Frustrated Father Of College Pitcher Can’t Take It Anymore

Do high school, college pitching coaches or private instructors do more harm than good? If you heard some of the stories we hear every week in our office while talking to parents about their son’s pitching problems…you would wonder.

My wife Ginny handed me the phone yesterday to talk to the frustrated father of a college pitcher. He could not take it anymore and was referred to us by another client.

This man’s son was a 6’6″ 205 lb RH pitcher with talent. However, his talent has dissapeared since his son’s pitching coach has completely messed up his mechanics. Not only has this boy lost his control but has gone from being able to effortlessly throw in the low 90′s to now barely touching 85 mph. But these stories are now very common place in our office but they still always irritate me when I hear them.

Ignorance iritates me. Coaches and instructors who do not do their homework on pitching mechanics and strength and conditioning iritate me.

The father not only purchased our program to help his college son but also to help his 18 year old who is apparently going to be drafted in the first five rounds of the upcoming June draft. He wants to make sure that his younger son fully understands pitching mechanics and conditioning…so that a college pitching coach or a minor league pitching coach does not mess up his mechanics. Knowledge of mechanics for young pitchers is crucial as they move from one level to the next because parents do eventually realize that the instruction does not get any better the higher up you go. Getting a good pitching coach seems to be a shot in the dark.

Apparently, the college pitching coach decided to shorten this 6’6″ college pitcher’s stride. I have said this over and over…I have never shortened any pitcher’s stride in my career because too long a stride is never the problem. If the stride is too long it is only an indication of another problem. The apparent long stride is the result of a problem not the cause.

But what do college pitching coaches know! Apparently too many do not know enough to be “helping” pitchers make mechanical adjustments to produce improvement. How do many high school and college pitching coaches learn about mechanics? Many are just listening to other coaches who are equally in the dark.

If they do not videotape your son and explain his delivery in detail and why certain adjustments need to be made, then your son is in for many problems.

The shortened stride for this tall lanky pitcher has totally destroyed the timing of his delivery and now he has lost his ability to throw consistent strikes…and has also lost all feel of pitching.

When you shorten a pitcher’s stride length…especially a pitcher who is very tall you then change the timing of how all the parts fit together. Those long arms now do not have enough time to get into proper throwing position by the time the pitcher lands. A short stride is an indication of a mechanical fault. If a pitcher has good mechanics where he understands how to move from his back leg to his front leg he will automatically have a long stride which allows the full transfer of elastic energy to eventually end up on the ball.

Short strides don’t work. Pitchers who have short strides are putting additional stress on other parts of the body such as low back, front leg knee and the total throwing arm. And many short striders have control problems for various and logical reasons.

My advice was to have this boy call me and I would talk him through his delivery so he at least understood that he was not the cause of his problem and that once he understood again how to move off his back leg his long stride and his good timing would return. And so wouldn’t his control and the feel of the ball coming out of his hand.

The father told me that his younger son was entertaining going to school instead of playing professionally right now. He felt good about the school his son has chosen because both coaches played at the AAA level.

I told him that because these guys played at a high professional level would not assure that his younger son got any better advice than his older son. Former professionals normally will only teach you what they learned. But what they learned about pitching mechanics cannot be universally taught to another pitcher because what they did may only work for them. Experience is not necessarily a good teacher.

Always ask these coaches where did they get their knowledge about pitching mechanics and conditioning. If they say they got it because they were a professional pitcher…then ask them the same question again. But where did you get your knowledge of pitching mechanics and what makes you qualified to teach? They won’t like that but you must protect your son.

Being a former professional pitcher does not qualify a coach or instructor to necessarily be able to instruct. Don’t let that become a false sense of security for you and your son. It could ruin his career.

Some of these former professional pitchers are handing out some very questionalable advice online. It is clear to me that they have not done their homework and are only handing out advice based on “their” experiences.

The father I spoke about here is a former top collegiate basketball player, who was sharp enough to understand that all the drills that his son’s coaches were having him do were doing nothing but messing up his son’s mechanics more and wasting valuable time. He also did not understand how long toss would help his son. And of course at 6’6″ 205 lbs—very lanky, his son’s coaches wanted him in the weight room getting bigger and stronger. He also knew enough to understand that this would not help his performance either.

Drills do not make sense for high school or college pitchers because there are no natural breaks (any stopping) in the pitching delivery…just like there are no natural breaks in a golf swing . Drills have proven to be disruptive. Why then Do coaches continue to recommend them? Because they do not understand pitching mechanics enough so that they can help the pitcher make the needed adjustment within his delivery.

Here is what sports science says about doing drills.

“When teaching new skills [or altering established skills] it is common practice to break skills into component parts and “build” the movement patterns. This “part-whole” approach is most effective when the skill to be learned is complex and has clearly defined natural breaks or components (e. g., a gymnastics routine). Such an approach to learning [or modification] however, may be of little to no value when the skill is essentially continuous with no natural breaks (such as in running, swimming).”

Abernethy, B. (1991). Acquisition of motor skills. In F. S. Pyke (Ed.), Better Coaching (pp. 69-98), Canberra, Australia: Australian Coaching Council.

That certainly applies to pitching where the movement is continuous once it starts. There is no stopping at any point. When you interject a drill you end up slowing the pitcher down and will have a difficult time putting the drill back into the delivery. Drills waste time.

So if you are looking to get pitching advice or choose a college or a private instructor, you might ask these coaches about their philosophies on mechanics, strength and conditioning, effectiveness of long toss or even throwing weighted baseballs. And ask them about drills and why they think they are so good. Ask them about these things and then make them explain in detail why they believe what they believe. What are their sources? Experience is not enough.

You want to know why they believe what they believe. Because if you don’t, your son will become just another victim of poor advice that could ruin his chances of living his dream.

If these pitching coaches or instructors do not understand biomechanical principles and sports science principles of training and conditioning then you will just end up getting more “belief based” instruction backed by just their experience…rather than that backed by proven knowledge that has stood the test of time.

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.)