DEREK McGOWAN
Assistant Pitching Instructor
Derek McGowan will be returning in 2014 as Prodigy’s Head Pitching Instructor. He has a deep working knowledge of The Athletic Pitcher program as well as Eric Cressey’s High Performance Training techniques, both of which he incorporates into pitching workouts and bullpen sessions. He has been training youth in baseball on both subject matters for six years.
The Athletic Pitcher Program was developed by Ron Wolforth, whom Derek has worked with on multiple occasions, and was influenced by Tom House and Perry Husband, among others. It is designed to make today’s pitchers not only perform at a higher level, but make them more durable by adding athleticism back into pitching. It seems to have worked for the likes of David Price, Joba Chamberlain, Joel Zumaya, Scott Kazmir, Trevor Bauer, Dylan Bundy, and Archie Bradley, among others. Eric Cressey runs his operation out of Boston and it is more for overall athleticism while including strength training, speed and agility, core, nutrition, etc. He works with high profile athletes such as Kevin Youkilis, Carl Crawford, and hometown hero Tim Collins. His training methods were responsible for taking Collins from a mid-80′s thrower to the mid-90′s thrower you now see on TV. We feel that with the combination of these two training programs we offer your child the best exposure to reaching their athletic peak and we will be able to show documented proof of their improvement throughout their time here.
Derek was a 2008 graduate from Raytown South High School where he pitched and played shortstop and third base. He was a six-time All-Conference member and three-time All-Area member, while on Varsity all four years. He went to Park University for three years on a full-ride scholarship while compiling a 2.25 ERA his sophomore season which gave him the ability to transfer to Georgia College and State University where he was a top of the rotation starter. He played for the Chillicothe Mudcats in the MINK summer league as well as the Forest City Owls in the Coastal Plain League.
