Sports Writer Believes Top Pro Pitching Prospect Is Too Lanky—Needs More Muscle

Does more muscle mean more baseball pitching velocity? That’s what sports writers apparently believe according to a recent article in Baseball America magazine and I wonder where they are getting their information?

I am always amazed how erroneous “belief based” baseball coaching principles filter down to even baseball writers. If you were a player and actually listened and then believed the scouting reports writen by some of these writers you would not feel good about your long term prospects as a professional player. And if you followed their advice you might just be digging yourself into a dark hole.

It always bothers me when people use belief based information as knowledge rather than evidence based…especially those in a place of influence such as many sports writers. However, I will give them the benefit of the doubt because all they are doing is probably getting their information or scouting reports from professional scouts or from front office people.

I subscribe to Baseball America magazine which puts out volumes of articles to keep you abreast of professional and college baseball. However, much of what is written in depth that references baseball training or pitching mechanics is not accurate and that should concern you.

I also find those same beliefs in Sporting News articles as well as listening to even former pro pitcher commentators on t. v. when discussing pitching mechanics or training ideas.

I recently read the scouting report of one of our former clients in the Feb. 14-27 issue of Baseball America…as we have several professionals that I follow who have been on our program and have been drafted from either high school or college including Barry Zito.

Back in 2000 I got a call from a very excited father, who had purchased my program when his son was a high school sophomore. He called to tell me that he was grateful and that his son, as a senior was being heavily scouted and looked to go high in the draft. His name is Matt Peterson, a right-handed pitcher.

The Mets finally took him in the 2nd round in 2000 and with a reported $700,000 bonus he was off to pro ball. He had been a top prospect for the Mets for four years up until being part of the recent trade of Kris Benson from the Pirates to the Mets.

Matt is now 23 and a 6’5″ 210 lb RH pitcher and according to the Baseball America writer has an outstanding curveball, an excellent changeup and a 90-92 mph fastball that runs up to 94.

Next the writer mentions one of his weaknesses. “Though Peterson has the frame to throw hard, he has better off-speed pitches at this stage of his career.

Peterson could stand to add some muscle to his lanky frame.”

OK, Mr. Sports Writer please explain how adding some muscle is going to affect his fastball? And where did this writer get the belief that more muscle means more velocity?

Even professional baseball believes that getting bigger and stronger gives pitchers more muscle to throw harder. That might make sense if pitching was a strength activity but it is not. Pitching is all about how quickly the pitcher can put as many muscles on stretch as quickly as possible. Pitching velocity has far more to do with speed of movement than strength.

I wonder if the Twins are telling closer Joe Nathan who at 6’4″ and 205 has to be considered much too lanky and weak. And yet the All Star Nathan gets his fastball up there at an easy 96-98 mph regularly. Would more muscle get him to 105 mph?

For a pitcher right now like Matt Peterson, there is only one place that you can look at to improve velocity and that is his mechanics and his throwing routine. And by throwing routine I am not referring to long toss because long toss for a pitcher like Matt is not going to add anything more to his fastball. But it just might waste a lot of his valuable time which could be spent throwing from a mound working on both is mechanics and his ability to “hit the glove”…since hitting the glove is what professional pitchers get paid to do. As far as I know none gets paid for how far they can throw the ball while doing long toss or for their ability to bench press or squat.

I have seen cases even in pro baseball where pitching coaches are actually telling big guys like Matt to shorten their strides. Not only will shortening a pitcher’s stride lessen the ability to throw harder but the short stride puts more stesses on the arm and the entire body.

I would want to know how Matt was throwing his bullpens. Is he throwing enough game intensity pitches from the mound in order to train his body to throw a lot of game intensity pitches in games. Is his stride at least 90% of his height.

Will throwing less pitches to different locations help the pitcher locate better? Not likely.

Does it make sense to throw a 40 pitch sideday bullpen session at 75-80% intensity in order to preserve energy and to save the throwing arm for the game…when a starting pitcher will be asked to throw 90-100 pitches at 95% intensity in the game? It doesn’t make sense to me based on what other athletes do to prepare for competition in other sports.

You can teach the body to throw hard by throwing hard more of the time from the mound…not by only throwing hard in games. I believe that may be one of the reasons why pitchers have so many injuries. It’s not the arm but the body that lacks the training to deliver the arm at high intensity.

Does anyone else question all the belief based coaching that is going on at all levels of baseball from Little League right up to professional baseball? If you want your son to succeed you had better take control of what he is doing with his time.

Pitchers will not improve or get to where they want to go by hitting the weight room to get bigger and stronger, throwing long toss every other day, doing flat ground work, or throwing low pitch bullpens at lower intensity than they are expected to throw in games.

Always question “the why” of something. Because if you don’t you will be just following more of the same mainstream baseball—”belief based” coaching.

What pitchers do with their time will determine how successful they will be as pitchers. Pitching like golf is a skill. It is not a strength or distance throwing contest. It should also not be about trying to protect the arm by not training the body to throw at high intensity.

If aspiring pitchers are listening to former professional or college pitchers or instructors for training or pitching advice, I believe that could very well be what stops them from being the best pitcher they can be.

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 http://www.powerpitching.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, a Little League pitcher 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.) Dick Mills