Why Parents Should Be Cautious Of Pitching Clinics
by Dick Mills on October 22, 2008
This is the time of year pitchers are exposed to a lot of pitching clinics. Of course what every clinic emphasizes is a method of increasing pitching velocity quickly normally by using a certain practice activities.
However, there is a big problem with group pitching clinics because they violate an important sports science principle - the Principle Of Individuality.
Clinics in most cases are not beneficial for improvement because each athlete has differing capacities or capabilities and skill levels. Obviously it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to lump beginners with more advanced pitchers. But clinics do this all the time because they want numbers which means more revenue.
Even lumping all high school pitchers together is not a good idea. Obviously freshman pitchers are at a different development stage than many seniors on the growth and development curve.
"The principle of individuality dictates that coaching/instruction should be structured around an individuals needs and capacities. Most baseball academies or clinics teach in a group mode and openly disregard the individual needs of participants." (Mills, Rushall, 2006, The Science And Art Of Baseball Pitching 24.7)
Pitching is a mechanical skill. Each pitcher, even in comparable age groups have different mechanical faults that must be looked at individually if the pitcher is to improve his velocity or control. Most youth and high school pitchers I video analyze have similar problems but no group clinic is going to help any pitcher unless they are video analyzed separately and given expert feedback on how to improve those faults. Not much can be accomplished unless the student has at least an hour to gain some knowledge by trying to make recommended adjustments.
From my experience, these are some common faults I see regularly doing video analysis or one-on-one instruction:
- move too slow - a lack of momentum
- hesitations - there should be none
- short strides - less than body height
- unstable landing positions - falling off to one side
- poor weight shift - not using the lower body leading with the hip
- front leg and hip do not produce bracing action
- early hand break - creates poor timing between upper and lower body
- excessive trunk lean
- lack of trunk flexion into flat back position
Clinics that promise improved velocity should be looked at with skepticism. What are the methods they believe will improve every pitcher's throwing velocity? One clinic put on by a pitching author claims velocity increases up to 4 mph by just throwing weighted balls during one session. That must be looked on as nothing but hype. But unfortunately for the unknowing baseball public hype sells.
Additional Strength Is Not A Factor For Improving Velocity
If methods used in clinics for increasing velocity are based on increasing strength of the arm or the body, then these clinics are operating without studying the latest research that clearly have proven that no additional strength of the arm or body is going to improve pitching velocity.
Methods recommended for improving pitching velocity which should be looked at with extreme skepticism are long toss, weighted balls, weighted vests, crow hopping down the mound, balance beam exercises or any special arm exercises including flexible tubing. There is no evidence that supports that these activities will improve pitching velocity used alone or in combination.
Pitching velocity must come from improving pitching mechanics. Certainly pitchers need to be fit to pitch or well conditioned but wasting a lot of time on weight training is not going to improve pitching velocity...but may very well lead to increased injury.
Conditioning does not by itself produce more velocity. Conditioning is to help the pitcher prevent injury and increase his capacity to do more volume of work with less fatigue.
I am not a fan of group practice or clinics as I see so many pitchers at all age levels who need individual instruction if they expect to improve their velocity or their control while reducing the risk of arm injuries.
It has also been proven that within 21 days of group instruction over 90% of what has been learned is forgotten.
I cannot imagine that there would be one clinic that would be worthwhile for a pitcher as most of the methods employed are all based on belief rather than the latest evidence based research.
Parents can learn how to help their sons improve their pitching with programs that emphasize learning mechanics and how to videotape which is not difficult to learn. This is a far better investment long term since spaced repetition is foundation of learning. My Complete Pitching Instruction program is a simple and effective way for parents to become their son's best pitching coach.
