Velocity practice

[Sparky Guy]

I beg to differ. Ultimately, a "good" pitcher is measured by wins and losses. .

Wrong!!! There are plenty of good pitchers who have teams that can't hit or field for them. If you have a team that's giving up 60+ unearned runs, has a team batting average of .225 and makes 75 errors in a season; there are very few pitchers who can overcome that.

Measure a pitcher by ERA, whip, K's/7, BAA, HBP and K/BB ratio. Too many other things out of their control once the ball has left their hand.

It's unfortunate the pitcher is the only position that gets tagged with W/L stat.

 

[Sparky Guy]

Explode and resist are two words that work better.

The phrase that I like to use with my students is "Fluid Explosion." I want to make sure they understand there are no stops and restarts in the pitching motion.

 

[undergroundga]

No, not TB. In college, yes, and, to a lesser extent, HS. But, most of the time, it doesn't mean anything.

In TB, winning and losing depend upon the competition. I can take any 50MPH 14U pitcher and win 30 games with her.

When a pitcher is "good", she will be compared to other pitchers. She will get gunned and people (coaches, fans, players, the media) will use that as a benchmark to compare to her other pitchers. The better she is, the more times she will be gunned. o.

I can buy that.

 

[undergroundga]

Wrong!!! There are plenty of good pitchers who have teams that can't hit or field for them. If you have a team that's giving up 60+ unearned runs, has a team batting average of .225 and makes 75 errors in a season; there are very few pitchers who can overcome that.

Measure a pitcher by ERA, whip, K's/7, BAA, HBP and K/BB ratio. Too many other things out of their control once the ball has left their hand.

It's unfortunate the pitcher is the only position that gets tagged with W/L stat.

They don't post your speed on the Hall of Fame plaque!

 

[CLM265]

Yea, but pitchers like Bob Feller get statues and nick names like Rapid Robert.

 

[joemcq51]

BM- I completely get what you are saying. I use this type of practice about once a week in the off season. A little less during the game seasons. Basically my DD and I call it our max effort days. We aren't focusing on spin or location or if her drop is dropping, etc...On these practice days, we go through a normal warm up, and then we spend a short amount of time just working on what we call "expolsion". She concentrates all of her energy towards 3 things. Leg drive, arm speed and explosion on release. Honestly, 25 pitches would be about the most we get in. It is an exhausting practice. I think it helps build strength and power. We try not to use the word speed as much any more. What I found is when I say throw faster, she only concentrates on the release of her pitch. When I say throw with more power, she understands that her entire body needs to work through the pitch. She just started pitching again after taking 3 weeks off. One of the goals she set for herself was to add 3mph to her top end, by the time her first HS practice hits in January. Personally, I think that is a lofty goal, but she really wants to prove something her freshman year. So we will continue with a once a week power max effort day. Hope it works.

 

[cuzmail]

I beg to differ. Ultimately, a "good" pitcher is measured by wins and losses.

??? The W and L is only a measure of a "good" team. Not the measure of a "good" pitcher.

The pitcher can not control the catcher nor the other 7 positions on the field. If you have a pitcher who generates weak grounders and infield pop ups like they should, then the team needs to be able to make the routine outs. If not, the team is giving their competitor more than 3 outs per inning and you don't win games like that.

 

[starsnuffer]

Hey BM,

I understand where you're coming from better now. Your pointer to the definition of ballistic makes it more clear. I still wouldn't expect a teenage girl to take using this term the same way that you are implying it, but that's just me picking nits on nomenclature. The intent and purpose of the exercise is sound. I'll start integrating this into the mix more.

-W

 

[BoardMember]

Hey BM,

I understand where you're coming from better now. Your pointer to the definition of ballistic makes it more clear. I still wouldn't expect a teenage girl to take using this term the same way that you are implying it, but that's just me picking nits on nomenclature. The intent and purpose of the exercise is sound. I'll start integrating this into the mix more.

-W

I agree, and would never use the word "ballistic" to a student. What I simply said was that the pitching motion was "in fact" a ballistic motion.......And some time should be spent strictly on nurturing that portion of the motion without distraction/correction.........

The reason I call it "velocity practice":

A.) It helps kids "work outside the box" when it comes to learning to be "naturally" athletic. I think of it in terms of the difference between a "structured" PE class.........And letting a kid go out and climb a tree on his own..........IMO, becoming more athletic is huge contributor to increasing velocity.........

B.) And because that portion of a session/workout is more like dropping a kid off at the playground to play dodge-ball, vs. running laps around a track........One will make you infinately "faster/stronger" then the other in terms of ballistic motion IMO........

 

[starsnuffer]

I agree, and would never use the word "ballistic" to a student. What I simply said was that the pitching motion was "in fact" a ballistic motion.......And some time should be spent strictly on nurturing that portion of the motion without distraction/correction.........

The reason I call it "velocity practice":

A.) It helps kids "work outside the box" when it comes to learning to be "naturally" athletic. I think of it in terms of the difference between a "structured" PE class.........And letting a kid go out and climb a tree on his own..........IMO, becoming more athletic is huge contributor to increasing velocity.........

B.) And because that portion of a session/workout is more like dropping a kid off at the playground to play dodge-ball, vs. running laps around a track........One will make you infinately "faster/stronger" then the other in terms of ballistic motion IMO........

I gotcha.

This reminds me a little of a "drill" that some of my TB pitchers developed on their own about 5 years ago that I turned into part of team pitching practice. The pitchers would arrive early with the catchers to do their workout before team practice. Typically the catchers and pitchers would all line up next to eachother. The girls made a game of counting down and pitching at the same time and seeing which pitch would "pop" the catchers glove first. I guess that, in essence, this accomplishes much the same thing as what you're saying.

-W