So what are we to believe? After reading the Sparta Point 10/31 and Eric Cressey’s discovery with lateral movements with increasing pitching velocities, I think it’s time to figure out what is really going on with developing baseball pitchers. I have seen baseball pitchers throw close to a hundred with no training besides some warm-up jogging before games and perhaps some pre-game stretching. No core training, no lunges, no anything. Genetics matter and pick your parents wisely. So what about great talents and great training? Can we build the next Aroldis Chapman and create another Cuban Missile crisis with special leg exercises?
Well first the research on baseball pitching velocities and the study from Canada. The field test didn’t use a force plate it just tested the distance, and that test had jumps of less than 6 feet on average, something a weekend warrior can do unless he has medial glutes the size of postage stamps. Nothing special but initiation of pitching from the mound does have some unique stepping action. Ironically the transformation of Tim Collins includes plenty of talk about vertical jumps, dead lifts, but not much talk about lateral jumps. My personal belief that the medicine ball throws were perhaps one of the variables, as the video shows a nice approach throw like a javelin. The medicine ball may have create overload and the walking approach added some overload as well.
Remember that both legs have contribution and from the research states that both horizontal and vertical forces play a role in creating (pushing off) and transferring (blocking action) with pitching and throwing the javelin. What the future lays with keeping pitchers healthy is another story.