2023-2024 HITTING & LIFTING ACADEMY PROGRAM

Important Information

Start Date: Monday, December 11th, 2023
End Date: Thursday, February 22nd, 2024
Days: MON, TUES, WED, THURS
Time: 5:30-6:30 pm
Price: Two plans available:
- Payment Plan of $375 x 3
- Pay in full $999
Initial Payment due: Upon registration. Your first payment will reserve your spot in the program.

About the Program

The Catalyst Winter Academy is an elite level baseball training program. Participants will be exposed to the best baseball training techniques around. The program is made up of specific phases that strategically build upon one another, to help ensure positive muscle memory changes that last throughout the spring and summer seasons.

There will be two primary focuses:

1) Hitting Development
2) Strength & Speed Development

WE are moving into a great new facility at 4285 S. Eldridge Street
Morrison, CO 80465 (which is basically right at the intersection of C-470 & Hampden). Athletes will have the opportunity to train with and get objective feedback with some of the best tech available in the baseball space (including HitTrax, Blast Motion, Bat Speed Recon, Rapsodo, Hack Attack, & Hack Attack Jr).

The lifting program will take place at Colorado Academy, under the tutelage of the director of Sports Performance, Wes Kirk. Coach Kirk has worked as a strength and conditioning coach for the Cincinnati Reds organization and for the Oklahoma Sooners, coaching athletes such as Kyler Murray & Billy Hamilton.

For the strength training programming we will be using a platform called TeamBuildr. This piece of tech is going to be a big value add as Coach Kirk can program out each individuals lifting sessions for the week. That accountability will be huge.

This program incorporates the most cutting edge technology and most advanced coaching techniques around.

The program runs from December to February. We will start the program on December 11th and run it for two weeks, before taking Christmas week off. We will start back up the week of Jan. 1st and run the program up to the start of the high school season.

Please note: This is our premiere winter training program, and is not designed for the casual player, which is why this program is INVITE ONLY. Only players who have demonstrated exceptional work ethic, coachability, and passion for the game will be invited.

📍 Locations:

Adress to Catalyst Indoor Facility:

4285 S. Eldridge Street Morrison, CO 80465

Address to Colorado Academy:

3800 S. Pierce St. Denver CO 80235

Area of Focus #1: Hitting

Hitting a baseball is one of the hardest things to do in all of sports. Hitters have to try to "square up" a round ball with a round bat. On top of that precise timing is necessary to hit the ball. Hitting is extremely reactionary. When you're at the plate you do not have time to think about different mechanics (i.e. how to load your hands, your swing plane, or the counter rotation of your shoulders).

The athlete's muscle memory & mechanics need to be so deeply ingrained that when they step into the batters box, they can simply trust their swing. This allows the hitter to focus on their approach, reading pitches, and hitting the ball hard.

In order to program your body and your brain to move in a way that best suits hitting a baseball, we will have to do a swing reconstruction. This reconstruction is going to take place through four different phases. Each player will be moving at their own pace, some faster than others, players will not be allowed to move from one phase to the next without properly demonstrating knowledge in a specific area and/or the correct mechanics.

Phase 1: Swing Assesment

In order to properly change the muscle memory, it is important each player is able to work with a coach to identify all of their mechanical inefficiencies. In this phase each player will go over a couple different swing assessment sheets that they will be able to take home to study so they know exactly what THEY personally need to work on. Everybody is going to have different issues, this is not a one-size-fits-all program... this program is custom made for each athlete to ensure the greatest and fastest return. Assessments will also use the most cutting edge technology. Players will all be put through a baseline assessment report session that will capture important quantifiable analytics. Things such as exit velocity, average launch angle, line drive %, ground ball %, fly ball %, and several others. When cross referenced and truly understood, these measurable give great insight into what is happening mechanically. Each athlete will receive an detailed report about their baseline statistics. However, those measurable will not tell the entire story. The other critically important piece will be the constant and in-depth video analysis. Not just your typical video analysis where a coach tells you what you are doing wrong, simply because they say so. Instead we use comparative video analysis with our athletes put up next to a huge sample size of the best hitters throughout history to tease out the common traits. Additionally, we also do the video analysis in a measurable & quantifiable fashion. We will be using body geometry to gain greater insight into where the body is in space. It is not an arbitrary number or technique that has been pulled out of thin air. Everything we go over will have substantial evidence and coherent logic backing it up. This gives players confidence in what they are learning, and also helps them understand what adjustments they are actually being asked to make, rather than throwing them front toss and just saying "down and through it."

Phase 2: Swing Reconstruction

In terms of changing each players mechanics, phase 2 is going to be THE most important part of the program. This is going to be the "dry rep" portion of the program. A dry rep is when I player takes a "load" or a full swing when no baseball or object is present to hit. The baseball often serves as a major distraction for the students when working on mechanics adjustments. During this phase athletes are going to be required to demonstrate a perfect major league swing consistently before being allowed to move to the next step in the program. This phase will take most students between 1-3 weeks. This is also the portion of the program during which we will introduce part practice. This will give each player a much deeper understanding of the fundamental movements of the swing. It also helps players get to a point where they are much more capable of "self-coaching."

Phase 3: Differential Training & Live Hitting

Once a player is able to demonstrate major league mechanics and our coaching staff feels their muscle memory has evolved, then and only then, will they be allowed to hit a baseball. In this phase, we will be doing tee work, front toss, live bp, and the use of a pitching machine. The student needs to be able to demonstrate full implementation of major league mechanics while hitting the baseball. On the front end of phase 3 the coaching staff will focus more on proper demostration of mechanics, but as the students muscle memory gets more ingrained the results will begin to matter more. By the end of this phase a student should be able to swing with major league mechanics, while hitting the center of the ball consistently. This phase will take most students between 4-8 weeks. This is also when we will introduce players to differential training. This is an advanced way of helping the body self-organize and create the most explosive and efficient swing pattern possible.

Phase 4: Bat Speed Training

The last phase of the program will be focused on bat speed. This is going to be the most challenging part of the program.

Bat speed is the #1 characteristic that separates average hitters from elite hitters at every level. Bat speed training will be done by using three different bats: one for underload (light bat) working on quickness, overload (heavy bat) working on strength, and game bat.

Students will be completely exhausted and fatigued after every session, accelerating their game to a new level. This part of the program will take 4-6 weeks for most students.

This year the academy will have a much greater focus on bat speed training using our brand new patented Bat Speed Prism. This year we will have the full blown program that Kevin Kouzmanoff used to climb through the ranks. This will be a major differentiator.

We have a proven bat speed training program that each player will be immersed in. Athletes typically peak around 5 weeks into the program, therefore we will aim to begin this phase about 5 weeks away from day 1 of high-school practice.

Each phase builds upon the previous one and is vary carefully formatted in such a way to maximize athletes potential as hitters. Big time bat speed is absolutely crucial to realizing that potential. However, that bat speed needs to be added to a mechanically correct swing.

*Note: We will be using the Bat Speed Recon. This is a revolutionary product that is gaurenteed to help generate more bat speed. The Winter Academy Program will be the benefit tremendously from their training sessions with this device.

Area of Focus #2: Strength Training

In additional to the baseball specific skill sets, each player will also be receiving a full strength & speed development program.

The lifting program has been designed specifically for baseball players and we will be working very hard on the lifts that will give athletes the most functional strength to allow them to perform better as a ball player.

In order to maximize each players return on the baseball academy they are expected to follow the lifting program. They are also expected to show up, attendance is not optional.

Coaching Staff

The Catalyst Cardinals coaching staff:

Coach J.T. Putt (Catalyst Cardinal Coach)
Coach Scott Payne (Catalyst Cardinal Coach)
Coach Riley Grivette (Catalyst Cardinal Coach)
Coach Quinton Low (Milwaukee Brewers)
Coach Walker Hamilton (Catalyst Cardinal Coach)
Coach Richie Boatman (Catalyst Coach)
Coach Landon Faber (Catalyst Cardinal Coach)

With guest appearances from:

Kevin Kouzmanoff (6 year MLB veteran)
Troy Slinkard

J.T. Putt

Since 2013, Coach Putt has been the head baseball coach for both the Colorado Academy Mustangs (CA) and the Catalyst Cardinals Summer & Fall teams. He brings his well-organized college-level coaching skills to both programs.

At CA, Coach Putt has turned the program into a perennial power over the last 9 years. In 2017, Coach Putt led CA to the program’s most successful year, finishing 3^rd in Colorado High School playoffs while compiling a school record of 20-6, both school records. Coach Scott Payne and Coach Riley Grivette were significant contributors to this success as key members of the coaching staff. CA has continued its winning ways, having won their regional championship four years running.

The Catalyst Cardinals summer and fall teams have also experienced great success under the leadership of Coach Putt.

Playing Experience -
High School: Coach Putt played his high school ball at Mullen High School where he was 1st team All Conference, 1st team All-State (5A), and 1st team All-Colorado (all classifications). He was also voted Varsity MVP his senior season, leading the Mustangs in batting average, home runs, RBI, and OBP. He was also honored to be selected to play in the Top 40 All-Star game, held at Coors Field. Keeping academics as a priority he earned first team academic all-state honors.

College: Coach Putt attended Central Arizona College. He helped lead the Vaqueros to a 43-21 record and the District II Championship, and was invited to play in the ACCAC all-star game. Continuing his academic achievements, Coach Putt was also named the Student of the Year in the Accounting Program, and for the entire 2nd year class. He then played atUNLV for a year before accepting a scholarship to play closer to home at Regis University in Denver, Colorado

At Regis University, he was voted team captain while also receiving NCBWA All-American and Academic All-American honors. He tied the program’s single season doubles record his junior year, when he led the Rangers in batting avg. (.426), doubles (23), total bases (149), slugging pct. (.756), on-base pct. (.491), and stolen bases (17). He also earned All-RMAC First Team, Daktronics All-Central Region Second Team, and American Baseball Coaches Association All-Central Region First Team honors. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. in Business Administrative Sciences, and was distinguished as the most outstanding student in that program.

Professional: Post college, Coach Putt was fortunate enough to play professionally in the United States, Australia, and Europe. He played for the Las Cruces Vaqueros along side fellow Catalyst coach, Rob Herrmann. He played both 3B and OF for the Vaqueros, hitting .296 and slugging .507 to give him an OPS of .939. He also had a .432 on-base percentage. In Australia he played for the Henley & Grange Rams. He would then move to a suburb of Paris, France to play for the Templiers de Senart, helping lead the team to the league championship tournament.

Scott Payne

As the head coach of the Catalyst Cardinals 18u squad over the past two summer seasons, Coach Payne has amassed a 58-22 record, giving the Cardinals a .725 win percentage.

In 2016 the Cardinals 18u squad finished the year with a 1.909 Team ERA, a .315 Team Batting AVG., and a .933 Team Fielding Percentage.

With Payne at the helm, 9 seniors have went on to play college baseball in competitive programs over the past 2 summers.

Previous coaching experience -

Prior to joining Catalyst, Coach Payne worked as the roving infield instructor with Cheyenne Post Six in Wyoming and was part of 4 consecutive Legion State Championships.

Playing Experience -

High School: Payne was a 4 year starter for Cheyenne Post 6. As a player for Post 6 Payne was part of 4 consecutive State Championships and 2 regional runner-up teams. Payne was selected to the All State team in both his Junior and Senior years. Payne was also selected as a captain his senior year prior to signing with Mesa CC.

College Mesa CC: Payne played multiple positions in the infield for the Thunderbirds accumulating only 8 errors in 2 seasons. In his sophomore year Payne hit .327 and was selected as the team MVP, invited to the ACCAC all-star game, and was named a team captain before being offered a scholarship to attend Regis University.

College Regis University: Payne finished his career at Regis University graduating with a Health and Exercise Science degree with a Thematic Emphasis on Kinesiology. Payne played second base for the Rangers finishing with a .308 batting AVG.