Berardino: Castellano's Conditioning Methods

[JB_Iowa]

We probably all read about Perry's Peak during ST (see e.g. http://www.twincities.com/twins/ci_25288387/twins-become-mlbs-second-proud-owner-an-agility).

 

Berardino has another great story today about Castellano's methods:

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_25830403?source=rss

 

 

Given some of our recent discussions about the relationship of weight lifting and TJ surgery, I found his philosophy interesting:

 

"Strength coaches in general are taking a bad rap because people think the guys are getting too big and too explosive," Castellano says. "If you were really to talk to a lot of these pitchers, you would find they don't do a tremendous amount of upper-body work because a lot of them don't like that tight feeling. I don't want guys to have tight top halves."

 

Incorporating resistance bands helps avoid that.

 

"One of the things I've done for several years is try to not let guys get too bulky," Castellano says. "One of the flexibility issues is being able to use your body as a total body activity: ankle, knee, hip, all the way up through your fingertips. It's rotational, it's movement, it's a light band, but we bend, twist, extend, and we do it on both sides so we get an even distribution."

 

We grumble quite a bit around here about the Twins training and medical staffs but Castellano's record with the relievers seems to indicate that they are doing something right.

 

There will always be injuries (the seeds for some of which are probably set in high school and college ball) but hopefully the overall philosophy will help keep players on the field.

 

(And Berardino is still my favorite Twins beat writer. What a good addition he has been.)

[John Bonnes]

Castellano gets a lot of praise for a lot of people. And I believe that most clubs, including the Twins, don't emphasize weight-lifting for their pitchers. That's a myth. And the work they seem to do seems low impact.

 

I would've been interested to hear Castellano's opinion on why so many pitchers (including Twins) have been sidelined by Tommy John, or how he rehabs such players (and hasn't always had such good results, ala Liriano and now Gibson.) I wonder if he has any take on that.

 

I would also have liked to hear what he thinks about the offseason. Should players be resting or working out? I wonder if that isn't part of the problem with arm injuries lately, too.

 

Maybe we can set up an interview with him.

[diehardtwinsfan]

I spend too much time in the minor league forums. I saw this title and was thinking of Nick Castellanos of the Tigers.