Why so much talk about pitching speed?

[ArmWhip]

You can do workouts where speed is the goal and workouts where accuracy or spin is the goal.

It seems to me that the higher you go the more important accuracy becomes because you run into more and more hitters who can handle speed if it's down the middle.

 

[Mark H]

On an ongoing basis, absolutely. I'm speaking more to the new pitcher. And yes, movement and location are imperative. As I said in my analogy, the foundation is the speed but if you don't develop movement and location, you will be sleeping in the rain on top of an excellent foundation. OTOH, if you don't build the strongest foundation possible, it will limit the strength of all you build on top of it in terms of movement, location, change of speed, knowledge of what to throw when where etc.

 

[ifubuildit]

Guess it depends on what you consider

To be the foundation of pitching. To me the most important part of pitching is controlling the flight of the ball. If you cannot control it and hit your spots your going to get hit hard. That control is developed through proper mechanics and the understanding of the positioning of the body relative to release of the ball. Along with the spin applied for the particular pitch.

My mentor for pitching never talked in terms of speed. He often talked in terms of ball spin and control of the mechanics. He knew if the mechanics were right the speed would come with development of the athletic ablility of the pitcher.

I currently have an 9 year old who is an excellent athlete. Ex Gymnastics gym rat. Quit to play softball and is now becoming a pitcher. I have her on radar throwing 43 MPH for ONE pitch. She is consistently above 40. That is not because I told her to throw hard. She does it because her body and the mechanics I have taught her allow her to do it. With control.

You can teach mechanics and control. Speed comes from strength. God given or developed. You can do all the drills you want to develop speed but if there is no strength there is no speed to develop.

Elliott.

 

[Mark H]

You can also have plenty of strength, good to the eye mechanics and yet not throw as fast as your potential. Optimal muscle sequencing and body positioning for maximum energy development and delivery and only be coached up to a point. After that, it's trial and error/practice. Immediate objective feedback is immensely helpful in motor learning at that point in the process.

 

[Ken Krause]

To throw hard you first have to have the intention to throw hard. In my experience, pitchers who get this idea tend to throw better when they throw hard.

I don't think you can separate speed, control, and mechanics. The first two are interrelated to the third. That doesn't mean that everyone can throw equally hard. There are a lot of factors involved. But I truly believe it's just as easy to throw accurately when you throw hard as when you throw easy -- if you practice throwing hard.

Control, to me, is not a goal. It's a result. If you make the movements correctly, and release the ball at the right spot in the motion, the ball will go where it should. Every time. Remember, the ball doesn't care who's throwing it or how hard they're throwing it. It will simply respond according to what the pitcher does.

 

[Mark H]

You could talk a long time on the importance of intent in motor learning. Another very important factor.

 

[bigdaddy]

There was a study done on young tennis players. To make a long story short...

...the researchers took two equal groups of beginner tennis players. Group A was taught to hit the snot out of the ball from day 1. Group B was taught to control the ball from day 1. After a period of time (one year if my memory serves), the Group A players were way ahead of the Group B players. The conclusion was that IF you learn control first WHEN you need to perform the same task at higher speeds you will NEED to re-learn control!

I am convinced that a pitcher should learn to THROW first and PITCH second!

IOW, throwing is using your body efficiently. Pitching is control, spin, etc.

Learning to pitch first retards the ability to throw.


REMEMBER...every boy who ever pitched did so YEARS after he learned to throw. OTOH, most girls throw with the windmill motion for the first time at their first pitching lesson. Then two weeks later they are pitching in a game and their dad is yelling "just throw strikes"!

Keith

 

[sluggers]

Question: Can your softball pitchers play catch throwing underhand? You know, standing 40 feet apart, can they toss the ball back and forth as easily as if they throwing overhand? Or, do they have to go through the entire, tortuous windup every time they throw the ball underhanded?

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Yes, we can play catch throwing underhand. What are you leading to?

 

[Mark H]

There was a study done on young tennis players. To make a long story short...

...the researchers took two equal groups of beginner tennis players. Group A was taught to hit the snot out of the ball from day 1. Group B was taught to control the ball from day 1. After a period of time (one year if my memory serves), the Group A players were way ahead of the Group B players. The conclusion was that IF you learn control first WHEN you need to perform the same task at higher speeds you will NEED to re-learn control!

I am convinced that a pitcher should learn to THROW first and PITCH second!

IOW, throwing is using your body efficiently. Pitching is control, spin, etc.

Learning to pitch first retards the ability to throw.


REMEMBER...every boy who ever pitched did so YEARS after he learned to throw. OTOH, most girls throw with the windmill motion for the first time at their first pitching lesson. Then two weeks later they are pitching in a game and their dad is yelling "just throw strikes"!

Keith

You have a gift for making the point I'm trying to make only doing a much better job than I did when I tried.