Baseball Pitching Instuctors Do Not Understand That Most Pitching Drills Do Not Work

Baseball pitching drills, for the most part, do not transfer to the mound while pitching in a game. The majority of pitching drills that are done by high school or college pitchers are mostly a waste of time and effort.

Baseball pitching drills or partial practice should be mostly reserved for beginners however, once a delivery is built pitchers should not go back to using drills because not only do they not transfer to pitching in a game but these drills can make a pitcher too mechanical because he begins thinking of his pitching delivery in steps.

Here is a question I got regarding a drill, that I wrote about previously where the pitcher actually crow hops down the mound…which I believe to be a total waste of time no matter what the intention of the drill. My comments follow the email.

Hello, Mr. Mills I believe that your article pertaining to the crow hop training tool does have some truth, but I believe that you are missing the basic principle that the drill is focusing on. The drill is not based on on gaining volocity, but rather working on obtaining maximum extention. Extention allows a pitcher to work on and maintain a consistent release point. A major cofounding factor that must be applied to extention is the concept of keeping the weight back and maintain a controlled drive towards the plate. By doing this a pitcher will naturally minimize the tendency to arc and not stay behind the baseball. Extention is very important to all pitches and before you can obtain extention you must stress the important of weight transfer. End of email…

Pitching from a mound in a game is a very specific skill that requires that the pitcher transfer his weight from his back leg to his front leg. How he transfers his weight and gets his body into the correct position will to a large degree determine his ability to control the ball and to maximize his velocity.

He is not allowed to gain added momentum by doing a crow hop which will be interpreted by the body as a completely different movement…even though both movements are considered throwing. The body however sees these as two completely different skills because they are so different. The movement speed is different and how the body’s weight is transferred is totally different. This is because of the sports science… Principle of Specificity.

Here is what motor skill learning expert Dr. Richard Schmidt, author of Motor Learning And Performance:From Principle To Practice has to say about drills:

“A common misconception is that fundamental abilities can be trained through various drills and other activities…For example, athletes are often given various ‘quickening’ exercises, with the hope that these exercises would train some fundamental ability to be quick, allowing quicker response in their particular sport. There are two correct ways to think of these principles.

First, there is no general ability to be quick, to balance, or to use vision…Second, even if there were such general abilities, they are, by definition, genetic and not subject to modification through practice…A learner may acquire additional skill at a drill…but this learning does not transfer to the main skill of interest.”

Even though a baseball is being thrown in both activities, the speed of movement and how the body is moving is totally different. They may have some slight similarities but the body considers them totally different. Therefore no matter what the intention of the drill is…to teach added extension while keeping the weight back or staying behind the ball…will not transfer when throwing from the mound in a game.

Why then do baseball pitching coaches and instructors violate these sports science principles? Because they do not understand the principles of science that control learning proper movement skills. They do not understand that it matters little what the intention of a drill is…the body will interpret it as being totally non-transferrable.

Remember we do not get to vote or have an opinion on motor learning principles. And while a certain pitching coach or instructor is often loud enough to squelch the voice of science, the truth remains—only science can deliver the goods.

And pitching drills for the most part do not deliver better pitchers. Only learning proper pitching mechanics while applying specific functional strength for pitchers can do that.

So as I said in a previous post regarding this particular drill…the intended result will not transfer when pitching in a game or when throwing from the mound.

As for the idea that extention allows a pitcher to work on and maintain a consistent release point or that this drill will help him stay behind the baseball…it all sounds wonderfull in theory however it will not transfer to pitching…no matter what the intention.

If you want to teach pitchers to become better pitchers…you must have them pitch from the mound…mostly at game intensity once they are in condition to do so. Throwing at less than game intensity also does not transfer to game intensity pitching because it is done at a totally different speed with muscles contracting at differing rates. To the body these are two different skills.

This is all very difficult for many to believe. However, it’s science just like the law of gravity. When you jump out a window you will always go down…even if you have been doing lot of drills with the strong intention to fly.

The Principle of Specificity is very clear on this. We do not get to decide what we want to work on by doing certain drills. Science has proven for decades that unless the skill and the movements are specific… one movement will not necessarily transfer to another.

Also what is “added extension?” The only way to gain added extension is to increase stride length using proper weight shift and weight transfer while moving the body from one leg to the other.

If a pitcher wants to stay behind the ball or move more in a straight line then he had better practice those skills throwing from a mound…just like he would during a game.

Pitching is a specific skill. If you want to improve that skill you had better understand proper mechanics. No amount of crow hopping from the mound will help a pitcher get better or improve performance when pitching in a game.

All that drills like that do is to waste or eat up time. Instructors who recommend those types of drills may be very suspect in their ability to teach proper mechanics.

Pitching instruction whose basis is found in drills should be a red flag.

Dick Mills

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 at www.pitching.nexcess.net. 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 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, ask for our special Free Coach’s Report.)