A Sure Way For Baseball Pitchers To Remain Mediocre Or Dare To Be Great

All About Pitching Since 1995

The odds of becoming a top baseball pitcher are clearly against youth, high school and college pitchers. And even the top pitching talents that get drafted into professional baseball as high school or college pitchers have little chance of even making it to AA let alone all the way to the big leagues. Only about 1 in 10 minor leaguers will put on a major league uniform.

I believe one of the big reasons that the odds do not favor most baseball pitchers is the same reason that top success does not come to people in life or in business. Why? Because they all get caught up simply following the crowd or doing what other pitchers are doing or they follow the advice of top coaches or even former professional pitchers. “Do what I did.”

Why shouldn’t they follow the advice of everybody else? Because most of the advice that is being handed out today is all “belief based” coaching. Pitchers get advice from coaches or instructors because these coaches or instructors have always done “it” this way because they have been told by others before them to do it this way.

Or because a particular major league pitcher does a certain thing like throwing a football, then throwing a football is what pitchers should also do. Or because a certain professional baseball organization recommends that their pitchers engage in a certain ‘flat ground” throwing routine then this too must be the best way to make it big.

The bottom line question that you should ask yourself is: Why is it that so few baseball pitchers make it big? Could it be that they are following the crowd or doing what every other pitcher is doing? Or following the advice of coaches or instructors because that is the way they were taught to do it? And who says that they are handing out good advice?

The statistics clearly do not favor doing what everybody else is doing since so few baseball pitchers will make it big.

The alternative is to look at the recommended routines that most baseball pitchers are engaging in and question whether doing what every other pitcher is doing is working for them? It clearly is not since statistics of making it big for baseball pitchers do not bear out current training methodology.

Is the advice of boosting velocity working by telling pitchers to go into the weight room to “get bigger and stronger?” No evidence is proving that out since many skinny pitchers can throw with above average velocity… so just maybe velocity has little to do with strength after all. Just maybe better mechanics that create a more explosive delivery is the real key to velocity!

The problem with coaches recommending better mechanics is that these same coaches would have to study mechanics so they understood mechanical faults and then be able to recommend the needed adjustments. But they do not wish to spend the time to learn. And that just may be why they recommend doing time wasting” drills that have proven to slow pitchers down.

Does engaging in regular long toss prove to boost velocity? There is no evidence of that at all. I have spoken to hundreds of high school and college pitchers since coming on line in August of 1996 and what I am being told is that long toss does not produce more velocity. But boy does it waste a lot of valuable time that could be better spent working on mechanics while throwing from the mound at game intensity more often.

How about throwing weighted baseballs? Will throwing those have positive results in boosting velocity? I have seen no evidence of that at all. Weighted balls have been around for over 30 years with little success. If they worked professional baseball would have every minor league pitcher who throws less than 90 mph using weighted balls to get that extra boost. But they don’t.

Doing what every body else is doing will not get you to where you want to go.

In fact, the most successful people in life do not proceed toward success by doing what everybody else is doing because they understand that doing those activities are not working for most people. So the most successful people take a different road and always question why they would do what is not working for most people already.

If you do a search online to find how to become a top pitcher you will find pretty much the same advice being handed out by just about every website you find. Hit the weight room, do drills, do long toss, throw weighted balls or do what professional baseball organizations recommend. But professional baseball has a dismal record of developing players. That’s why every year they continue to draft 1500 amateur players. It’s just a revolving door. The best talent are the ones who normally make it. They are not normally developed. There are certainly exceptions but if players were developed in the minor leagues why would they have such a large draft each year?

If you want to be one of the sheep then follow the herd. You might just follow that herd right over a cliff.

Instead be the one sheep who is running against the herd pushing your way through while the other sheep are yelling out, “Hey Dude, stay cool, this is the way, not that way, you got it all wrong”—as they run over the cliff.

Walt Disney, when considering new ideas would always ask 10 people for their opinion. When they were unanimous against his new idea he immediately began working on it. “A cartoon about a mouse. You can’t be serious Walt!”

It’s tough to be different. But it’s the only way to be successful.

As you cruise around the internet you will hear the roar of baseball pitching advice that all sounds the same. It doesn’t really matter which one you pick. You can chose your poison. It’s the same rehashed dogma that is not working. If you decide to jump on board with them you will be moving with the herd—and maybe right on over the cliff into guaranteed pitching mediocrity.

Find a fresh view. Dare to be different. Dare to be great. You will find a breath of fresh air and you will be moving against the herd maybe right to big time pitching success.

Dick Mills website www.pitching.nexcess.net

If you have questions about this blog post or on any phase of pitching—mechanics, strength and conditioning, mental training, strategy send those questions to dickmills@gmail.com and I will answer them here.

If you want an explosive body and explosive mechanics you need to get my Free Report . We won’t waste your time. We show you how to recognize exactly what is holding back most pitchers…find the problem—fix the problem. I show you a comparison between two high school pitchers, a Little League pitcher and a major league pitcher who throws mid to upper nineties. You will see the biggest problem that reduces velocity in the majority of pitchers.

(If you are a high school or college coach, email me at dickmills@gmail.com and ask for our special Free Coach’s Report.)