By Pierce Jones –
With the season nearing (or having already begun) for many baseball players across the country, it can become a stressful time for pitchers to find consistency in their workload/training management. This can be due to various reasons, such as schedules constantly changing or maybe even how practices are being conducted. The main thing I want to emphasize throughout this blog is the importance of continuing to blend your drill work throughout the season and not falling into 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, of course, 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. (Casual catch play or long toss every day, throwing your bullpens on Wednesdays, and then getting on the mound for the game on Friday.) 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 in the long term.
The drills at The Ranch are designed specifically to help shape pitcher movement patterns. Throughout these drills, at some point, the athlete will perform a movement that is simulated during a pitch. Creating a blending environment for the athlete to do both, the drills on the mound and then cycling into actual pitches, is where we start to see great amounts of success. We see this success, not only with the movement pattern (as stated above), but also with the 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 physically 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 easy and can completely change one’s motor control on the mound, but it is often overlooked. I feel that if we get stuck in 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 gamedays. (And especially don’t neglect it whenever 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
- Registration for our 2024 “Summer Intensive Development Program” is now open! Join us for 2-11 weeks this summer. For more information on the Summer Program and for a registration form, CLICK HERE. There is a $500 savings if you sign up by March 15th.
- Our Summer Elite Pitchers Bootcamp dates have been released. We will have seven bootcamps between Memorial Day and Labor Day. For more information on these or to register, CLICK HERE.
- Would you like to experience both the EPBC and Summer Program? We’ve got you covered. Attend one of our 3-Day Elite Pitchers Bootcamps and Add-On one week of our Summer Program immediately after for a total stay of seven days. Call for the details (936) 588-6762 and special savings.
- 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 and start making plans for the summer, email Jill@TexasBaseballRanch.com and request a copy.
- We have updated our YouTube Channel “Texas Baseball Ranch – Ultimate Pitching Training” (@TXBaseballRanch) and would love for you to check it out and subscribe. Here’s a recent upload, “Baseball Pitcher? How you SEE the Problem is the Problem” Watch it at https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=Enl7MILzl3Q. Let us know what you think or other topics you’d like to see covered.
