ESU Helps Put New York Mets Coach ‘Ahead of the Game’

Photo from left to right: Kodai Senga, pitcher for the New York Mets; Hiro Fujiwara, Mets’ interpreter; Dustin Clarke, Mets’ head strength and conditioning coach and East Stroudsburg University graduate; and Pete Alonso, Mets’ first baseman.

As the head strength and conditioning coach of the New York Mets, Dustin Clarke ’08 M ’10 relies on the edge he gained in East Stroudsburg University’s exercise science program to maximize the performance of world-class athletes at peak of their profession.

Coming off a season in which he was named Major League Baseball’s top strength and conditioning coach by his peers, Clarke credits the exercise science program’s faculty, specialized facilities and innovative technology for contributing to his success so far.

“The reason I went to ESU is because they were ahead of everyone else, pushing the boundaries in the strength and conditioning space,” Clarke said from the Mets’ spring training facility in Port St. Lucie, Florida. “It changed my perspective on strength and conditioning and what I thought was possible training athletes.”

In addition to the program’s blend of theory, hands-on learning and practical opportunities, resources like the Biomechanics Laboratory – with its 3D cinematography system and force plates for analyzing athletes’ movements – gave Clarke the competitive advantage he needed to earn his first role with the Mets in 2011.

“When I got [to the Mets’ organization], it put me ahead of the game as far as what most other coaches had experience with because of that early exposure to a lot of different things,” he said.

Entering his 15^th season in the organization and 11^th with the Major League club, those skills remain an important part of his approach.

“Those technologies I learned back then are things I’m still using to this day in this upper-level, elite professional sport,” he said.

Using those techniques, Clarke has trained highly touted prospects, perennial All-Stars and potential Hall of Famers. During Spring Training currently, he has about 60 players under his watch, each with their own unique strength and conditioning plan.

For Clarke and his team, a typical day is a whirlwind of preparation and execution that begins before sunrise, he said.

“The planning starts around 4:30 a.m.,” he said. “The first meeting is at 6:30 a.m. We go through a strength staff meeting, a medical meeting, a performance meeting, then a meeting with the whole field staff to plan for the day. We’ll do a 9:30 a.m. stretch and then move into on-field baserunning activities and conditioning. From there, they’ll go into the weight room and lift. After that, they go into the training room for their treatment.”

The team will then play that day’s game and repeat the routine the next day. With just one or two off days per month, strength and conditioning is key to players staying on the field throughout baseball’s rigorous 162-game regular season, Clarke said.

“It’s a different kind of grind than you see in other professional sports,” he said. “The biggest thing is maintaining consistency and discipline throughout the process.”

For his efforts last season, Clarke was named the Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year by the Professional Baseball Strength and Conditioning Coaches Society (PBSCCS), an organization founded in 1996 by Major League Baseball strength and conditioning coaches.

Earning the recognition from his peers was a career highlight, he said.

“It’s a great feeling to be acknowledged by your peers that you’ve done a good job in your field,” he said. “It just makes me want to work harder to achieve the greater team goal of what we’re trying to accomplish.”

The award was even more meaningful because of the Mets’ on-field success during the 2024 season, Clarke said. After a slow start, the team turned its season around and reached the National League Championship Series. Though the Mets came up short against the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, the experience was one Clarke won’t soon forget.

Clarke’s road to the Mets began while at ESU. He held strength and conditioning internships at Drexel University in 2008 during the final year of his bachelor’s degree and at Lafayette College the following year as a graduate student. His first strength and conditioning job was with the University of Michigan in 2010.

His big break into baseball came in 2011 when he joined the Mets’ Gulf Coast League Short-Season team. Clarke moved to Double-A with the Binghamton Mets from 2012 to 2013. After bouncing between that club and the Las Vegas 51s, the organization’s Triple-A team, he was hired by the big league team in 2015. The Mets would go on to appear in the team’s first World Series since 2000 that year.

“When the opportunity came up, it was surreal because it’s one of biggest markets in the world and one of the most well-known franchises in the world,” he said.

Clarke encouraged students who are considering a similar path in exercise science to take advantage of the faculty’s extensive experience and knowledge. Faculty members like Shala Davis, Ph.D., professor of exercise science and chair of the Exercise Science department, and Professor Gavin Moir, Ph.D., remain mentors to this day, he said.

“If I ever have a question, I’ve always been able to lean on them and let them help guide me,” he said.

Learn more about ESU’s bachelor’s degree and master’s degree programs in exercise science.

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