Does you throw hard in the beginning of the season and begin to lose velocity as the season progresses?
Are you inconsistent throwing strikes?
Does your curveball work great one day and the ball squirts or hangs on you the next?
Do you throw hard but lack control of your pitches?
Many of your inconsistencies can be blamed on improper throwing mechanics and lack of proper training. [Read more...]
There is no doubt that strikeouts are on the rise in the MLB. There are so many great pitchers right now its incredible.
Although strikeouts are wonderful, they shouldn’t be your focus!
I see many pitchers trying to strike everybody out, especially in youth baseball.
Is that the best strategy to have as a pitcher?
No doubt strikeouts are great. There is no better feeling to a pitcher than striking someone out. But if that is always your strategy, you’re going to fail.
You may have heard that playing baseball is like a physical game of chess. Some batters you want to challenge, others you want to get to ground out or pop out depending on the situation. [Read more...]
|
Being involved in Baseball for 26 years and instructing pitchers for the last12; some things never change. It is said that Baseball is a game of failure coached by negative people in a misinformed environment. Hey, I know a lot of great coaches; I worked with many of them. However, I would say the majority are misinformed especially when it comes to throwing mechanics. I enjoy instructing pitchers, I think I have the greatest job in the world. One of the most difficult parts of my job is changing behaviors that previous coaches have taught their pitchers. I want to focus on just one of them that comes up on a daily bases in the baseball world and needs to stop! Coaches are still teaching pitchers to “throw down on the ball” or “over the top” of the ball. Now this means different things to different coaches. Let me explain. When a pitcher gets to foot strike [Read more...] |
|
What never seizes to amaze me (regardless of how many pitchers I have worked with over the years) are the small and simple mechanical changes a pitcher can make that can add so much pop to the ball. I was working with a student two weeks ago who finally understood proper hip rotation and how the core plays a major role in velocity and arm health. Even though he had understood the concept for a few months, he finally learned to “feel” how to throw with his hip and core correctly. After throwing just a couple fastballs correctly, he turned to me and said “holy cow, that changed my life.” I laughed, but at the same time it pumped me up. I told him how I appreciated the hard work he had put into pitching and how happy I was for him. That’s what it’s all about. The fact is, everyone can learn to throw with power by making small mechanical adjustments that don’t take years to learn. [Read more...] |
How long should your stride be? That is a question that we get from many coaches, parents and pitchers. Many coaches give their opinion of how long a stride should be; some say as long as you are tall, some say longer and some say 75% of your height.
The answer is as far as your body will allow you to while maintaining proper pitching mechanics.
You don’t want to jump to foot strike (loosing balance and posture) just so you can add a foot to your stride. You want to push off the ball of your pivot foot while maintaining a closed posture to foot strike. Don’t jeopardize your pitching mechanics at the expense of gaining distance. There is a way to do it right.
How can a longer stride help you?
One is to gather enough momentum to foot strike so your fastball has pop.
The most exciting reason is that 1-foot = 3 mph perceived pitching velocity. The closer you are to home plate when you release the ball the better. To the batter’s eye the ball appears to be going faster than it really is.
Furthermore, when you throw inside, the batter has to react that much quicker to the pitch as well. In order for him to hit the ball on the fat part of the bat, he has to react much quicker to get the bat around.
How do you get a longer stride? Maintaining a proper strength and flexibility pitching workout is important. For example, if your hip flexors aren’t conditioned to handle the demands of the workload pitching places on them, it will affect your distance and you will be more prone to injury. To add distance, try a delayed shoulder rotation. Some pitchers gain an extra 6 inches to a foot delaying their shoulder properly. Pushing off the ball of your pivot foot not only keeps you balanced, it also helps you to explode to foot strike adding some distance and momentum along the way. Demonstrations of all of these and more pitching techniques that will help you add velocity and more movement are found in our DVD series. Take advantage of today’s opportunity and save big!
Many pitchers trying to strike everybody out these days. Especially in youth athletics. Is that the best strategy to have as a pitcher?
No doubt strikeouts are great.
There is no better feeling to a pitcher than striking someone out. But if that is always your strategy, you’re going to fail.
Playing baseball is like a physical game of chess. Some batters you want to challenge, others you want to get to ground out or pop out depending on the situation. Some pitches you throw are meant to get a batter to hit a grounder to second base to turn a double play.
Personally, I would rather throw three pitches an inning and have three ground outs than have three strikeouts.
The key then is having command of three good pitches that you can use to get the out you need in any situation. Changing speeds is vital. Once you have a good understanding of how to properly throw different pitches, it’s just a matter of practice. Being blinded by the lies that a blazing fastball is the only ticket to your success on the mound could hurt your future as a pitcher. We encourage you to develop three great pitches; It will serve you better in the long run. You can start by picking up our Pitching Grips DVD. In over an hour and a half you’ll learn everything you need to know about each grip, how each pitch should be released, and arm action.
Yesterday around 2:45 my dad sent me a text that read, “Felix perfect through 8″. I was just leaving to go meet a friend at a restaurant, but had to stay and turned on the TV to watch the 9th.
Sure enough, everyone was on their feet in Seattle as Felix Hernandez began the 9th inning, perfect game intact.
After a strikeout, groundout, and a final strike out, Felix brought perfection to Seattle.
Growing up here in Seattle, this perfect game (3rd this season) was extra special. I just wish I would have see the whole game now!
I’ve attached the clip of all 27 outs here for you. Also, have a listen to manager Joe Maddon’s take on how Felix kept adding pitches later on in the game.
Some things to note on Felix’s performance:
Felix yesterday is a great illustration of the message Dan and I write about often. That is, you absolutely must learn three pitches you can throw from strikes.
Secondly, master mechanics enough to allow your body to remain consistent. This will help your ball to strike ratio that you need to have around 60% overall.
Now is the time for you to work on these things; our DVD Series will teach you everything you need to know to get there.
Last week we talked about throwing with a purpose; meaning you don’t just throw the ball to throw it. You throw with the intent to sharpen your mechanics or work on one of your goals even when you are just playing catch with a friend.
This week I would like to add to that a bit more and mention briefly the importance of making your bullpens a valuable use of your time. So many pitchers don’t understand how valuable each pitch is when they are throwing in the bullpen. Some merely throw the ball thinking about throwing hard strikes anywhere in the zone. When it crosses the plate for a strike they are content with that. That may work for now if you are in Little League but things change when you’re a bit older. You can’t get away with just throwing strikes, you have to work the corners and ensure the ball has movement.
And remember location, change of speed and movement?
When you are throwing between starts it is imperative that you work on a few things like pitch location, getting a feel for each pitch and keeping track of how many strikes you are throwing compared to balls.
Don’t just throw strikes and think that is sufficient. Talk and think about different game scenarios with your catcher. Who’s up at the plate? How are you going to approach this batter? What are the hitters weaknesses? What pitches would you throw this batter and in what sequence will you throw them?
Practice perfect strikes on the corners with each pitch; make a real game out of it. Whatever you pitch, throw with a purpose! I can’t say enough about that.
Also, get in the habit of taking a journal to the bullpen with you. Some of the best pitchers I work with have this habit and it works! Not only should your goals be in this journal so you can look at them daily, but you should keep track of each pitch you throw; much like a weight lifter knows how much they are lifting and how many repetitions they do for each exercise.
Take the time to monitor your progress in the bullpen and really do some worthwhile throwing. Make sure you write down any thoughts that come to mind when or after each bullpen session. This will help you approach each bullpen with a better attitude and work ethic.
Choose from any of our individual DVDs on hitting or pitching or the complete DVD series.
Today we want to talk about when it’s appropriate to introduce another pitch to any pitcher.
Many coaches and parents contact us regularly to teach their pitchers how to throw an additional pitch or two.
I think its great that they understand you have to throw more than a fastball to be successful.
However, I won’t teach anyone how to throw another pitch unless they can throw with proper mechanics and show consistency with their fastball.
Here are just a few reasons why you shouldn’t attempt to throw off-speed pitches before you can command your fastball and throw it properly:
1) First one is obvious: you are more prone to injury
2) If you can’t control your fastball, how can you control anything else?
3) Poor mechanics lead to poor release: you can’t get the proper rotation you want with any pitch with a poor release point.
4) With inconsistent timing (rhythm), your other pitches will hang or squirt on you. e.g. One day your curveball is spot on and nasty and your next outing you are trying to figure out why you can’t throw it anymore. It’s inconsistent just like your mechanics.
5) If you haven’t put the time and energy learning pitching mechanics, you won’t put in the necessary time to learn how to throw any other pitch correctly. Therefore, you will throw mediocre pitches at best.
Yesterday we sent out an email giving you the coupon code to save 30% on everything! Well, we want to extend it another day. We have instructional products that will help you with your mechanics and will teach you how to throw 12 nasty pitches when you think you’re ready.
One of the questions I get most often when I begin teaching a new student is, how do I throw faster?
Throwing fast definitely has its place in pitching. Even though we often talk about the 3 keys to successful pitching (location, change of speed and movement) It’s nice to be able to blow it by a hitter every once in awhile. For example, right after a great off speed pitch.
So question is, how do you generate more MPH?
There are several ways to add more velocity. Today I will only talk about two of them because they can add several mph to your fastball when you do them correctly. [Read more...]
