Offseason road trips have been ‘life-changing’ for Mifflin stars Bryce Detwiler, Ethan Grim
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A few years ago Bryce Detwiler would’ve never imagined himself stringing together the kind of pitching performances he has for Gov. Mifflin during the postseason.
He was skilled enough as a freshman to crack the Mustangs’ powerful starting lineup but at 5-10, 160 pounds he lacked the power or endurance to go the distance on the mound.
His frequent road trips to Schuylkill County, where he trains regularly at Next Play Sports Performance, have paved the way to dominance on the mound and his selection as Berks Baseball Player of the Year.
“It’s just been life-changing,” Detwiler said of the impact of working with Next Play director Russ Frantz and his staff.
“He’s (gotten) me to where I am today with the strength and conditioning,” said the 6-2, 215-pound junior, “and he’s gotten me way faster. It’s showing on the field.”
Detwiler delivered Gov. Mifflin’s first PIAA Tournament victory Monday with a typical all-around power performance: He struck out eight in throwing a four-hitter, hit a home run and stole a base.
Since the start of the district tournament the University of Connecticut recruit has pitched three straight complete games without being charged for an earned run.
Teammate Ethan Grim has been equally powerful on the mound, striking out a Berks-leading 91 batters over 59 1/3 innings. He takes a 2.00 ERA into Thursday’s Class 5A quarterfinal against District 11 champ Whitehall at Kutztown Park at 4:30.
Grim often accompanies Detwiler and other Mifflin teammates to the Schuylkill Haven sports lab: They’ll go as many as four to five times a week in the offseason, a couple times a week in-season.
Like Detwiler, Grim raves about the progress he’s made under Frantz and his staff of trainers and coaches.
“He’s helped me so much,” said Grim, a who’s added 4-5 mph on his fastball since this time a year ago and is now consistently throwing in the 93-94 mph range. “He told me what I needed to do to get better, and I did it.”
Grim, a 6-foot, 190-pound junior, has added about 15-20 pounds since his sophomore season. The added power in his pitches has attracted a slew of big-time college coaches and offers from Penn State, the University of Pittsburgh, and Delaware. He could soon get offers from ACC or SEC schools. Frantz believes both he and Detwiler could be selected in the MLB Draft out of high school.
“It’s been great,” Grim said of his emergence on the mound, “because you’re seeing your dream coming true.”
Frantz, a certified personal trainer with a Kinesiology Degree from Penn State and a master’s in Exercise Science, says there’s no magic formula to transforming a young ballplayer into a college or pro prospect.
“It’s about sacrifice,” he said, pointing to Detwiler and Grim. “They’re there at the gym, working hard. They have commitment. They’re putting that time in. The big thing is the commitment by the athlete: You can’t just walk through the door and throw 90, that just doesn’t happen. You have to put that sacrifice in and be consistent with it.”
Frantz’s track record of helping Berks baseball players improve dramatically tells you he and his staff are doing something right. Nearly two-thirds of the players on the season’s All-Berks team have trained with him at some point in their high school career.
Frantz says the keys to the sport-specific workouts he devises are efficiency and recovery. Athletes, in a wide variety of sports, get the most out of their training time and are able to work harder and more often because of the scraping and cupping techniques he utilizes.
(Scraping is the use of a metal instrument scraped along tissue to create blood flow and increase full range of motion. Cupping, a technique popularized by Olympic swimming great Michael Phelps, helps alleviate pain and inflammation and allows athletes to train more often.)
“We’re doing the things that are most efficient, that are science-backed,” Frantz said.
Nate Fronheiser, an all-division pick at Brandywine Heights, has trained at Next Play for the past two years and raves about the instruction he has received.
“Russ has taught me a lot about lifting and speed,” he said. “(Pitching coach) Ian McCole has also done an amazing job, helping pitchers gain velocity and become better in all aspects.”
“The sprints, the workouts, all make you game-ready,” said Detwiler, who is 9-2 with a 1.38 ERA on the mound and leads Berks batters in runs scored, home runs, and slugging percentage.
“It helps with movement and mobility,” he said. “It gets you ready to perform on the field.”
Detwiler, encouraged by Mifflin teammate Tyler Minick, began training at Next Play as a sophomore. He saw what the work did for Minick’s game.
Minick, the Berks Player of the Year in 2022 and 2023, followed former Mifflin standout Nico Hulsizer – who has played professionally in the Dodgers and Rays organizations – to Next Play.
Minick increased his strength dramatically, led the Berks League in homers as a senior, and earned a scholarship to play at UConn. He’s homered nine times as a freshman with the Huskies, including twice last week in the NCAA regionals.
Connor Maryniak saw the progress his younger Mifflin teammate made and was intrigued. He worked at Next Play prior to this season and has enjoyed a breakout season at Misericordia University.
Maryniak, a junior, has matched the Misericordia record for homers in a season and earned MAC Freedom Player of the Year honors for his work with the bat and on the mound.
“I saw the balls Tyler was hitting all over the yard (in high school) and said, ‘I need to go up there,’ ” Maryniak said. “I feel it’s helped me a lot. (Frantz) helped me gain mobility in my lower half and helped me gain explosive power. (The training incorporates) a lot of little stuff that helps baseball players tremendously.”
