Tim Lincecum’s Father Has Some Good Advice About Pitching Mechanics

by Dick Mills on January 12, 2010

Tim Lincecum's father Chris is responsible for teaching Tim his mechanics that allow him to use his entire body to produce over-powering pitching velocity...not just his arm.  As Chris and Tim say all the time - the arm is just a whip.  They are right.

But today few coaches understand pitching mechanics and how pitching velocity is produced.  If they did they would not have pitchers doing towel drills, kneeling drills or balance drills.  Or pitching on flat ground instead of a  mound.  Does it make sense to you?

Tim Lincecum at 5'10" 170 lbs. can throw a baseball 100 mph.  How does he do it? By using every muscles fiber of his body to move as fast as possible down the mound into a stride that is 120% of his height.  Tim gets the ball involved in the throw as late as any major league pitcher.  Those are the secrets of how Tim Lincecum can throw harder than most major league pitchers who are 6" taller and 50 lbs. heavier than Tim.

All parents would be well advised to listen to what Tim's father Chris says about today's conventional pitching instruction and how it is contributing to so many arm injuries plus producing less improvement or better performance.   I have disagreed with conventional pitching advice for years since studying what sports science research says about baseball pitching. 

Here is what Tim Lincecum's father has to say about today's pitching instruction:

"All in all his mechanics are (as some people have referred to as freakish or un-orthodox) like the old-time pitchers in the 30's and 40's and early fifties. Example: Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Satchel Paige, Bob Feller. Carl Hubbell, Juan Marichal...

Those athletes didn't throw with just there arms and shoulders as probably 70% or more have been doing for the last 40+ years. Those pitchers don't last for more than 4 to 7 years and usually throw their elbows or shoulders out. Sad thing is that they become pitching coaches and open clinics and teach their mechanics to the children (charging ridiculous fees) addressing their mechanics as "the Pro way" of doing it (after all, all you have to do is watch a game on T.V. and see that most major leaguers are using the muscle-method way of throwing, therefore confirming it), thus creating less than efficient throwers, for the next generation, who in turn throw their arms out and usually can't understand why. Just watching these types of poor mechanics makes me cringe with pain. Pitching is a position that can be taught to almost anybody, but throwing properly is an art and needs to be respected and constantly adjusted due to growth and muscle development and aging. I love it the most in all sports."  Chris Lincecum

Are you using full-body explosive mechanics into a stride that is at least your height?  Are you moving too slow down the mound? 

Tim Lincecum's father also does not believe in a lot of weight training. 

Tim Lincecum has been called a freak of nature because he throws so hard while being so small.  He is not a freak of nature. Pitchers, even small-skinny kids, can be taught to throw with over-powering velocity as long as they understand how the body is used to produce velocity.  This is what I have been teaching since 2004.

Remember..."pitchers are made in the off-season."   What are you doing right now to improve your pitching skills?

These are some of the important aspects I have been focusing on in our Explosively Pitching DVD program since 2004.  We teach parents how to help their sons use their bodies to pitch instead of just their arms. Not only does this improve velocity but reduces the risk of arm injuries.  We teach them proper conditioning.

See our Off-season discounts on our instructional DVD's:  http://www.pitching.com/products/

"I had spent several hundred dollars on a pitching coach who was leading my son down the path to ruin. He embraced every failed philosophy and technique you've identified - long toss, towel drills and more drills ad nauseum. My son's skills were deteriorating. When I found your website and read your report, I sense intuitively your words had merit and deserved further study."                                Mark Smith, Downers Grove,IL