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Aaron Bechtel

@prime_ab

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Co-Founder @goprimeperformance
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Congrats to Nick Mikolajchak on signing with the Minnesota Twins organization! ✍️⁠ ⁠ After finishing 2025 as an Atlantic League Champion with York, Nick came back this year and made the transition to starting pitcher for the first time in his pro career.⁠ ⁠ The results spoke for themselves.⁠ ⁠ York, 2026:⁠ 6 starts⁠ 3-1 record⁠ 35.1 IP⁠ 31 K, 10 BB⁠ 2.80 ERA⁠ 2.55 BB/9⁠ ⁠ At the time of his transfer, his 2.80 ERA ranked second-lowest in the Atlantic League.⁠ ⁠ At Pro Day this winter, Nick showcased a five-pitch mix with five distinct shapes, all competitive in the zone, while averaging 95 mph on the fastball.⁠ ⁠ Since being released last summer, he’s continued to bet on himself, make adjustments, throw more strikes, and show clubs that his stuff can play in multiple roles.⁠ ⁠ Excited to see him get this opportunity with Minnesota. by @prime_ab
2
4 months ago
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The truth is, from an anatomical standpoint, some pitchers simply have bodies that are more naturally suited to throw at a high level and stay healthier doing it.⁠ ⁠ Just like certain athletes are structured to squat 600 lbs or do something equally freakish, some pitchers are built in ways that make the job a little easier.⁠ ⁠ But even if the odds aren’t in your favor, that doesn’t mean you rely on pain relievers or ice as a constant bandaid for arm pain.⁠ ⁠ It means you train the right way. Not just harder, but smarter, with intent, structure, and an actual roadmap to success. by @prime_ab
5
7 months ago
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Congrats to Nick on signing with the Minnesota Twins ✍️⁠ ⁠ After getting the opportunity to compete with the Evansville Otters last season and putting together a strong year, Nick followed it up with another big offseason that helped position him for this next step into affiliated baseball.⁠ ⁠ Excited to see what’s ahead. by @prime_ab
5
6 months ago
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Back-leg depth is one of those things that gets coached like there’s a right answer, when in reality it’s just one of many stylistic strategies that can vary from athlete to athlete. Some pitchers are going to work from a deeper position into the back leg, while others will stay relatively tall. The position itself isn’t necessarily what we care about. What matters is what that position allows the athlete to do throughout the rest of the delivery.⁠ ⁠ For us, the goal is to find enough depth to maintain flexion through the rear hip while the body begins moving down the mound. That gives the athlete time to capture a linear move, build momentum, and delay hip extension until later in the sequence, when that energy can actually be transferred.⁠ ⁠ How an athlete accomplishes that can look very different depending on the athlete. A more terrestrial pitcher may naturally spend more time interacting with the ground, create more depth, and organize force over a longer window, while a more aerial athlete may operate from a shallower position, spend less time on the ground, and rely more heavily on elastic and reactive qualities to accomplish a similar task. Neither approach is inherently better.⁠ ⁠ There is no holy grail position that every pitcher needs to find. If the strategy allows the athlete to accomplish the goal and move efficiently into the next phase of the delivery, who cares what we call it or whether it fits someone else’s picture of what the back leg is supposed to look like?⁠ ⁠ The problem starts when we take a stylistic characteristic from one athlete and turn it into a universal mechanical goal for everyone else. Too shallow for a specific athlete and they may run out of the back leg early, while too much depth may put them in a position they can’t effectively move out of and slow down the linear phase they were trying to improve in the first place.⁠ ⁠ The goal is to find the amount of depth that fits the athlete, preserves their ability to move down the mound, and allows them to transition out of the back leg at the right time. That’s the difference between coaching a position and understanding what the position is actually there to accomplish. by @prime_ab
0
5 days ago
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Too many times, pitchers come into the facility thinking their changeup needs to be 10+ mph off their fastball to be effective.⁠ ⁠ The reality is that for a lot of guys, chasing that big of a velo gap usually leads to them slowing the body down, changing intent, or making the pitch easier to see out of the hand.⁠ ⁠ For the majority of pitchers, the changeup is not always going to be their biggest swing-and-miss pitch. Finding a realistic velo differential and movement profile while still maintaining arm speed and intent is usually a better way to build it.⁠ ⁠ For Owen, the changeup already had enough shape separation, so it did not need to be an additional 10 mph off the fastball to be useful. The goal was to keep the intent the same, make a small grip adjustment, and throw it the same way.⁠ ⁠ Not a massive change, just a better feel for how the pitch needs to be thrown.⁠ ⁠ Also, shoutout again to @ethantome07 for getting behind the plate and allowing the phrase “throw it through his face” to be used in a controlled baseball environment. His bravery continues to be appreciated. by @prime_ab
1
6 days ago
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Years of coaching experience leading to an extremely diverse vocabulary New PR though @loganbell05 👀 by @prime_ab
10
7 days ago
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Power Output Day Flying 10+10s x6 — 1.189 best Triple Broad Jumps - x4 Reverse Med Ball Throw - x5 Rotational Jammer Press - 2x4 @ 1.5 m/s DB Bench Press — 3x4, up to 115s Seal Row - 3x5, up to 225 Bulgarian Cable Chop - 2x8 by @prime_ab
4
9 days ago
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Ethan Tome's transformation from this past spring to now.⁠ ⁠ When Ethan first came in for his assessment this spring, he was sitting 78-80 and topping out at 81. Today he's legitimately sitting in the mid-80s and starting to touch the upper 80s.⁠ ⁠ The first thing that stood out in his assessment bullpen was that Ethan looked like an athletic kid who was still undersized, and even at 170 pounds, it looked like there was more velocity in him than what he was actually showing at 78-81. So we knew something mechanically was holding him back too.⁠ ⁠ Once we got him on the force plate mound, it became obvious that Ethan wasn't utilizing linear momentum well, nor was he doing a great job at giving himself direction down the slope either. We built his drill work around both pieces. Upper half constraints helped him learn to stay behind the ball, and different roll-in variations layered in more linear momentum so he could learn to actually use it and time it up. Step-backs and a Bauer drill tied it together, teaching him to ride the slope, get a better linear move down the mound, transition into his lead leg, and stay behind the ball so it could keep his hand speed instead of getting around it.⁠ ⁠ Ethan also completely changed himself physically. He weighed in at 170.9 lbs at his assessment and is now up to 185.4, close to 15 pounds of good weight, and it showed up everywhere in his force plate numbers. His eccentric braking RFD relative to bodyweight jumped from 76.2 to 108.8 N/s/kg, a 43% increase, and his RSI modified went from 0.64 to 0.75 m/s, about a 17% jump. That kind of improvement in how well he brakes and reloads force is a big part of why the mechanical changes actually stuck and why the velo kept climbing.⁠ ⁠ Eccentric Braking RFD/BW: 76.2 N/s/kg → 108.8 N/s/kg (+42.8%)⁠ RSI Modified: 0.64 m/s → 0.75 m/s (+17.2%)⁠ Body Weight: 170.9 lbs → 185.4 lbs (+8.5%)⁠ ⁠ When Ethan first came to us, he didn't have a single college looking at him. Now, because of everything he's put into this transformation, he's earned the opportunity to continue his career at Keiser University. by @prime_ab
4
10 days ago
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Delaying rotation heavily depends on how well a pitcher can maintain hip flexion and keep his center of mass shifted posteriorly before the pelvis and trunk begin turning toward the plate. How a pitcher achieves that varies based on how his body organizes coming out of the leg lift.⁠ ⁠ A common solution for many higher-level throwers is utilizing the lead leg to help with this. As they initiate their drop into hip flexion in the back leg, the lead leg kicks out rather than positioning it directly under or reaching toward the plate.⁠ ⁠ Kicking the lead leg out functions almost like a counterbalance, similar to a pistol squat, allowing the athlete to shift more mass posterior in the back leg and achieve more quality hip flexion and a deeper posterior weight shift over the rubber, for a longer duration.⁠ ⁠ The longer the athlete can maintain that flexed, posteriorly loaded position, the longer they can delay anterior pelvic tilt and hip extension that initiate trunk rotation.⁠ ⁠ Plenty of guys achieve the same posterior loading and delayed rotation without kicking the lead leg out aggressively. It's one strategy the body uses to solve the problem, not the only correct one. by @prime_ab
1
12 days ago
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Force plate data shows that the lead leg block is one of the biggest determinants of how much energy transfers up the chain. But energy can’t be transferred if it isn’t created first. The early delivery gives the athlete a chance to build momentum down the slope, organize the body, and arrive at foot plant with something worth redirecting. But creating momentum is only half the job. The lead leg is what makes that energy usable. Once the front foot gets down, the lead leg has to accept force, slow and redirect the body, and give the pelvis something to rotate against. A good lead leg block doesn’t create all of the energy in the delivery, but it gives the energy created earlier somewhere productive to go. Without that, a lot of what was built down the mound just leaks out instead of moving up the chain. by @prime_ab
16
12 days ago
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Logan Bell has been putting together a really solid start to the offseason as he prepares to throw at our Pro Day in January.⁠ ⁠ This bullpen was another good step forward. He sat 90.7 and touched an all-time PR of 92.4, edging past his previous best of 92.0.⁠ ⁠ Logan has been incredibly consistent with his work over the last few months and has genuinely been grinding every day he’s in the facility. There is still plenty of time between now and January, but the progress is starting to show up more and more each time he gets on the mound.⁠ ⁠ Excited to see where he can take it by Pro Day. by @prime_ab
4
16 days ago
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I’ve talked before about using the leg lift to help create a posterior orientation of the pelvis at peak leg lift. But simply trying to “tuck” the pelvis doesn’t automatically put you in a better position.⁠ ⁠ One of the most common mistakes I see when pitchers work on this is creating posterior pelvic tilt without allowing the trunk and spine to flex with it.⁠ ⁠ Instead, the pelvis gets pushed underneath the body while the torso stays upright or extended. In a right-handed pitcher, this often shows up as the pelvis translating toward the 3B side while the head and upper trunk fall back toward the 1B side.⁠ ⁠ So while the athlete may technically be creating some posterior tilt, they’ve lost the relationship between the pelvis and ribcage that we were actually trying to create.⁠ ⁠ Now you have throwing-arm-side pelvic translation paired with glove-side lateral trunk flexion. The athlete is no longer stacked over the pelvis, their direction down the mound changes, and the orientation they will eventually rotate around has already been altered.⁠ ⁠ The posterior tuck we’re looking for should happen with some degree of spinal and trunk flexion. The pelvis organizes underneath the ribcage rather than simply being shoved underneath the body.⁠ ⁠ That position gives the athlete a better opportunity to move down the mound without getting into hip and spinal extension too early, which can help preserve space for rotation to occur later in the delivery. by @prime_ab
0
19 days ago
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