Nearly every pitcher is looking for a quick fix or a magic bullet to improve their pitching velocity. However, there is none that I know of except one. Videotaping regularly in order to show the pitcher what his 1 or 2 main faults are and then how to fix them.
Videotaping is what every youth, high school, college and professional coach should be using to help pitchers improve.
So if I was looking for one magic bullet to boost any pitcher’s velocity or his overall pitching performance videotaping would be it.
They simply practice more while using video feedback.
Videotaping Teaches The Brain How To Teach The Body How To Change
In order to improve pitching velocity and overall performance in a skill activity like pitching, the brain must become engaged. The pitcher learns from doing, seeing and feeling. But the pitcher must first understand what needs to be improved. He can only learn this by using video to point out the faults that are holding him back.
You can tell the pitcher what he is doing wrong but when he sees it he understands and then his brain will help tell his body how to make the improvement.
There is no drill that can possibly be nearly as effective as videotaping. In fact, unless a pitcher is a beginner, the research is clear about the value of drills. They do not work in an action such as pitching where there is no stopping in the middle.
This is exactly why we do a Video Analysis of every pitcher prior to starting a lesson. Then we take them in our office and put them up on a 47″ flat screen monitor side-by-side to a top MLB high velocity pitcher. When we finish with the analysis, which normally takes about 30 minutes, we then continue to videotape and give them feedback using an IPad and a video analysis app such as Coach’s Eye.
After all pitching is a very complex action which contains the fastest human motion in all of sports – the acceleration of the pitching arm. There are no pitching coaches alive who are able to see all the actions of the body that must be timed properly in order to achieve a maximum effort high velocity pitch where the ball hits the intended target…over and over and over.
The large majority of youth and high school coaches do not understand that pitching is a skill activity…not a strength action.
The single fastest way to boost pitching velocity, improve control or to end sore arms is all about practicing to improve…not just practice that continues to build bad habits which is what most pitchers out there are doing every single week.
When I was 11, pulled from third base to become a pitcher, all I wanted to do was practice my pitching. My father was not an athlete but he supported me 100%.
When I got home from school and did my homework or my trumpet lessons, my dad knew I would ask him to catch me. He went out and bought a catcher’s mitt.
We practiced pitching every single day. I never got a sore arm…ever.
I was kind of a natural athlete so things came easy for me but I was always taught one thing by my dad…if I wanted to be the best I would have to out-practice everyone else. That is what he did in his work to be successful. He outworked everyone.
I always had a nice glove, bat and balls.
Why An IPad Should Be Every Instructors Best Friend
Using side-by-side analysis any parent can help their son improve his pitching velocity
And I know one thing for sure. If I was a kid today and wanted to be the best pitcher I could be, my father would have been videotaping me and he would have saved up to buy an IPad.
Why an IPad and not a video camera. An IPad is best used during practice bullpens where the instructor (coach or parent) is able to take video of the pitcher close up and then using a app such as Coach’s Eye which allows the instructor to show the pitcher his delivery frame-by-frame.
Unfortunately most times the parent cannot get close enough during games so that the IPad video can be seen close enough. That is why if you want to videotape games you will need a video camera with a zoom lens.
Although my father was not a wealthy guy by any means, he knew the value of education. He only got through sophomore year of high school and even though he was just an elevator mechanics by trade, he worked over-time so he could send me to a private school that even then cost an arm and a leg and today costs $36, 500 per year to attend.
He told me I would be the first one in the family to get a college education. I rewarded my dad for all his hard work by getting a full baseball scholarship.
I will guarantee he would have known more about pitching mechanics than all the coaches I ever had.
What are you doing with your time to help your son be the best he can be?
Are you videotaping him or leaving all that up to his instructor who doesn’t videotape because he doesn’t have the knowledge and yet you continue to throw money down the drain with lessons.
How much does your son practice his pitching so he is improving and not building in bad habits?
Remember if you are not videotaping regularly, you are guessing and your son will not improve…instead he will continue to build in bad habits.
How much should pitchers practice?
My philosophy on how often to pitch and practice has not changed much over the years. Remember, games do not make you a better pitcher…only practice with accurate feedback from video can do that.
Starting pitchers should only pitch once a week in games…ideally. Then they need two practice sessions each week to improve their mechanics, their ball control, their velocity and their pitches.
Two 50 pitch bullpens each week as a minimum. Throwing only one bullpen a week will keep you mediocre at best. Remember in a skill activity like pitching the more you practice with the intention to improve your mechanical faults the better you get .
If pitchers are throwing rapid fire bullpens, that is, one pitch after another, a bullpen can last just 10 minutes. That is not practice and that will never create improvement.
During practice pitchers need to take 30 seconds in between each pitch to reduce fatigue and to create learning. Rapid fire bullpens are a waste of time.
A warmup program prior to the game can reduce risk of arm injuries
Let’s say a pitcher pitches on Saturday and throws 85-100 pitches. We will assume that he is smart and does the First Pitch Strike Warm-up and Recovery arm care program before and after he pitches.
By Monday he will be fully recovered and ready to practice again on Tuesday. Take Wed off and do another practice session on Thursday to get ready for his Saturday game.
We want to insure that he is fully recovered between games and not fatigued. The First Pitch Strike Warm-up And Recovery Program contains 5 special exercises that only take about 3 minutes and should be done after every game or bullpen pitcher. The 5 exercises are designed to reduce recovery time and get the pitchers arm back to where it was prior to the game.
If there is no catcher available then use a leather target like the one we use. When the ball hits it it sounds like it’s hitting the catcher’s mitt.
Every week pitchers should be working on improving their mechanics
In our instructional DVD’s for High School Pitchers and Youth Pitchers we show you how to fix the beginning of your delivery where most problems begin and then my son Ryan and I show you the entire 11 step sequence that you must follow and understand if you want to maximize your velocity and develop MLB high velocity mechanics.
My father would have known the content of our DVD’s by heart rather than having them sit on a shelf gathering dust or leaving it up to some private instructor to help me. No way…Jose!
So pick out the most glaring fault that is reducing your velocity or your overall performance and work on that during each practice session.
Then after you fix #1 go to #2. That is how you systematically improve.
For example, your major fault could be that you are over-rotating over your back leg where you end up showing your entire uniform number to the catcher. That will not improve pitching velocity.
So what you focus on is to make sure that your front shoulder is directed at the target by the time you take the ball out of the glove.
Or maybe it’s your posture. You slump over by the time you break your hands rather than keeping your trunk and chest upright. Think about pitching down a hallway with your lower and middle back sliding down the wall. That will teach you to keep your trunk upright…rather than sandwiching and bending forward during hand-break. That will make you more efficient and help you move faster down the mound.
Remember Billy, the 16 year old 6′ 160 lb RH from Temecula, CA who was a catcher his whole life and wanted to be a pitcher his junior year. After I did a video analysis I talked to he and his dad by phone. Billy wanted to know how much to practice. I told him.
He started the next day and put in at least 1 hour a day every day for 5 weeks…not throwing during every single repetition but getting in 40-50 throws a day..and not always full effort. No sore arm. On rainy days he went in the house and worked on his stride in his bare feet on the hard wook floors. Five weeks later he added 9 mph on his fastball and was hitting 87.
Do you know what your problems is? I can tell you why most pitchers never improve. They simply are not practicing enough and getting accurate feedback during their practice sessions. This is why most pitchers remain mediocre.
What is your weekly plan for improvement?
The season is young. If you keep doing what you have always done you will get what you always get…the same. Mediocrity.
Find out what every pitcher is doing and do the opposite. That is how Walt Disney became successful.
Forget long toss, weight lifting, throwing nasty curveballs, or sliders. Instead develop fastball command and a change-up.
That is all I had going into pro ball as a 2nd round pick. But I had a above average velocity and a very nasty change-up and two-seamer with sink.
I remember sitting in the stands many years ago at Ryan’s first big league spring training with the Twins.
Ginny and I sat next to Twins GM Terry Ryan. Terry, one of the nicest men I ever met…a total class act always said the same thing – It’s all about fastball command and changing speeds.
That will insure you are on the right track.
So make sure as your son’s coach or a youth, high school or college coach that you learn all the basics of mechanics so that you fully understand how to videotape and give your pitcher the feedback he needs to improve.
There are not magic bullets for improving pitching velocity. There is not one training aid out there that works.
What works is to improve your mechanics and to regularly videotape so you are giving the pitcher accurate feedback on what needs to be improved.
The post How To Quickly Boost Velocity And Overall Pitching Performance Using Video appeared first on Baseball Pitching.
