Pitching at your top velocity is a very intense movement that is performed on average about 75-100 pitches a game, not including practice. Most pitchers lose a lot of muscle mass or weight in-season which not only effects their recovery but their overall performance. If you can prevent losing your lean muscle mass, that you worked so hard to build up in the off-season when in-season, then you will give yourself a major edge over the competition.

I trained with Dan Miceli, who is a 14 year Major League relief pitcher, after my rotator cuff surgery. He was a big lifter and would go into spring training about 35 pounds overweight. This was all muscle mass from his off-season training. He said that the coaches would give him a hard time about his size during spring training and he would always tell them to just give him a few months and it would all be gone again. He was right!

It is a challenge for college and especially professional pitchers to keep up their lean muscle mass in-season which is also why steroids became such a problem in the game. This is why every pitcher must be on a daily protein program to promote more lean muscle mass which will promote faster recovery between appearances. A good protein program is not just eating meat and drinking milk, it is a lot more high tech than that these days. It evolves supplementing your diet with a combination of proteins to give your body everything it needs to do its job well which is throw blazing fastballs!

What is Protein?

Protein is the combination of essential and non-essential amino acids. Non-essential amino acids can be made by the body but the essential amino acids must be delivered through the diet. The ingestion of animals is the biggest source of protein but can be found in almost all food sources. When the protein is digested by the body it uses enzymes to break the proteins down into the amino acid chains. Once the protein has been digested into amino acids it can now be absorbed into the body and used for many purposes like fuel, blood clotting, fluid balance, production of hormones and enzymes, vision, and cell repair. It is most effectively used to rebuild the body and should not be used as much to fuel the body. It is used to fuel the body when there is a lack of glucose in the blood or there is two much protein in the body. This means you need to take your protein with carbs and you must not take to much.

Proof that Protein is Beneficial for the Pitcher

A study done by Fern et. al (1991) showed that greater gains in body mass occur over four weeks of heavy weight training when young men consumed 3.3 versus 1.3 grams if protein per kilogram of body mass. In addition a study done by Meredith et al. (1992) found that a daily dietary supplement containing 23 grams of protein combined with weight training can enhance muscle mass gains relative to similar subjects who trained with out the supplement. Both of the studies show support for the belief that increased protein in the diet can help increase muscle mass, but it should be noted that these effects were found with a combination of intake and training. These two studies further indicated that a protein intake of about 1.7 – 1.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, when combined with weight training will enhance muscle development compared with similar training with an intake of 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day (5.) However, it is important to note that there is little good evidence that the very high protein intakes (more than 2 grams per kilogram of body weight per day) typically consumed by strength athletes are beneficial. Moreover, it is possible to obtain this quantity of protein without special supplementation assuming a mixed diet containing sufficient energy is consumed.
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/psychology/health_psychology/Protein.htm

How to Promote Post Pitching Recovery with Protein?

You should follow this daily cycle of protein for 2 months on and then 2 weeks off. I also recommend stacking this protein with a balanced diet, extra carbs and a lot of water. Complex carbs and water are just as important to promoting post pitching recovery.

1. Take a Whey protein or the Natural Pro Complex above first thing in the morning.
2. Take a Whey protein or the Natural Pro Complex above within 30 minutes to an hour post workout, training or pitching.
3. Take a Caseine Protein (in the pic here) just before going to bed at night.

The Difference Between the Proteins

Whey Protein – Is a fast absorbing protein that quickly soaks into the body. This is is perfect for the day when you are continually taking in protein sources.

Caseine Protein – This is a slow absorbing protein that takes time to break down and provides small amounts of protein over a long period of time. This is perfect for the night when you are a sleep and not eating.

Complex Protein -  This is a combination of proteins from sources like; whey, egg and predigested amino acids. This is a more effective way to feed the body what it needs.

Don’t screw around with your career. A good daily nutrition will make or break your pitching career!

Let’s first get some footage of your pitching. Shoot some video of a few pitches of you pitching so we can analyze your first move in increasing pitching velocity. Make sure that this footage is shooting from a side perspective, chest facing the camera like Trevor Bauer here. Once you get your footage onto a computer, you then need to find a video player that will give you the ability to move frame by frame, so we can analyze each frame.

Misconceptions of the Pitchers Leg Lift

Conventional wisdom coaches the pitcher to come to a Balance Point during the leg lift. If you analyze video of hard throwers you will find that the majority of them never come to a static balanced position at leg lift. They start moving forward during the lifting of the leg which puts their head and front hip inside their drive leg when their leg lift is at its peak.

Another major misconception of the leg lift is that the leg lift is strictly used to lead the delivery. This means the pitcher must have an aggressive leg lift and then must continue to use the leg lift to drive the stride into front foot strike. This will create a dead drive leg and prevent optimal hip to shoulder separation. If you have spent more than ten minutes on this site, you will learn that the key to velocity is in the drive leg using triple extension (3X). This aggressive leg lift approach will also force the pitcher to open his front hip early in the delivery which is another reason for decreasing hip to shoulder separation and power production.

The Importance of the Pitchers First Move

These major misconceptions to the pitchers leg lift are so critical to overall velocity because they have a bigger effect on the delivery than any other component. The reason is because this is the first move of the pitching delivery. The reason the first move is so important is because every other move is a reaction to this first move.

The pitching delivery is a sequenced chain of movements that move through the muscular and skeletal system that start from ground reaction forces and move up the body into the ball at release. This means the biggest impact on the movement chain comes in the beginning and not at the end. Just like any other chain reaction in the physical world the beginning sets the rest of the movements into motion. For example; think of a multiple car accident like in the picture here. The first car hits the second car which then flies into the next one and so on until you have no cars left to hit or the energy runs out. If the first car did not hit the second car then the chain reaction never would have occurred. Also the speed of the first car will determine the severity of the entire accident. This is no difference with pitching mechanics. This is a simple analogy to illustrate why the first move in the pitching delivery is so critical and it can have such a major impact on your overall velocity.

How Adjusting Your First Move Can Increase Pitching Velocity

The most effective way to start building momentum in the beginning of your leg lift is to establish your forward movement before your rotational movements. This is ultimately the 3X approach to pitching velocity. What this means is that if your forward or linear power movements are going to create your rotational movements or torque then you must start your first move with a linear or forward movement.

The best example of this first move is in the video clip here of Trevor Bauer. Notice when he lifts his leg, it moves up and then his front hip starts moving forward which in return pulls his lift leg back towards his drive leg, closing off his hips. The 3X approach teaches us that to enhance power through your entire stride, you must keep your front side closed to the target until just before front foot strike. The point of this article is that we must close off the hips during the leg lift as a reaction to a forward movement and not first as a rotational movement of the hips.

What this first move adjustment will do is allow the hips to lead and force the lift leg to drag or follow the hips. If the first move begins with a basic rotational leg lift to a balanced position then the lift leg could easily dominate the stride and fly open early, killing momentum and power production.

The best way to discover if your first move is more rotational or linear, is to slow down your pitching delivery using your pitching video. If you see your leg lift lifting back towards the drive leg before you start your hips towards the target then this is a rotational leg lift. The adjustment you need to make is like Trevor Bauer here, first lift your leg straight up and before it reaches its peak, start taking your front hip towards the target. This movement should then rotate your lift leg back towards your drive leg and put you in a better position to build a power focuses stride.

For proper pronation to occur in the throwing arm at release the pitcher must extend the arm to release. The improper release of the throwing arm which would prevent proper pronation would be to pull the arm down to release. I find this to be a major misconception in the conventional wisdom of the game. Physics proves that during the velocity phase of the throwing arm, the pivot or elbow, must remain stationary until after release. This means the elbow must extend to release to prevent the elbow from moving down during the throw. This not only supports velocity but protects the elbow from resisting high amounts of deceleration forces. Extending the elbow to release also protects the rotator cuff during the deceleration of the arm. This will allow more of the back muscles to get involved during the deceleration phase.

Pitching Pain and Injury Solutions

Dr. Mike Marshal built his entire coaching career around proper pronation of the throwing arm. He even went as far as to develop and entire approach to pitching based around this throwing arm pronation. This is because he ended his Major League career with a UCL tear before the famous “Tommy John” surgery. I believe Dr. Marshall went to far with this discover of proper pronation by turning it into a style of pitching. I do believe his pitchers who use this style or approach to pitching are protecting their elbows from injury but their velocity is taking a beating in return. Using the 3X Approach to Pitching proper prontation will occur because the 3X Mechanics trains the body to finish first and the arm to extend and finish last. The picture of me here illustrates the 3X approach to proper pronation. These mechanics will increase velocity and protect the elbow and shoulder from extreme abuse.

I highly recommend replacing the baseball in the 3X Velocity System throwing drills with a football, if you are having issues with finishing with proper pronation. This is because you can not throw a spiral, with the nose down, with a football, if you do not finish with proper pronation.

Off speed pitches can also cause improper pronation because the wrist is usually rotating the opposite way at release during these pitches. This combined with the misconception of pulling down to release would compound the impact on the elbow and make a pitcher more vulnerable to elbow injury. It first starts with elbow pain and then it progresses into an injury. This is exactly how my arm began to breakdown. I had poor pronation along with an addictive curveball because it was unhittable. After 6 shots of cortisone in my elbow and rotator cuff surgery at 18, I never threw that damn thing again. I have even tried throwing it today and I can still feel the old wound from the many years of improper pronation. This is why I recommend less aggressive breaking balls for pitchers. A good fastball will get you a lot farther in your career than a good breaking ball!

I learned quickly when I was at my first MLB tryout Camp at 16, the scout actually told us we had 6 pitches to hit 90 or we where going home early. Let’s just say I went home really early that day but it was an eye opening experience. I learned a lot about the cynicism of professional baseball. When I found myself at my next MLB tryout Camp I was now prepared for the day. I will never forget though my 3rd MLB tryout Camp. I was like 22 at the time, which makes you feel old at these tryouts and I had made friends with another guy who was my age as well. When we started warming up for the bull pens, he started bragging about his curveball to me. I just listened and then I started bragging about my fastball. I made the commit that today we better feel 90 or we will be heading home early! He looked at me and said that he doesn’t throw hard but he has that great curveball he was talking about. I then asked him if he was serious, if he realized what he was setting himself up for! I learned quickly that he had no clue. He was just like me at my first tryout. I told him the reality of these tryouts. He said I can’t break 82, so I have to show them my curverball. I said look pal, if you go up there and throw anything but a hard fastball, you are better off just turning right around and heading home. I told him if you do not hit 90 in your first few pitches, you are done. He stood strong and said that isn’t what he had to offer as a pitcher. I then wished him good luck! He stepped on the mound and throw his first pitch, it was a curveball and the scout dropped the gun and asked him what the hell was he doing. My friend told him that he was throwing his best pitch. The scout said, you better throw that thing straight and hard if you want to be around in the afternoon. This means he would have made the first cut and then played in the afternoon, with all the other guys who made the first cut. 6 pitches later the scout was asking him to leave.

It was my turn now and I was ready. I had been through 3 of these camps before and I knew what I needed to do. I threw my first pitch as hard as I possibly could and then I did it again. In 2 pitches I hit 91 and 92, and the scout told me to shut it down and get ready for the afternoon. I had finally made it and all because I knew what they were looking for, which was velocity. Velocity is king and I was playing the game. This is why ever person who finds this site must purchase the 3X Pitching Velocity Program. It will train you to pump gas and lead you to the 90mph club. Then you can walk into an MLB tryout Camp with confidence that you are going to turn some heads, like I did! The day that you hear a scout tell you that you are 90+ and you are coming back for the afternoon, you will do a back flip.

Countdown to Launch 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 —–> 3X Pitching!

Once again, more new information that proves 3X Pitching to be not just revolutionary but a must learn approach to pitching velocity. Explosive Triple Extension is the only way a pitcher is going to increase stride distance and stride speed effectively to stand out with this new 3D Doppler Radar technology. The average stride length to pitch release is 5.10 feet and this is because these pitchers are not achieving complete 3X or Triple Extension before front foot strike. They are also not performing 3X explosively enough to finish with the maximum amount of forward trunk tilt at ball release, to allow the pitcher to finish out over the front foot, which puts his release point closer to the plate. The 3X Pitching Approach is the only way a pitcher will be able to increase their stride distance from the plate, along with their release point.

I have received a lot of interest lately, from newbies to 3X Pitching, who want to learn how to get more extension at pitch release. This could have a lot to do with the buzz around this technology. I first tell them that the WORST thing they can do to shorten their release point distance is to pull down or even reach forward at ball release. I then open their eyes to the 3X Pitching approach of stride length and stride speed through triple extension with hip to shoulder separation and the light goes on! They learn quickly that there is no other way to develop more velocity and that “Sneaky” fastball than with the 3X Pitching Velocity Program. The data that will begin to flow from this 3D Doppler Radar will change the game and will also be the launching pad that mainstreams 3X Pitching.

This information was first brought to my attention in another great article by Tom Verducci with Sports Illustrated. I highly recommend that you read his article about this revolutionary technology. He covers it more in depth and lists pitchers who score higher on the 3D Doppler Radar. Here is the entire article.

To understand how to implement this into your pitching delivery we must first define these terms.

Force Production

“Generally, nerves stimulate muscles causing the fibers to contract with tension placed on their adjoining connective tissues. Since muscle contractions create the forces necessary to overcome resistance, the nerves represent the control center, whereas the connective tissues transfer the forces to the skeletal system. Ultimately, it is the ability of the muscle to generate forces that determines whether it will perform a movement effectively.” www.nsca-lift.org

Triple Extension

The force production generated through the extension of the ankle, knee and hip flexor is the most effective and efficient way to move the body. The extension of these three joints is call triple extension.

What does it take to increase force production through triple extension?

First, you must train your muscles to generate more force. Even better is to train through triple extension. This would include heavy load training using Plyometrics and the Olympic lifts, like the cleans. The reason for the heavy load training is because this has been proven the most effective way to develop more explosive power from your muscles. Heavy load training forces the body to recruit more fast twitch muscle fibers and also will develop more motor units to fire those muscle fibers more frequently.

Second, you must make mechanical adjustments to take advantage of this increased force production. This is because there is two different ways to move through force production. One way is a vertical movement, like a jump and the other way is a linear movement, like in a stride or sprint. In pitching we move with a linear stride and that stride is also moving down hill.  Because we are moving in a linear movement, instead of a vertical movement, we must set what is called our force vector, with our center of gravity, before the launch. The 3X Pitching Velocity Program goes into this more but the basics of this mechanical adjustment is that you must line up your drive leg ankle and knee with your front hip, and these all should be pointing towards the target. Once this occurs, then the force production of triple extension will drive the body in a linear movement towards the target. If this does not all line up, then triple extension will not occur and force production is limited.

The 3X Pitching Velocity Program produces results because it trains you to generate more force production both physically and mechanically like describe in this article. You must have both to effectively increase velocity. The 3X Pitching Velocity Program goes into full detail on how to train 3X and force production and also has many drills teaching you how to do this.

Offspeed Pitches:

• Curveball
• Slurveball
• Circle Change
• Forkball
• Knuckleball
• Gyroball
• The “Volken”

I am not saying that these pitches are junk or a waste of time, because many great pitchers have used them. What I am saying is this is always last resort. Especially when you are young. You should expect your velocity to improve all the way into your 20′s. If you have plateaued, then you need a velocity enhancement program like 3X Pitching and the Ace Pitcher Handbook before you need to learn another pitch. Also learning these offspeed pitches have proven to decrease velocity, because if not thrown correctly,  it can add more wear and tear to the arm and it also can change your mechanics. I have seen in my career guys loss a few miles per hour because they fell in love with a Forkball, or a Curveball. I am not saying this is the case for everyone but it is the case for most young pitchers.

My philosophy is, you should take a fastball change-up, or fastball cutter or slider combo, as far into your career as you can, before you add a third pitch. Those who have average to below average velocity in your current level, should use the fastball change-up combo. Those of you who have above average velocity at your level of play, should use the fastball cutter or slider combo. This is because when you throw hard, you should stay hard, and when you throw slow, you should change your speeds more often. The reason hard throwers will do better with staying hard, is because a lot of hard throwers make the mistake of going soft when the hitter is still trying to catch up with their velocity. Therefore going soft with a change-up would put the timing of the pitch with the timing of the hitters swing, even if there is a good difference in velocity. This is a very common mistake among young pitchers. I don’t know how many times I have seen, with a young pitcher, when he has just thrown two hard fastballs past a hitter and then he comes with a change-up, which is now timed perfectly with the hitters swing. This is why you need a hard cutter, or slider, to finish the hitter off. Stay hard and let it break just a bit, or just stay hard and get it off the plate inside or out.

The other problem with pitchers who opt for ball movement, when their velocity isn’t fooling hitters, is those who decide to change arm angles. I would say the same about this approach as the more pitches approach. Use this option late in your career, not early, because if you use it early, it could set you up for failure at a young age.

The remedies of today for muscle recovery are continuously improving. There are always new supplements coming out on the market that claim to improve recovery. The hard part is determining the ones that actually work without wasting a lot of time and money. I have put together a list of products and links to purchase these products at amazon.com. This way I will save you time and money. These are products that I used in my career which helped me not only overcome a career ending injury but to reach my velocity goals of 94mph. I am not claiming that these products will do this for you but they will definitely help.

Pitching Recovery Supplements

All of these products are remedies for muscle fatigue and more. The first two products help you remove the acid from your body post workout or game and the last two help you rebuild or replenish your system.

Apple Cider Vinegar – Poor this into a glass of water and drink it everyday. Especially after a workout or game. This will prevent muscle fatigue after exercise and support a health immune system. It also supports an alkaline diet.

Alka-Seltzer – Take this immediately after a workout or a game. This will help alkaline your body and speed the recovery process. This has aspirin so DO NOT exceed the recommended dosage.

Honey – Researches have proved that carbohydrates and proteins help to recover muscle after energetic weight training. The latest research proves that honey can generate the best effect among lots of carbohydrate.

Amino Acids – Amino Acids are the building blocks of your muscles. This means in recovery you need to provide your body with these blocks for it to rebuild.

In my career icing always shortened my recovery time. I did continue to test this therapy though. Mainly because it is a pain in the butt to ice your arm after ever game and I also was a little curious as to why we do this.

If someone challenges your opinion on this argument, or you want a final answer, you need to look at the study that the American Journal of Sports Medicine has posted here on Cryotherapy on rats. I know we are not rats but muscularly we are similar.

To prevent your brain from exploding when reading this study I have posted my layman’s explanation below. I hope this helps!

The American Journal of Sports Medicine states that Cryotherapy for 6 hours significantly restored diminished functional capillary density, markedly decreased elevated intramuscular pressure, reduced the number of adhering and invading granulocytes, and attenuated tissue damage. If this sounds Japanese to you then I have given you some definitions here that should help you understand the results.

Definitions:

• Cryotherapy – is the local or general use of low temperatures in medical therapy or the removal of heat from a body part.
• Intramuscular – within the muscle.
• Granulocytes – category of white blood cells. White blood cells fight bacteria and fungi in the body.
• Attenuated – reduced in strength.

Here is my explanation in layman’s terms.

The healing process is generally broken into three stages: inflammation, proliferation, and repair. The problem is prolonged or intense inflammation can cause cellular damage. This is what icing will prevent from happening if you ice within 48 hours of the injury or overuse of the muscle. Icing will then prevent further damage of the soft muscle tissue so the healing process can continue with minimal damage. Therefore icing supports the healing process and does not inhibit it.

Before this article I also wrote an article in response to something that Dick Mill’s posted on icing. He is probably the one who has started the roomer that icing is bad for healing. I suggest reading this article as well because it talks about Dr. Meeusen’s studies on prolonged icing. This is why I recommend icing for only 10-15 minutes at a time.

Why Pitchers should ICE their arms?

I would recommend that whomever is doing the chart, should also bring a radar gun if you have one. They should also record your velocity on every pitch as well. This is  a good indication of when a pitcher is getting tired. This is because you will notice a significant drop in velocity at this point. It is also important to see the difference in velocity between your fastball and off speed pitches. If the difference is very small then this is a good indication of how well the pitcher will perform on that day. A small difference in pitch velocity will make it easier for hitters to adjust to your pitches.

It is very common in college and pro ball for the team to chart statistics, but in high school and under, you do not see this a lot. If you are a pitcher and having a hard time finding someone to chart your pitches then I would recommend that you first ask your friends and family who like to go to your games or find one of the team moms who always goes to the game and then ask her. You will be glad you did!

Below is a chart for recording pitch counts and more and also a chart for recording velocity. Select the chart to download the pdf file. You can then print out the pdf file.

These charts are FREE to download and use. If you post these charts on your site, I would ask that you put a link back to this page as the source ( www.TopVelocity.net ).

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