How important is location to a pitcher? Better yet, how important is it to have the confidence to place shots throughout a game? Watching Cleveland Indians and American League Championship Series pitcher CC Sabathia miss high and far with his fastball and fall to the side of the mound over and over again, it’s safe to say the location is probably one one of the most crucial aspects of the launch.
Breaking down the throwing motion, a right-handed shooter must be able to load the right leg, or the driving leg, to produce force and transfer it through a strong, stable core to a flexible upper body in a “whiplash” . movement that launches the ball to the target. The force developed in the body should be reduced when the left or front leg hits the ground and the upper body flexes on the leg during the follow through.
This process must be repeated over and over again. It is well known that to improve your performance on the field, you must train your body to meet the demands of your sport. Baseball pitchers must develop strength, endurance, flexibility, and power, to name a few. However, a common phenomenon is constantly overloading the muscles that generate force and ignoring or paying little attention to the muscles that are crucial to the structure of the body.
What if I told you that the key to training your body for improved athletic performance starts with how well you stand? Your posture is a great indicator of how well balanced your body is and how capable it is of generating, distributing and absorbing forces throughout the body. A shooter develops lower-body strength, transfers it through the core muscles to the upper body, throws the ball at his target, and slows that strength during follow-through. If there is a disruption through that system, such as a weakness or tightness in a muscle or group of muscles, the body must find an alternate path to the goal. This will lead to overuse and injury. The question is not IF an injury will occur, but WHEN the injury will occur. So how long do you have?
The following is an example of several high school pitchers I’ve seen with similar problems locating pitches and developing hamstring and/or shoulder pain. We first looked at their launch motion and identified that they all had similar issues. They had one or more of the following: Inability to get off the mound consistently, difficulty keeping the front shoulder closed and completing their follow through without falling off the side of the mound during the course of the game or bullpen session.
We look at the feet and knees when they are standing and notice that the feet stray, the arches flatten, and the knees hyperextend or “lock.” This leads us to believe that there are muscle imbalances around the ankles, knees, and hips. Your arches, hamstrings, and glutes are weak compared to your calves, quads, and hip flexors. Decreased activation, or strength, of the glutes and hamstrings is common, especially in young athletes who have poor posture and spend a lot of time running, squatting, and lunging. Although these exercises will traditionally build lower body strength and endurance, they can add to muscle imbalance that is already present.
Weakness in the lower body is often accompanied by weakness of the upper back muscles. Rounding your shoulders and leaning your upper body forwards result in a forward shift in your center of gravity, putting extra stress on your legs, back, and shoulders, to name a few. Why is posture important? Well, if their body is being pushed forward while standing still, what will happen when they start moving? In this particular case, glute and hamstring weakness makes it difficult for our pitchers to decelerate or slow down their body during the follow through. Because their momentum cannot be reduced with the lead leg, they fall to the side of the mound. The result is more force through the shoulder and poor placement on your shots. If a pitcher can’t consistently spot pitches, he will generate a higher pitch count, more walks, and a higher opposing batting average. That’s the minor detail.
If a pitcher can’t spot pitches and constantly falls off the side of the mound and can’t keep the front shoulder closed, then it becomes an issue of how long the body can maintain balance before injury occurs. This cannot be fixed by simply completing more squats, lunges and “getting stronger”. The body moves in multiple directions, speeds and deals with numerous forces.
Train the body as it was designed to be used. Improve your posture; perform exercises that challenge the body by moving from side to side, twisting, two legs with one leg, slowing down before speeding up. Using your lower body to provide the power needed to throw the ball will improve your ability to stay compact, increase leg drive, and keep going.