October 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Common Pitching Question

Nate and I get several great questions everyday about both hitting and pitching.  One that has come up often is a proper warm-up routine for pitchers.  Because so many of you have had that question lately, not only via our emails but in pitching camps and individual lessons, I thought I would address a couple of warm-up exercises you can do.

The best advice I ever heard about warming up before a game, and I wish I could remember who I heard it from; is to warm up until it feels like you have already pitched one inning.  As a pitcher it is imperative that you are 100% loose before competition.  When I take my pitchers through an entire warm-up routine (25-35 minutes) when they finally pick up the ball to warm up, they are absolutely amazed at how good it feels to throw.  So many injuries will be avoided if you know how you should “feel” before you throw your first pitch in any game.

Let me take you back to an article I wrote last year about warm up exercises to help you understand this concept.

By the way, if you haven’t noticed already, we kept the DVD series on sale for a couple more days.  Thanks and good luck training!

Filed Under: General Pitching, Pitching Tips, Pitching Workouts
September 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Last Day for Pitching Mechanics/How to Teach Pitchers

This week has been great!  Nate and I have sent you some great information about pitching mechanics.  We started off the week sending you two pitching videos; one about how to throw from the windup properly and another about how to maintain balance throughout your delivery.  Remember, with proper balance comes accuracy and with momentum going in the right direction means increased velocity.

Nate and I also sent you a couple of articles.  The one that got the most feedback was when Nate shared his story about helping his own son with his mechanics.  Many parents could relate to the excitement that Nate shared with you this week.

Just a quick reminder!

Today is the final day of pitching mechanics week.  That means it is the very last day to get our pitching mechanics DVD for only $25.

Many people have already taken advantage of this weeks opportunity to crank up their mechanics.  If you haven’t yet, now is the time!

For those of you who are struggling with any of the following on the mound:

  • Struggle throwing strikes
  • Lack Velocity
  • Push the ball when throwing
  • Throw faster playing catch than on the mound
  • Consistently throw the ball high
  • Back of Arm, elbow or bicep hurts often
  • Pitching motion changes frequently
  • Stride is short

Take a look here now!

And please, If there are any questions you have in regards to pitching and hitting we would love to help anyway we can.

Filed Under: General Baseball, General Pitching, Pitching Mechanics, Pitching Tips Tagged With: ,
September 23, 2011 By 1 Comment

A Drill To Help Young Pitcher’s Velocity and Accuracy

Yesterday I sent out an email about my ten year old who just expressed interest in playing baseball this upcoming spring for the first time. Based on the emails we got in response, there are a number of you who have a young guy of your own who is new to the game. I wanted to share what my son and I worked on last night (after soccer practice of course) in the attempt to work on the correct fundamentals with the upper body while throwing. I have found that teaching correct throwing or pitching mechanics to kids ten and younger works best when you can start with knees on the ground. Once they get the hang of how the upper body works, then go ahead and introduce the legs and stride into the mix. Anyway, here is what we did last night; try it with your son, and I’m sure you’ll have some success. He’s making some progress, but clearly has some work to do.

• For all you baseball purists reading this, please excuse the soccer attire and baseball combination… [Read more...]

Filed Under: Coaching Pitchers, General Pitching, Pitching Mechanics, Pitching Tips
September 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Pitching Mechanics: Throwing From The Windup

Can throwing from the windup give you more velocity?  Many pitchers feel a significant difference in velocity when they throw from the windup than from the stretch.  Is it psychological?

If you have been receiving these emails for awhile now you know that a lot of effort goes into throwing a baseball.  There are so many variables to your mechanics that can decrease or increase velocity.

Nolan Ryan once told Tom House (his pitching coach) that he is consistently clocked throwing 3 miles an hour faster when he lifts his leg up to his head as opposed to lifting it only up to his hip.  Typically, the higher the leg lift the longer the stride and the more momentum you will create toward your target.

So, yes!  To answer the question above, most pitchers can throw faster in the windup than from the stretch.  However, it’s not because a pitcher rocks back and forth more; it’s not because a pitcher is “swinging” raring back and firing as we hear many coaches say.

Take a look at our latest video about pitching from the windup.  We give you a ton of pointers about how to keep your balance so you can throw hard strikes.

If you haven’t picked up our pitching mechanics DVD yet now’s your chance.  This week it’s not that it’s just a bargain, it will give you the insight you need to take your game to a higher level.  You will know what to work on everyday to take you to that level.  This pitching mechanics DVD is part of our new series.  Have a great day!

Filed Under: Coaching Pitchers, General Pitching, Pitching Mechanics, Pitching Tips, Pitching Velocity Tagged With: , , , ,
September 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Are You Being Misguided In Your Pitching Instruction?

Last week while I was working with an athlete I asked him, “How do you know that what I’m teaching you is the correct way to pitch?” His answer was, “Because you’re a coach”

That comment sums up a problem and thus the topic of this email. How do you really know if the instruction your son is receiving is actually what the guys in the Big Leagues are doing? The only way to know for sure is to educate yourself on proper mechanics. And since this is pitching mechanics week, I’ll address it from a pitching perspective.

Here are a few things to make sure you’re doing on a regular basis to verify your athlete is receiving valuable and accurate instruction: [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Baseball, General Pitching, Pitching Mechanics
September 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Pitching Mechanics Week

Last week our focus was all about pitching grips; many of you took advantage of last week’s opportunity with our pitching grips/workouts DVD.  We know you won’t be disappointed.

This week our focus is geared towards pitching mechanics.  We all know that pitching mechanics play a key role in your success as a pitcher.  But how much time are you spending each week working on them?  My guess is not enough time to get you exactly where you want to be.  Maybe you aren’t spending the time you need to because you don’t know exactly what you need to do to improve your mechanics?  Maybe you don’t know what good mechanics should look like?

Whatever the problem: Let us help you achieve your goals!

Today’s video is designed to help you maintain your balance with a proper leg lift.  Pay particular attention how to lead with your hips.

This week’s pitching mechanics special

We are offering our new pitching mechanics DVD, part of our new DVD series, for only $25.  Just what will you get?  Check it out!

Filed Under: General Pitching, Pitching Mechanics, Pitching Tips Tagged With: , , , , ,
September 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Curveball and Slider

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a curve and slider?  I’m not just talking about what each pitch does, I’m talking about the subtle differences at release of the baseball.

In today’s video I show you how to throw both pitches.  I demonstrate how to pull each pitch from your glove and where your wrist and forearm angle should be at release of the ball to ensure proper rotation of the ball.

In our pitching grips DVD I demonstrate how to throw about 14 different pitches.  Although you only need three great pitches to be effective; this will give you the insight you need to know which ones you should throw and when to throw them.  Learn more about pitching grips here!

Here’s today’s pitching video:

Filed Under: Coaching Pitchers, General Pitching, Pitching Grips, Pitching Tips Tagged With: , ,
September 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Pitching Grips Week!

We hope you had a nice weekend!

This week our focus is on pitching grips and of course how to throw different pitches. We have created some great pitching videos for you to watch and are hoping you will put them to practice right away.  We are confident that the information you receive this week will help add some extra movement to the pitches you throw.

Let’s cut to the chase:

Here’s the first pitching grips video of the week.  Here we show you how to pull each pitch from your glove.  We also give you a few pointers on how to minimize your risk of injury when you throw different off-speed pitches. There are many pitchers out there that need to see this video so they don’t twist, spin or wrap the ball when they throw. Enjoy!

This week you can learn all about how to throw different pitches with proper throwing mechanics.  Take advantage of this opportunity while it lasts!

 

Filed Under: General Pitching, Pitching Grips, Pitching Tips Tagged With: , ,
September 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

How to throw faster!

How do I throw faster?  That is one of the most common questions we get asked. There are many things to do to help you throw faster and eating a lot of food to try and gain weight is not one of them.  Most pitchers are doing things that keep them from throwing harder; most of them involve poor pitching mechanics.

Conditioning, nutrition, genetics and your mental game also play a role in how fast you throw.  Yes, believe it or not, if you are not conditioned to throw the baseball you will have a hard time maintaining your balance throughout your delivery which makes it impossible to throw correctly.  Being fit to pitch, following a nutrition plan (which is linked to being fit to pitch) and focusing on your mental game directly effect how you will perform. They all affect your pitching mechanics one way or the other.  However, today I just want to focus on throwing faster when it comes to pitching mechanics alone.

Here is a list of questions you can ask yourself to ensure you aren’t cheating yourself out of a few miles an hour. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Coaching Pitchers, General Pitching, Pitching Mechanics, Pitching Velocity Tagged With: ,
September 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

No Slouching, It’s Time To Work

For the last two seasons, more and more parents are contacting both Dan and I in the early fall about hitting or pitching lessons with their son. The “off season” is much shorter than it used to be as people realize that competition is fierce in the middle school and high school levels.  It take more than just a few months of baseball in the summer to develop skills that create high level success.

Both Dan and I maintain that proper knowledge of the fundamentals of hitting and pitching are immensely valuable to learn at an early age.  This is why we have chosen to produce articles and videos on all things related to hitting and pitching and send them to you daily.  Over the summer we backed off to a couple emails per week as baseball slowed and many of you took vacations.  Now that school is back in full swing (for most), it’s time to resume our emails Monday through Friday mornings. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Coaching Pitchers, General Baseball, General Hitting, General Pitching, Hitting Mechanics, Mental Game of Baseball, Pitching Grips, Pitching Mechanics, Pitching Tips, Pitching Velocity, Pitching Workouts
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