Mechanics

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Permalink Reply by Mike Easler on January 28, 2010 at 9:49am

Labrum surgery is not your biggest problem, like you said. Tinkering with Mechanics can cause all the problems. My first recommendation is to begin working on your hips, lats and glutes. All three areas need to become more flexible (especially the lats). I'm sure that you can find a quality Strength & Conditioning Coach where you live, that can help you with these issues.
Tight muscles (or short muscles) will cause compensations to be made. Baseball is a game of extreme movement. My personal training philosophy is "Move Better, Feel Better, Play Better". Your short term goal should be to get your joints and muscles moving as best as possible, then begin to strengthen those areas. Again, and I can't recommend this enough, find a qualified professional to help you with your program.

Please send me any other questions you might have.

Thanks,

Brandon Smith CSCS
www.conditionedtohit.com

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Permalink Reply by Chaz Henry on January 28, 2010 at 10:54am

Kyle, words will never fully describe your issues and drills won't correct what we can't see. I suggest you go onto www.PowerChalk.com and upload your pitching motion. Shoot with a digital camera from the umpire view or from the third base view (for right handers).

PowerChalk will let you (us) not only see the motion but to put it in superSlowMo. Using the PowerChalk split screen you can pull up a second video and compare the mechanics to a pro or to your motion in days gone by. I'm the CEO of PowerChalk and will be glad to upgrade your account to Pro in exchange for your feedback.

Best of luck working your way back. I get the impression that you're willing to the do the work. Hopefully PowerChalk will let you work smart.

Chaz Henry

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Permalink Reply by Coach Bill Ayres on January 28, 2010 at 11:06am

Martin,
I would concentrate on your stride and the speed of movement your lower body produces. I have taught my pitchers for 24 years that the arm does only 2 things. 1 it holds the ball and 2 it aims the ball. THATS IT! When you teach your lower body to explode towards home plate your arm justs comes along for the ride. This is what we teach. After 500 pitchers, we have never had one bad arm--EVER.

Work on your lower body mechanics and your arm will take care of itself. And please by all means have someone video tape you.When you see in slow motion what you are doing wrong, it then becomes easy to fix what is broken. With out video you are just guessing.

I would also suggest you take Mr. Brandon Smiths' advise and strengthen your core. A 4lb. med ball works wonders.

If I may be of service to you please don't hesitate to ask.

Have a Blessed day

Coach Bill Ayres
3 UP 3 DOWN PITCHING
joinjuice@comcast.net

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Permalink Reply by Joel Wetherell on January 28, 2010 at 12:05pm

Martin, do you curl your wrist around the ball before releasing it? This is an enabler to short arming. Try pointing your wrist away from you before bringing your arm forward. You don't need to go through the entire wind up to practice. Just start from the one-knee throw drill and work your way through each step in the motion.

I was able to overcome shoulder tendonitis by doing 4 things. It was so bad I would short-arm and then couldn't even raise my arm:

1. Cortisone shot. Hurt like hell at first, but was throwing within 2 weeks. Obviously, you're in a different boat.
2. Strengthen the shoulders. Many hours in the weight room to add muscle mass. I lost a little range in motion and maybe 1-2 mph, but a tradeoff I"m glad I made.
3. Glucosamine/condroitin. I've taken 1 horse pill every day for the last 16 years. Keeps the joints lubricated. No joint pain since 1994. If it's designed for the elderly, can't hurt taking it now.
4. Altered my mechanics. Moved from 3/4 to side/under. Took a lot of stress off the shoulder. It's healthy enough now where I can mix in a few over the top when needed.

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Permalink Reply by Paul L.J.Lagimodiere on January 28, 2010 at 9:49pm

DaCoach:
I agree with Coach Ayres. Your body throws the ball and the arm only guides and releases the ball. I suggest to stride straight to the plate with an extended stride, the same length in inches as your actual height. Nolan Ryans' stride was an extended stride. Your ball-hand must stay back until the stride foot has landed and the hips start rotating with arm following through the slot with elbow shoulder height,and finishing with a flat back,parallel to the ground,and throwing hand finishing at the outside of the landing foot knee. Also, I ask my pitchers to "drop and load" (a la Clements style) when taking the throwing hand out of glove to start the stride,the hand goes down first and straight up into load position (ball facing 3rd base, not 2nd base).No sore arms,due to a fast lower body stride w/strong hip rotation, body does the work to create high velocity. Work on good core exercises and stretch only after the workout and not before.Do dynamic warmups before throwing. If you take ball out of glove late or at the back side you will help increase your velocity. Mechanics and technique is the key.

The best in learning and pitching, (High~Per Baseball) hwy59lag@shaw.ca

Paul Lagimodiere

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Permalink Reply by HENRY MUNEVAR on January 28, 2010 at 11:47pm

WHY NOT TAKE SOME PRO LESSONS. AND LET AN EXPERT SEE YOUR MOTION. AND SEE WHAT HE THINKS. I DO NOT MEAN THE LOCAL LL MANAGER WHO KNOWS LITTLE.

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Permalink Reply by Jay Kibbe on January 29, 2010 at 1:25am

I agree basically with Coach Ayers about the lower body supplies the power and the upper body controls the
ball but you can relieve a lot of the pressure on your throwing arm by being a two armed pitcher instead of just using the one you throw with. Lincecum is a perfect example of using his left side to great advantage. If you look at video of Seaver, Carlton, Marichel, Spahn, Feller, even as far back as Christy Mathewson the use of their lead
arm to at first keep them back in the power position then to lead their upper body through the release was integral to their extended periods of success. If you learn to keep your lead elbow above your lead shoulder
as you begin your drive to the plate and have your arms work together you may not become as good at Lincecum but you will be better than you are now and your shoulder won't get as sore. I learned to do it in my 40's and wish I had started doing it more when it could have done me some good in my 20's.

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Permalink Reply by Michael on February 1, 2010 at 12:25pm

Kyle the only guys making sense here are Coach Ayres and Chaz Henry. It sounds like you were using too much arm and not allowing you lower body do the work, so your shoulder has become the point of overcompensation. Use the video, but it is critical that you have someone who actually knows what they are looking at in your mechanics. Otherwise you are back to square one.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Easler on February 2, 2010 at 9:53am

I like the comment Michael. I can't stress enough about how important it is to work on your hip/glute strength and flexibility! Many arm problems are caused from weakness or instability of other joints!! Please, all pitchers...do not overlook the importance of a quality training program that develops your entire body, not just your shoulder!!
Thanks, I encourage questions or comments.


Brandon Smith CSCS
Mike Easler's "Conditioned To Hit"
www.conditionedtohit.com
brandon@conditionedtohit.com

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Permalink Reply by Martin Siry on February 4, 2010 at 6:40pm

Wow the responses have been overwhelming. Thank you to everyone who has responded. I will be the first to tell you that when I used to train I didn't pay attention to much to my legs, honestly the last time I worked my legs on a regular basis was in 2004 when I played in college. Though once the season was over I went to play summer ball and didn't work out as much, and had a poor fall and wound up hurting my shoulder. Fast Forward to December 2007, I finally had surgery, went to rehab for 6 months straight, two times a week, they put me on a throwing program. Actually, the place I went for Rehab is the same exact place that Jose Reyes was seen training at this past week, so they know what they are doing. I did pitch that summer, only limited amount of time though, abou 7 innings. This past summer I threw about 18 innings and some games my arm was ok, some not so much. Just this week though I started a full-body training program, and plan on working every aspect, upper/lower/core with lots of resistance training and plyometrics.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Easler on February 5, 2010 at 9:21am

I believe that good training will help eliminate many physical problems and lessen the degree to which an injury can occur.
When I started my career I worked as part of the Strength & Conditioning staff for the New York Yankees and I would always hear Roger Clemons refer to his legs as his "money makers"!! Train your hips/glutes/legs and watch many of your shoulder problems disappear.

Martin, I would like to hear more about your progress, so please keep me posted.

Thanks,
Brandon Smith CSCS
Strength & Conditioning Expert
www.conditionedtohit.com

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Permalink Reply by Dave Kirilloff on February 11, 2010 at 10:02pm

Believe this or not - but every pitcher.. needs to maintain symmetry .. as soon as he removes the ball from his glove.. if you are a short arm thrower.. you would best to serve yourself - to remove the ball from the glove - when the glove is around your chest/armpit area..AND- lead with the front elbow towards homeplate .. NOT a fully extended front arm...
do you have a VIDEO of yourself - - this could lead to more comments and help from others..
Dave Kirilloff http://www.LanguageOfBaseball.com

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