Daniel Sandoval, a college baseball pitcher, shares how Soul Throwers helped him increase his pitching velocity and develop a healthier mindset on and off the field.
+3-4 MPH
Pitching Velocity
+565 lbs
Trap Bar Deadlift
"“Working with Brooks, I have gone through a bit of a velocity increase, and it's quite substantial, actually working with Brooks. I believe the first video I sent him was me throwing 86 around there miles per hour, and I had arm pain, and it was just a miserable place to be in. So working with him, I feel like once I started getting more athletic, I started getting more explosive in the way I did things. I felt that my velocity just ticked up bit by bit.”"
Daniel Sandoval is a college baseball pitcher who, like many athletes, has dedicated his life to the sport. He came to Soul Throwers seeking to improve his athletic performance and overcome the limitations of traditional training methods.
For years, Daniel, like many young baseball players, was told to "get stronger, get bigger, and put on weight." While this advice is well-intentioned, it often leads to a focus on brute strength over athleticism and coordination. Daniel found himself "slow and fat," feeling unathletic and unable to utilize his body effectively on the mound. This not only hindered his physical performance but also impacted his mental game. He tied his self-worth to his baseball performance, leading to a negative cycle of self-doubt and misery when things didn't go his way.
"Growing up and, you know, being involved with baseball pretty much my whole life. Once you got to a certain point around 13 years old, that's when coaches would just come up to you and be like, hey, you got to get stronger, you got to get bigger, you got to put on weight, blah, blah. So I did that and I just got slow and fat. So it just made me super unathletic. And I wasn't using my body the best I could. And that's not good if you're trying to throw hard."
Daniel found his answer in Soul Throwers, a program that emphasizes dynamic, athletic training and a holistic approach to player development. Brooks, his coach at Soul Throwers, introduced him to a regimen that included sprints, jumps, and coordination drills, focusing on using the body in new and explosive ways. This was a stark contrast to the repetitive, strength-focused training Daniel was used to. Beyond the physical, Soul Throwers also helped Daniel cultivate a healthier mindset, teaching him to play every game like it's his last and to separate his identity from his performance.
"Working with Brooks, he makes you do a lot of sprints, he makes you do a lot of jumps. He's very. He knows what he's doing when it comes to that sort of stuff. And even we do a lot of coordination stuff. It may not be super physically taxing, but the coordination and using your body in ways that you haven't used it before, that I feel like, has been a huge game changer for me working with Brooks."
The results for Daniel were remarkable. He experienced a significant velocity increase, going from 86 MPH with arm pain to 89 MPH in just a few months. His overall athleticism and coordination improved dramatically, evident in his ability to deadlift 565 pounds after not training heavy for over a year. More importantly, Daniel developed a profound shift in his mindset. He learned to enjoy the game more, embrace mistakes, and understand that baseball is not his entire identity. This newfound perspective has not only enhanced his performance on the field but also positively impacted his life off the field.
"So working with Brooks, I have gone through a bit of a velocity increase, and it's quite substantial, actually working with Brooks. I believe the first video I sent him was me throwing 86 around there miles per hour, and I had arm pain, and it was just a miserable place to be in. So working with him, I feel like once I started getting more athletic, I started getting more explosive in the way I did things. I felt that my velocity just ticked up bit by bit. So during the summer, when I started working with Brooks in The summer of 2024, I was around 85, 86 with arm pain. And then by the time I got to fall, I was throwing like 89 miles an hour in my first few outings."
We've helped hundreds of players gain velocity, get rid of anxiety, create confidence they never thought they would have, look at baseball in a different lens, and much much more. We are trying to help people gain perspective on what they are trying to accomplish. We are just helping shape real humans that want to keep playing baseball.