Premier Baseball is an assessment based baseball training facility in Overland Park, Kansas. Premier Baseball designs individualized training programs that meet the needs of each specific athlete.
KCA spent a day with Bob Zimmermann, the program’s pitching coordinator, to learn more about Premier Baseball and see some of its athletes in action. Zimmermann was a high school standout and was drafted by the Colorado Rockies out of high school before playing college baseball at Missouri State University.
During his pitching career at Missouri State, Zimmermann took the mound at the College World Series and received many awards. Ultimately, Zimmermann was drafted by the Anaheim Angels and played professionally for 12 seasons.
Zimmermann uses his experiences during his playing career to help the development of the athletes at Premier Baseball. “I was given some bad information in my career that really derailed me, I guess. So, I tried to learn as much as I could about body movements (and) function so that I could help out as many athletes as possible so that they didn’t go down that path.”
At Premier Baseball, Zimmermann’s workout programs focus on injury prevention. Usually, when athletes walk through the facility’s doors, they want to increase their pitching velocity. Premier Baseball’s goal is to make athletes move better and increase strength in the right spots, which usually results in the athletes throwing harder and staying healthy.
The performance of Premier Baseball’s first class of athletes helped jump-start its success. This class included two local prep standouts drafted in the first-round draft of the MLB draft, Riley Pint (Saint Thomas Aquinas) and Joey Wentz (Shawnee Mission East).
For more information, please visit Premier’ Baseball’s website.