Thank You 2009!

Being that it is the final day of 2009, I wanted to extend a thank you to everyone who has supported AE throughout the year. I'm surrounded by great people in this business, and am fortunate enough to work with players who are on that same level. I'm looking forward to some eye opening seasons in 2010. Have a Happy and Healthy New Year!

The Mythical Unicorn: Training Mechanically for Scapular Loading

Since I began coaching high school baseball in 2005, a hot topic among coaches has been training their pitchers to focus on an upper body scapular load. I can't begin to stress how backwards this type of thought is, and you SHOULD NOT allow anyone preaching these mechanical adjustments to work with your son. A scapular load, defined, is the load transfer across the scapula during humeral abduction. In Layman's terms, it is a point in the windup, where the pitcher is bringing his chest towards the plate, and the elbows retract past the shoulders towards each other, creating a pinching effect on the back and shoulders. Think of trying to crack and egg, between your shoulder blades, while trying to touch your elbows behind your back. This reaction happens naturally due to torque created by a pitchers back hip rotating towards home plate, with that torque gradually working its way up his body, until his throwing arm is out in front, releasing the ball towards home plate. Kinetic energy at its finest. The problem with teaching a scapular load is most pitchers will load too early, losing the torque in their lower half, causing them to throw "all arm." The whole idea behind scapular loading is to get pitchers to throw harder. Unfortunately, throwing with maximum velocity is not a muscling up with our arm. In fact, the idea goes against all mechanical thought of keeping a pitcher healthy, while getting him to throw at maximum velocity.

Let's not forget the order of importance when it comes to pitching at an effective level: 1)Command of both sides of the plate with our fastball, first and foremost. 2) Two plane break on 2 pitches (this includes the two seam fastball), 3 pitches if you want to be a starter. 3) Velocity. With all that said, let's bring it all together. If you want your son to maximize his potential on the mound, always start at the feet. The legs and core throw the baseball, and keep the arm healthy at the same time. Shoulder work with the J-Bands will make his arm strong, and help build arm strength if combined with the proper throwing routine. Velocity will come as he matures into adulthood, and the best thing you can do for your son, at a young age, is to get him throwing the ball with proper mechanics. His strength will develop as he grows, and remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint. If you allow your son to throw by scapular loading, you are putting him on a fast track to inconsistency and arm injuries.

Keeping Your Weight Back

Todays topic will cover keeping your weight back while delivering the ball to the plate. All the kids I've worked with, lately, seem to be rushing the ball to home plate. This is a common mistake among all pitchers, not just young ones. Take a look at Eric Gagne when he was with the Dodgers. As he is coming toward home plate, he is keeping his head and all of his weight, over his back leg. This will allow him to deliver the ball to home plate with not only maximum velocity, but precision accuracy. You might ask, "What does keeping your head back have to do with you throwing with precision accuracy?" Keeping the head over the back leg has everything to do with throwing quality strikes. By keeping his head back, Gagne allows his arm to catch up, and get out in front of him, creating a consistent release point. The key to throwing strikes is finding a consistent release point.

If we take a look at Rick Ankiel, we can see the difference of having your head back (Gagne) and having your head out on your front foot (Ankiel). Ankiel, if you don't remember, was an unbelievable pitching talent, coming through the St. Louis Cardinals organization. When I took a look at his mechanics, I couldn't believe that he was able to throw as hard as he did, and as well as he did. Obviously, it was only a matter of time before his pitching mechanics caught up to him. Rick ended up having one of the biggest meltdowns in post season history, and I believe that his pitching mechanics had a lot to do with it, as well as a loss of confidence. If the head gets out on your front foot, one of two things will happen with your release point. 1) Your arm will not have enough time to catch up, causing your release point to be extremely high, thus elevating the ball in the strike zone or even landing the ball high on the backstop. 2) Your arm will compensate, rush towards home plate, causing your release point to be too far out in front, thus bouncing the ball short of the plate. Ankiel had both of these problems and, forgetting about the mental side of it, I believe this was an enormous reason why he wasn't able to throw quality strikes.

Consistency

Consistency is the key to being not only a successful baseball player, but successful in life as well. The most successful pitcher's in the game today, are the one's who keep a consistent routine. By keeping this routine, they put themselves in position to be as successful as possible when their number is called. Consistency defined is steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, form, etc. This applies to pitcher's in the way they go about their work year round, from the off season training, to in season maintenance. I believe the most consistent pitcher in the history of baseball, was Nolan Ryan. His year round training routine is legendary in baseball circles, which is the main reason he was able to throw as hard and as well as he did, for 23 years in the big leagues. Nolan Ryan pushed himself harder than anyone in baseball. The work he did during his off days were what gave him the ability to be one of the greatest pitcher's in the history of the game. Roger Clemens was one of the greatest of all time as well, and he followed Nolan Ryan's routine. The purpose of today's blog is to show what it takes, mentally and physically, to play, and stay, at the highest level of competition. If you are a young pitcher, looking for something to take from this, I would say to come up with a routine and stick to it. A good year round routine will create good year round repetition, allowing you to become the best possible pitcher you can be.

PAP

Today's blog topic is short and sweet. I encourage all parents of pitchers to take a look at the Baseball Prospectus website. First, PAP stands for Pitcher Abuse Points, which is a system created by Baseball Prospectus in an effort to reduce the amount of arm injuries occuring with todays pitcher. Generally, there is a TON of quality information on this website, and I recommend anyone interested in getting deeper into arm care, to take a look at the entire site's content. I firmly believe in the guidelines set by Baseball Prospectus, and expect my pitchers to work effectively within those guidelines.

The Curveball

Every kid in America wants to throw the curveball, from the time they step on a baseball field. The problem is, most, if not all kids, don't know how to throw the pitch properly. Most kids grip the ball, wind up, and twist their wrists, as if they were screwing a light bulb to the ceiling. This is one reason kids develop elbow problems at a young age. Two things must happen in order to prevent elbow soreness due to the curveball. 1) A pitcher must learn from an early age how to properly throw the curveball and 2) His coach should not call it every other pitch, as I have see all the way up through the high school ranks. To my first point, on how to throw the pitch properly, one tool I picked up at Middle Tennessee State University was the double ball. Our pitching coach, Kevin Erminio (Kennessaw State, Miami OH, MTSU, Clemson), taught us how to throw the pitch properly with the double ball. The double ball is simple; two baseballs wrapped in duct tape or athletic tape. With the bottom ball in hand, a pitcher throws the ball exactly like his fastball, until his hand gets out in front of him. When his hand gets in front of him, he then releases the ball, pointing his index finger and thumb at the target, as if it were a gun, for lack of a better term. It should be noted that most of the pressure in his fingers should be in his middle finger and thumb as he grips the ball through his delivery. The index finger is just along for the ride. If the double ball is thrown correctly, it will spin in a 12-6/1-7 rotation for righties, and 12-6/11-5 for lefties. Practice with the double ball should consist of no more than 2 sets of 8-10 repetitions. Once completed, the pitcher should pick up a baseball, grip it exactly as he gripped the double ball, and go through the same motion. If done correctly, the ball will break in the same plane as the double ball.

No Fear: The Closer's Mentality

With all the attention that Brad Lidge's struggles have attracted this season, I figured I would write about the closer's mentality. I've been asked the question of whether or not there is a difference between being a closer vs. a starter, mentally. The answer is absolutely. A starting pitcher approaches his day with a marathon runner's mentality. His goal is to pace himself, use the defense behind him, and pitch as deep into the game as possible, by throwing strikes and keeping his pitch count low. When a closer enters a game, he is usually coming into a high pressure situation, potentially with men on base and definately with the game hanging in the balance. His goals are to go as hard as he can for 3 outs, retiring the batters at all costs. A closer must have "ice in his veins." When he enters this situation, every person in the ballpark is amped up, including himself. The crowd is raucous, along with the opposing team. A closer must take the hill with nothing less than 100% confidence in himself, fearing nobody. With that said, Brad Lidge's struggles this season have been nothing more than a confidence problem. He has allowed a couple of blown saves and bad pitches, at the beginning of the season, to effect his mental toughness. Brad Lidge needs to take his mentality back to last season, to remember the 48 times he was successful, regain that feeling of confidence, and his issues will be solved. He's allowing too many people influence his thought process right now. Some have said his problems are his mechanics, some have said his knee is still bothering him, some people think he's finished. It's all background noise. He needs to forget everyone elses opinion, realize that he has some of the best "stuff" in baseball, and throw the ball with conviction. As the old saying goes, the only thing to fear, is fear itself.

The G.I.R.D (Sleeper) Stretch

The G.I.R.D (Glenohumeral Internal Rotation Deficit) stretch is a series of shoulder stretches I was introduced to after having surgery on my Rotator Cuff/Labrum in 2006. Many pitchers, if not all, experience a lack of internal rotation within their throwing shoulder. G.I.R.D is created by the repetitive motion of a pitcher throwing throughout their career. Through repetitive throwing, a pitcher develops changes within the soft tissue of the shoulder, stretching the muscles, tendons, and ligaments, allowing a pitcher to gain External Rotation (loosening of the front of the shoulder), but at the same time, creating restrictions within his Internal Rotation (tightening of the back of the shoulder). And here my friends, is where the problem falls. When the posterior of the shoulder becomes tight, a pitcher becomes predisposed to shoulder injuries, particularly Rotator Cuff and Labral tears. In order to prevent this, pitchers MUST perform the G.I.R.D stretching series. Since I began coaching, every one of my pitchers performs this stretch after their dynamic warm up, pre game or practice. A pitcher should never start throwing until he is 1.) Properly warmed up through dynamic warm up, and 2.) He performs the G.I.R.D stretching series. The stretch begins with a player laying on the ground, on his throwing shoulder side. He will then lay his throwing elbow at 90 degrees from his body, his arm at a 90 degree angle. With his non-throwing hand, he will press down gently on his throwing arm wrist, until he feels a good stretch, and hold this position for 15-20 seconds. He must perform this for 3 sets of 15-20 seconds each. After he finishes, he should move his throwing arm to 120 degrees, and 45 degrees, and perform the stretch exactly like he did at 90 degrees, for the same amount of sets and reps.

Welcome!

First off, let me thank you for stopping by "Aces Elite." I created this organization in order to further educate players and parents on the proper ways of becoming a complete pitcher. During my lifetime in baseball, I have seen a lot of pitchers careers cut short due to misinformation and overwork. My goal is simple...Through proper mechanics, nutrition, arm care, and off-season/in-season training, you WILL NOT break down. Any questions or comments you may have, please feel free to leave them and I will answer them promptly. Again, I thank you for stopping by and look forward to being in contact with you!