It has been a great couple of weeks for me.  It seems like every year I work with more talented pitchers.  I can’t believe the velocity coming out of some of these athletes not to mention the nasty breaking pitches some of them are throwing.  It’s really fun to see all of their hard work paying off.  Thanks for working hard guys!

A couple of things came to mind today while working with a few new pitchers.  It’s the simple stuff that matters most.

First of all, I was working with a very raw pitcher who was really young (12 years old).  I was working with him on his balance.  From the posture phase in the stretch position, to leg lift and then to foot strike.  So many pitchers in this point of their delivery have already completely botched their chances of throwing their absolute best.  They end up throwing slower, losing control of each pitch and worse; hurting their arm when they continue using some of their bad habits.

Remember when you lift your leg it is a leg lift, not a leg kick or twist.  You are not trying to be fancy in your style.  Keep the leg lift simple!  You are looking to keep the balance you started from the stretch position.  You don’t want to rock back and forth doing some crazy windup that takes you all over the mound.  You want all direction going toward the plate throughout your entire delivery; so rocking back and forth or side to side is not going to help you.  Keep a controlled, balanced leg lift ensuring you are leading with your hips.  This is very simple to do and it will help you throw faster and more controlled because you are balanced.

So many pitchers start “falling” toward home plate only finding themselves trying to catch themselves (with their landing leg) from turfing it on the mound.  There is no balance there.  To avoid this, make sure you don’t drop your front shoulder while you lift your leg before weight transfer.

For a complete understanding of pitching mechanics we and many other clients recommend our new DVD series.  It’s packed with the goods on how to increase velocity, throw nasty breaking pitches, staying consistent on the mound, the mental game and even Nate Barnett’s hitting mechanics series for those pitchers that can actually hit the ball.

If you remember a few of our latest articles, we recommend pitchers learn how to hit so they can think like a hitter.  If you think like a hitter you are better off outsmarting them on the mound.