Pitchers Power Drive.

As far as I know it is a fairly new device. It looks interesting and might help getting proper leg/hip drive. Don't know anyone who has one. If you do get it, post what your experience is with it.

I have been using one for a couple years now. My velocity has increased. With the help of the Pitchers Power Drive I have been able to lengthen my stride and get more hip drive.

I have seen and used (while giving lessons) this device and actually know the inventor of the product. I believe it can be beneficial with the proper instruction, but it is by no means a 'magic bullet'.

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OnWabana- can you please explain your proper instruction comment? I have just bought one and want to make sure that we use it correctly. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

I just meant that a player should use it while having a knowledgeable coach watch him. The biggest problem I run into with this is that it makes players want to collapse their back side and drift to get the leg and hip drive. There is a way to use your lower half while still staying tall and not drifting.

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Posted this on another forum:

Found this:

http://www.pitching.com/articl...-velocity-potential/

Also just found this... looks similar:

http://www.batterupind.com/html/PDS_Mound.html


Am interested in one of these for my son... but don't want to spend 200-250 for one (power drive)... plus after reading the Mills post, not sure if he is actually right in his critique of it.

Realize one thing--if something does not fit what Mills does it is no good in his mind

quote:

Originally posted by TRhit:
Realize one thing--if something does not fit what Mills does it is no good in his mind

I agree... I bought his stuff a couple years back, as I did with House(NPA), Wolforth, etc...

I don't get caught up in all the "camp wars". I like getting everyone's perspective.

The young man who invented this tool with his dad pitched for our team prior to pitching at Barton College in NC.

He was part of a pitching tandem in Jupiter with us when we no hit a highly touted Texas team.

TR,

Yes, I've met him a number of times at events. A very nice guy. This can be an extremely useful tool for many young pitchers.

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That brings up the debate of do you "Push"/Drive off the rubber or do you Down-glide-stride off the rubber.

Without buying one and seeing the detailed instructions on how to use it. I could not tell if it would be beneficial. At a glance it appears to promote drop and drive by collapsing the back leg, which in my opinion tends to make young kids fire the hips early then drag the arm through and puts more pressure on the elbow.

We all have different opinions on this I just happen to not like that style of teaching a pitcher. I don't agree on some of what Mr. Mills teaches either. If one way worked better than any other way and teaching aids have been around a long long time then every player; batter and pitchers would all look exactly alike. Although there is a basis of fundamentals ( a good place to start ) there are still a lot more different styles pitching and hitting shown by professional players than there are teaching aids.

I guess the bottom line is, to know if it will work for you and enable you to be more consistent and it fits your style, you would have to buy one and try it.

With son's HS baseball team in Florida we didn't get a chance to try the pitchers power drive unit out until Friday and again yesterday. After only using it twice my first impression is that the device has some merit and can improve velocity. But like a previous poster said it is "not a magic bullet". It needs to be part of a regular training regimen to get the muscle memory. Also incorproating the medicine ball drills and some of the other drills to teach "staying back" will add to the improvement mix as well. Other quick observations- it is very well built and defintitely "heavy duty". Very simple too which is good for short attention span pitchers (and dads/coaches). I do think that it is probably best to use indoors on an artificial mound. We used it outdoors at two of our local high school varsity mounds. As mounds and rubbers are different they gave differing feels and it is really hard to hear the "Click or Clank" like you see on their web site. With the temperature in the 30's today and rain we're going to use it on an indoor mound today. I'll give another update or two as we uses the device more and the season progresses...