Lessons Learned….the Hard Way
Growing up in the 1970 / 1980’s, there were moments in life where your own personal milestones were met. I remember my first bike where I learned to jump off a homemade ramp like one of my heroes, Evil Knievel. Every kid wanted to jump over cars, Caesar’s Palace fountain and even the Snake River in Utah (side note: Evel crashed multiple times in his life and stated that he broke every single bone in his body)
Crashing or not, I learned to do things on the bike that made me cool……until I rode with no hands (no big deal) but also tried riding with no feet. Wrong decision as I went over the handle bars and landed on my chin requiring 20 stitches to close up a bloody mess. Lesson learned…..
When I finally got my driver’s license on my 16th birthday, I was definitely king of the road. I had an 1978 AMC Hornet Sportabout that had brown panelling on the doors…..but still I was hot stuff driving down Buena Vista Blvd. to my HS every day. As I got more comfortable, I got more careless such as my first ticket on a Saturday for u-turning in the middle of a busy street. That was a tough conversation with the parents. But racing my friend on a rain slicked road and not having enough time to brake before running into another car…..that was another tough conversation and admission especially since the car got taken away and I had to pay for the insurance boost……Lesson learned I thought…..I did the same thing in college and came to find out that my parents took me off the auto insurance policy 6 months prior. It took my dad’s lawyer to get out of that one…..I really and finally learned my lesson when it came to cars.
The reason for lessons learned and how it relates to baseball pitching is that no one knew the right way to train in baseball. In college, you threw everyday….you used weights to gain strength….but there wasn’t any training protocol that all of our Throwzone players get to have on a daily basis. In the mid-1980’s you were lucky to stay healthy especially since the velocity readings were much lower than what is happening in today’s world of pitchers.
Throwing a baseball 90 mph was the gold standard during that time. When Nolan Ryan was pitching he was close to 100 mph which most people attributed to good genetics. No one was really even close to 95 mph. Injuries weren’t as widespread as you hear about in today’s baseball world. In fact there is what is now being called an Epidemic in elbows and shoulders breaking down.
I believe there are at least a dozen known injuries in pitchers from Gerritt Cole all the way to Shohei Otani who is missing pitching the season …..Thank God he is a monster with the bat. Even one of my long-time clients, Chris Murphy, is having Tommy John surgery this week….Tommy John was a pitcher for the Dodgers in the 1970’s who was the first pitcher ever to have a ligament replacement in his elbow and is the reason why the surgery is called Tommy John surgery…side note: My dear friend and pitching coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Brent Strom, had the 2nd ever surgery for replacing the damaged ligament in the elbow, so he brags how close he was the what could have been Brent Strom surgery!
In my own development of training, I lifted heavy weights during the summer and gained a lot of strength and weight. However, it also got my upper body too tight and during fall practice, I felt a pull on the back of my throwing shoulder…..torn rotator cuff. My collegiate pitching career was done and I know that getting that big was the culprit.
In today’s day and age, there is a big focus on velocity. 95 mph is the gold standard and rarely in MLB do you see a starting right-handed pitcher throw under 93 mph…..Left-handers are about 3-5 mph less.
In today’s baseball world, showcases like Perfect Games focus on velocity for pitchers as well as spin rate. The tension on the forearm in these settings is putting more pressure on the elbow. In my opinion, the radar gun has put players in a vulnerable position because they know that they have to throw over 90 mph to pitch at a D1 school……then to do that and get drafted you have to be at least 95 mph. It is just the way the game has evolved.
The lesson learned on my end as a teacher is to put players in the right position to stay healthy, gain arm strength, and have some significance on the radar gun….when it is used correctly….to help pitchers and throwers achieve their goals and dreams. It is like anything in life in that there is risk in anything you do. In the lesson learned about the above mentioned Chris Murphy is that I did tell him that some things have changed in his delivery and I was skeptical about how it was evolving. However, he told me that he had to do some things in order to move up the professional baseball ranks. Chris did become a Major League Pitcher, last season and has a bright future in his career once he rehabs back to health. I get it from his end and he was fortunate growing up through both travel ball, HS and college that he was never hurt. This is exactly what we do here at Throwzone Academy. Put players in the best position possible to help achieve their dreams and goals that have set for themselves.
That will always be my primary focus with players……strong arms, sound throwing mechanics and the ability to recover after outings and get them throwing as early as the next day without soreness.
These are my lessons learned that I hope to transfer to all of my Throwzone players.
Speaking of training……the Throwzone Summer Training Camp is coming in the beginning of June and for the subsequent 8 weeks. An announcement is coming this week but it is our 18th year and we keep growing and growing training our older players (13 and above) and our younger campers (9-12 yo). It is the perfect compliment to a busy summer season on the field. Space will be limited so signing up today is a MUST! An email will be sent out this week!
We still have room for all of our weekly training sessions. It is never too late to get started on development so reaching us today (661) 644-2147 Cell and text!
Until next time,
Jim
Jim Wagner's ThrowZone Academy 