Baseball Pitching Velocity Training

power pitcherYes, it is proven that the MLB has the highest verticals in the game of baseball. Not only that but when it comes to pure power production, no other level of professional baseball even comes close.
Did you really believe that the Major Leagues wasn't made up of the bigger, stronger and faster athletes? Well if you thought otherwise then you where completely wrong. Matter of fact, it would be a good idea if you just forgot everything you know about baseball because I would bet most of it is not doing anything for you. It isn't your fault though, but it is now your responsibility to learn the truth.
This game and most of the coaches in it have loaded you with complete BS for, more than likely, most of your career. Look on the bright side though you are reading this article, which means you are going to walk out of the cave when most of your peers are going to stay chained to the wall and continue believing the shadows to be real people.

The Truth About the MLB Player

If you have no idea what I am talking about then go ask your Philosophy teacher to tell you about Plato's "Allegory of the Cave." If you dropped out of philosophy then let me tell you that could have been the second worst mistake of your life. The first mistake was believing the garbage that most coaches of this game have filled your head with.
Plato was a genius, right? He knew that the conventional wisdom of life was a circus and it was everything that was wrong with the world. It was a bunch of jazz to keep you distracted from reality. The point is most people can't handle the truth. You saw the movie right? You know the one with Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise? What was it called again? A Few Good Men! The one big line by Jack Nicholson was, "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" He was making the point that the high ranking officers had to lie to cover up the harsh reality of disciplining a low ranking Marine who had breached the chain of command in a high risk situation. Not that these coaches are lying to you intentionally, but they are in denial of the truth and just want you to accept the crap they have been told as the truth, so they don't feel like they don't have anything to offer you.
If you are one of those who can't handle the truth then you are more than likely going to find a way to discredit the information in this article or maybe even discredit me. You are going to find some reason why this information doesn't pertain to you or Tim Linecum, but I promise you that if you do this, it will be your demise. Even Tim Lincecum was shocked to learn that his intended loss of 30 pounds, before his worst MLB season, was a major mistake. Check out this video of him talking about his weight loss before he discovered it had effected his velocity.

I remember the day I read Tim had decided to change his diet and training and loss 30 pounds after he signed the biggest contract of his life with the Giants in 2012. We all know how that turned out. I couldn't believe that a pitcher at that level, especially someone like Tim Lincecum who is out of the box, would fall victim to the conventional wisdom of the game that body weight is bad. I guess he had to learn the hard way.
I have already documented the research that correlates more body weight to more pitching velocity in my latest article called, Study Proves Body Weight Is Pitching Velocity Factor. Here is even more information that proves, without a doubt, that the bigger ball players are the better ball players. More than that it defines the average amount of vertical power the Major League Ball player can produce, which sets the benchmark for all young players who want to live the dream of Major League Baseball one day.

Major League Baseball Performance Data

This information comes from the Department of Health and Exercise Science, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, New Jersey. The name of the study was called, Anthropometric and performance comparisons in professional baseball players. Here is the description of the study:

This study compared anthropometric and performance variables in professional baseball players and examined the relationship between these variables and baseball-specific performance (i.e., home runs, total bases, slugging percentage, and stolen bases). During a 2-year period, 343 professional baseball players were assessed for height, weight, body composition, grip strength, vertical jump power, 10-yard sprint speed, and agility. Subject population consisted of players on the rosters of one of the minor league affiliates (Rookie, A, AA, AAA) or major league team (MLB). All testing occurred at the beginning of spring training.

This chart below holds this data.

Variable Rookie(n = 90) A(n = 84) AA(n = 50) AAA(n = 52) MLB(n = 62)
Age (yr) 21.3±2.5† 22.9±2.1† 24.9±2.2† 26.8±2.7† 28.7±4.2†
Height (feet) 6.07±0.19 6.08±0.20 6.08±0.19 6.15±0.22§†† 6.12±0.20
Body mass (lbs) 202.82±21.60 202.82±21.16 211.64±17.41§†† 219.36±26.45§†† 223.10±23.14§††{
Body fat (%) 12.0±3.5 12.4±3.6 12.8±2.9 13.7±3.4§†† 13.8±3.0§††
Lean body mass (lbs) 178.13±15.43 177.25±14.33 184.30±12.78§†† 188.93±20.50§†† 192.02±17.41§††{
Vertical jump (inches) 27.59±2.99 27.59±2.79 27.20±2.79 27.99±3.30 28.30±3.22
Vertical jump peak power (w) 10,798±791 10,823±737 11,127±622§†† 11,435±957§†† 11,542±849§††{
Vertical jump mean power (w) 3835±499 3850±475 4052±393§†† 4235±605§†† 4298±539§††{
Grip strength (lbs) 228.17±27.55 231.92±27.77 246.03±27.99§†† 254.85±27.77§†† 244.71±35.27§††
10-yard sprint (s) 1.57±0.09 1.59±0.07 1.58±0.07 1.55±0.09 1.52±0.10§††{
Pro-agility (s) 4.54±0.19 4.48±0.54 4.42±0.68 4.53±0.20 4.42±0.90

*§p ? 0.05 compared with rookie league
††p ? 0.05 compared with A league
{p ? 0.05 compared with AA league
†p ? 0.05 compared with all other groups

Source - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19826310

The Major League Baseball Transformation

This information is 2 years of performance data from professional baseball that proves, across the board, that the better athlete rises to the top. Once you accept the fact that this is a game of elite power athletes then we can start transforming you into one.
In the 3X Pitching Velocity Program we also believe in transforming the average athlete into the elite power athlete to support high pitching velocity. We measure vertical jump, broad jump, 60 yard speeds, back squat max, bench press max, and power clean max to help evaluate the performance level of the pitcher. We do this to get a good understanding of the athletes power to weight ratio. This is the amount of power we can produce over our own body weight. Now with access to this Major League Baseball performance data we can measure our power to weight ratio next to the average Major League Ball player's.
This information is a game changer because it lays out the measurements of a professional ball player and correlates more power production to the better athlete who is playing at the higher level. We have a study called, Noncompatibility Of Power And Endurance Training Among College Baseball Players.  This study proves power training increases power production in baseball players, while endurance training reduces it. Here is the results from the study:

During the season, the endurance training group decreased an average of 39.50 ± 128.03 watts while the speed group improved an average of 210.63 ± 168.96 watts. These data demonstrate that moderate- to high-intense cardiovascular endurance and neuromuscular power training do not appear to be compatible when performed simultaneously. For baseball players, athletes who rely heavily on power and speed, conventional baseball conditioning involving significant amounts of cardiovascular endurance training should be altered to include more speed/power interval training.
Source - https://www.topvelocity.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/power-vrs-endurance-baseball.pdf

If power training increase power production then using a program like the 3X Pitching Velocity Program to enhance power production means you are on the road to Major League Baseball. Now all you need to know is how to measure yourself to the professional or Major League ball player using this data.

Measuring Yourself to the Major Leaguer

Out of all these variables from the chart above, the only two variables that are a key measurement of the ability of the Major Leaguer is the Vertical Jump Peak Power variable and the Vertical Jump Mean Power variable. This is the case because these two variables represent the size, strength, speed and vertical jump height of the professional ball player. The other variables are not as important but provide some additional characteristics of the elite power athlete.
How to measure your Vertical Jump Peak and Mean Power? The best formula to do this is the Harman Formula. Here is the formula for both peak and average power.
Peak power (W) = 61.9 · jump height (cm) + 36.0 · body mass (kg) + 1,822
Average power (W) = 21.2 · jump height (cm) + 23.0 · body mass (kg) – 1,393

I converted the chart above to inches and pounds for easier recognition. You can convert it back by viewing the original chart in the case study linked below the chart.
Once you determine your peak and mean power as compared to the Major League or professional ball player, then you should have a good understanding of your up hill climb. You will also learn why the 3X Pitching Velocity Program uses an Olympic Style strength and conditioning program. Dr. Garhammer PhD was the first to prove the superiority of the Olympic Lifts when it comes to training for peak and mean power production. Here is his research of the power output of most of the big lifts in the weight room.
Bench Press 300 Watts
Back Squat 1100 Watts
Deadlift 1100 Watts
Snatch* 3000 1750 Watts
2nd Pull** 5500 2900 Watts
Clean 2950 1750 Watts
2nd Pull 5500 2650 Watts
Jerk 5400 2600 Watts
Exercise Absolute Power (Watts)
100kg Male 75kg Female
*Total pull: Lift-off until maximal vertical velocity
**2nd pull: Transition until maximal vertical barbell velocity
This information came from the USA Weightlifting Certification manual that I received before my examination.
The only question that we are left with here is, how does this power production convert into ball velocity? The 3X Pitching Velocity Program and its research (3X Pitching Profile) proves that this conversion happens mechanically through a set of high velocity components that you must learn and perfect, to convert your power production into ball velocity. To learn more about these components and power training the baseball pitcher, check out the other pitching articles and training articles and also the 3X Pitching Velocity Program.

3X Pitching Podcast Episode 2

The second episode of the 3X Pitching Podcast covers this article. Check it out!
Pitching Velocity Show – Episode 2 Transcript