The “Balance Position” In Pitching Kills Velocity

In this article I will explain why the famous “balance drill” for pitchers is a waste of valuable time.

I have been writing about the time that is wasted on pitching drills for nearly four years. I have also written about the time that is wasted on long toss, flat ground throwing, weight lifting, towel drills, kneeling drills, scapula loading and many other foolish activities that have not proven to help pitchers improve. And yet thousands of coaches recommend these activities and waste pitchers time every year when they should be teaching them how to use their bodies to pitch from the mound at game intensity with control of their pitches.

Up until 2004 I too recommended those activities until I learned what sports science research has proven about why those activities do not transfer to better pitching performance. In other words no matter what the good intention is of the coach or instructor no amount of time spent on those activities will help any pitcher improve.

Why is it then that these drill activities do not work?

The reason they do not work is all about how the body learns movements. There is a principle in motor learning called The Specificity Of Neuromuscular Patterns which explains how we as human beings learn movements. And neuromuscular patterning also tells us how athletes learn certain movement skills such as pitching. [Mills, Rushall, 2006, The Science And Art Of Baseball Pitching, Topic 8.1-8.7]

What we know with certainty is that a movement skill such as pitching is created in the brain. And that movement of throwing a baseball from the mound at game intensity to a target is learned as a very specific movement skill. It is so specific that the brain understands and discriminates pitching from the mound as completely different from throwing on flat ground…because the mechanics are different even though some would believe that difference to be slight. However slight, the brain can discriminate those differences to the extent that they are considered two different movement skills.

This means that no amount of flat ground throwing will help a pitcher improve his pitching for games. That means that flat ground throwing is a waste of valuable time…even though baseball coaches believe that one activity will transfer to improve another pitching activity.

The key here is that the brain understands differences in movements but does not understand likenesses. So activities that may seem to mimic pitching such as a towel drill is learned by the pitcher’s brain to be completely different than throwing a baseball. Towel drills cannot help a pitcher throw a baseball better. The proof for that is undeniable in sports science research.

What About The Popular Balance Drill

Probably one of the most popular drills for pitchers is the balance drill. This drill is designed to help a pitcher maintain his balance while pitching. Coaches and pitching instructors will have a pitcher stand on one leg with the other leg raised to waist height while having them hold this stance for 5 or 10 seconds. If they can hold this stance then they are deemed to have “balance” for pitching. If they can’t then they must do this drill over and over until they can.

What’s wrong with this drill? First of all even if it did help to improve balance neuromuscular patterning would tell you that it will only improve this drill of standing on one leg for 5-10 seconds. It will not however help a pitcher or anyone else have better balance while pitching

Many years ago I used to recommend the 2 X 4 drill where pitchers would stand on a 2 X 4 to gain better balance. This was recommended by a major league pitching coach. We of course believed that there must have been some research done on why balance beam drills would help pitchers improve their balance. Of course there is no such research.

Also balance is specific to each sport. If you learn to gain better balance in one sport it will not necessarily help you have better balance is another sport.

The biggest problem with this idea that there is a balance position is that it teaches pitches that there is some mythical stopping or hesitation point in the delivery. Coaches will refer to it as a gathering point. However, there is not point to gather or hesitate.

Is balance important in pitching ? Yes, but you fix balance problems while getting feedback during pitching. If a pitcher is leaning to one side or the other then show him on video what he is doing. And then show him how to fix it by not leaning and practicing not leaning or looking at what is going on with his back leg which might be the problem.

To stay balanced keep the head over the bellybutton. Simple as that. If pitchers don’t have balance they either fall forwards or backwards.

Why The Mythical Balance Position Kills Velocity

Here is the problem with bothering with the balance position. If a pitcher believes he must think about this balance position it will slow him down. Any hesitation in the delivery will slow down forward momentum and reduce velocity.

The following text came from Ripkenbaseball.com about the importance of the “balance position.”

Just think about this and try to think how little sense this makes and yet thousands upon thousands of pitchers are being held back because of this myth and misunderstanding of how to create momentum. What they are saying is the exact opposite of what should happen. You can’t generate momentum if you stop it. I don’t want pitchers to walk through the balance position I want then to fly through it if you want to throw faster. Ripken Baseball also wants all pitchers to do drills on flat ground to improve skills. That has proven to reduce performance as well. Would Ripken Baseball be a good place to invest in pitching instruction? Only if you want mediocre pitchers wondering why they can’t generate more velocity. Here is what Ripken Baseball says about balance:”One area of mechanics that can break down easily is the balance position. It is important for pitchers to understand that they need to stop their momentum and hold the balance position for at least a split second. This allows them to gather their energy before pushing off the rubber toward home. Pitchers who don’t pause tend to “walk through” their balance position and are not able to generate as much power toward the plate. We have a drill called the 1-2-3 Drill that addresses this issue.”Ripken Baseball wants pitchers to start their forward momentum which is good but then stop it. That is the velocity killer. If you have an instructor who emphasizes the balance position then you as a pitcher or your son are in big trouble if you want to improve velocity. Instead try flying though the balance position and watch your velocity jump. I had a two hour session with a major league starting pitcher recently. Before he started his warm-up or pitching we had about an hour discussion so I could get his feelings about his pitching and give him some of my feedback and let him know where I was coming from and what we would be working on and why. I encouraged him to question everything I was telling him. Some things he did. I talked about why there were no checkpoints in the mechanics such as the balance position. We talked about a number of other things from conditioning, stretching, warm-up, bullpen routine, long toss etc. About halfway through his pitching session he made a pitch, then stopped and looked at me and said: “So there’s no balance position?” I said No. So he said OK and continued his pitching. That was the end of his balance position and the slight hesitation. This balance position thing was preventing him from moving his body more explosively and faster. He only bought into what I was telling him after I allowed him to question everything I was telling him. Sometimes we need to create dissonance before we gain acceptance. Giving people the freedom to express their feelings and not make them wrong creates more harmony. He left the session happy because he felt good and it all made sense. We increased his stride length by 14″. He could not believe it. His stride length is now over 100% of his height. That is what all pitchers should strive for when they fully understand how to develop more forward momentum. He said he felt like he was flying toward the plate. And of course asked me about rushing his motion. I said not to worry about it. It is not a problem for you. He said OK. He had never heard this stuff before…this science of pitching. The more natural way to pitch where the pitcher’s body is more free to do what it can do naturally rather than listening to the checkpoints of the pitching coach or instructor which slows pitchers down.

Dick Mills, www.pitching.nexcess.net All About Pitching

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:

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