How Long of a Break?

I would recommend continuing to go hard on the fitness stuff until after the holidays.  Once your lessons kick in, you might find some of your velocity issues may be mechanical.  If they are then throwing heavy right now might just reinforce the shaky mechanics you currently have making it harder to correct later.

Best of luck to you!

 

www.BaseballByTheYard.com

 

I would agree.  Most of your velo gains are going to come from mechanical adjustments, and increased core strength, not from December throwing.

Also, keep this in mind, should you continue to improve, your upcoming summer and fall will be prime recruiting time.  You will be asked to pitch well into the Fall, and possibly beyond.  My 2015 LHP went through this process last year and ended up with very little downtime his Junior year (he is taking 3 months off this fall/winter).  Bottom line, if you can put off throwing until after the holidays, I think you'll be in a better situation when you have the recruiting spotlight on you later in the year.

A quick suggestion from me about the timing of training.  I would suggest that you put the curveball on the back burner at this time of year.  You can work on that as the season approaches during your bullpens and refine it during the season.   A breaking ball will become more important down the road in your development (as you get a little older) in my opinion.  I would focus on strenth, fitness, stability, mobilty, fastball command, velocity development and then offspeed pitches.

I would suggest 10-12 weeks off. My son last threw at the end of August. He is just now doing some flat ground work. He won't get on a mound until early January. Take a look at the articles below. Cressey Perfomance is all about baseball. There are a number of major and minor leaguers, all levels of college, and high schoolers (including my son) that work out there or follow their program, including Corey Kluber.

 

http://www.ericcressey.com/bas...-throwing-programs-1

http://www.ericcressey.com/bas...-throwing-programs-2

good info here wildcat.  As a father of a 2015LHP be patient, as others said, work on strength off the hill and the velo will come in combination with mech. adjustments. The Cressey site is filled with great inf.  Save it as a favorite and read it.   Your a LHP, you already have an advantage b/c there are not enough of them that can throw strikes, work hard in school, get your mechanics in order and grow physically.  

Keep us up to date on your progress from time to time Wildcaat.

 

Best!

wildcats21,

 

If you wouldn't mind, could you post or PM me a sample of the CrossFit style workouts your HS does? As a strength and conditioning coach this worries me a bit. CrossFit has many benefits, but is also has many flaws. In my opinion, and in the opinion of countless other sports performance and sports medicine professionals, CrossFit is not an ideal training program for athletes.

 

If you have any questions or would like to hear my more detailed reasoning, please feel free to ask. 

CoLefty,

 

I would like to ask for a pitcher to take a period of time off: does it mean

 

(1) just not to pitch,

(2) not to throw (such as position playing), or

(3) not to play baseball at all? 

 

My son, a pitcher, still hopes to practice batting during the shut-down period, and I wonder what's your son's experience in this regard.

 

Thanks.

I would start some light throwing a few weeks before you start your lessons. I wouldn't want to start lessons with a arm coming off a shutdown.

Son's a pitcher-only, Our plan is for no throwing from mid October - Early January, although he is in the gym 4-5 times a week with a pitching specific workout program.  He'll start playing catch in couple of weeks, but probably not back on a mound until late January.

 

I would say nothing wrong with continuing to hit and field, but as a pitcher, I would recommend a period of no throwing.

Thanks so much and the information is very helpful!!