By Flint Wallace-
When we ask an athlete why he has come to the Texas Baseball Ranch®, a vast majority of them answer that they want to get better at pitching. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, what they really mean is they want to throw harder.
People secretly want some magic bullet. They just want to do this one drill and all their issues will disappear, or they want me to tell them how many throws they should make of each drill and that program will somehow miraculously be the answer.
I believe having a result or goal in mind, like throwing 90mph, is an important part of making progress. But it is so easy to get wrapped up in accomplishing that goal that often times a player forgets what will actually get him there… Being engaged in the practice itself, the process, and not just simply the results you want.
Throwing harder and throwing better (more connected and efficient) are not always the same thing. What most people need is more mastery of the basic skills involved, not simply the result.
But often times, a player tries to “put the cart in front of the horse” so to speak. He chases the velocity before he has an adequate grasp on how the body should efficiently move. Before he understands what his rhythm and tempo should be, and the synergy between the upper and lower half.
This is why we don’t want to just see a player’s delivery, but we also want to see how well he is performing the drills.
It is like Coach Wolforth says, “The secret is to keep honing the specific drills, as they will become the most profound stimulus for change that one could imagine”
What will ultimately drive the results is the mastery of the basic skills involved. There is absolutely nothing wrong with chasing more velocity, just make sure you are focused more on the process than you are on the end goal.
You can’t treat your workouts as a means to an end— “Just get my reps in and everything will take care of itself”. To master the movements, you must have a tremendous amount of engagement in each and every throw and drill.
You must prioritize skill, practice, and acquisition over the pursuit of numbers. Master the skills that drive the process and the results will follow.
That is the difference between being Result Driven vs. Result Focused!
Until Next Time… Keep Getting After It!
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Each summer, we take athletes through a series of assessments that help us create a hyper-personalized training program for each individual. Then we go to work based on that program. Players have two options for training with us during the summer. First, we have 6, 3-Day bootcamp dates on the calendar between June and September and second is our “Extended Stay Summer Development Program” which is a 2-10 week training opportunity at The Ranch. If you or someone you know would be interested in learning more, those dates and more information are available at www.TexasBaseballRanch.com/events.
We are looking for 4 or 5 interns to work at the Texas Baseball Ranch® this summer. If you or someone you know would be interested in one of these positions, please email info@texasbaseballranch.com or call (936) 588-6762 and we will follow-up with additional information.
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