The "More-Less" Approach for Pitchers to Stay Healthy

October 22, 2015

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As many young pitchers finish Fall Ball and end nearly 10 months of playing baseball, from winter training to school ball to travel ball, a different approach is needed to helping minimize injury risk.

Many people are familiar with the concept of "Less is More". This is also true in baseball, except I call it the "More/Less" approach to injury prevention:

More/Less Approach #1: Throw More / Pitch Less

I covered this in my 'Fall Ball Fallacy' newsletter. Throwing is NOT about arm strength, it's about timing.

Look at hitters: all those swings in the cage not only help perfect their swing technique, but help perfect the TIMING of their swing, namely the tansfer of energy from their legs to their arms to hit the ball with maximum power.

This energy transfer is called 'the kinetic chain'. We also see this with golfers/hockey players/tennis players who ALL practice to improve the timing of their kinetic chain to make contact with maximum energy.

Pitchers MUST throw between starts to maintain the timing of their kinetic chain. But many don't, leading them to pitch more than they throw, resulting in a poor kinetic chain, increased arm stress, and possible injury.

More?Less Approach #2: Train More / Play Less

A common approach by nearly all of the travel teams my students pitch on is the lack of practice and over-emphasis on playing as many games as possible. This leads to a lack of development among the players.

What's the use of playing 60 games when the players' mechanics/hitting technique issues are not addressed?

If more emphasis was placed on practicing between games, both players and teams would be much more successful.

Instead of playing 50 games per year, playing 30 games and holding 20 practices would increase the quality of play in the games AND each player would improve significantly.

Need a resource for the best throwing drills? Pitching Mechanics? Conditioning? My video library covers all of these topics and more.

For pitchers, this also includes having a routine between pitching starts, a topic I covered in August. Having a routine is crucial to improving as a pitcher.

So....Throw More, Pitch Less...and Train More, Play Less.

Have a Question About This Newsletter?

Contact (PitchingDoc@msn.com / 631-325-7654) Dr. Arnold!