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Preventing and Evaluating Baseball Pitching Injuries

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Should Pitchers Finish Throwing in the Bullpen?

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A Special Post for Coaches: please rethink this age-old and very-well intended “practice.”

At this time of the pre-season, coaches are aware that pitchers need to increase their pitch counts so to handle the demands of the upcoming in-season games. Because you want to give your pitchers as much opportunity as possible to face hitters, the usual plan is to rotate as many as possible during an intrasquad or scrimmage. Because of needing to limit the pitches of each pitcher to get all the pitchers innings, many coaches send their pitchers back to the bullpen after they have pitched to live hitting to complete whatever number of pitches they need to satisfy their weekly pitch-count goal.

Some food-for-thought on this age-old practice and a sample solution.

If you think of the pitcher as having gears, he is in first and second (maybe third) in his warm-up pen. The minute he is on the hill in a game, he is in fourth gear or overdrive. His chemistry has changed and elevated since the bullpen and his nervous system is working at an increased pace. When he is done pitching in the game, all of those systems begin to down-regulate to return to normal — and this starts with his first step back to the dugout.

Returning the pitcher to the bullpen can be counter-productive because the competitive situation has ended, and he will be:

  • Pitching with a chemistry that has started to readjust
  • Pitching with a nervous system that is starting to recover (which can be experienced as fatigue)
  • Pitching with conditions that are less than the “learning” environment on the “game” mound — which could reduce performance in a bullpen

For development, an athlete should perform his skill in his optimal physical condition; once he’s done, he’s done. It is difficult to peak twice in one day and if the pitcher is not at his best, the conditioning you think you are giving pitchers could be injurious as well as depleting.

Here’s a sample of how you could increase the pitch counts of your pitchers and have your pitchers face live hitting without having to send them back to the bullpen to complete pitch counts (these guidelines are for pitchers at least 15 years of age):

Saturday: rotate your pitchers as you do for a few innings.

Sunday: assuming they threw 39 pitches or less, this would be their one day off.

Monday: send them to do a bullpen for the purpose of increasing their pitch count. They could, for example, throw 79 pitches and then take off three days for recovery.

Friday: those pitchers would be good to go again in another scrimmage

By looking at each pitcher’s individual needs, and your desired scrimmage schedule, you could make sure you have pitchers ready to face hitters on all your practice days. In the end, this type of organization will produce better practices, and, therefore, better pitchers.

Please feel free to contact me via email or through my Facebook page if you need help with organizing your schedule. It is one of my favorite things to do and in the name of keeping arms safe, I am happy to be of help to all of you wonderful coaches who are dedicated to keeping our pitchers pitching!

The 3 Body Parts Every Pitcher Should Priority-Train

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Getting through the hard work required in the pre-season and the seasons that follow requires that you know how to train in the gym and what to prioritize for special care. While the entire body is important, make “The Big Three” your priority now and see the difference for yourself. From a complete game to a complete season, get ready for big results.

Number One: the rear deltoid
The rear deltoid’s integrity is so important for so many facets of shoulder health and integrity but its special role in deceleration is where it can take the greatest beating.

Number Two: the elbow extensors (triceps and anconeus)
The triceps are extensors of the elbow and its long head is an extensor of the shoulder. Because of this dual role, it plays a huge role in the health of both joints. The anconeus is a small muscle above the posterior elbow that works with the triceps and plays a special role in rapid elbow extension.

Number Three: the forearm
I can’t say enough about the importance of the forearm and maintaining its integrity throughout the performance of a game as well as throughout the entire season. The effectiveness of its musculature to handle the stresses of the pitching motion can make or break your plan for elbow health. Its strength is the number-one weapon against UCL injuries. Because of the forearm’s complexity, it requires different movements to keep it strong.

Here are my pitchers’ favorite exercises for these body parts:

The rear deltoid: side-lying reverse fly (eccentric emphasis)

The elbow extensors: reverse-grip “w” bar pushdowns and cable kickbacks

The forearms: cable wrist flexions and extensions, forearm pronation and supination, and reverse curls using the EZ-curl bar.

Ask your strength coach for additional ideas for priority training these body parts.

How To Get Game-Ready With Preseason Bullpens

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Are your pre-season bullpens really getting you game-ready?

The challenge of the pre-season is that in your bullpens you have to now be thinking “pitching” while at the same time continuing to work technically on your “pitching motion”. “Pitching” is a combination of the pitching motion, a variety of effective pitches, and pitch/game-strategy. It’s easy to get caught-up in working technically on your motion and forget to get back to the art of pitching.

It is important that every athlete learn how to think technically, let the thinking go, and perform. It is also important that he learn how to self-correct during a performance and get back again to “pitching”. At this stage of your bullpen calendar, your pitch counts should be high enough to where you can practice this type of multi-tasking and keep your progress moving forward as you approach your season.

Construct some of your bullpens like this: take a break after you have thrown what represents your game warm-up pen pitch count and then return to the mound and complete your pitch count for the day in sets of 12 to 15 (taking a break after each set). This prepares you numerically and physically for the timing of a game.

In the above scenario, during the pitches that are thrown in your simulated warm-up pen before your sets, practice thinking technically about some of the adjustments you have been working on and then not thinking technically. Once you get used to thinking and not-thinking, it will become easier to remain present with yourself as well as the task at hand. I watch my highly skilled pitchers practice this way and it is truly a sight to behold.

Another plan is to proceed as above with your warm-up pen number, take a break, and then have your catcher call balls and strikes and take a break after the three outs. Simulating an innings format helps to start to build your confidence and again provides you with the learning environment where you can develop the skill of thinking, self-correcting, letting all that go…and just pitching. When possible, have a hitter stand in. This format gives you great feedback about the effectiveness of each of your pitches.

Embrace this time of the year. Learn to trust the work you have done and put it to the test. Never be afraid to self-evaluate and correct. When the season starts, be ready to trust yourself and your pitching — which is the number-one prerequisite for a solid pitching performance.

Three Pitching Flaws that Rob Velocity

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Man holding radar gun to track speed and velocity of a baseball pitcher

When pitchers tell me they can’t figure out why they are not throwing harder, the first thing I do is to look at their motion from a perspective of what they might be doing that is blocking or interfering with the velocity capability that already resides within them.

It is common these days to feel like you have to search for some new thing “to do” to throw harder. While there are always ways to improve on the specific skills required for your maximal velocity, looking first at eliminating interfering movements is critical. Without first eliminating possible culprits that may be getting in your way, you run the risk of “adding” something to a motion that may have some basic flaws, thus leading to more frustration and failure — not to mention injury.

These are the three most common motion flaws I see that can interfere with the pitcher’s capability of improving his velocity:

  1. Speeding down the hill
  2. Incomplete hip rotation
  3. Leading with the elbow

Pitching Mechanical Flaw #1: Speeding Down the Hill

Speeding down the hill creates a situation of so much power at the beginning of the motion that the body has to jar itself to stop once the front foot lands. This excessive deceleration can create problems for the rotational phase of the motion which is where the accumulation of rotational forces actually begins. The stride is a delicate balance of direction/control/and intensity.

Pitching Mechanical Flaw #2: Incomplete Hip Rotation

Incomplete hip rotation causes a problem for the sequencing and separation of the rotation that occurs through your hips, lower trunk, and upper trunk, essential characteristics of an efficient motion and top velocity production. This error is seen when the lower body is not square-to-the plate prior to accelerating the ball into ball release. Some common causes of this are improper use of the rear leg, pulling the rear foot off too soon, or landing in a location that prevents full hip rotation.

Pitching Mechanical Flaw #3: Leading with the Elbow

Proper acceleration of the ball requires using the shoulder correctly and its capacity for fast rotational forces. When the shoulder and elbow mechanics are off, the elbow will get in front of the shoulder before the shoulder internally rotates (leading with the elbow). This creates a different action at the shoulder and thereby diminishes its vast capacity for acceleration forces. Common causes of this are improper hip rotation (the upper trunk arrives before the hips), a lack of knowledge of proper arm mechanics, and an unstable base (faulty stride position) that disallows proper sequencing during the rotation phase.

It is so important to unleash the velocity potential that is already in you. The first step is to get out of your own way. The second step is to work on the skills required.