VAN NUYS — There’s an MLB game on in the background of the grand opening of PFA Sports’ Van Nuys baseball facility: Baltimore Orioles vs. Pittsburgh Pirates.
The pitchers currently in the game have both trained with PFA and its owner, Dave Coggin.
“We’ve got players that have played for years and that’s kind of one of the things we boast,” Coggin said. “I created a system that’s based off of longevity, trying to get these guys to play longer. And it really shows in a lot of these guys.”
Coggin and his coaching staff have brought a longevity philosophy to the San Fernando Valley with a new PFA training facility — the first of its kind in the area — and have already started training with players from top high schools in the area to help extend their playing careers.
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Tyler Wells, the Orioles’ pitcher, is in his fourth MLB season after three seasons of minor league baseball. Bailey Falter, who was in for the Pirates, also has four seasons in the MLB and played five seasons in the minors. Coggin’s system starts well before the pros, though.
Baseball players of all ages and positions can play all year and pitchers as young as 10 years old are already chasing velocity, Coggin said. He believes this cycle is leading to more injuries that can happen as early as high school.
“That’s just bad, bad recipe,” he said. “These guys show up (in high school) and they’re probably already damaged goods without knowing it. At some point in time they’re going to blow out. It’s tough to watch from the outside but that’s why we’re trying to do all this.”
Coggin’s own playing career was ended by injury. He played multiple seasons of minor league baseball and three years with the Philadelphia Phillies in the MLB but left the sport early after two shoulder surgeries.
He transitioned to coaching, focusing mostly on strength training. PFA — which stands for performance, fitness, attitude — formed out of that. It’s a system that started in the weight room, then branched out into skill work, lessons and travel ball.
PFA’s first training facility is in Montclair. The new Van Nuys facility is 13,000 square feet and was co-founded with Coggin’s business partner, Mark Magna.
Inside the warehouse-like building is a pitching area that uses markerless motion capture technology, a hitting area and, of course, a large strength training component with a free weight area and four squat racks. There is also a classroom area for players who are enrolled in online learning.
“The valley’s somewhere that’s been hurting for good development,” Nick Milone, a PFA coach and Chatsworth baseball alumnus, said. “You’re gonna see a lot more structure here and a high level of coaching and then being in this area that’s such a hub for baseball is huge. And it being it being right in my backyard is awesome, too.”
PFA already sees more than 200 pitchers a week at its Montclair facility and roughly 100 hitters, according to Coggin, and there are 30 travel ball teams. He would like to see a similar number in Van Nuys.
Players from multiple Mission League and West Valley League schools have already been to the facility and Mission College has also taken advantage of the close proximity.
“It’s the best equipment you can get. I’ve seen all this on YouTube from like other facilities across the country,” Lukas Magna an eighth-grade travel ball player whose brother, Jacob Magna plays for Harvard-Westlake, said.
“I want to play as long as possible,” he said. “Ideally, I want to play in the MLB. I want to pitch and I feel like Dave’s really helping me get there.”
