How To Boost Baseball Pitching Performance—Make Them Prove It!

How to boost baseball pitching performance is obviously important to youth, high school and college pitchers trying to improve to reach the next level. Baseball pitching improvement can come in many forms such as focusing on developing better pitching mechanics.

Better pitching mechanics will allow the pitcher to maximize the efficiency of his body in transferring forces from one part to the next which is the only real way to improve arm speed and therefore pitching velocity. And yet the focus for gaining more velocity is mostly on increasing arm strength.

I have used the same statement for many years regarding the improvement of baseball pitching velocity and that is: You can’t get velocity in the weight room. Or from throwing weighted baseballs or from long toss.

And yet as you cruise the internet you will find a host of anecdote, stories and hyperbole of how more strength is going to improve pitching velocity.

Just about everybody has jumped onto this bandwagon in an effort to attract attention about their pitching expertise…knowing that just about every pitcher out there wants more throwing velocity.

Whether the advice for gaining velocity is to throw weighted baseballs, hit the weight room or long toss, few if any of these psuedo authorities can “explain” how any of those activities will improve pitching velocity. And the keys words there are “to explain.” Make them tell me how it works. How does more arm strength aid in developing more velocity? Some are so ignorant as to say that it is “common sense.” How’s that for evidence!

The problem is they can’t explain how it works. And why not? Because improving throwing velocity has little at all to do with gaining more strength. But the endless belief based stories go on infinatum.

These psuedo experts are doing all pitchers (coaches and parents) a disservice by emphasizing arm strength as the source of power since the idea of more velocity focuses on the arm…which is usually what ends up injured or too often sore because most youth pitchers think that more focus on the arm is the key to more velocity…rather than focusing using as many muscles in the body as possible.

Could it be that all these websites just don’t understand or know that there is real evidence…not belief about why pitching is not a strength activity at all and that no amount of more arm strength will improve throwing velocity.

There are also baseball websites that would have you believe that there are even special pitching drills or exercises for improving velocity. I would love to see those!

What is most disturbing though about all of this is that these psuedo pitching experts…some even former professional pitchers continue to perpetuate story after unsubstantiated story all passed down from one belief based coach to another belief based coach with no evidence backed up by sports science principles.

Many even use words interchangeably to prove points when these words have no relationship to each other such as using the word strength as a synonym for resistance training as a synonym for explosive power. They all mean different things.

And one thing we know is that you can’t minipulate science. You can make claims, you can tell stories but if you can’t provide proof…real evidence backed up by sports science principles then you have no more knowledge than the people who are looking to you for advice. You are just another rank amateur. A pretender.

What follows is proof…not belief. What is most sad is that not one baseball coach in a 100 understands this. And there are countless studies like this that baseball just doesn’t want to take the time to understand. It is much easier to dream things up than to sit down and get educated. And who loses…all aspiring pitchers who are looking to coaches for expertise.

The quicker that pitchers and parents stop listening to these belief based coaches the quicker they will have chance to really improve and reach whatever potential they have been naturally been given.

TO IMPROVE SPEED MOVE FAST AND FORGET STRENGTH TRAINING

Kluckhuhn, K. L., Signorile, J. F., Miller, P. C., Webber, B. C., & Garcia, M. (1997). An analysis of high-speed isokinetics and pitching. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 29(5), Supplement abstract 1273.

The importance of strength, power, and acceleration were investigated in baseball fastball pitching. The only variables that related to pitching were those associated with speed. Acceleration and power at the fastest movement speeds accounted for almost all fastball pitching variance (99%). Strength was not related to speed of movement and therefore, should not be a variable considered when training for speed.

Implication

. To improve pitching speed it is necessary to train for speed first. This is best done by consistently trying to move and exceed previous maximum velocity. Any training that does not allow maximum speed in a trial will be useless and could be detrimental.

The use of strength training, which does not allow maximum movement speed, will not enhance speed of movement.

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.)