connection ball

Want to Make a Real Difference in Your Pitching Performance? Follow these three steps EXACTLY: A. Start by reducing or eliminating any regular pain, tightness or discomfort. First, identify the specific location(s) of your pain Second, rate the current degree of that pain 1-10. A rating of one equals incredibly small discomfort, soreness, tenderness, irritation or fatigue. A rating of...

The competitive baseball universe is very akin in many ways to our Western Culture at large, trends and fads are always in motion. As we all know from life experience, trends and fads simply come and go. In 2018, ‘weighted balls’ and velocity enhancement programs are decidedly in vogue. Even as I travel around the world to places like Italy...

The 2020 Vandy commit from Boca Raton, FL was a low to mid 80s lefty when I met him on September 23, 2016. He and his father made the 3-hour drive to the Florida Baseball Ranch® for a Precision Strike One Day One-On-One Evaluation and Training session. We conducted a full head-to-toe physical assessment and a video analysis of his movement pattern. We...

OK, admittedly that subject line is a little extreme, I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. It seems like every kid that comes in to see me – especially the ones who have had lots of pitching lessons – does one thing in almost EXACTLY the same way. And frankly, it’s driving me crazy!! What is it you ask? It’s this...

Having on-the-field success is the ultimate goal for all athletes. But how is that achieved? The vast majority of people focus on (1) sport specific training and/or (2) athletic abilities, such as strength and speed. Yet, there are more factors that contribute to success than just those two. We all know people with tremendous physical abilities that never achieve success on the field. I think the following graphic is a great example of the building block components that make up a successful athletic performance. Continue reading →

As I have mentioned in one or two of my past posts, I am on the email list to receive newsletters from Brad McLeod of SealgrinderPT.com. One of the recent emails I received reminds me of a saying Coach Wolforth uses frequently, “If you do what everybody else does, you will get what everybody else gets; which most of the time is not much.” But Brad put a different twist on it. He stated, “If you want to keep getting what you've been getting – keep on doing what you're doing. But if you want to see change - You have to break the pattern.NOW.” Continue reading →

In my last blog I discussed what a late launch is and why it is critical to an efficient delivery. Understanding what is meant by a late release and what it looks like is extremely valuable, but if you don’t know how to train yourself or your pitchers to have it then the knowledge is not very useful. Therefore, this blog will describe a few of the drills that Coach Ron Wolforth uses to teach his athletes at the Texas Baseball Ranch how to achieve a late launch. Continue reading →

In my post last week I discussed the arm positions that all pitchers should travel through during their delivery if they want to maximize the efficiency of their movement patterns and minimize the stress put on their arm. For the purposes of a quick recap, the 3 key positions that a pitcher should work to make sure he is in are: 1) At foot strike the elbow should be slightly below the shoulder. 2) At foot strike the forearm should be at or inside of 90 degrees with the arm. 3) As the pitcher rotates toward the plate and begins to square his chest up with the catcher his glove side should firm up to provide something stable to rotate into. Continue reading →