Allowing pitchers to be unique

I'm not a pitching guru, but I've seen coaches in other sports actually try to change the part of a kid's game that is giving him the most success. Coaches often have a syndrome that I think is subconscious which tries to attack what is contrary to what the coach teaches.

I suppose there are situations where that is beneficial. But I am struck by the number of major league pitchers who don't throw the way that orthodox instructors prefer.

You see the same thing with hitting. Should Albert Pujols be trying to hit like Ichiro Suzuki? or vice versa? Ted Williams or Henry Aaron? Mike Schmidt or George Brett? they all did it differently but I think you'd take any of these guys on your team.

Sheesh, but how can I charge 50 bucks an hour to just throw BP or put a kid on a mound and let him work??! I agree with statement, 'some coaches are programmed to change something; anything, just for change sake'

One pitching based site interviewed several established college pitching coaches and asked them what the number 1 mistake was that new pitching coaches tended to make. The answer was almost unanimous - making changes for the sake of making changes.

I wouldn't be surprised if Fred Corral who has been contributing here lately was one of those interviewed.

IMO, The best pitching coaches and instructors make "adjustments" rather than change everything. Of course, that is if the pitcher is very good to begin with.

Billy Connors long time Major League pitching coach and someone most would say is a true pitching "guru", is someone I watched closely. If I had to describe his technique it would be, he is a master of making small adjustments.

Perhaps the only reason for large scale changes would be injury prevention. But injury prevention has to balance with the pitchers production and potential for success.

The goal is to be a healthy and successful pitcher. Many great pitchers suffer injuries, even career ending injuries. Being healthy, but ineffective, is not acceptable if the goal is a high one.

There are millions of healthy arms running around the country because most people don't pitch. The only sure way to stay away from risk of pitching injury? Don't pitch!

I actually look at hitting a bit differently. There are certain things that young very successful hitters do, that due to the current success, leads people to think "If it aint broke, Don't fix it".

I suppose anything is possible. We see lots of successful youth league hitters. Some of them in our opinion need to make changes because their current swing mechanics and approach is not going to work at the higher levels.

The longer these problems go on, the harder it is to change. In this case, I would say "Fix it, before it's too late". Those that are "pure" natural hitters, will not lose that ability.

There actually are certain things that "nearly" all great hitters do very much alike.

Obviously the individual players’ tool set can change things (Ichiro) (Pierre)

Thank you for your post PG, I was going to comment but you said it much better.
Most pitchers have their own mechanics, but there are good ones and bad ones, a good pitching coach knows what to change and how to change them over time.
Sully calls them tweeks, and FWIW, it's a constant process.
I didn't see the article, but most ML hitters are familiar with most ML pitchers. No secrets except for the young guys just beginning. My understanding always was that the reliever in the same game should look different. I may be wrong.

Meachrm:
I totally agree with what your saying, and it even comes into play with batting in some situations.
I play varsity for a team in NC and as soon as i got here as a freshman on varsity they told me all the completely different things about what i should do with hitting, each coach had his own prspective and when the other coach would look he would tell me something different also.
Thanks for posting!

"Unique" is good if you throw 90+. Otherwise, expect lots of "help" from others.

Ain't that the truth.

BaseballByTheYard

Kind of funny but around where I live there are quite a few players who get pitching lessons, and they are the ones who need it. The good pitchers in my area really don't go to pitching coaches.

There are many parents who think and believe that you can just throw money on a coach to magically change son into a superstar. From what I have noticed around here, the best pitchers are those who have virtually been left alone in their mechanics (no real professional help) and have been left on their own to perfect their mechanics and velocity.

quote:

I guess it becomes a balancing act of teaching kids the proper, safe mechanics to be successful on one hand but allowing the kid the freedom to develop his own unique style at the same time.

with meachrm and PGStaff

"Rebuilding" a pitcher from the ground up often becomes a useless act of futility and ends up hurting a kid more than it helps by taking from them whatever natural ability they have to throw in an effective way.

I have observed some kids that have become so "wrapped up" in instructors mechanical instruction that they simply can't throw the ball anymore.

meachrm I think just the fact that you have an awareness that there is a

quote:

balancing

process in all of this tells me you probably do a pretty good job of it all!

Great thread and really good posts.
I have a few comments. With pitching I do think there are a few critical points of the delivery but alot of different ways to get there. The same is true with hitting. You will see alot of big league guys with all different stances and approaches but if you look at them at specific places during the swing you will see alot of similarities.

I think the biggest mistake pitching coaches make is to make a change for the sake of change. I think there is pressure to put their "stamp" on a kid especially if they are charging for a private lesson. When I work with kids I never say a word the first time I see them, just observe and I also think you need to video tape. It is just to hard to see with the naked eye what is going on. Plus if a kid is getting to those key places in the delivery, you may not need to change something you think looks different. I like the small tweaks approach. It is alot easier for a kid to make that change and you will be surprised how sometimes it works as a domino effect.

Lastly on kids 14 and up the hardest thing to change is arm action. At that age you are more than likely going to send a kid backwards even though in the long run you are trying to fix a flaw. Arm action is just tough to change completely.

I agree with what has been said on this thread. Tweaking a delivery is the way to go, especially with older (HS aged) pitchers. I watch the lessons my son takes during the off season. Coach works with him, but on little things. I have posted videos of my son and gotten all kinds of advise. I think it is best to take a lot of this advice with a grain of salt. The problem is not that some of it isn't good advice, it's that you will get so much, you will essentially be rebuilding your pitcher from the ground up.

I have asked son's pitching coach about several things that my son does that have been critiqued by others and wondered about by myself. His answers are usually very concise and along the lines of - Yeah, that's there and not necessarily conventional, but he does a good job of getting to where he needs to be at release. Or - If that caused him to do _____ or ______, we'd work on it, but he winds up where he needs to be.

I have learned a lot more about my son's pitching coach's knowledge by him answering my questions than by the things he actually tries to change in my son. I would sometimes wonder how much he was teaching him and how deep his knowledge actually is becuase he's not making a lot of major changes. Then I'll ask a question about something in his delivery and it is usually something he has already thought about. He is more interested in tweaking and working with what a pitcher brings, than making wholesale changes.

He is more along the lines of what Field of Dreams is talking about. There are certain key points in the delivery. As long as you are where you need to be at those points, how you get there isn't as important.

Amen.