Jim Ryan is a Team Fastball alum himself and a long time Team Fastball coach. Since 2012, Coach Jim has been the head and assistant coach at every level from 13U through 18U. During that time he has transitioned to head coach, and Team Fastball Director of operations. Many of his players have gone on to play college baseball at all levels including D1, D2,D3, Juco, NAIA. Two of his players have recently signed professional contracts. Ethan Routzahn (Padres) played for Coach Jim and team fastball 14U through 18U. Ryan Loutos (Cardinals) played for Coach Jim from 16U through 18U. Coach Jim carries on the Fastball USA mission of development and big picture being the biggest emphasis.
NAME | COLLEGE COMMIT |
Sanjiv Bhogaraju | Carleton(MN) |
Ross Bloecker | Florida |
Zach Dempsey | Illinois inst.Tech(IIT) |
Mario Ferri | Ohio Dominican |
Jeff Hedlund | Missouri Science/Tech |
Quinn Hodgman | Macelester(Mn) |
Joey Ingratta | Elmhurst |
Tyler Jacobsen | Kishwaukee |
Eric Lin | South Alabama |
Brendan Meyers | Beloit(wi) |
Don Peterson | Purdue |
Jack Ryan | Triton |
Mike Scardina | Aurora |
John Swiderek | Harper College |
Will Wojtasiak | Kishwaukee |
13U,14U play at Salk Park in Rolling Meadows just 5minutes from our facility.
12U will play at Kimball Hill Park also in Rolling Meadows.
15U through 18U Play mainly a tournament schedule with a few non tournament games mixed in from time to time.
1261 Wiley Rd. Suite D, Schaumburg.
We are near Meachum and Golf.
Wiley Road runs right next to I90.
12U through 14U
Typically will play in the MSBL which usually has 18-20 games. We will typically also add in 3 to 4 tournaments which brings the season right around 40 games.
15U through 18U
We typically play in 6 or 7 tournaments depending on how manys are guaranteed in each tournament.
15U through 18U
typically begins around mid June and goes through the end of July.
12U through 14U games typically begin in mid April and goes through the 3rd week of July.
Coaches are hired and have typically consisted of former college coaches, former and current college players, high school coaches. We have proudly brought back many alumni to help coach our teams. Nobody knows the Fastball USA system better than those who did it. Coaches are paid. Coach Jim Ryan is alumni of Team Fastball USA and director of Team Fastball Youth divisions and some high school divisions. I am the director of typically 2 – 3 teams each year. To view our Academy instructors, click on coaches.
Simple. It’s to help each player improve. Development is our #1 priority and we have put together an Elite Training Program for all of our players to take part of for an entire year.
Our Elite Training Program has been written about in books, and has attracted baseball players from all over the world. We look at the big picture. Keep getting 1% better over time and then those 1%’s will add up. We are NOT about just winning games, and rankings, ect… No matter what, our mission is to help your player get better.
It’s really simple. We want those who train together to play together. We want families
who care about getting better and development more than they care about winning.
Players who have a strong work ethic, passion for the game, but are willing to put in the time it takes to improve.
Our teenage athletes attend training multiple times per week most of the year. They get access to our Explosive Hitting Class, plus our Elite Black Belt Program. Black Belt Training is an emphasis on athleticism, strength, quickness, agility all as it relates specifically to baseball. It also has a arm strength, throwing, pitching portion in which has been known to boost velocity. A huge emphasis is placed on arm care and big picture mindset.
At the high school age level typically players will not sit more than 50% of the time.
They will at very least be in the line up, on defense, about 50% minimum. We follow high school rules, so typically we bat 9 or 10, and use 4-5 subs. Playing time includes being an EH or DH. Typically if a player sits out a game he will very likely play the next game.
Of course performance will matter. Players who are performing will play more. We don’t let a player sit and become a bench warmer. Every player will know his role and what he can bring to the team.
Youth Teams we typically bat the entire order and players will get moved around based on their current ability level on defense.
We have a specific system for pitchers in terms of rest and recovery. This includes Pitchers will NOT pitch until they have had proper rest. 1 hour per pitch they have thrown in the previous game. This means if a pitcher throws 24 pitches we will give him a minimum of 24 hours rest before he pitches again.
We also take into consideration playing defense could be stressful after pitching. We watch and monitor this closely as an attempt to keep arms healthier.
Typically the roster size is 12 at 12U, and 13U and 14U may have around 13.
15U through 18U typically will have 14 position players.
If a player makes the team as a pitcher only, he will be told so up front.
We don’t want to burn players arms and bodies out by having super small rosters.
We want players to play, but we are NOT interested in sacficing a players health just to win games. We feel these rosters sizes combine plenty of playing time with a healthier
approach to baseball.
The fees change year to year but mainly consist of two elemements.
First … A training fee. The training fee covers your player to attend un-limited training
to our elite training program un-limited between September 1st 2021 through July of 2022. Training fees and details will be sent directly to you if your son is offered a spot.
The second fee is a team fee which covers coaches fee’s, tournament fee’s, and everything
that goes with running a team. Team Fees are generally around $1500.00 but this will
be detailed if your son makes the team on the exact fees.
We look at stressful innings. A player who throws under 20 pitches in an innning has not had a very stressful inning. If he goes more than twice is likely to be taken out of the game. We look NOT just at the total pitch count. We look most importantly at how stressful are the pitches. For example some pitchers will throw 60 pitches in 3 innings and others might throw 60 pitches over 5 innings. We look closely at pitches per inning even more than the total pitch count. For every 1 pitch a pitcher throws in a game we will give them 1 hour of rest. 48 pitches would require 48 hours of rest before pitching again.
We believe if you’re not going to attend training at least 2x per week through most of the off season, we are probably not the place for you. We don’t hold it against players if they are playing a high school sport. We realize they might only be able to make it once per week while that sport is going on.
The younger the player is we actually encourage them to play multiple sports. You still will need to carve out time to be consistent with your training.