Pitching and Pitchers Discussion Hey pitching coaches - quick question

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Since the magic number seems to be 60(+) mph - how do you get your students there? Lets say you have a 14/15/16 year old pitcher with good form and her speed is stuck in the 54-56 mph range. What is the plan to get those extra mph's? I know every pitcher is different - different techniques, different size, strength, motivation, etc. I know without seeing someone and knowing her physical makeup that it is impossible to really tell. But lets assume NORMAL is the answer to all the above. Is physical training - core development, leg strength, shoulder development, etc - the key. Or is it simply staying the course with form development and tweaking that side of it? The easy answer is a combination of both. But if you could only choose one course of action, what would it be?

 

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Not every girl will achieve the 60mph + pitch in her career. Some girls max out and simply don't have what it takes during their softball years. Some simply need more time to mature and master the motion and mechanics needed. Let's discuss a normal-sized 17yr. old pitcher that's been throwing since she was say 10 yrs. old and knows how to throw all her pitches. She throws about twice a week except during the season when she throws everyday. Let's assume she's healthy but seldom throws over 53mph. If possible, the first thing I would suggest is she take a couple months off from pitching. Take the time from August till end of October to rest and rejuvienate, then start back pithing and we probably would work on getting more leg drive into her pitch. Many girls have a limited amount of leg into the motion and that factor alone can limit the speed barrier and is the most common problem. The other would be wrist snap. Limited flexibility can hinder speed. Some times the rest alone is all a girl needs if her developing years have been dominated by pitching day in and day out.

 

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Agree with the above. My DD suffered a shoulder injury over this winter. Didnt pitch for 4 months. She is 14 yo and this was her first injury and length of time off. Just now getting back at it. I haven't gunned her yet, but I believe she has gotten faster. Or at least I'm more intimidated.

 

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Good question. In my experience I can take a girl with bad mechanics and make rapid improvements. I have had pitchers in the 5th grade go from 35-37mph to 46-50mph in 3-4 months, often that is the easy part. Big jumps in speed early are normal after that is is just hard work. Long distance pitching, using under weight balls to speed up the circle, turning walk thrus into run thrus, throwing as hard as possible for 10 pitches at the end of pitching sessions, glove snaps to increase arm whip, doing core exercises to get stronger, doing sprint work to get quicker and stronger in the legs, etc. It is just hard work to find one mph here with better mechanics, another mph there with better conditioning after the pitcher makes their initial big jumps in speed early in the process, that why parents sometimes jump from instructor to instructor. They think there is a magic bullet out there to turn their DD into a flamethrower overnight. To answer the OP question if I had a radar gun to my head, I would say better mechanics will get you to your full potential faster. But just as in baseball not everyone can throw 90mph not every softball pitcher can throw 60mph.

 

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Agree that not every girl will develop as much speed as others. The main thing I have always seen is not understanding the combination of "explosive intensity" and relaxed motion, and how to combine the two to develop speed (quickness). Tense muscles are slow muscles - especially in the kinetic chain of the shoulder/arm/wrist/hand/fingers - the chain of body parts that creates the "whip". Then you have the core and legs, which provide the explosive drive and enables that kinetic chain to rotate with as much velocity as possible. Keeping that kinetic chain loaded, yet relaxed, is tough to master - but can become second nature with LOTS of practice.

I like to compare the pitcher's leg drive (somewhat) with the forward stride of a batter. At foot plant, the kinetic "loaded chain" begins to release it's energy. The amount of energy (or speed) is dependent on good timing (and other things). More often than not, I think "maximum speed potential" comes from a pitcher who is "long and loose" for lack of a better description. Relaxed, yet explosive. I don't think height (within reason) has a lot to do with it. IMO, it possibly has much more to do with fast-twitch muscle fibers and strong legs and core than anything. Just like running speed, Mother Nature (genetics) tends to hold the ultimate key to maximum speed.

For a kid who is "hell bent" on becoming a pitcher - with an incredible work ethic - I would say focus on YOUR OWN potential, and DON'T chase someone else. Maximize your own skills, and magical things can happen!

--> DISCLAIMER: Not an instructor; just a longtime fastpitch enthusiast!

 

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Great post. My DD is 12, she had an instructor for 1 month when she was 9 and then we did our best up until this August. Will fairly poor mechanincs she was at maybe 44-47. With an instructor, Alanna Barker, she has gone to consistent high 40's and low 50's, 51 being her fastest on the gun so far.

Our kid is a small pitcher and Alanna has her incorporating a ton of legs and push. In just a few months, the "pop" is noticable. She has always had a ton of movement, and very low pitches, so the added speed has made her a tough pitcher to hit anything solid off of. Her added drop curve is nasty.

So, in our case we saw a big improvment on mechanics and leg explosion. Keep in mind she is barely 5 foot and 100lbs, though a little ball of muscle, lol. We are hoping she ends up in that mid-upper 50's with a ton of movement on everything. She is not a 6ft 200lb 65mph kid and we understand that, where she ends up is up to her, though her instructor was 5ft4in and pitched the same style with 60-62 so you never know.

It was stated to focus on your own potentional and don't chase someone else. I'd agree.

 

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You can't focus on only speed, you have to focus on movement and location. The fireballers are just throwing batting practice to hitters if they only have speed. Take a look at the NFCA camp data; very few kids get to 60MPH, fewer get to 20+RPS. I suspect that a more useful conversation is....... how do you increase your pitcher's RPS, her accuracy and lastly her speed.

Speed is what gets the attention but RPS wins games.

 

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You can't focus on only speed, you have to focus on movement and location. The fireballers are just throwing batting practice to hitters if they only have speed. Take a look at the NFCA camp data; very few kids get to 60MPH, fewer get to 20+RPS. I suspect that a more useful conversation is....... how do you increase your pitcher's RPS, her accuracy and lastly her speed.

Speed is what gets the attention but RPS wins games.

fairman - and there in lies the rub. Historically the only pitchers that throw in the NFCA camps are those that are trying to gain exposure. That said most throwing are south of 60mph. The ones throwing gas are already being watched and don't/shouldn't throw in NFCA camps. I totally agree that revs and location are critical - you have to have both of these along with speed. If not you are right - BP - at 62 mph. All that said, the magic number for D1's and really good D'2 is 60mph, right or wrong. When you see a pack of the above coaches watching a pitcher at a showcase they all will have pocket radars out. There is a reason for it. Again right or wrong. There are a TON of really good pitchers that I see that are throwing 55-58, locating it well, and have great spins. I wish an extra 5 mph for all of them - except the ones we play......
I am going to make it a point this summer on the showcase circuit to ask college pitching coaches this very question. I want them to tell me their experience in build speed. Last summer I heard many, many of them say they can take a freshman pitcher and refine their spins - adding revs and location. I am sure they have opinions on this question. What is the best way to try to add speed - technique or conditioning.

 

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There is a theory that all the really good (read fast) pitchers don't go to showcases. They are so good/fast/tall/good looking, that they don't need the exposure. Somehow the top D-1 coaches just know where there are.....I'm not buying it. The Queen of Diamonds gets a ton of 60+ pitchers on their self PR promotions yet they only get a couple of kids that break 60 every year. The same holds true at Pennsbury and the NFCA Camps. There are simply not that many high school juniors that have a working speed in excess of 60MPH. There are even fewer that spin the ball in excess in 20RPS on their breaking stuff. College coaches would have much more success if they would focus on high school pitchers capable of throwing in the 55/58MPH range with 20/25RPS.

Pennsbury Results MPH/RPS (2013)
https://nfca.org/index.php/recruiting-camps/2013-recruiting-camp-results/5311-pennsbury-revolutions
I bet that Pitcher #400 at 62MPH/25.6RPS is having a great year but Pitcher #416 t 59MPH/27.4.RPS is doing better.

You are right that any college coach starts to drool if a recruit can break the 60MPH mark. They will fall all over themselves writing checks. Most of the D-1' in the World Series are certainly working above the 60MPH mark......so that takes care of 8 schools I wonder what the other 4,000 are doing?

Good luck in you quest...I would like to add several MPH to my pitchers but ask how they work the spins too!

 

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No doubt fairman - dadguns all have pitchers at 61. Very few actually break 57.

I think most top teams at the bigger showcases have kids that throw over 60. I was talking about those kids not throwing in the combines or the camps. Having never been to Pennsbury I don't know who threw and who didn't. I can talk about the others we were at last summer and fall. The top pitchers - the ones over 60 - don't go to those camps because it can effect them in the showcase games. It happened to our #2 pitcher this fall.

I am not looking to add speed to any of our pitchers. Just looking for pitching instructors insight on what they would on.

 

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I asked this same question on another message board and a hitting instructor answered it this way. I don't know if his analysis holds true for pitchers, or hitters for that matter. But the math itself makes it interesting either way. Below is his reply. When he mentions speed he is talking about bat head speed through the hitting zone.

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I have done some studies to try and advance my hitters . When the mechanics are sound,you must train for strength in order to gain speed fast. But it here is a catch. There is separation between slow twitch and fast twitch 2b muscle fibers when training. When trying to get faster,the question came up which to work on first . You must first grow your slow twitch or strength before you work on fast twitch. If you do it this way,with proper training technique ,you will gain speed faster than if you didn't train for strength. This is a huge study that deals with the ability to use a greater portion of your muscle mass for speed.
Example...if a person has 200 lbs of strength in their legs and uses 80% for speed. . He is using 160 lbs of force . He will train for a 5% increase and grow to use 170 lbs of force. This happens when only concentrating on speed increase.
The other person trains to increase strength first to 250 lbs of force,...even at 80% ,he will have 200 lbs of force to use not even training for speed increases. Then when he gains the 5% speed increase...212.5 lbs of force is used.
So gaining strength first will grow your speed and force with a greater proportion than speed training alone .

So while proper mechanics are very important, IF YOUR MECHANICS ARE SOUND ,i choose to train for strength to gain speed faster .

Just my take on it for my studies.