By Praise Thorsen
During my tenure as the pitching coach at Lander University, we had the pleasure of having a handful of minor league/major league arms training there and throwing live at bats to our hitters. Other than the elite stuff they showed, there was one big thing that stood out: their plyo work and catch play. Rarely did I hear them talk about thoughts or cues, they just threw like they were out there having fun. Granted if I had the stuff that they did, going out and throwing everyday would be the best time of my life. But that’s besides the point.
At first I couldn’t point out why everything looked so much different than our arms at Lander did but after a couple weeks of watching it, it hit me. Their feet are always moving, they are throwing with different arm slots, and they were throwing without tension. Obviously there’s a lot of factors that make up the difference between a big leaguer and an amateur pitcher, but every one of our pitchers that were playing catch were throwing from set feet, looked robotic, and just overloaded with internal thoughts/cues. When athletes get to college and become pitchers only, a ton of variability gets taken away from them. Getting back to throwing like an infielder, outfielder, or even a catcher in catch play can be a big key to honing in on movement patterns. We want to develop throwers who are adaptable, not repeatable. Step one of becoming a high level thrower is to be able to minimize tension early in the delivery. This is where athletic catch comes into play. Make it a goal to throw from different angles and different set ups, after all pitchers are athletes.
Let's take a look at Marcus Stroman's pre-outing routine. It's important to note Stroman was also a position player during his time with Duke. Notice throughout his entire routine there's not much emphasis on "mechanics" here.
Throwing should be fun
This is number one on the list for a reason. You're driven to accomplish the goals that YOU want to accomplish. If something isn't enjoyable to you and it's not a survival situation, are you really going to put maximum effort into the task? How many times have you been in practice and your coach pre scripted your throwing for the day and told you exactly how your throw should look each time and you just lost all interest in throwing for the day? A change of pace is something that will help you break up the monotony of being bored with throwing everyday. Just simply having fun and exploring what you can do in a throw is one of the best ways to find your way into enjoying throwing again.
It builds adaptable throwers
One of the biggest misconceptions in athletics is repeatability. The term repeatable pops up everywhere, the reality of it is you can’t repeat the same exact movement pattern twice. While I get what people are talking about when saying repeatable, in training we want to build an adaptable thrower, not a repeatable one. We want a pitcher who can still perform when something is slightly off. Athletic catch is one of the best ways to build that. The goal should be to explore as many options as possible. If you are only throwing from a set position, or a step and throw, you really providing as many movement solutions as possible.
In a study performed by Nikolai Bernstein, he found that in blacksmiths there are no identical swings. Even in a hammer swing, there are no such things as repeatable mechanics.
It helps with command
Giving yourself a time constraint in a catchers throw down or a quick pick in catch play while still making an accurate throw is a great way to learn how to command the ball. The intent of a throw in catch play should always be external, once you shift to internal thoughts and cues you’ve already lost. So many pitchers spray balls because they are only focusing on internal cues on the mind, implementing athletic catch is perfect for teaching someone how to shift their thoughts to external results versus internal thoughts.
We've re-patterned dozens of athletes through our athletic catch play program. If you're struggling to perform, you're at the right place. Email Training@Connected-Performance.com to take the next step.