Nick Saban once told a story that stuck with me.

He was fishing next to a man who kept throwing the big fish back into the water…

and keeping the small ones.

Confused, Nick finally asked why.

The man replied:

Nick later asked his players one simple question:

“How big is your frying pan?”

Not how talented are you.

Not how hard do you work.

How much capacity do you actually have to handle what shows up?

Now let me ask you the same thing — differently.

How big is your child’s movement frying pan?

Because baseball is constantly serving up “big fish”:

• faster game speed

• awkward hops

• late swings

• rushed throws

• fatigue

• pressure

And when the moment is bigger than the athlete’s movement capacity…

They don’t rise to the occasion.

They default to what their system can handle.

This is where most training misses the point

Many kids are taught what to do:

• swing this way

• hinge like this

• get into this position

• follow this cue

But very few are trained to expand their movement options.

So when the game changes — and it always does — their body has nowhere to go.

That’s when you see:

• stiffness

• hesitation

• breakdowns under pressure

• “It worked in practice but not in games”

Not because they didn’t learn the skill…

but because the frying pan was too small.

Movement capacity is the pan

Movement capacity is:

• how many ways the body can organize

• how many transitions the athlete owns

• how well they can adapt under fatigue

• how many options the brain can access in real time

The bigger the movement capacity,

the more “big fish” an athlete can keep.

This is the question we build everything around

At Baseball Flows, we’re constantly asking:

How do we make the frying pan bigger?

Not by forcing positions.

Not by memorizing mechanics.

But by exposing athletes to movement challenges that require them to:

• explore

• adapt

• self-organize

• solve problems

So when the game speeds up, the body doesn’t panic — it flows.

So I’ll leave you with the same question Nick Saban asked his players

How big is your frying pan?

And maybe more importantly:

What are you doing right now to make it bigger?

Move Better.

Play Better.

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Let's train smarter, move better, and flow in the game.

Best Regards,

Dr. Ismael Gallo DPT, MBA

Founder, Baseball Flows

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