My Athletic Journey Pt. 1.

My name is Ryan Stinar. I am the founder and head coach at The Velo Farm. 

My whole life has revolved around sports. I’ve been an athlete for as long as I can remember. My athletic background can be attributed to my parents. My dad was a 3 sport athlete in high school, and Division 1 College Pitcher. While my mom was a very competitive swimmer growing up. I’ve been blessed with a great combination of athletic genes. My dad taught me all of my sports skills, and my mom taught me the drive & endurance needed to win. 

I have 3 younger brothers, Tyler, Braden, and Jack. We grew up very close, playing outside and against each other every day in a variety of sports. Being the oldest brother was awesome, and I took great pride in setting a good example for my little bros. I was a 3 sport athlete like my dad. Quarterback in football, shooting forward in basketball, and I played all over the field in baseball. I graduated from North Harford High School, where I continued playing all 3 sports on Varsity until I went off to college. I had a successful high school football career, earning all county honors at Quarterback my senior year, and amassing a record of 38-6. We had a great baseball team at North Harford my senior year. Having 4

players go on to play D1 baseball, and 2 players go on to get drafted. We lost in the state championship that year (2012) and I still have a bad taste in my mouth about it! I ended up being our teams most effective hitter and contributed on the mound as well. I batted .467, had a 7-1 Pitching Record : 2.5 ERA : 3 HR :  25 RBI, and made first team all county for pitching and outfield. I also won our high school’s most outstanding male athlete award. On top of that, I met my high school sweetheart, Megan, who has stuck by my side ever since. We got married in 2020 and now have an amazing 2 year old daughter named Rosie, with another daughter due in April. It's safe to say, my senior year of high school was a blast.

After high school I attended and graduated from the University at Albany, a mid-major D1 school in upstate New York on a baseball scholarship. My time at Albany had some ups and downs. It was a big change of scenery from growing up on the farm, to now living in the big city. But it was overall a great experience and taught me a ton of real life skills. I ended up having a great freshman season, earning all rookie honors. That being said, I still didn’t really know how to pitch. I came home that summer, and was working on a produce farm in the mornings, and attempting to pitch in the afternoons for Youse's Orioles in the Ripken Collegiate League. I had a few decent outings but struggled. I also struggled to throw strikes my sophomore year, and the team struggled as well. That summer (2014) I got the opportunity to pitch in the Coastal Plains League for the Fayetteville Swampdogs. This was a memory I will never forget. I was staying with a host family, and living the summer ball life. Playing every day, no summer job, just all baseball. I don’t think I had a dollar to my name by the end of it all, but I learned how to pitch that summer. I also met some amazing and unique people down there, and made some lifelong friends who I still talk to up to this day. Pitching in front of big crowds, and having success really helped my confidence heading back to school that fall.

Heading into my junior year of college, I was ready to showcase my improvements from the summer. I started out the fall on a good note, sitting upper 80s with my fastball. Then towards the end of the fall, I began to develop some nagging pain in my non throwing shoulder. This pain would continue, and get much worse over the coming months. It eventually became so bad I couldn't lift my left arm, or jog without it aching for hours. I saw multiple doctors, and was misdiagnosed multiple times. Shot me up with cortisone, and given exercises to do, nothing worked. I eventually had to redshirt that season as I was unable to throw or do athletic activities without having excruciating pain. It was around this time where I began to really learn about training, and how the human body works. I did tons of research on my issues, talked with countless trainers and therapists, and ultimately found a Doctor back home in Maryland who said she knew how to fix me. That summer, I got my first surgery, a labrum repair to my left shoulder, performed by Dr. Leigh Anne Curl. 3 Months later, Dr. Curl resected part of my scapula, in hopes to fix my Snapping Scapula Syndrome, which was still causing me loads of discomfort. This did the trick, and my left shoulder was finally structurally sound. This was a very painful summer, as the rehab for both surgeries was not pleasant at all. I did my rehab with legendary Physical Therapist, and one of my closest mentors Stephen Luca.

Fall 2015

Heading back to school about 3 weeks after my second left shoulder surgery, I was just starting to throw again. I had begun to work extensively with my pitching coach Drew Pearce on my mechanics. I knew I had a good arm, but was not moving how I wanted to. We reviewed countless hours of video together, and I became obsessed with becoming the pitcher I knew i could be. I started throwing plyo balls and following Driveline Baseball’s velocity development program before or after practice. My head coach did not think this was a productive thing to do, and more or less outlawed it under his watch. That did not stop me, as I continued to get my work in and report back to Coach Pearce for critique. I filmed my drills, did hundreds of dry reps in my room at night. Threw plyos on the racquetball courts, and read almost every Driveline Baseball Blog post I could get my hands on. I also began to train under Ben Brewster with Tread Athletics. This was mainly strength & conditioning, as well as nutrition coaching. Training with Ben was great, and I gained about 15 lbs of muscle mass in 3 months. I was the first person on the team in the weight room, and the last one out almost every day. I spent hours in the training room getting treatment and prehab / rehab exercises. I was not going to leave any stone unturned. By the end of the fall, I was one of the top pitchers on the staff. My command had improved, my velocity was up, and i was bigger and stronger than ever. I hit 94 mph on a pulldowns at the end of my velo program and felt like the man! I continued to work hard over winter break, managing some bicep tendonitis which had started towards the beginning of the winter.

Spring 2016

I got back to school after winter break, ready to rock and roll. My arm was feeling better, and I had my mechanics in a great spot. I looked good enough to my coaches that they gave me the ball to start game 2 in our season opener vs South Carolina. I went out and pitched very well, going 5 ⅓ innings giving up 1 run and earning the no decision. My Velo was now in the low 90s. For the first time I saw scouts with their radar guns on me. It was an amazing feeling. All the work was starting to pay off. After that, every outing got better and better. And before i knew it, I was 5-0 with a sub 1.5 ERA. Scouts were calling my coaches inquiring about me, and I was stoked. 

Then things took a turn for the worse....