Pitching is a very complex sequence of movements and the key is avoid the pitching misconceptions that plague the game today. So many things happening during a blink of the eye within the pitching delivery that create a ton of illusions in the game. What is even harder than pitching, is explaining this stuff.
This is why every coach has his own interpretation. This is also why science wins over conventional wisdom. If you can prove it scientifically then conventional wisdom is forced to listen. If you eliminated ever coach in baseball who could not explain pitching scientifically, you would have about 2% of them left to coach the position. This is why so many pitching misconceptions plague baseball today.
In this article, I will define pitching misconceptions and how to get on the right road to developing yourself into a high velocity pitcher.
Pitching Misconceptions of Pitching With The Arm
The major pitching misconceptions, that continues to ruin arms, is the belief that velocity comes mainly from the arm. Stop thinking with your arm! This will cause so many problems mechanically and physically in your career that it will eventually come to a halt. You need to beat it into your head everyday that your legs and core throw the ball and the arm follows and guides the pitch. When starting your delivery on the mound, your first step should NOT be to lift your leg so you can break your hands and to get your arm moving early. This is pitching with all your arm. This is only recruiting your arm to handle the workload of the pitch. You must learn to recruit from the major muscle groups in the legs and core, to handle the workload of the pitch. In return this will generate so much more velocity and save your arm from absorbing all of the stress.
Pitching from the bottom or ground up is visualizing your lift leg as a log you are about to role down the hill or mound. Pick it up, feel its weight, hold back your upper body and ride the log down the hill leading with your butt to the target. It is extremely important that you load your weight back while the front leg moves towards the target. Notice the picture above of Gagne in this "Load" position. Notice his weight is back, his back leg is sitting and his front hip and lift leg is moving to the target. This is the essence of bottom up pitching. Now notice the young man in the picture to the right of Gagne. He is almost at the same moment in the delivery but he is in a different position. His weight is forward, his arm is up and his stride is short. The difference between the two pictures is, once Gagne's foot lands he can then transfer all the weight that he is loading in the back leg into the pitch. The young man has no weight loaded and is forced to only whip his arm to generate any velocity. The young man is pitching from the top down and he will be one of Dr. Andrews next patience if he does not make the adjustment.
Another sign of pitching from the top down is driving your glove shoulder towards the target following the lift leg into the "Load" position. This will also throw your weight forward preventing an effective "Load." If you are a pitcher who pitches from the top down then thank God you read this article. You now need to understand what you are doing to cause this and learn to pitch from the bottom up. If you can make this adjustment, you will not only save your career as a pitcher, but you will increase your velocity by about 10-15 mph on average. The problem is this adjustment isn't easy! It will not happen over night or within the year. It is a long process of changing muscle memory that you developed when you were very young. This means you will need a coach or video analysis to make this adjustment. You will also need to understand how to finish your delivery from the "Load" position and most important you must work on this adjustment everyday.
Please do not let this article discourage you. You have been given a gift with this knowledge. Most pitchers in high school and even college do not understand this consciously or subconsciously. Therefore this will put you ahead of the game.
The #1 Pitching Training Program
This program has helped tons of pitchers live the dream of throwing 90+mph and signing with a D1 University, getting drafted by a Major League Organization and making it back to Major League Baseball. Many scouts in all organizations of baseball have recommended this program to help young pitchers get to the 90+mph range to improve their value at the next level.
The reason the 3X Extreme Pitching Velocity Program works is because it is based off of science and it has been proven to develop the 90+mph fastball on thousands of pitchers. It isn't rocket science or voodoo, it is the real deal! The program comes with a high level workload of drills, lifts and exercises scientifically programmed to enhance throwing speed on the mound while developing an efficient pitching delivery. The format of the 3X Pitching Velocity Program is similar to the same approach Olympic throwers have been using for decades to increase throwing velocity. This approach isn't new to the sports world but it is new to baseball.
If you are serious about your career and are insanely driven to put yourself into an extremely small percentage of pitchers who are potential D1 prospects, top level draft picks or you just want to reach your potential on the mound then this program is the best chance you have to making your dreams come true.
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Speed is distance per unit time. unit is miles per hour. or mph
Velocity is rate of displacement. unit is meter per second. or m/s
You mention in the article that velocity can increase 10-15 mph, you need to state
displacement can increase by how many m/s. If the baseball community is so concerned with velocity then measure it in m/s.
Thank You,
Roonman
I would rather teach triple extension or 3X Pitching but that is just me. If you want to learn more about drive leg styles checkout my video on them here http://www.topvelocity.net/back-leg-drive-styles-of-high-velocity-pitchers/