I think I suck as a parent....

[GOINGDEEP]

Long throws are great for preparation, but I would not call it a warm up, it doesn't sound like you use it that way, but you neve3r know who is reading, and the importance of a good warm up to prevent injury is important (and stretching is not warming up).

I would say a proper warm up is to increase the distance, once warmed up, the long throws are fine to get ready.

Of course this is just my opinion from my knowledge of physiology and the laws of physics.

Long toss has been in baseball warm ups for as long as I could spell baisballz , although there are exceptions based on beliefs. Remember, the long toss comes after short toss, so the short toss has warmed the muscles. We did this when my brother and I pitched D1 many moons ago, his son's teams D1&D2 still use the long toss before "active" pitching.

Some then run either the 2 or 3 tier station. Some only do long mounds ( 70' fastballs only ) and then 60' fastball and breaking. Some do a 45' short pitch, then 70', then 60'. *** Do not do long mounds with breaking pitches, or at least not in BB.

The Rangers moved beyond the normal 120' long toss in their warm up routines, can't remember just how far back they went, but it dropped their team ERA a good margin without any other warm up changes. Think that was around 2008 or 2009.

Any long toss still needs good solid mechanics, or it's counter productive and can cause injuries. Lots of MLB teams use long toss in between a pitcher's "off" cycle.

^^^^^^ All that said, I have seen medical papers showing both sides. Increased speed and strength in some, decrease in others, some use it as therapy for an injury, some say it caused the injury.

 

[Doug Romrell]

re: apology - While I understand that we don't want girls (or anyone) to become too apologetic in life, I think a genuine expression of regret over how something was handled is a show of respect and desire to get along. My experience is that there are too many needless apologies, yet still not enough when they actually would do some good.

Sadly, more players are willing to apologize than are coaches. And I think it is even more important for a coach to recognize he/she was in the wrong and step up to the plate and admit it and apologize. It's not that common, folks.

 

[josh]

Long toss has been in baseball warm ups for as long as I could spell baisballz , although there are exceptions based on beliefs. Remember, the long toss comes after short toss, so the short toss has warmed the muscles. We did this when my brother and I pitched D1 many moons ago, his son's teams D1&D2 still use the long toss before "active" pitching.

I guess this is really what I was trying to say, after the muscles are warmed. To me there are a two parts of getting ready to pitch, warming up the muscles, so we don't hurt anything, and then dialing in, to me long toss is the latter, but its probably just semantics.

To quote Martin Riggs.. "I'm always up for some antics"

 

[Ken B]

Wrist flicks are good for swiping at bugs and tossing a napkin in the trash.

 

[Ken B]

The long toss I use for warm up is after core warm up/dynamics and overhand throwing. (I like the saying, "Warm up to throw, not throw to warm up.") Then on to easy underhand tosses/whips. Gradually move back, add more arm and lower body until walk-throughs feel right. Go back a little farther until loose and warm. Nothing crazy--just beyond the circle for younger ones and no farther than just inside of second for older kids.

 

[Ken Krause]

This past spring, I had a couple of my hitting students tell me their HS coach insisted they swing the bat the way she wants them to do it. What she said was going against everything we'd worked on in the off-season. And she would stand there until they did it "right." One of them seemed to survive it ok, but the other struggled more. We had to do a tune-up to get her back where she needed to be.

What's interesting is a lot of the "corrections" are made sight-unseen. Rather than seeing how a player does in games and then figuring out who needs to fix what, coaches start out trying to re-shape players. I've seen it in travel ball just as much as HS.

Coaches at any level should be happy their players are spending the extra time (and their parents are spending the extra money) to receive instruction. If they are, then the coaches should let them follow what they're being taught. If they don't like it, or it's not working, suggest to the parents they may want to reconsider what their daughter is being taught, and show evidence of why it should be changed (Hanson principle, not opinions). But they shouldn't just change it because it's not what they think the player should be doing.

 

[BuckeyeGuy]

Hanson principle. Interesting, Had to Google it. My first thought was:

 

[Doug Romrell]

Coaches at any level should be happy their players are spending the extra time (and their parents are spending the extra money) to receive instruction. If they are, then the coaches should let them follow what they're being taught. If they don't like it, or it's not working, suggest to the parents they may want to reconsider what their daughter is being taught, and show evidence of why it should be changed (Hanson principle, not opinions). But they shouldn't just change it because it's not what they think the player should be doing.

AMEN, brotha! But, a very common problem is that coaches get this sense of ownership in the players. What I mean is that some coaches don't want ANYONE ELSE meddling with HIS/HER players, not in the least. I see this as a "control-freak" syndrome.

 

[BuckeyeGuy]

AMEN, brotha! But, a very common problem is that coaches get this sense of ownership in the players. What I mean is that some coaches don't want ANYONE ELSE meddling with HIS/HER players, not in the least. I see this as a "control-freak" syndrome.

That works both ways, of course. I was accosted by a player's PC because I showed her parents the differences between HE and IR. Because the PC had "Years of experience!" and had "Trained many top level pitchers!" she felt I was stepping on her toes - which I was, but she didn't want to hear about anything I had to say and didn't want me messing with her student who plays for me.

 

[Doug Romrell]

That works both ways, of course. I was accosted by a player's PC because I showed her parents the differences between HE and IR. Because the PC had "Years of experience!" and had "Trained many top level pitchers!" she felt I was stepping on her toes - which I was, but she didn't want to hear about anything I had to say and didn't want me messing with her student who plays for me.

Well, AMEN to that! It does work both ways. One of the first things I heard from another pitcher's parent when my daughter pitched her freshman and sophomore years was, "You need to get her in to my daughter's pitching coach." Well, guess what her daughter did? Hello elbow (i.e., bowling style). I just ignored her.

Then there was that time the head high school coach came up to my daughter in a practice after she struggled in one of her freshman-sophomore games and proceeded to demand she learn a "go-to" pitch and proceeded to have her use more of a bowling action with her arm. And assistant that was standing there had pitched that way when she pitched some in high school. You know... the old reliable hello elbow style. Of course, trouble-making daddy put an end to that nonsense ("She ain't gonna pitch using THAT style!").

Did my daughter have mechanical things she needed to continue to work on? Absolutely! But the solution wasn't gonna come by some coach who really has nothing to do with pitching instruction and hasn't educated him/herself on pitching stuff like we learn here.

Look, I don't think a pitcher should learn both the bowling action pitching style and the I/R style. If you want to be a bowler, fine, but don't think you have the right to force that on someone who is more of an arm-whip pitcher.