How many times have you heard these lines? “It’s a mental issue.” “He has the yips.” “He lost the ability to throw strikes.” “It’s all in his head.” “He’s mentally weak.” They’re catch-all phrases that hope to captur...
We’re buried in work at Driveline Baseball with the off-season in full swing, but here’s a sneak peek to see what crazy fun stuff we’re up to in the lab:
Recently someone asked me a question that I get fairly frequently: I see a lot of strength, conditioning, and training videos and articles on your site, but not a lot about mechanics. Do you teach mechanics in your MaxVelo program? I have mixed reactions to questions along these lines – one be...
There are a lot of over-simplified cues when it comes to pitching mechanics in the hopes of making the frustrating art of throwing 90+ MPH with precision a simple task. Obviously this isn’t the case, considering how few people can actually do this, despite a massively growing industry of pitch...
Last week we had a handful of our pro clients in the facility to learn about how we’re using high-speed video, two types of weighted ball training, and a new mechanical model on pitching. It was a huge success and a ton of fun, and our high school clients got to work out alongside of guys like...
While in Houston for the Ultimate Coaches’ Bootcamp, Ron talked about a “late launch” being important in the pitching delivery. In this article, I’ll give you a few examples of the late launch before breaking it into its biomechanical parts. What does the Late Launch look lik...
There are a few writers and people out there who criticize me for talking about pitchers’ mechanics without having specific joint loads (kinetics), stating that it’s akin to “guessing” without any merit. Their claims that without a full biomechanical analysis (presumably usin...
Following up on last week’s post on the NPA Velocity “holds,” here are some more high-speed shots of throws vs. holds and the arm action disconnection problems that occur as a result: And for fun, a 5oz (regulation) throw vs. a 7oz heavy ball throw:
The National Pitching Association (NPA) has promoted their $435 Velocity Plus throwing program, which gets you this set of equipment: From what I can tell, you get: A sock (“velocity towel”) Two sand-filled Pilates balls ($20 total on Amazon) Four weighted baseballs ($40 total on Amazon...
My post on Ubaldo Jimenez’s lost 96 MPH fastball went up today over at The Hardball Times. In it, I talked about the need for dedicated video review by an analyst in the Player Development department of every MLB club. I strongly believe MLB teams should set up two high-speed video cameras tha...
