kylebee
02-09-2007, 11:27 PM
Long time, no post! I've been absent from the forums for awhile now for two reasons:
1) I started to feel pain in the arm from overuse and what is probably poor conditioning. I shut it down for about two weeks, iced it, ran a lot, and threw tennis balls in my garage until I felt fine to throw long toss and from the mound, which was today.
2) I wanted to take some time off, research the videos, read some material, and get a better idea of what I wanted to do as a pitcher.
My arm felt really good today, so I threw tenatively with my workout partner from 40 feet without a problem, extending it eventually to 150 feet and then from the mound with no pain or problems. I threw a bullpen session today with drastically improved results (if I do say so myself).
After carefully reviewing a lot of material out there, I decided on giving Dick Mills pitching system a shot. Please note that I'm not fully subscribing to anything, and that I'm just trying to collect all the information out there that I can to further my study of baseball mechanics and improve as a pitcher. Too many people on this board (and elsewhere) claim that Tom House/Mike Marshall/Dick Mills/Steven Ellis/Chris O'Leary/whoever is a hack and has nothing worthwhile to say. This is silly! We can learn from a lot of different perspectives, so long as we keep an open mind and see what works for us as individuals.
I spoke with Dick on the phone, who gave me some general pointers, and sent me animated GIFs of Nolan Ryan and Daisuke Matsuzaka to illustrate what he was trying to tell me. These points were:
1) Take a bigger rocker step backwards
2) Speed up the time from the apex of the leg kick to foot strike
3) Picture yourself lunging aggressively to the target and leading with the lower half
4) Increase your stride length
In doing so, I created a lot more velocity, my arm was delayed, and I felt like I was really throwing again with some promise. It had been since college that I felt this way! I was striding sideways to the target, my weight was getting forward, and while my breaking pitches weren't as good, the velocity was killer.
Here's the latest video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joXLj4WfgA0
Compare this to just a month ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtbIG8O0Dzw
I am extremely happy with the progress I'm making so far, and I've only reviewed a slight bit of Dick Mills pitching instructions. I feel that by incorporating his ideas and combining them with what many have been telling me here, that I'll become a more effective amateur-level pitcher.
I do know that I need to increase my stride length still, but there's another rubber at the playing field I'm currently at which interferes with a larger stride. We plan on moving elsewhere soon, though.
By the way, my coach from last year called me and asked to retain me, and agreed to give me an audition on the mound since the #3 left the team. Only 45 days left...
EDIT: What is everyone's thoughts about delaying the arm's high-cock position until foot strike?
1) I started to feel pain in the arm from overuse and what is probably poor conditioning. I shut it down for about two weeks, iced it, ran a lot, and threw tennis balls in my garage until I felt fine to throw long toss and from the mound, which was today.
2) I wanted to take some time off, research the videos, read some material, and get a better idea of what I wanted to do as a pitcher.
My arm felt really good today, so I threw tenatively with my workout partner from 40 feet without a problem, extending it eventually to 150 feet and then from the mound with no pain or problems. I threw a bullpen session today with drastically improved results (if I do say so myself).
After carefully reviewing a lot of material out there, I decided on giving Dick Mills pitching system a shot. Please note that I'm not fully subscribing to anything, and that I'm just trying to collect all the information out there that I can to further my study of baseball mechanics and improve as a pitcher. Too many people on this board (and elsewhere) claim that Tom House/Mike Marshall/Dick Mills/Steven Ellis/Chris O'Leary/whoever is a hack and has nothing worthwhile to say. This is silly! We can learn from a lot of different perspectives, so long as we keep an open mind and see what works for us as individuals.
I spoke with Dick on the phone, who gave me some general pointers, and sent me animated GIFs of Nolan Ryan and Daisuke Matsuzaka to illustrate what he was trying to tell me. These points were:
1) Take a bigger rocker step backwards
2) Speed up the time from the apex of the leg kick to foot strike
3) Picture yourself lunging aggressively to the target and leading with the lower half
4) Increase your stride length
In doing so, I created a lot more velocity, my arm was delayed, and I felt like I was really throwing again with some promise. It had been since college that I felt this way! I was striding sideways to the target, my weight was getting forward, and while my breaking pitches weren't as good, the velocity was killer.
Here's the latest video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joXLj4WfgA0
Compare this to just a month ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtbIG8O0Dzw
I am extremely happy with the progress I'm making so far, and I've only reviewed a slight bit of Dick Mills pitching instructions. I feel that by incorporating his ideas and combining them with what many have been telling me here, that I'll become a more effective amateur-level pitcher.
I do know that I need to increase my stride length still, but there's another rubber at the playing field I'm currently at which interferes with a larger stride. We plan on moving elsewhere soon, though.
By the way, my coach from last year called me and asked to retain me, and agreed to give me an audition on the mound since the #3 left the team. Only 45 days left...
EDIT: What is everyone's thoughts about delaying the arm's high-cock position until foot strike?