6 Myths That Baseball Pitching Coaches Advocate

by Dick Mills on November 04, 2007

There are many pitching myths floating around baseball today that will end up killing the pitching potential of many pitchers at all levels. These myths will prevent pitchers from reaching their potential of more pitching velocity and better control while increasing the risk of pitching arm injuries.

I heard recently from a D1 baseball pitching coach that one of the weighted ball advocates is changing his tune about how to improve pitching velocity. He is beginning to tell coaches that elastic energy is important in pitching. I wonder where he read that?

I wonder if he and his partner, who ordered our book, The Science And Art Of Baseball Pitching, about a year ago, finally realized that other coaches are beginning to question that what they have been advocating about how to improve pitching performance is not correct?

This pitching instructor has been an advocate of weighted balls, towel drills, long toss, pitching off balance beams, weighted vests, crow-hopping down the mound, as well as scapula loading and a dozen other questionable pitching practice activities…that have been proven to not only waste time but get pitchers closer and closer to injury.

None of what he advocates, except improving pitching mechanics, will help any pitcher improve his velocity. But it will sure waste a lot of time.

Scapula loading, which he also advocates, should end up being one of the reasons why more pitchers will get arm injuries. I wonder what he is now saying about scapula loading?

This particular pitching instructor runs a baseball school in the Houston area and travels around the country putting on seminars for misinformed high school and college coaches. There are many others like him whose poor instruction is ruining pitchers of all ages. Here is the problem with listening to and following these pitching gurus. They know just enough to be very dangerous and what they know they cannot back up with any evidence based information.

It is all just their beliefs that either have been passed down or copied from another coach or they are making them up themselves because they sound good. The problem is that uneducated and misinformed high school and college coaches are actually listening to their theories on how to improve pitching performance and pitching velocity. They will all be sorry in the long run. These pitching "gurus" have clearly not done their homework.

Here is why what they are advocating is not only going to actually reduce pitching performance but increase pitching arm injuries. Keep in mind that the large majority of professional pitchers today and from the past did not reach their pitching potential by doing any of the activities that these gurus are advocating.

Myth #1: Weighted balls improve velocity on average 7-12 mph

Weighted balls do not improve arm speed since pitching velocity has been proven to come from the elastic energy from the movement of the entire body…not from arm strength. If weighted balls worked to produce velocity then why don't all professional teams just put all their pitchers on a weighted ball program? Because they know it is a foolish waste of time and money.

Note: In our book, we devoted 16 pages to why all the studies on weighted balls improving velocity are incorrect. They actually used bad science from the very beginning to prove their theories. That bad science got passed down from one study to the next without any challenges.

Myth #2: Scapula loading improves pitching velocity

Scapula loading is not a natural movement of the arm and puts the arm beyond a normal range of motion and therefore stresses the ligaments and tendons around the shoulder. It also creates natural timing problems since it is not a natural throwing action.

Myth #3: Hip and trunk rotation is the most important factor for producing velocity

Hip and trunk rotation is the result of how fast a pitcher moves his body from the back leg to the front leg. Once the lead foot lands, hip and trunk rotation simply helps convert energy from the lower body to the upper body and the arm. Hip and trunk rotation is an effect of velocity…not a cause.

Hip and trunk rotation is like the transmission on a car. You do not gain more speed from your car by purchasing a better transmission. Speed comes from the size of the engine. The engine in a pitcher is how fast he moves his body and how long he strides.

Few pitchers today or from the past even understand what hip and trunk rotation is. No pitcher really has to know about it to succeed or produce velocity. As a former professional pitcher for six years I never heard of hip and trunk rotation.

Myth #4: Long toss improves pitching velocity

If long toss improved velocity for pitchers, then why does it not work for improving the arms of outfielders. If arm strength was important for velocity then all weak-armed outfielders could just long toss or do weight training to have stronger arms like right-fielders. That has not worked to help improve outfielders' arms. So why would it work for pitchers.

Myth #5: Flat ground throwing is less stressful than mound pitching

Pitchers who practice on flat ground are actually putting more stress on their arms and are actually wasting their time trying to improve their mechanics. Pitching is a full body activity. Speed of movement into a long stride is how energy and velocity are produced.

Pitching on flat ground does not allow a pitcher to stride out as far so that the arm does less work. Pitching from a mound allows a pitcher to use gravity to move the body faster downhill into a longer stride therefore taking stress from the arm. The arm therefore does less work pitching from a mound than on flat ground.

Also, why would a pitcher practice on a surface that has nothing to do with pitching from a mound when facing hitters. This means a pitcher would have to have two different sets of mechanics. One for flat ground and the other from mound pitching since mechanics are completely different when throwing from each surface.

Myth #6: Practicing at less than game intensity is valuable

Many coaches have their pitchers practicing at 70-80% of game intensity so pitchers can just work on their mechanics while saving their arms for the game. That does not work to help pitchers improve or reduce injury. Actually, it has the opposite effect.

The body learns a movement skill at a specific speed in all sports. The body understands 100% throwing intensity as completely different than 75-80 percent. That means that throwing at less than game intensity cannot have value and does not transfer to full game intensity mechanics.

Practicing at less than game intensity will not improve pitching skills. Saving the arm for the game to reduce injury while throwing at less than game intensity will have the opposite effect. If a pitcher pitches at less than game intensity how will his body be trained to pitch at full game intensity.

This is actually how arm injuries occur. If the body is not trained in practice to move at game intensity speeds, then the body will fatigue faster and therefore the arm will have to try to work harder as the game goes on…therefore adding more stress.

These are all myths that pitching instructors are advocating. And yet they can only serve to waste valuable time and money for many pitchers and their parents who are looking for a quick fix. Most coaches, even former professional pitchers, do not understand these myths and this is why so many pitchers will never reach their full potential.