Why Video Analysis Is The Key To Finding Hidden Pitching Velocity

Why do so many high school and college pitchers never maximize their pitching velocity? I believe the reason is that most are wasting time on practice activities that do not lead to improvement…such as long toss or trying to get bigger and stronger.

The other reason is that coaches and instructors are not utilizing the most valuable tool for helping pitchers improve their pitching velocity – video analysis.

This is a video of a 6’3″ 230 lb. college pitcher who gets good results, but whose velocity is only around 80 mph…when he could easily be throwing 7-10 mph harder with improved mechanics.  He has a couple of common mechanical faults that to me stick out like a sore thumb.

No amount of any additional strength is going to help this pitcher improve his pitching velocity since his problem is clearly about not being able to properly transfer forces from his lower body to his upper body.

And yet at the age of 20 he has not had anyone show him why his velocity is far below his potential. Why is this? Because more than 95% of coaches and instructors never videotape and most are unaware of how the pitcher’s body should produce force and how those forces should be efficiently transferred to the arm.

As Tim Lincecum has always stated – my body does the work and my arm is along for the ride.

To it is a crime that thousands upon thousands of high school and college pitchers, just like this one, will never reach their full potential because coaches are using only their naked eye to evaluate their mechanics. And too many coaches still believe that arm strength is a key factor for improving velocity when research has clearly proven it has little to do with it.

So what’s this pitcher’s “main” problem? He is not doing what I call “locking-in” when he lands. His lead leg continues to move toward the plate rather than bracing-up which forces the lower body to quickly stop and transfer forces to the trunk and finally to the arm. The pitcher does what I call – pitches in sand.

He has some other faults but this is mostly what is killing his pitching velocity.

Any coach who cannot recognize such a glaring and common mechanical fault is not a coach. He is a bystander. He is just an observer.

Parents can easily learn how to video and recognize common mechanical faults that reduced velocity. It is not rocket science or difficult to understand how to do.

Video analysis is the key to pitching improvement. This is what I have been focusing on in our Explosively Pitching DVD program since 2004. We teach parents how to help their sons use their bodies to pitch instead of just their arms. Not only does this improve velocity but reduces the risk of arm injuries. http://www.pitching.com/products/