Pitching and staying sharp in-season

[_MIA_]

Does it? I read this which seems to conflict with your interpretation.

"The aforementioned results suggest that consistent movement by a pitcher plays an important role in maintaining accuracy during pitching."

Yeah...that was the authors summarizing somebody else's study...

The particular study @ArmWhip referred to hypothesized that the end result they were looking at here (hand positioning in a pitched ball) can be made consistent in the face of (unavoidable) neurological fluctuation of body movements through what they are calling covariation of body degrees of freedom (in this study joint angles). Basically you can "stabilize" the end result in the face of variability through compensation.

With respect to the topic at hand, whether the development of these compensations (covariations) at lower arm speed is relevant for a game speed pitch I am not sure.

 

[kibadbo]

There is a lot of information out there, motor skill learning/acquisition has been scientifically studied for over a decade now, the question is do you really want to go down this rabbit hole? Here is an example;

http://gwulf.faculty.unlv.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Chua_Variable_practice_AF_2019.pdf

If you want something more practical spend some time looking around the Driveline website.

Thank you @ArmWhip! This is exactly what I was referring to. I didn't know where to start to explain. You explained it better than I would have. Another practical application that I thought was useful is Adam Young's The Practice Manual. It's a golf book that I bought to improve my terrible golf game. It helped so much I started using some of the principles for my DD's pitching.

 

[ArmWhip]

Does it? I read this which seems to conflict with your interpretation.

"The aforementioned results suggest that consistent movement by a pitcher plays an important role in maintaining accuracy during pitching."

Great article by the way. Study was regarding joint angles not arm speed, which is what we are discussing, so while not germane, still interesting none the less.

You can cherry pick sentences but then you miss the overall conclusion, here is that conclusion;

The results imply that expert male baseball pitchers utilize covariations in joint movements to stabilize the hand movement at the instant of ball release and that the covariation in the stride leg is more important than that in the throwing arm for accurate and stable fastball pitching. Reducing the variability of each joint angle as well as utilizing the variability may be necessary for accurate and consistent fastball pitching.

covariation ​

n. a relationship between two quantitative variables such that as one variable tends to increase (or decrease) in value, the corresponding values of the other variable tend to also increase (or decrease).

 

[Northball]

Now I feel justified when someone sets up three hitting stations with tees all at the same height, I change the heights so there's a low, medium and high tee setting and have the girls rotate through all three.

 

[Northball]

So now I'm wondering if I should have my pitchers work a series of pitches from 40', then 43', then 46'. They already do a progressive long toss, but that's just focused to build velocity, not increase accuracy.

 

[_MIA_]

Now I feel justified when someone sets up three hitting stations with tees all at the same height, I change the heights so there's a low, medium and high tee setting and have the girls rotate through all three.

TBH, I think many who espouse this type of training don't like the tee because it removes the randomness (to the hitter at least) of pitch speed/location.

 

[Gags]

Does it? I read this which seems to conflict with your interpretation.

"The aforementioned results suggest that consistent movement by a pitcher plays an important role in maintaining accuracy during pitching."

Great article by the way. Study was regarding joint angles not arm speed, which is what we are discussing, so while not germane, still interesting none the less.

w/o having read the article, I read that sentence as something that strengthens ArmWhip's interpretation. If we're talking arm speed in BP vs game, is it really a different motion? Take out the full windup - is the arm circle really going to be any different? The effort / arm speed will be, but the motion / arm circle itself should be nearly identical.

 

[daywalkerdad]

How many times per week does a high school girl need to pitch (in a game or on the side) to remain sharp?

DD is 13 needs to pitch 2 times a week, 3-4 is preferred. This is accompanied by a night of mirror work or throwing foam balls in a net.
It is tough with rainouts not knowing when pitching in team practice, school activity, to keep a schedule. I have been amazed with 15 min of mirror work keeps her sharp when she cannot throw.

 

[ArmWhip]

So now I'm wondering if I should have my pitchers work a series of pitches from 40', then 43', then 46'. They already do a progressive long toss, but that's just focused to build velocity, not increase accuracy.

I will have some pitchers do what I call target practice. I will have the catcher move the glove around on every pitch and allow them to go more than a foot outside the strike zone, and high and right on top of the plate. We will also use different weight and size balls. A lot depends on where the pitcher is in her development.

 

[El Oso]

You can cherry pick sentences but then you miss the overall conclusion, here is that conclusion;

The results imply that expert male baseball pitchers utilize covariations in joint movements to stabilize the hand movement at the instant of ball release and that the covariation in the stride leg is more important than that in the throwing arm for accurate and stable fastball pitching. Reducing the variability of each joint angle as well as utilizing the variability may be necessary for accurate and consistent fastball pitching.

​

Those words bolded above indicate to me that there's no concrete conclusions that came out of the study.