By Pierce Jones –
With the season quickly approaching for many baseball players across the country, it can be a stressful time for pitchers to find consistency in their workload/training management. This can be due to schedules constantly changing or maybe even how practices are being conducted. The main thing I want to emphasize with this blog is the importance of continuing to blend your drill work throughout the season and not falling for the one-size-fits-all program with your team or training regiments.
The first (and most obvious) challenge is bridging the gap between practices and in-game performances. While there are specific times that just a bullpen or drill work alone can be important, it happens more often than not that we get into this routine of cycling the same schedule (i.e., casual catch play or long toss every day, throwing your bullpens on Wednesdays, and then getting on the mound for games on Fridays). While that is easy to navigate and helps keep track of “getting your reps in,” I would argue that it does little to no good for oneself long term.
The drills at The Ranch are designed very specifically to help shape movement patterns for pitchers. Throughout these drills, at some point, the athlete will be performing a movement that is simulated during a pitch. Creating a blending environment for the athlete to be able to execute both—the drills on the mound and cycling into actual pitches—is where we start to see great amounts of success! Not only for the movement pattern as stated above, but also with pitchers being able to make adjustments due to body awareness and through the differentiation of the stimulus. Along with that, there are specific drills that can promote someone to feel or be put into a better position than they are currently with just an ordinary pitch. Through just this simple blending alone, we have been able to help the movement pattern, create a different stimulus for the body to make adjustments on the mound, and create a transition from what is felt during a drill into a regular pitch.
I believe that working this into a pitcher’s week can be so easy and can completely change one’s motor control on the mound, but it is often overlooked. I also believe that if we get stuck in this thinking that the mound is just for throwing pitches, body awareness and the movements created up there tend to not be as efficient as they could be.
I will close by saying this: Use the mound as another tool in your tool bag. Don’t become afraid of it or look at it as something that is just for bullpens and game days. And especially don’t neglect it when you are just working through your drill work-specific days. Let those transitions become more natural and become elite at blending!
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Important TBR Updates
- It’s not too late to attend an Elite Pitcher’s Bootcamp before the Spring. Get your spot now for our February 15-17 3-Day Event (President’s Day weekend)! Please CLICK HERE to learn more and reserve your spot.
- Have you been considering attending one of our 3-Day Elite Pitchers Bootcamp but are still on the fence? To help, we have a detailed mailing package entitled “What Makes This Boot Camp Different”. If you’d like to receive this package and start making plans for the summer, email Jill@TexasBaseballRanch.com and request a copy.
- Registration for our 2025 “Summer Intensive Development Program” and 3-Day “Elite Pitcher’s Bootcamp” is now open! Check your email for details or visit www.TexasBaseballRanch.com/events to take advantage of our “Early Bird” rates for the summer program.
- Check out this video on our YouTube Channel: “Baseball Pitching Training with the Weighted Forearm Sleeve”. Watch it at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDFYxXiVLgI and share your opinion in the comments.