Should College Pitching Coach Recruit Javelin Throwers?

A recent article in the Jan. 28, 2005 issue of Collegiate Baseball magazine had some interesting conclusions drawn by some pretty distinguished pitching coaches about how to improve velocity. Unfortunately, none of what they concluded is proven. It is just more “belief based’ coaching that goes against what sports science has clearly known for maybe 50 years or so.

One experienced college pitching coach, with an outstanding resume of winning and highly regarded in college baseball circles for over 20 years, believes that long toss and overload training is the key to explosive pitching. Apparently he has just recently been drawn to the use of weighted baseballs as well for his college pitchers. He is also a big believer in long toss and has come up with his own long toss training routine.

He has gone so far as to try to emulate what javelin throwers do believing that if pitchers copy precisely what they do then more power can be produced which will lead to more velocity. I’ll get to that in a sec.

He also has a special long toss resistance drill designed apparently to add more strength to the hips which will automatically improve hip rotation speed.

Here is what this D1 pitching coach had to say:

“We try to put a little more resistance in the hip area and build strength. If you have better front hip drive, pitchers will improve. We have a belt that swivels on the hip which attaches to the bungee cord. The other end is attached to a chain link fence. Then they begin their long toss program.

One important component of our long toss program is allowing the kids to go out as far as they can and then come back as they make the same effort for throws as their longest of the day.

We want throws to be from 32-36 degrees but not above that. World class javelin throwers are at 32-36 degrees. Long toss teaches the body how to throw naturally again.

It allows the body to have tremendous freedom. Once they start coming in closer and closer, the pitcher tends to throw more on a down hill plane as he compresses his throw to the longest throw he had that day.

His last 3-4 throws for the day are without the bungee cord. He then feels much more quickness in his hips.

It has always astounded me when you see outfielder with strong arms.

If you ask them to come in to pitch, they automatically lose 10 mph because in their mind, you must be more stylized in a pitching protocol rather than rearing back and letting it go.” …end of quote by college pitching coach

OK, let’s stop there and dissect these training ideas a little bit. To the uninformed they do sound very well thought out and almost scientific. What is especially disturbing is that this is the thinking of coaches at most high schools and many, many colleges as well. After all the pitching coach I am quoting has been at his craft for over 20 years. If anyone knows he should right? Hold on…we will see!

I do understand these coaches thinking on these issues because what they are doing would “seem’ to make sense…but is not backed up by evidence and is clearly contradictory to what has been proven in years of sports science studies regarding training.

The idea that this college D1 pitching coach has is that first of all, pitching is a strength activity which it is not. It does not require strength to throw a 5 oz baseball. If it did then Little League pitchers would not be able to throw 65-75 mph which is the equivalent of upper 80′s to low 90′s at 60’6″. Pitching again is all about how quickly a pitcher can put as many muscles on stretch as quickly as possible. So pitching is far more about speed of movement than strength since strength cannot be used when the body is moving quickly.

At high speed of movement whether running or throwing, the body cannot recruit all the muscle fibers it needs. That is just plain physiology. So strength is a small component at best for pitching. How quickly you can move the body with proper timing will determine the velocity at ball release.

What about the idea of the bungee cord tied around the pitcher’s waist to help increase the resistance? The question you always must ask when looking at improving explosiveness is will the activity I am doing teach my body to move faster or will it actually teach my body to move slower? This is the same question that coaches need to ask about whether weight room training is beneficial or not.

The resistance of the bungee cord will actually teach the body to move slower since resistance training is about adding strength to specific muscles but this added resistance will actually interfere overall with speed of movement. So the bungee cord will actually teach the pitcher to move slower thus reducing explosiveness and velocity.

The well intentioned, designed and thought out drill actually is going to do the opposite of what is proposed. The pitcher will be working to reduce overall performance.

What about the javelin thrower comparison?

If long toss performance and its transference was a key to pitching velocity then I would highly suggest that professional baseball start drafting the best high school javelin throwers. But what is wrong with this thinking?

First of all throwing a javelin and throwing a baseball are two completely different activities with different mechanics. The javelin thrower uses a long run up before he slows down to transfer his weight from his back leg to this front leg and then releases the javelin. And since throwing a javelin is completely different even if you keep the trajectory the same, you cannot assume that this transfer of power could be use in throwing a baseball long or with above average velocity from the mound.

Put the best javelin thrower in a baseball long toss contest up against the best pitching long tosser and I would put my money on the baseball pitcher any day. Why? Because he has perfected baseball long tossing.

What about the comment by the coach that outfielders with good arms lose 10 mph of velocity when they try to pitch. That makes sense to me but not for the reason given by the college pitching coach. The outfielder loses velocity because he does not know how to shift his and transfer his weight from a stationary position moving from the back leg to the front leg. The loss of velocity is simply about mechanics.

You will have to teach the outfielder pitching mechanics. Apparently his long toss ability from the outfield does not transfer to more velocity from the mound. Why would long tossing then transfer to more velocity for a pitcher? Does that make sense?

The college pitching coach assumes that the outfielder should just use “rearing back and letting it go” style to produce that 10 mph more velocity. What this college pitching coach is obviously not considering is that pitching mechanics produce velocity…not arm strength.

Let me sum this up. Pitching a baseball successfully requires skill—physical and mental skill. It requires skill because a pitcher must move his body in a specific way from a stationary position using a certain rhythm and tempo to transfer his weight from his back leg to his front leg…without the advantage of a crow hop or run up…in order to hit a target consistently.

Ask yourself this question. How does long toss transfer to throwing from a pitching mound? It can’t. Long toss is a completely different movement and the body will interpret it as such. The only similarity is the baseball itself. (You can read my full article on long toss at my website by clicking this link—http://pitching.nexcess.net/article_13.php.)

There is no evidence that long toss improves throwing velocity in pitching. Or that javelin throwers with make high velocity pitchers. Or that pitchers who can long toss greater distances will be able to throw harder than other pitchers who can’t throw as far. Long toss distance throwing is all about technique and speed of movement while doing it.

What baseball coaches are not aware of is the sports science—Principle of Specificity. This simply means that the body will understand pitching from the mound as a completely different activity than doing long toss. Long toss will not transfer to throwing from the mound anymore than flat ground throwing will transfer to the mound. Each uses completely different mechanics.

If pitchers or coaches want to use some long toss as a small part of a well thought out conditioning program then fine. If youth and growing pitchers want to long toss that’s fine. But let’s put long toss in its proper perspective. It does not improve pitching.

If a pitcher wants to be a better pitcher, wants to work on improving his control and velocity, the only possible way to do that is to throw from a pitching mound a lot of the time.

Pitching is a specific skill that requires specific mechanics within a confined area in order to hit a specific target. Pitching is neither a strength activity or a distance contest.

You can easily assess how competent a particular instructor is by simply listening to his beliefs. High school pitchers looking for colleges can use this as a means for making an informed decision.

Find a school that focuses on skill building instead of drills or the use of multiple training aids of one sort or another. Find a school that understands that no amount of extra strength in the weight room is going to aid in velocity or injury prevention.

Find a school that doesn’t force you to long toss three times a week but has you instead working on building your skills (mechanics) throwing from the mound at game intensity…which is where and how you will be asked to get hitters out.

STRENGTH AND POWER TRAINING IN YOUNG MALE BASEBALL PLAYERS DOES NOT IMPROVE FUNCTIONAL PERFORMANCE

Hetzler, R. K., DeRenne, C., Buxton, B. P., Ho, K. W., Chai, D. X., & Seichi, G. (1997). Effects of 12 weeks of strength training on anaerobic power in prepubescent male athletes. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 11, 174-181.

Two groups of 10 prepubescent and pubescent male baseball players trained three times per week for 12 weeks using a variety of general free-weight and machine exercises designed for both strength and power acquisition. One group was experienced in strength training while the other comprised novices. A comparable control group (N = 10) did not perform the training program but did participate in all other non-experimental activities.

For the experienced, novice, and control groups respectively, the following gains were recorded: leg press—41%, 40%, and 14%; and bench press—23%, 18%, and 0%. Both training groups were significantly better than the control group. Similarly, the two training groups improved in vertical jump. However, the control group improved to a significantly greater degree in peak and mean anaerobic power and the 40-yard dash.

The training regime improved the training activities but did not transfer to functional performance measures. One could argue that the training actually caused anaerobic power and 40-yd dash measures to decrease, particularly in the experienced strength-training group. The metabolic changes in training groups did not transfer changes in energy potential to dynamic cycling, supporting the principle of specificity. In particular, the high force/low velocity aspects of the training did not transfer to high velocity activities.

Implication. Strength and power exercises in pubescent males improved training exercises but produced worse performances in functional strength and power activities than in a non-training comparable group. Performance benefits from such training for this class of athlete are unlikely.

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.

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