Why Baseball Pitching Drills Produce Negative Results
Here is an excerpt from a sport science article regarding why doing drills do not produce positive learning in sports mechanics or in this case developing better pitching mechanics.
When reading this excerpt think about how this would apply for example to a baseball pitching arm action drill done in isolation of the complete pitching delivery. Or why the famous baseball pitching kneeling drill to isolate upper body mechanics is not going to produce good results in upper body mechanics.
You must remember that what the arms in pitching are doing is the result of how the lower body moves since the lower body moves first…or certainly should when moving toward landing.
What the lower half does, since it moves first, will determine the timing of the movements of the throwing arm and lead arm. To do any baseball pitching drill where the lower body is not working at game speed will not transfer. Baseball pitching mechanics is the result of the summation of the forces of the entire body starting with the lower body.
Any baseball pitching drill that takes the lower body out of the equation is poor instruction and will be disruptive to the timing of the overall delivery.
“Any device (“training aid”) that is used in a drill alters neuromuscular patterning to form a unique movement skill. A device artificially trains competing movement patterns and introduces inefficiencies. Many devices have no acceptable data to support their claims of benefit. Most respectable research shows them to have no value or negative benefits. Since the form to be used in a competition is what should be trained, why would one adulterate that form through distortional (device) training?
Except at very low levels of performance (e. g., when learning a skill) movement elements learned in one activity do not transfer with any benefit to another.
The body does not have the capacity to determine the intention of some training activity. For example, an activity which requires an athlete’s posture to be different to that which will be employed in a competition, although it is “meant” to be beneficial, does not benefit the competition performance. The body learns the incorrect posture for the trained activity and depending upon the strength of specific/relevant training will sustain correct or incorrect postures in a contest. “
If you have questions 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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