Pitchers Strength and Conditioning Clinic-Dec 15th

Sample Questions

Lefty,

I'm going to kick a couple of sample questions out there that may lead to some things that will be covered. I don't think you will need to get too in depth, but this may give some people a taste.

1) My coach says that I need to use my legs in my delivery. How do I do that?

2) I want to throw harder. What is a throwing plan that will guide me in that direction? Also how do I train to make gains with my fastball?

3) Should I strength train in season? If so, what should I do?

4) I just signed with a college this fall. I want to go in prepared to compete for a major role on the staff as a freshman. What do I need to do to prepare for that?

5) How much time should I spend training if I'm on a showcase team? My arm feels fine when I throw on the weekends, but I'm pretty sore the next day. Am I at risk for injury? Can you give me a plan for recovery and strengthening?


I think there will be several mythbusters covered in this session. I also believe if you have some of these questions you need to come to this event. These are just a few of the things that will be covered. Bring your notebooks and be ready to learn.

 

I apologize for not answering these questions sooner. This is the first time since Thanksgiving I have been in front of a computer for more than ten minutes.

For all those planning on attending the address for the Perfect Game is-

The Perfect Game
4685 Yadkinville Rd
Suite F
Pfafftown, NC
27040

Please email me or call me if you have questions or are planning on coming. We have had several people already commit and I am not sure how many more we can handle with out planning for it.

[email protected]

cell- 336 406-4035

 

1)My coach says that I need to use my legs in my delivery. How do I do that?

Your coach is exactly right. The lower half of the body is stronger and more durable than the arm. Using the lower half of the body will help a pitcher reach his maximum hand speed, along with the ability to repeat this motion, which is abusive on the arm.

The problem we run into all the time is, what does it mean to use our legs, and how do we do it. I think the first concept a young pitcher needs to think about is the body does the work and the explosion of trying to force an object through the air at high velocities is an extension of the core and lower half power. The arm is just a long, loose catapult mechanism. Another way to think about this is the power delivered from the fingers to the baseball is generated starting at the bottom of the feet all the way up to the neck.

To talk mechanics, There are a couple of important steps that will allow a pitcher to use his legs to throw with.

(1) The first part is a good balance at the top of the leg kick. The entire body loads up like a spring tightening. The hips are very important because they will begin to rotate a bit to begin the motion known as a “pelvic load.” The biggest mistake pitchers make at this point is to allow their bodies to “leak” toward the plate. This will cause timing problems when all four limbs need to catch up at the release point. Leaking also causes a loss of power/energy that is necessary for velocity.

(2) The second part of the delivery that determines velocity and power proficiency is the point when the stride foot lands. The pitcher should stride as far to the plate as he can/feels comfortable and still keep the weight balanced in the middle of the body. To take a step back, the body doesn’t fall forward with the front leg catching the body from collapsing on itself. The stride out is a controlled reach led by the hips. It’s one of the actions that proves how good an athlete a power pitcher truly is. We refer to this as the landing position.

(3) At this point one of two things happened. The first is the pitcher has done a good job of not allowing too much weight to go forward onto his front knee. He is stride out but still “loaded” slightly on his back knee. There is a sort of “bridge” that has been built by the lower half. It should be mostly a balanced form with the weight displaced slightly back ready to spring forward as the arm comes through. If the pitcher has reached this position he has properly used his legs. If he has more weight on the front knee, he is already out of position and will have to do more wrong things to throw the baseball. Mostly flying open and jerking the head.

(4) Now the arm and upper body begin to uncoil using the energy built up by the lower half. As the weight begins to move from the back knee to the front knee the arm hand and glove hand do their motion to get ready to throw. The throwing arm comes through with the baseball and the weight and energy of the lower boby go over the front knee, “following through” if the front knee works well there will be no buckling or rolling of the knee. It will be a strong foundation for the entire body weight to fall over.

 

2) I want to throw harder. What is a throwing plan that will guide me in that direction? Also how do I train to make gains with my fastball?

The number one thing a pitcher needs to make progress in to be a draft type guy is velocity. If your dream is top play pro baseball- Throw hard. Don’t get confused here though. There are hundreds of pitchers who are quite successful at the college level; who do no throw hard. Some of them even get a chance to play pro ball but those percentages are very low. The best explanation I have ever heard is, the harder you throw the more mistakes you can get away with.

A throwing plan that will help you build arm strength will revolve around throwing bull pens and long toss. There will also be other throwing involved using balls all the way from 12 lb med balls like a catapult against a wall, to undersized 4 oz. balls used to gain hand speed. The one major mistake people make is not throwing enough.

You should throw a baseball every day for much longer periods of time than we do as a whole. Too often pitchers want to “rest” their arms to get ready for the big game. This is nonsense and only leads to stunted growth and weakness that causes pain and soreness.
For the sake of not typing so much I will let you know that all these types of throwing and a clear program will be outlined at the clinic. As a final note I will say the pitcher who truly wants velo gains will spend around two hours a day, in or off season, throwing and working.

Velocity comes from the core, hips, and legs.

 

3) Should I strength train in season? If so, what should I do?

Yes you should definitely strength train during the season. At the clinic we will discuss two separate lifting days that we incorporate into our in-season conditioning program. One is part of our recovery and is used once a week by starters, and whenever a reliever is over-extended (70 or more pitches). It is a little more power orientated. The second lifting day involves more high rep, high endurance cardio type stuff.

Both days incorporate the lower half and core as the main target. Most of our upper body comes as an after effect of lifting the weight with our legs. We also incorporate a program developed by Ron Wolforth that incorporates heavy med ball type work using the core and upper body. If done correctly and as part of a complete program this is all the upper body lifting you will need to do.

I can guarantee you if your son stops lifting traditional upper body and sticks to this program he will throw harder, have less soreness, and less chance of breaking down over time. Bench Press is the #1 arm killer in the world. This is a very controversial statement but I plan to prove it to you Saturday that is not necessary and it’s negatives out weight any benefits.

 

If you just signed this fall and you are wanting to make a major impact as a freshman there are several things you can do both on the mound and off that are going to make you more valuable to the staff.

To take a step back I want to talk about the “new Game” you are entering. You are now part of a program and staff that has probably eight or ten pitchers who are just as talented and athletic as you are. There will be things that separate the pitchers on a staff but rarely will it be velocity or body types. What you have got to learn how to do is make yourself important to the staff and have a definite role. If you look at a typical college breakdown of innings pitched over a season there will be about eight guys who are getting the most innings. So your #1 goal is to be top 8.

How do you get there….

• On the mound, throw more strikes with the fastball. You should be able to throw a bull pen and just pound the zone with your fastball. You should rarely throw a ball more than two feet out of the zone unless it was on purpose. You should be able to throw your fastball low in the strike zone, in and out, on command. This is the first true step to the art of pitching- locating.
• You should definitely be able to throw a change up and curve ball for a strike. Bottom line, if you still can’t throw one of these two pitches for a strike on command then you are probably not ready to pitch at the college level and will be behind an upper classman who has mastered this. It doesn’t have to even be a great pitch, just something to mix up hitters for a couple of innings.
• Learn to be quick to the plate out of the stretch without being out of control. This puts a lot of freshman down the list in the fall of their first season. It’s so much easier to score form second that a pitcher who is easy to steal off of will have a much higher ERA at the end of a season. This is a sign of being raw. Raw is associated with project and more bull pens before you are ready to pitch in a game.
• Right now find a strength and conditioning program that will make you stronger in the right way, to go along with a throwing program designed to build arm strength. Run it by your new college pitching coach. Believe me if he is worth anything he will be glad to look over what you’re doing. In a way, you are his future. Don’t ask him to make one for you though. Show initiative and bring him what you are already doing. He’ll let you know if he likes it.

 

Showcase baseball and young pitchers-

I know why Coach Andro asked this question because it is right at the top of my list of things that are destroying young pitchers before they are old enough to be any good in college.
Showcase baseball/travel ball/weekend tournament ball; I lump them all into the same group. What you have is games being played weekend after weekend for months at a time. Possibly there are some weekday games going on in the summer but not much because the tournament directors can’t make money off weekday games.

Do not misinterpret me- I think the level of play has gone up, I think there are more pitchers throwing harder, I think it must be loads of fun to follow these teams and watch them develop into a team over time, and I know winning is a great feeling. When I was eleven years old I played eleven games the entire year. There were no all-stars for 11 year olds and fall ball was a thing of the future. I would have loved to play the type of baseball they have now. So I am a big fan. About half of my recruiting comes from showcases and tournaments.

I only have two major problems with this type of baseball. One is a financial problem but I have realized who am I to tell people how to spend their money. So I don’t touch that one anymore. The other problem I have and this is my specialty, is the way pitchers are thrown. Not just the tournament rules because they are trying to protect their arms but the whole way young pitchers are throwing.

The most at risk arm in the world is one that is overloading on throws and pitches for one, two, or three days in a row and then being inactive for the next several days. This is what most of these teams have become. Pitcher A throws five innings on Saturday Morning, (91 pitches). That afternoon He plays third base and makes about 150 throws in the course of the next two games. After playing three games in one day and eating out and getting to the hotel or house late that night there is no time to ice, flush run, or band rehab work. Pitcher A wakes up with his arm feeling like it has been through a meat grinder. This teaches him to associate throwing with pain and soreness, reinforcing the idea that he needs to rest his arm more. This will in turn lead to more arm problems.

Day two is when the real damage is done. In an effort to avoid throwing with a tired, sore arm Pitcher A doesn’t make many throws on day two of the tournament. Then he has to make one very strong throw to first on a play that requires the throw. His arm shots with pain because he has done nothing to rehab the overworked arm. The tournament ends and he goes home. He might play a little catch with his buddies and then Wednesday night make some more throws during practice, maybe even a “little bullpen to stay sharp.” But this about the extent to what he has done all week to get ready to do the same thing to his arm the following weekend.

Even a 12 year old could have some sort of weekly program to build his arm strength and core/body build up.

 

This is great stuff. I'll show this to my son. He will be there on Saturday. Some of this really surprises me. I didn't know this stuff.

 

People, you just can't get this type advice anywhere.

I hope every HS pitcher in this state takes advantage of this seminar. I hope I can go.

 

Not only is it good info but what's really nice is it's from a source you can trust. There's plenty of advice out there. Just sometimes hard to detect what is credible and what is not. This is the kind of help kids need.