Could Steroids Help Baseball Pitchers Improve? It’s Highly Unlikely.

The question is can steroids enhance baseball pitching performance?

This past week we have been bombarded with article after article about steroids in baseball…especially regarding Barry Bonds. I have yet to read one article that explains how steroids can actually make a hitter better or a fielder better or that steroids could improve pitching performance.

We know that Barry Bonds got bigger so if his getting bigger did not reduce his speed of using his body to create bat speed, then his body mass helped him hit longer fly balls that ended up as home runs…not really more homeruns. So because of his bigger size… with the same bat speed how many of the 73 home runs made it into the seats rather than ending up as just a fly ball which may have happened if he did not add more mass to his body.

We also know that since the 73 home run season that Bonds is also being walked at record numbers. Imagine if they pitched to him more now. You might see 60 plus home run seasons from now on. The guy is truly a great hitter…with or without steroids. Steroids did not make him a great hitter.

Also remember you have to be a “good hitter” to also hit more homeruns.

The point here is that steroids do not make better baseball hitters. Only skill can do that. They may enhance what an outstanding hitter is able to achieve…like Barry Bonds. But guess what…there are no studies to prove any of this and there probably never will be since they will not allow human studies to show the real effects of steroid use over non-steroid use.

But how about pitching and steroids? Do you think there are pitchers taking them? Probably. If they are… then these pitchers are truly dumber than rocks because in my opinion they are getting zero performance improvement…and all the added negative and in some cases even life threatening side effects.

I am sure everyone is thinking…well wouldn’t steroids help a pitcher throw harder? How? Pitching is not a strength activity but a speed of movement activity…and by the way much more explosive than sprinting.

If a pitcher did steroids and got bigger and stronger he might very well slow down his explosiveness and actually reduce his velocity. Somebody needs to tell pitchers who are taking steroids about this. It means they are getting not only zero return on their investment…but maybe taking years off their life—for nothing.

And somebody needs to explain to baseball writers that both hitting and pitching are skill activities that no amount of steroids is going to improve. Steroids do not help a hitter see the ball better, pick up its rotation or help put the bat on it at the exact specific instant to make good contact. And steroids will not help a pitcher throw harder because pitching is about explosiveness or speed of body movement…not body or arm strength and it is also about command of pitches. In other words pitching too is about skill…not strength just like hitting.

Aren’t there baseball writers out there who understands any of this? There should be.

If you have questions about this 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 from my website http://pitching.nexcess.net. Just click on the link and fill out the form. http://pitching.nexcess.net/free_pitching_report.php. 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.)

Copyright 2004 Dick Mills and All About Pitching. All rights reserved. With credit given all parts of these articles may be quoted. Do not reproduce without written permission.