Originally Posted by Stats4Gnats:
Assuming this is something that has basis in fact and is worthwhile, here’s where I have reservations. For every coach who fully understands it and has the capacity to teach it correctly, there’s gonna be 100 who try but teach it wrong, and 1,000 dads or players who try to do it on their own and really get it mucked up. So what happens to those players who get poor instruction or do it incorrectly on their own?
Is this the next magic potion to gain velocity, the cause of a new wave of pitching injuries, or something in between? Personally I don’t know because it’s a new thought to me, but I have to say that after many years on this earth I lean much more toward being careful than going into it full blast.
I think the real danger in instruction are the 'old school' guys who don't use video, don't research modern strength and fitness methods, don't embrace new thoughts and remain close minded. And while I am sure there are plenty of good instructors out there who are former pros my experience with these guys have been mostly bad. So while I agree we should not be quick to jump at anything we need to accept the fact that modern technology has opened a lot of doors for evaluation and improvement. Youngguns talks about Porceau who I have researched and like a lot of what he says but I am more of a cressey fan. Here's the thing if someone could show me someone else's plan makes sense I would change my thinking. So I guess that is the bottom line, always be open minded and keep on exchanging ideas like on this site and never stop researching. I just think a lot of the baseball community fails to keep these practices and falls back on the old " I talked to a college coach and he said" or "my cousins neighbor played pro ball and he said". Watch the video of mlb guys and do your research and you will be far better off in the long run than just taking anybody's word for things. I always tell my guys they should trust but verify. Listen to me but do your own research to check out what I am saying. And feel free to come back and disagree with me but do it with scientific, statistical or video evidence not anecdotal stuff like "my pitching instructor said..."