In Part 1 of this series, we wrote about how data and analytics provided by new equipment is changing the way pitchers are getting evaluated and trained. Today, we’re going to dig a little deeper into the baseball spin rate and review several related topics:
As much as some people don’t want to admit it, baseball is turning even more into a numbers game run by machines such as Statcast, Rapsodo and Trackman, to name a few. The ordinary fan watching a game on TV is getting a glimpse of this when they see Aaron Judge’s exit velo, launch angle, projected distance and exit velocity pop on the screen, or, when they’re watching Aroldis Chapman and instantly see his velo, extension, spin rate, and horizontal and vertical movement. Whether we like or not, data is changing the landscape for baseball players. And I can speak to this first hand, from my own experience with the Indians over the past 7 years. Continue reading “Analytics is Changing Pitcher Evaluations… You Better Get Ready”
As a part of what we do here at RPP, we’re always reviewing and analyzing pitching video of all different ages, levels and size. I can say without a doubt that 8 out of 10 or 80% of all pitchers we analyze lack sufficient use of their lower half. Continue reading “Power from Lower Half Pitching Mechanics”
Many times, when analyzing video of our young pitchers, I’ll come across an excessive lateral trunk tilt at foot strike. It’s quite common in younger throwers and is characterized by an excessive lean (tilt) contralaterally towards your left side at ball release (if you’re a right-handed pitcher and vice versa). The head becomes tilted, facing away from the driveline and gives the appearance that the athlete is getting ready to launch the ball over a three-story building.
Continue reading “Addressing and Treating Trunk Tilt at Foot Strike – Part 1”
There is no doubt that the pitching world is being taken over by new information. MLB’s Statcast system, Trackman radars and Rapsodo cameras and devices are showing up everywhere measuring velocity, baseball spin rates, spin axes, among other things. And pitchers and coaches are digging in to see how to include all this information in their preparation and training. Continue reading “Analyzing Baseball Spin Rate and Training Pitchers”
We work with athletes and train guys who are really serious about getting bigger, stronger and faster. That’s what we are most passionate about. Granted, there are five million strength coaches who flip tires, train with CrossFit and run boot camps with ladder drills and cone drills and call it training. Well, I’m here to tell you that it needs to be better than that if athletes are to get to the next level. Today, we are listing some “must have’s” for a baseball training facility to be deemed adequate before placing yourself or your child into a so called “program”. Continue reading “Baseball Training Facility, Top 10 Things to Look For”
Unfortunately, 90% of the pitcher population cannot handle the amount of lumbar extension Tim Lincecum put his body through. It’s no mystery that low back pain can severely compromise velocity, as well as command, in pitchers. In Part 3 of this series on Pain Site vs. Pain Source, we’ll look at low back pain and some possible “sites” distally that could be causing it. We’ll also look at some things we can do from both the strength and mobility (mechanics) side that may help to relieve unwanted stress in the area. Lower back pain after pitching can be caused by many things, but for the scope of this article, we’re going to concentrate on… Continue reading “3 Reasons for Lower Back Pain after Pitching”
In Part 2 of this series on pain site vs. pain source (click here for Part 1), we’ll look several ways the lower half pitching mechanics can lead to pitching elbow pain and how it’s not always originating at the arm (or from the upper half for that matter). Continue reading “3 Ways the Lower Half Can Cause Pitching Elbow Pain”
It seems that just about every pitcher, these days, has experienced pain at various points of their pitching career. For a pitcher or a position player, pitching shoulder pain can be a result of one or a combination of three things, lack of strength/mobility, mechanical disconnects and/or overuse. Does the following scenario sound familiar? Continue reading “Pitching Shoulder Pain… Strength, Mobility, Mechanical or Overuse”
