By Jonathan Massey –
Block Practice – This is the type of practice in which one repeats the same skill for a certain period of time. A typical example of this is doing 10 Marshall 1’s, followed by 10 Walking Torques, followed by 10 Quick Picks, and so on and so forth until they get through their entire throwing program.
Random Practice – This is the type of practice in which a skill is practiced but under varying conditions, environments, and scenarios. A typical example of this would be doing a Marshall 1, followed immediately by a Walking Torque, followed immediately by a Double Crow Hop.
So, which one is better: Block or Random practice? The answer is – like everything else here at the Texas Baseball Ranch® – it just depends. If you never learned how to do a Marshall 1 (or if you don’t do it very well), doing a single Marshall 1 and then immediately jumping into another drill that you’ve never learned/don’t do well probably wouldn’t be very helpful. If you are learning a brand-new skill or are trying to master the basics of the drill, block practice is a good route for this.
Once you’ve become proficient at a drill or skill, engaging only in block practice actually becomes detrimental. Coach Wallace’s famous analogy for this is, “We’ve all seen or know a guy that has a really good swing off a tee, but when he faces a pitcher, he has a completely different swing.” This would be a young man who engages in too much block practice, and his brain has decided that swinging on a tee is a different skill than swinging in a game.
Hopefully, after September’s monthly article, you started changing the drills to add variability… But I am willing to bet that you didn’t change the type of practice you were engaging in. What I mean is that even though the drills were changing, they still went in segments. This is a good start! But if you truly want to get the most out of your throwing program, it’s time to introduce a little randomness… Or, as I like to say, a little “chaos” into your throwing program.
The reason I say chaos is because that is exactly how I want it to look. It’s doing a Marshall 1, then a Walking Torque, then a Step Behind, back to a Marshall 1, then a Double Crow Hop (and so on and so forth). This is how we train the brain to view drill work and pitching as the same.
I would recommend making your drill work as chaotic or random as possible two to three times per week. Add in throwing tools, take out throwing tools, change drills, etc. Now, I know what some of y’all are probably thinking, “Coach, I’m not that creative to just come up with drills at random.” Script it out! That is perfectly okay and, honestly, something I recommend doing to get a feel for it. Script out 12-15 different throws (like an inning) that you want to make and call that inning #1. Then come up with 12-15 different throws for inning #2. You can create an upper half script in which you just do arm action and decel drills. You can create a lower half script in which you just do mostly lower half drills.
The possibilities are endless; just be as random or chaotic as you can be!
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Important TBR Updates
- Limited Spots Remain for our Winter Elite Pitchers Boot Camps. You can visit our website to learn more and register. We hope to see you at one of these camps!
– January 13-15, 2024 (Only 1 spot available)
– February 17-19, 2024 (final camp until May)
Have you been considering attending one of our 3-Day Elite Pitchers Bootcamp but haven’t yet pulled the trigger? To help, we have a detailed mailing package entitled “What Makes This Boot Camp Different”. If you’d like to receive this package, email Jill@TexasBaseballRanch.com and request a copy.
- People have started asking about our 2024 Summer Development Program and Elite Pitcher Bootcamp dates. That information will be released late January, early February. If you’d like to receive priority notification, please email Jill@TexasBaseballRanch.com.
- We have revamped our YouTube Channel “Texas Baseball Ranch – Ultimate Pitching Training” (@TXBaseballRanch) and would love for you to check it out and subscribe. Here is a link to the most recent video we’ve added – “Mindset on the Mound”. You can check it out at https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=z5QQ45YzR1U. Let us know what you think.
