Videos of teenagers trying to hit max velo inside training facilities populate social media. They get likes. They draw attention. Their arms can do incredible things. But frequently, their ligaments cannot. Dr. Gary Waslewski, who works with the Arizona Diamondbacks, told the AP in March that “velocity kills elbows.”
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Preach all you want. It falls on deaf ears.
College programs recruit twenty pitchers. If ten wreck their arms and ten pan out they’re all set. So the race for velocity marches on.
Max effort and spin have been a thing for a long time now, however there are certainly more programs to help ballplayers maximize their potential these days. They’re not all snake oil or money grabs – my son has been involved with a program associated with a medical facility since his freshman year in HS. This organization is so money focused they help kids that can’t afford the training and forgot to bill us for a couple college off-seasons (rectified once we noticed). We didn’t support this training because we thought he had the potential to make it to a D1 or the MLB, we supported it because his HS coach presented it as a method of training to allow him to be the best version of himself (all the HS program attended) – and he saw the results that have caused him to continue to train there in the offseason some 14 years later.
From my limited perspective the focus was on improving explosiveness, achieving muscular balance and developing recovery methodology. I don’t have a negative thought about what this relationship has meant to my son – it’s been a blessing.
At 28 my son is recovering from TJS this season and God willing will get to continue his baseball journey. What was the cause?
Stuff wears out and breaks, the better you treat it the longer it will last, but if you push it to the limits all the time it typically doesn’t last as long – true for pretty much anything.
I do think that chasing velocity and maximizing spin are causing an epidemic of injuries. There may be other factors in the MLB like new pitch shapes and the pitch clock – everyone has an opinion – most are far more educated than me. I do think the workload of successful relievers in the MLB is a herculean task/grind with a lot of collateral damage.
My son had some traction from schools and scouts as a RH juco freshman pitcher in ’15 sitting 92/94, but when he started to hang some 97’s as sophomore things abruptly changed. Nothing in the system has changed, if your kid is looking to differentiate from the pack it’s typically velo they’re chasing. There are many reputable and disreputable training opportunities available and it’s never one size fits all – so buyer beware and do the best homework you can to help your son with the choices (because telling a kid he can’t chase his dreams isn’t really an option).
Until the focus moves to getting outs above K’s and velo, I don’t see how any of this changes…
If Johnny is good enough to get drafted out of hs. Take the plunge.
if not, enjoy the college ride and get the education.
anything else is a bonus.
There is something I find interesting if not a bit amusing about some of the things I hear said about velocity training by some of the internet guru's regarding "training to protect health" by learning to use the lower half better to take strain off the arm.
This is my opinion based on many years of pitching myself and doing a lot of my own research with the help of some pretty qualified people,,, and this goes along with some of the stuff @JucoDad mentioned above.
1. The arm and more specifically the UCL, which seems to be different for each individual, can take only so much stress over time.
2. Barring bad arm movements (ie read mechanics). Regardless of where the energy is transferred from or created from, it's still energy that is putting stress on the UCL and arm, the more energy, the more stress. IE the harder you throw, the more stress on the arm, etc.
So the point I am getting to is I don't care how the energy gets there, the more energy put into the arm, the more likely you will eventually have an injury. I really don't see how the lower half helps protect the arm, again if you have proper upper body mechanics and aren't making the arm do strange things. The lower half doesn't take energy away, it adds it - if you believe in the kinetic chain.
I think the spin part comes into play in this manner.... if by attempting to spin the ball more you interrupt the transition from supination to pronation, then the deceleration energy cannot be properly dispersed across the bigger muscles, causing the ligiments to snap or stretch disproportionately.
I do think by training the lower half, which in reality is only about energy storage and transfer, not "driving",,, and not spending enough time on the support muscles around the ligaments in the arm or the deceleration muscles, pitchers are creating more energy than their arms and ucl's can handle. Eventually something's gotta give.
Focusing too much on the muscles that accelerate the arm and not enough on those that decelerate it, is a recipe for disaster.
