach K. (Duke Head Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski) knows that athletes are going to take a beating and there are going to be muscles that will tighten up, get sore, or are bruised. There are dozens of things that can happen that either result in injuries or performance deficits. So if you identify and correct those problems, if you hold athletes accountable, you can find these potential problems before they emerge into big problems.

PE: A hot topic in baseball these days is the increased awareness of statistics, with statisticians making their case to be a growing part of Major League ballclubs to determine past, present and future statistical trends. Since you've brought up injury pre-disposition, don't you think someone like yourself could be just as beneficial, if not more so, to a Major League organization?

MN: Yes. I provide statistical evidence to each coach when I test his team to illustrate our findings. Each athlete also gets a computerized report based upon our database that I have been developing since 1980 when I worked with the West Point baseball team, as the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at the US Military Academy at West Point.

(More specifically) I've seen older players that are in their 30s that are in the twilight of their career, and they're beat up, they've been beat up for a long time, and they're feeling tired and fatigued in the middle of the season. They'll come in during the offseason and we'll find muscles that are tight. When a muscle is tight, let's look at the hip joint for example; running, the stride length and everything, a lot of it comes out of the hips. Bending over and fielding balls and moving laterally to get to balls, and doing it quickly. When these muscles tighten up joint compaction occurs. Friction increases in the joint. The older guys are susceptible to this, and they'll feel it. Younger guys are susceptible to it as well, but their bodies aren't tuned in to feel it, but it's still there. The older guys can feel it, they know, because they know what they used to feel like. You give them the stretches, the strengthening patterns, balancing their muscles, whatever it is they need, the core strength. (Core strength) can be a big problem, the measurement and the accountability of core strength, and I'm not aware of anyone doing that right now, other than myself. (When you balance these things) you have harmony between your lower extremities, upper extremities and the core, so you're gong to be more efficient. You'll move further and faster with more efficiency and you will develop less fatigue. Over the course of the season, that adds up, and certainly it's worth something.

PE: Is a lot of this similar to mechanics, similar to when you're watching a baseball game on television and you hear the announcer mention how a player's shoulder is flying open?

MN: Mechanics are a neuro-muscular pattern that you learn. There are units called proprioceptors that have a lot to do with mechanics. With injury, proprioception can be altered in a negative way so you don't do things the way you used to do. There's a slight change in the angle of the shoulder or the elbow or the hips, when you do whatever it is that you're doing, whether you're fielding a ball, or running or throwing or hitting. When coming off of injuries, the restoration of proper mechanics becomes really important.

Also, sometimes a shoulder will fly open because of a muscle imbalance. In engineering they call it a force couple. If you have a telephone pole sticking up in the air, and there's a guy wire going to the left and a guy wire going to the right, when they installed that telephone pole they will put like 120 pounds of torque on each guy wire. If they put 120 pounds of torque on the guy wire to the right, and only 80 pounds of torque on the guy wire to the left, the wire on the right is going to pull the pole over to the right. That's the way the muscles work in any joint, whether it be the hips, the elbow or the shoulder. So, if one muscle is producing more torque and pulling the ball forward in the socket, that's going to create friction points. That's also going to cause the joint to fly open or be closed too much, so you're going to find mechanical deficits.

Pitching coaches will talk about hips not rotating enough, and that's a mechanical flaw. And coaches will work with athletes until they're blue in the face. And the athlete keeps trying and trying and trying (to correct this flaw). Then he comes in and we measure and we find out he has half the internal rotation in the throwing hip that he has in the other hip. It's no wonder his hip won't rotate, it will not rotate, and it's not possible until you stretch those muscles out. When you turn that weakness into a strength, the player starts to do what the coach has been trying to get him to do. Now the player is happy, the coach is happy, the team is winning more games and the fans are happy.

PE: If you're watching a player are there some tell-tale signs you can observe that there may be an injury pre-disposition without running any of your tests?

MN: Yes, there are a couple of different things you look for in different joints. There is a law in biomechanics that says when you extend you are accelerating. Any joint. And when you flex, or bend, a joint you are decelerating. If you've ever jumped on a trampoline and you want to stop, what you do is you bend your knees, or flex your knees. Once you bend your knees you immediately stop bouncing, right there on the spot.

In running, if the lumbar spine flexes, that means you're decelerating. When people do a lot of sit-ups to get their abs looking good for the beach, their abdominals oftentimes become stronger than their lower back. We see this a lot. In running mechanics there are certain cues that you look for, and a lot of times athletes are unable to hit those coaching points because their abdominals are stronger than their lower back. You can almost always tell when you watch somebody run because of their lack of spinal alignment. But they don't know that's the case until you perform the core strength test. And strength deficits that show up in the core strength test validates what you saw.

PE: How about with a pitcher?

MN: Oh yes, there are plenty of tell-tale signs to look for in a pitcher. You look at the hips and you see how far they're rotating. You look at the shoulder and you look at how much external rotation there is, and what the shoulder motion looks like. Is he using his core? Is this pitching coach asking this pitcher to get a big push off the mound, a long stride? Some pitching coaches will teach that technique and some don't. If they are, and the guy's not getting a long stride, then you start looking at his hips and try to figure out which muscles are tight and preventing him from taking a long stride. Again, once we test, the results will validate (your observations).

PE: What kind of advice would you give to a young baseball player, especially one eager to impress a scout with his blazing fastball, about understanding their body and doing their best to stay healthier, longer?

MN: To impress a scout, he must first get in front of the scouts. That is where Perfect Game comes in. Perfect Game has quality events so they attract a lot of scouts. Otherwise, there are a couple of things. First I believe it is important not to struggle. Let the game come to you. If your body is right and your mechanics are right you will perform well.

If you are struggling it may be worth it to get an evaluation and determine where are your strengths and where are your weaknesses. It's one thing to work hard, it's another thing to work smart. If a guy in high school is good enough to get a scholarship or to be drafted, they're probably working hard enough; it's just that everyone tends to enjoy working at what they're already good at. But if there's an area they need to work at, and they're not doing the exercises they need to, they need to concentrate on those areas and work smart. That's probably the most important thing, to manage the growth of your body. That is where objective testing becomes important. It identifies strengths and weaknesses and directs where an athlete should divert his energy in order to improve.

Learning proper mechanics is also really important. For example, if an athlete needs to run faster, but he has never really seen himself run, then he needs to know what he looks like when he runs. It is also important that he understands what it's supposed to look like when he runs. Then it will mean something when he sees what he actually looks like when he is sprinting. I remember the Stars had this one player two years ago that was just beautiful running the bases and in the outfield. I told him, "I could make a video and teach a biomechanics class on running using you as my model. Where in the world did you learn to run like that?" He told me that when he was young, around 12 years old, his father took him to a speed coach whom he worked out with three times a week for about four years. He said now he doesn't know any other way to run, that's just the way he runs. He runs so much better than a lot of pros and it's paid off for him. He is poised to be in the big leagues this year. PE: That actually leads into my next question about having all of these actions becoming second nature for them so it's one less thing they have to think about.

MN: Exactly. When your muscles are balanced, strong, flexible and matched for strength between opposing muscle groups it is much easier to develop and maintain good mechanics, good body alignment, and good balance. It is important to have the eyes, with the visual cues and the sense of balance that is associated with vision working jointly with all of the muscles in the body to provide the proper balance, leverage and generate forces in a proper fashion.

There is a law in motor learning that basically states that if you practice a skill and perform 10,000 reps correctly, then the skill will just be performed that way. So if you want to learn how to lay down a bunt, just do it 10,000 times and it will be second nature. If you want to perfect your curve ball, just throw it properly, at game speed 10,000 times and it will become perfect. This is where the adage comes from "perfect practice makes perfect."

Another thing we offer is that we work with sports psychologists. If a player is going to be drafted, a lot of Major League teams have a psychological inventory they administer to the player. They want to know what kind of character he is, what kind of work ethic he has, where his values are. I believe it is a good move for an athlete that believes he will be drafted to be prepared for these psychological testing. It relieves a lot of stress at a critical time in a player's young career to be familiar with psychological testing. You know psychological testing can seem spooky if you are not familiar with it. And the same with sports vision: Visual tracking, visual acuity and depth perception. Do you know that most baseball players lose sight of the ball about ten feet before the bat strikes the ball? These are all skills that can be improved, and this is all part of being the best you can be. You are what you eat, so we have a nutritionist that works with these guys too. We are in the process of getting all of this in one place, under one roof. We work with Crestwood Medical Center, a local hospital, a medical school and an orthopedic group.

PE: For our younger readers, what is the best way they can contact you?

MN: The phone number is 256-880-7002. Whoever answers the phone can make an appointment. If they want to contact me individually by email it's rmarknoble@aol.com. If they want more information I would be more than happy to provide that to anyone that wants to write.

PE: Thank you very much. I appreciate your time, and hope more organizations start to take advantage of the services that you provide.

MN: Thank you, take care.

Patrick Ebert is affiliated with both Perfect Game USA and Brewerfan.net, and can be contacted via email at pebert@brewerfan.net.

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Legion Captures 16u WWBA West

Emily Hicks

After five days of competitive baseball, Legion Baseball emerged as champions at the Perfect Game WWBA Championship, completing an impressive tournament run with a victory over ‘28 San DIego Ghost 10-3 in the championship game at Surprise Stadium. The tournament brought together talented programs from across the West and beyond, with teams competing in the 15U and 16U divisions. Throughout the week, players showcased their skills in front of coaches, teammates, and families while battling through pool play and the championship bracket for the opportunity to hoist the trophy. From the opening day of competition, Legion established itself as one of the tournament's top contenders. The club relied on hitting, quality pitching, and consistent defense to navigate a challenging field and earn its place in the championship game. In the title matchup, Legion received key...

Draft | Story | 7/20/2026

2026 MLB Draft: Roster Challenge

Tyler Henninger

With the 2026 MLB Draft complete, our own draft team put together a fun exercise. Using a snake style draft format, we each had to build a roster using players selected in the 2026 MLB Draft. There was one catch. Each team could select only one player from each of the first 10 rounds, plus one player from Rounds 11-20. You did not have to go in order of each round, meaning you could jump between rounds and pick which players you thought had the most value. Each team installed a different strategy, balancing between star power, positional value, and depth. You tell us, which team do you think has the most talent? Team Albee C: Vahn Lackey, Georgia Tech (1st rd) 1B: Will Adams, Hoover HS (11th rd) MIF: Cole Prosek, Magnolia Heights HS (2nd rd) MIF: Eric Guevara, Auburn (7th rd) 3B: Robert Omidi, Fieldhouse Pirates (8th rd) OF: Kevin Roberts Jr, Jackson Prep HS (4th rd) OF: Alex...

Press Release | Press Release | 7/20/2026

LGND Becomes Official Glove of PG

667 Progress Way | Sanford, FL 32771 | 319-298-2923 www.perfectgame.org | facebook.com/perfectgameusa | @PerfectGameUSA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PERFECT GAME PARTNERS WITH MLB SUPERSTAR MOOKIE BETTS, NAMING LGND OFFICIAL GLOVE OF PERFECT GAME Partnership Officially Kicks Off with LGND Block Party on July 27 in Fullerton, California Los Angeles, California (Monday, July 20, 2026) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, today announced a landmark partnership with Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star and 6-time Gold Glove Award winner Mookie Betts, naming recently-announced LGND Glove the Official Glove of Perfect Game. The collaboration establishes a first-of-its-kind relationship between baseball’s most influential amateur ecosystem and an active MLB superstar at the height of his career. The...