The Most Important Formula For Boosting Pitching Velocity

by Dick Mills on November 03, 2008

If pitchers want to achieve maximum pitching velocity with the least amount of stress to the arm, then it would only make sense that coaches and parents would want to know what the latest sports science research advises.

Unfortunately, most coaches and instructors still believe that improving velocity has to do with adding more arm strength or more general overall body strength. The research however does not support that. 

There are two very important elements that have proven to produce more pitching velocity.  I will focus on only one in this article. 

But first we must understand exactly how velocity is produced.  

Position Factor #1: Shift the body mass in the direction of the intended target.  Pitchers are only allowed to take one stride moving from the back leg to the front leg but that is sufficient to build maximum momentum.  Since pitchers are not allowed to take a crow hop when pitching from the mound such as during long toss...practicing long toss cannot provide any benefit for improving pitching velocity.

What most youth, high school and college pitchers lack when it comes to maximizing their velocity is building up maximum momentum because most simply move their bodies too slow.  Pitchers cannot achieve maximum velocity when they move their bodies slow.  If they do then they also risk adding stress to their arms and also injury.

Pitching velocity has been proven to be more about how much momentum the pitcher can achieve as he moves his body from the back leg to the front leg.  This one stride has more to do with velocity than any single movement feature within a pitcher's delivery.  Therefor how fast the pitcher can move his entire body toward the plate has more to do with improving velocity than any single element.

If pitchers want more velocity then moving faster into a longer stride is a huge benefit.

Of course, in order to insure that maximum momentum is useful, it must be developed using good timing between the lower body and upper body. If the trunk is positioned too far forward when the pitcher lands then his velocity will be reduced.  So besides proper positioning of the body, the timing element is equally important.

In pitching one formula that is useful to understand is that Momentum = Mass x Velocity. 

This just means that the amount of momentum that a pitcher can produce is dependent on his body size (mass) and how fast (velocity) he can shift and move the entire body toward the plate.

Giants' Tim Lincecum Vs. Red Sox Josh Beckett

If a pitcher is small like Giants Tim Lincecum 5'10" 170 lbs,  who throws 95-100 mph, for him to equal the momentum produced by Josh Beckett at 6'5' 225 lbs., Lincecum must move his body faster...which he clearly does. Lincecum may have the fastest movement toward the plate than any other major league pitcher.

This is why smaller pitchers are able to achieve high velocity pitches...without being concerned about body size or strength.

Pitchers Must Learn How And When To Brace-up Upon Landing

Once a pitcher is able to produce maximum ,momentum because he has learned how to shift his weight powerfully toward the plate by leading with his front hip and gaining maximum leg drive,  upon landing he must brace his front leg and hip in order to stop the forward momentum so that the energy is immediately shifted to the upper body so that the arm whips through at high speed. 

So even though a youth or high school pitcher is able to build momentum and a long stride, if he does not brace-up or firm up his lead leg and hip upon landing he will lose velocity.

When the pitcher's front leg does not brace-up properly or continues to move forward upon landing, I call that "pitching in sand" because he will not be able to provide maximum acceleration of the trunk and the throwing arm unless he can firm up his lower body and stop it from acting like a shock absorber.

So for pitchers to improve their velocity, it makes little sense to focus on trying to improve arm strength or arm speed since the body has been proven to produce velocity...not the arm.

There are then two keys for boosting the velocity of any pitcher and that is to build momentum with the body into a long stride and then to immediately firm up or brace-up the front leg and hip upon landing.  That will not only improve velocity but will reduce stress to the throwing arm.