Baseball Pitching Velocity Training

Pro Pitchers Stress Arm Less than Youth Pitchers

by | Apr 1, 2017 | Pitching Articles | 0 comments

Pro Pitchers Stress Arm LessThere is a major misconception in baseball that believes the opposite of a most recent case study that found Pro Pitchers Stress Arm Less than Youth Pitchers. We also have a case study that shows the internal rotation speeds of the shoulder slow down from the college to professional level as ball speeds increase.
So why does baseball believe the arm is so important to the pitchers ability to play at the top level when the studies are showing that pro pitchers stress arm less or use arm less? This question bugs the hell out of me for two reasons; one this mentality leads to injury and two this is the same mentality that questions the 3X Pitching Velocity Program. We have over 30+ Testimonials of pitchers adding 5-10+mph and breaking the 90mph range injury FREE from the high school, college and MLB level and people still question the legitimacy of 3X Pitching. They even chose other velocity programs over 3X that not only do not have the testimonials but have high amounts of arm injury, INSANE!
In this article, I will list the science that shows the arm has little correlation with the speed of the ball and what is then driving this ball speed. I will also define how to enhance performance with this science while reducing risk of injury.

Why Pro Pitchers Stress Arm Less than Youth Pitchers

Here is the method used in the study that you should repost on your Instagram and your Twitter showing pro pitchers stress arm less than youth pitchers.

A total of 38 baseball pitchers participated in this study after providing written informed consents approved by the hospital’s institutional review board. The throwing motions of 6 professional (age = 24 ± 2, height = 190.2 ± 9.6 cm, mass = 100.6 ± 12.3 kg), 11 collegiate (age = 19 ± 2, height = 192.6 ± 6 cm, mass = 94.8 ± 7.6 kg), 12 high school (age = 16 ± 2, height = 175.5 ± 30.6 cm, mass = 82.7 ± 15.4 kg), and 9 youth pitchers (age = 12 ± 1, height = 155.2 ± 8 cm, mass = 50.9 ± 12.5 kg) were data-captured and statistically analyzed using a between-group comparative design. All pitchers were considered relatively healthy with no significant bodily injury at the time of testing.

Here is the results posted from the case study that shows pro pitchers stress arm less than youth pitchers:

No significant kinematic differences in trunk movement were found across all four groups of pitchers except for the starting time of trunk rotation, defined as the onset time of peak trunk rotation (Table 1). Professional pitchers rotated their torsos toward home plate much later in the pitch cycle (34 ± 5%, p = .01) compared with lower level pitchers, who rotated at an average below 14% into the pitching cycle. Eleven pitchers from the high school and youth levels rotated their trunk before front-foot contact (0% PC?). Despite these temporal differences, the magnitude of peak trunk rotation (52 ± 8°, p = .48) did not differ significantly across all levels (Table 1).
Kinetic analysis revealed differences in rotational torque at the throwing shoulder. Onset time for peak shoulder internal rotation torque occurred when the throwing shoulder reached maximum external rotation in the late cocking phase. The absolute magnitudes of internal rotation torque differed significantly among all four pitching levels (Figure 3), with youth pitchers exhibiting the least amount of internal rotation torque (33 ± 3 N•m) as compared with high school (66 ± 6 N•m, p < .001) and collegiate (78 ± 9 N•m, p < .001) pitchers. Professional level pitchers threw with less internal rotation torque (50 ± 9 N•m) than collegiate pitchers (78 ± 9 N•m, p = .04). When analyzing rotation torques normalized by body weight and height (Figure 4), professional pitchers exhibited significantly less normalized peak torque (25 ± 3% BW•H) than pitchers from the college (43 ± 5% BW•H, p = .01), high school (49 ± 5% BW•H, p = .003), and youth (40 ± 3% BW•H, p = .02) levels. No significant differences in normalized torque were found among all three amateur groups.

After reading this case study you can't help but ask these questions, "Why do coaches use weighted baseballs, running throws and long toss to develop arm strength? What is arm strength if elite pitchers are better at using less of the arm?"
You should also ask yourself, "Am I teaching and training myself to use less of my arm to develop pitching velocity?" If the answer is NO you need to read on and retweet or repost!

Why Pro Pitchers Stress Arms Less Than College Pitchers

Here is another case study showing the same evidence that the arm may have little to do with the performance level of the pitch. Lets start with the method used to show why pro pitchers stress arm less:

A sample of 231 healthy male baseball pitchers was analyzed. Included were 23 youth (age range: 10} 15 yr, height: 1.67$ 0.09 m, mass: 55$ 10 kg), 33 high school (15} 20 yr, 1.83$ 0.07 m, 76$ 10 kg), 115 college  (17} 23 yr, 1.84$ 0.05 m, 82$ 9 kg), and 60 professional (20} 29 yr, 1.87$ 0.08 m, 90$ 9 kg) level athletes. After providing informed consent, history, and physical information, each pitcher was tested in an indoor laboratory with a procedure previously described (Escamilla et al., 1998; Fleisig et al., 1996). Reflective markers were attached to 14 bony landmarks. After stretching and warming up, the subject threw ten fastball pitches from a portable pitching mound toward a strike zone ribbon located over a home plate. The distance between the pitching mound to home plate was set equal to the regulation pitching distance for the subject' s league (i.e. 18.4 m for high school, college, and professional subjects, and 12} 16 m for youth subjects). Ball velocity was measured with a radar gun.

Here are the results posted from the case study on why pro pitchers stress arm less:

Of the 16 position and velocity parameters tested, six had significant differences among competition levels (Table 1). All 10 parameters that displayed no significant differences were position parameters. None of the six temporal parameters tested showed significant differences (Table 2). Conversely, all eight kinetic parameters showed significant differences (Table 3).

This study found speeds and torques separated the levels better than just positional pitching mechanics but this is not normalized to body weight. Yes, bigger, stronger and faster is what separates the levels but this study shows use where the bigger, stronger and faster is coming from and it isn't always in the arm, especially from the youth to high school level or the college to professional level in this study.

Here is the table that shows shoulder internal rotation speeds slow down from youth to high school and college to professional pitching while ball speeds increase. Repost this on Instagram and Twitter if you want to help educate the baseball community on this unconventional science. Be prepared, people will hate you for it!

How Pro Pitchers Stress Arm Less than Youth Pitchers

This is the million dollar question correct? Well, the first study gave us the first clue, late trunk rotation and the second study gave use the entire secret; bigger, stronger and faster. Yes, you need a program like the 3X Pitching Velocity Program that is built on developing more hip to shoulder separation or late trunk rotation and building the bigger, stronger and faster pitcher. The mechanics of enhancing hip to shoulder separation are very complex and can best be learn simply in the 2 Phase Delivery. Building the bigger, stronger and faster pitcher is also complex. With 3X Pitching we used an Olympic based strength and conditioning program that is uses undulated periodization. I would highly recommend you follow the FREE resources on the site to learn more and to attend a 3X Velocity Camp in the future or at least start the 3X Pitching Velocity Program.

The most accurate illustration of the pitching delivery which helps paint the picture of how pro pitchers stress arm less than all other levels is here in this picture. Please repost or retweet.

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