Questions/Answers 2008

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001.  As a follow-up to my baseball batting muscles questions you write about the front arm:  "After snapping the Humerus bone of the front upper arm downward to front arm side of the body, baseball batters have to inwardly rotate the front upper arm."

I guess this is where I get lost on your swing.  It seems to me that if you are supinating your front arm that would cause the front upper arm to EXTERNALLY rotate.  I simply can not see how the front upper arm internally rotates.  What am I missing?

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     The rear arm is driving the center of mass of the baseball bat toward the point of contact.  Therefore, for the front arm to provide the oppositely-directed force required for force-coupling, it has to be moving away from the point of contact.  The only way that the front arm can do that is with inward rotation.

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002.  Another pupil confused about maintenance, and an additional question or two:

1.  Is maintenance 24 WW and IB and 36 BB reps for each pitch called for that day, for a total of 132 throws that day?  Or is it 12 torque and 12 maxline for a total of 84 throws that day?  What about footballs and javelin during maintenance?

2.  Is the weight being used during the interval program when it is stopped the one used during maintenance?

3.  How long can maintenance last?  Let's say a pitcher can't complete your 280 day without a baseball season interrupting.  Then that pitcher goes on maintenance for five months during competition.  Can that pitcher resume the 280 day where it was left off?

4.  How far back in the hand do you want baseball pitchers to grip the ball?  What grip pressure?

5.  You related a while back that one of your highly skilled pupils completed the IB throws on the 280 day without a rebound wall.  Can you explain what his method was?  Also, someone referred to a portable rebound wall in these columns recently.  Can you explain to us what that is and how it is constructed?

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01.  With regard to adult baseball pitchers, we have three situations.

     a.  Off-season training:  During off-season training, adult baseball pitchers should be completing my 280-Day program or as many of my 72-Day programs as possible.  When they reach 30 lb. wrist weights and 15 lb. iron ball, during every off-season, they complete my 72-Day programs for these weights.

     b.  In-season training: During their competitive seasons, adult baseball pitchers should be completing my Combined Workouts training program where they complete twenty-four total repetitions of my wrist weight exercises, my iron ball throws and my football throws.  They should throw three javelins, three lids, three football Maxline True Screwballs and three football Maxline Pronation Curves.  On every third day, they should throw a seventy-two pitch high-quality bullpen to a catcher.  On the other two day, they should throw a thirty-six blood flow intensity bullpen into a net.

     c. For whatever days that adult baseball pitchers are in their off-season, but have days remaining before they start their in-season training, they should do the seventy-two pitch high-quality bullpen into a net training day with my Maxline and Torque workouts that include my Maxline Fastball Sinker and Torque Fastball Slider.

02.  After my 280-Day program, my baseball pitchers reduce their wrist weights to fifteen pounds and iron ball to eight pounds.  Thereafter, when they complete my 72-Day programs, they maintain at whatever the next weight up is.  For example, after they complete my 72-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Fifteen Pound Wrist Weight Recoil Interval-Training Program, they should maintain with their twenty pound wrist weights.

03.  I believe that I answered this question in 01.  My adult baseball pitchers are either training, competing or maintaining.

04.  In my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video, I go into great detail about how I recommend that baseball pitchers grip, drive and release their pitches.  I am pretty sure that my explanation and demonstration is in my Baseball Training section.

05.  Most of the baseball pitchers who did not complete my training programs with me constructed some type of rebound wall where they did not have to chase their iron balls.  In a pinch, I would place a piece of plywood or carpet on a hill, throw my iron ball at it and let it roll back to me.  In my Coaching Baseball Pitchers book and my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video, I explain how I build the rebound walls that we use.

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003.  I am an agent representing several minor league players.  My agency covers the cost of players to receive professional help such as yours.  If you have a player that needs funding, I would like to set up an arrangement where I will pay your company on their behalf.  Please let me know if you are available for a phone discussion regarding this email.

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     I will mention your proposal to the baseball pitchers who are presently training with me.

     Typically, player agents contact me about working with their clients.  I not only guarantee no pitching injuries, but if they successfully complete all my training programs and master the skills of my baseball pitching motion, I guarantee that they will increase their release velocity and learn a wide variety of high-quality pitches.

     My guarantee is that, if these baseball pitchers do not achieve these goals, then I will return every cent of the coaching fee that I charge.

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004.  I heard you speaking with Kevin Kennedy and Rob Dibble on XM radio last summer and am so happy I came across your web-site.  You probably do not remember me.  I spent my freshman year in your St. Leo baseball program (fall 85-spring 86).  I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of my baseball time, but ultimately did not feel like St. Leo was the best fit for me academically or socially.

I decided to attend school closer to home and had a solid, if unspectacular college playing career that never advanced any further.  But that's okay.  I love the game.  Through work, grad school (MBA), a marriage, and child I did continue to play amateur and semi-pro ball well into my 30s.

Alas, all good things must come to an end and I just can't find the time to play anymore.  I want to thank you for all you have done and all that you continue to do for baseball players.  I was not a pitcher, but I did my iron ball workout every day.  I did my "wrong-foot throws".  People looked at me funny.  But, I know it worked.  My arm continued to get stronger (I was converted from IF to OF) and it NEVER hurt - ever.

I know you are focusing solely on the pitchers now, but I think you have some interesting hitting theories that I know helped me out.  I just wish your so-called "radical" (but in actually logical and based on the laws of science) ideas would gain more widespread acceptance in the game.  And I hope if my two year old boy decides to play baseball/pitch when he is older, that you are still doing your thing so I can send him to you to learn the right way.

I share your passion for baseball and for doing it the right way.  If the other circumstances were different, would love to have seen what kind of ballplayer I could have become with more time under your tutelage.

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     You are correct.  I do not remember you.  But, because I allowed every college student who wanted to play baseball to practice with the team, such that I had 105 baseball players that year at Saint Leo, I should not be expected to remember all their names.  Nevertheless, every one of those baseball players received exactly the same training.  I am happy to learn that those beginning training programs helped your throwing arm and ability to hit.

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005.  There is a rather lively debate on your pitching and training philosophies going on at Maxxtraining.com.  It is the only venue I know of where, as long as you refrain from profanity, you get to speak freely about your pitching and training philosophies.

  A participant recently posted a picture of a muscle that "stretched" and relaxed.  The top muscle is supposed to be a stretched muscle.  As a layman it does look like it is stretched.  What is your take on these photos from:

http://www.maxxtraining.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=519&start=50

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     I am just glad that these are not my muscles.  I have little faith with in vitro studies.  Just because they can do something in the laboratory does not mean that athletes can do the same in vivo (real life).

     In Question #057 of my 2004 Question/Answer file, I discussed the research to which those who believe in Plyometrics attribute their scientific verification.

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057.  Here are Enoka's references.  I've only included the titles for the studies that used humans.

01.  Fellows, S.J., & Rack, P.M.H. (1987) "Changes in the length of the human biceps brachii muscle during elbow movements," Journal of Physiology, 383, 405-412.
02  Griffiths, R.I. (1991) Journal of Physiology, 436, 219-136. (studied cats)
03  Ito, M., Kawakami, Y., Ichinose, Y., Fukashiro, S., & Fukunaga, T. (1998), "Nonisometric behavior of fascicles during isometric contractions of a human muscle." Journal of Applied Physiology, 85, 1230-1235.

     Here is a specific passage from Enoka describing tendon lengthening: "When the medial gastrocnemius muscle of a cat is electrically stimulated to produce an isometric contraction, muscle fibers can shorten up to 28% of their resting length [he then references a graph from Griffiths (1991)].  For this to happen, the tendon must lengthen by an equivalent amount so that whole-muscle length remains constant (i.e., isometric).  This tendon compliance (mm/N), which is the inverse of stiffness, is most evident in muscles with long tendons.  Not only does this effect occur during electrical stimulation of muscle, it also occurs during voluntary movements such as walking."(p. 275)

     Enoka then goes on to reference another graph from Griffiths (1991) showing whole-muscle length (mm), muscle fiber length (mm), and EMG (mV) for a cat step cycle plotted over time(s).  He uses the term whole-muscle length to include the tendon and the muscle.

     Enoka also includes references showing that some movements are influenced by the elastic energy mechanism.  Those studies are by Komi & Gollhofer, 1997, Journal of Applied Biomechanics, 13, 451-460; Reich, lindstedt, LaSayo, & Pierotti, 2000, American Journal of Physiology, 278, R1661-R1666; Zatsiorsky, 1997, Journal of Applied Biomechanics, 13, 479-483.

     As I read through the list of these references, I am carried back to my university days when everybody was designing research studies, rushing through them and publishing.  They all had the publish or perish mentality.  My own department ran wires to the leg muscles of rats and ran them on treadmills.  When I asked why, they looked at me like I was crazy.  It is thirty years later and I still ask why.  Nothing that they did meant anything to the real world.

     What purpose does studying, "Changes in the length of the human biceps brachii muscle during elbow movements" serve?  The olecranon process contacting the olecranon fossa limits the elbow extension range of motion.  The coronoid process contacting the coronoid fossa limits the elbow flexion range of motion.  The Triceps Brachii muscle straightens the arm.  The Biceps Brachii and Brachialis muscles bend the arm.  Did they take the Biceps Brachii muscle out of some human and study it like they did some poor cat in a following discussion?

     How did the people who wrote, "Nonisometric behavior of fascicles during isometric contractions of a human muscle," conduct this study?  Again, did they take a muscle out of some human volunteer experimentation?  How did they study fasciculi?

     In order to write, "When the medial gastrocnemius muscle of a cat is electrically stimulated to produce an isometric contraction, muscle fibers can shorten up to 28% of their resting length," I know that they 'sacrificed' some poor cat.

     They took the medial gastrocnemius muscle out of a cat, tied it securely on both ends and electrically stimulated it.  They found that the muscle fiber portion of the muscle shortened up to twenty-eight percent of its total length.  Then, from this information, Professor Enoka concluded that, "For this to happen, the tendon must lengthen by an equivalent amount so that whole-muscle length remains constant."  At first glance, this speculation appears interesting.  But, what does it mean for the real world?

     Does it mean that, like cats, the tendon of human gastrocnemius can stretch twenty-eight percent without rupturing?  Let's see, the best of humans can jump straight upward about one-half of their standing height, but cats can jump straight upward at least six times their standing height.  Does that mean that the gastrocnemius tendon of cats has twelve times the tensile strength of humans?  Does that mean that the gastrocnemius tendon of humans has one-twelfth the tensile strength?  I think that it means that this laboratory egghead recommended to don't-know-enough-to-know-better athletic trainers to start bouncing non-contracted muscle and tendons with 'Plyometrics.'  We can trace the resulting tendon snaps back to them.

     Perhaps we all should go watch 'Ol Sparky' at work here in Florida, where they electrocute humans.  We could tie down their lower legs and study how much the human medial gastrocnemius muscles shorten when they electrically stimulate them.

     Remember when Dan Marino and dozens of others popped the tendon of their Gastrocnemius muscle, the 'Achilles Tendon'?  Did it stretch twenty-eight percent?  Remember with Tommy John and thousands of others popped their Ulnar Collateral Ligament?  Did it stretch twenty-eight percent?

     In the real world outside of staged experiments, muscles and tendons do not voluntarily stretch without the potential of serious injury.  We should not try to make tendons stretch.  With my email answers, I am talking with laypeople in the real world.  With researchers in the laboratory world, we talk differently, but then, with the exception of human anatomist, Jeffrey Dalmer, to determine at what stress their tendons will pop, we know not to take muscles out of athletes.

     This was fun, thank you.

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     In short, I am not certain what value this research has for athletic training.  In general, I believe that plyometics eventually injures all who practice it.

     To make plioanglos training relatively safe, practitioners must learn how to have the muscles that they are about to lengthen already contracted when they apply the overwhelming force to them.  I am not sure that this overwhelming force will not still rupture the tendon of this muscle, but, at least, the muscle has a chance to withstand it.

     I believe that muscle tissue does not lengthen.  However, I am not as certain about connective tissue.  But, I have my doubts.

     Nevertheless, with my wrist weight exercises, I plioanglosly train my baseball pitchers.  But, I carefully apply graduated stresses over sufficient time periods that enable the involved muscles to make the required physiological adjustment.

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006.  On the answer to question #962 in 2007, you mentioned that you will be needing knee replacement surgery.  My wife will be needing such surgery (not as a result of pitching however!).  Are there any exercises you are doing or can recommend to strengthen the area so that recovery time is minimized?

While at the radiologist's office yesterday, I read a new magazine for sports for kids.  It seems that 2 years old is the proper time to start formal instruction in baseball.

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     What exercises someone who is going to have knee replacement surgery should do before they have the surgery depends on what they are able to do.  Without having to endure excruciating pain, they should do whatever they are able to do.  The more fit the muscles that flex and extend knee joint before the surgery, the easier it will be for them to return to normal activity after the surgery.

     At two years old, with regard to the total standing height, toddlers have heads that are several sizes larger than adults.  This means that they have to pay particular attention to balancing this monster-sized head.  Therefore, without falling on their face, they cannot bend forward at their waist.

     Therefore, without instruction, they will simply rotate their body and pull their throwing arm around with them.  That is the start of the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion.

     With the drills that I use to teach the skills of my baseball pitching motion, they would learn how to rotate their body and drive their pitching hand behind the baseball in straight lines toward their throwing target.  Therefore, this new magazine must have had my baseball pitching motion in mind when they said that two years old is the proper time to start developing the maximum velocity overhand throwing mechanics.

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007.  I believe everything you say about pitching mechanics and how to pitch more effectively and without injury.  It's too bad that coaches and managers are afraid of what you have to teach.  Like you said in an interview you once gave, "It's their problem, not mine."

I am 52 years old and want to pitch in the men's senior league in San Francisco.  Dr. Marshall, I can't attend your clinics, but thought I could perhaps buy your book.  I looked on Amazon.com and didn't see it.  Can you tell me how to buy it, please?

Please tell me what my motion should be?  As I understand it, I raise my arm straight up (I'm a RHP), step with my left leg, throw the ball and finish the motion with my thumb and palm downward, the right leg completing the motion.  Is that correct?

I wish you had worked with me when I was a kid.  When I was seventeen I threw as hard as Sandy Koufax and led my high school conference in strikeouts and ERA.  I got guys out mostly by blowing the ball past them.  I had a fastball that didn't move and a natural screwball that I used against left handed batters or I'd nick the outside corner on a right handed hitter.  Those were the only pitches I had.  Never knew how to throw a curveball.

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     My Coaching Baseball Pitching book and Baseball Pitching Instructional Video are on my website free for all to read and watch.

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008.  I noticed your book was titled Adult Pitchers.

Would you recommend that a High School pitcher follow your program given that their arms may not be fully developed physically?  (15 to 17 yrs. old)

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     If you go to my website, then you will see that the title of my book is Coaching Baseball Pitchers.  Several years ago, I had two books.  One was Coaching Adult Baseball Pitchers and the other was Coaching Adolescent Baseball Pitchers.

     On my website, in my Pitcher Training Program file, I offer my 120-Day High School Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program that I recommend for biological sixteen years old youth baseball pitchers.

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009.  I have a question about the clinics you put on.  What exactly the certification is for?  Upon completion of this clinic what will I be certified to do?  Teach?  Perform my own clinics using your techniques?  Also, is the total cost of the clinic $100.00?

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     I will certify that you attended my one and one-half day Certification Clinic.  Whether that makes you feel qualified to open your own baseball pitching school depends on you.

     To cover the costs of materials and hosting my Certification Clinics, I charge each attendee one hundred dollars ($100.00).  Obviously, except for lunch on Saturday, attendees have to make their own travel, housing and food arrangements.

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010.  I went to your website and tried watching your Baseball Pitching Instructional Video without success.  Each time it went into Windows Media Player and I got a message saying, "Host is unreachable."

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     One of my Certified Marshall Baseball Pitching Coaches hosts the videos that I have on my website.  I have no idea why you cannot play the video.  I will copy him with this email.

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011.  Have you seen the throwing motion of the QB Philip Rivers of the Chargers?  It seems to me that he brings the ball back with his hand under the ball, instead of over the ball in the traditional throwing motion.

Is his motion similar to how you would teach to throw the football?  If you haven't seen it, the Chargers are playing this weekend in the playoffs.  I remember when he was drafted a few years back, there was a concern about his motion.  This was before I found your site.

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     To date, I have not watched much football.  However, the same principles apply.  Certainly with their need for a quick release, they do not have time for 'Late Throwing Forearm Turnover.'

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012.  My question concerns the relationship of the upper body and hips in your hitting and pitching motion.  You say this about you hitting motion:

“In baseball batting, the hips rotate first and snap to a stop at perpendicular to the driveline to the rear arm to contact of the pitched baseball.  The inertial mass of the upper body and shoulders elongates the muscles that forwardly rotate the upper body and shoulders.  When these muscles overcome the inertia, they powerfully forwardly snap the shoulders to perpendicular to the driveline to contact with the pitched baseball, where they also snap to a stop.”

“All ballistic/explosive motor skills that use the arms, such as . . . baseball batting . . ., build to the critical moment.  This means that athletes initiate the acceleration with their legs, which come to a stop, continue with their hips, which come to a stop, continue with their shoulders, which come to a stop and finish with their arms driving through release.”

However, in your pitching motion, you say that you want your baseball pitchers to forwardly rotate both the hips and upper body together simultaneously as opposed to a separate action as you do in hitting.  This is a major difference the traditional pitching advocates point out with your pitching motion.  They claim that not doing what you advocate in your hitting motion costs your guys velocity.

I assume the role of the hips in your pitching motion gets you more rotation towards home plate which would give you more power and release the ball closer to home plate.  Is this correct?

Is it your contention that the further rotation of the hips in your motion supersedes the extra power you might get from separating the hip action from the shoulder action that traditional baseball coaches advocate?

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     Wow.  You have caught me in a clear contradiction.  Let me see whether I can explain.

     With baseball batting, baseball batters have no choice but to forwardly rotate their hips, shoulders and pitching upper arm over their rear leg.  AT contact, baseball batters have to have their acromial line perpendicular to the flight path of the baseball.  This means that they would not benefit from forwardly rotating their hips, shoulders and pitching upper arm over their front leg.

     With baseball pitching, baseball pitchers can choose whether they want to forwardly rotate their hips, shoulders and pitching upper arm over their pitching (rear) leg or over their glove (front) leg.

     If they choose to forwardly rotate their hips, shoulders and pitching upper arm over their pitching (rear) leg, then, like baseball batters, they will be able to only forwardly rotate their acromial line to perpendicular to the driveline toward home plate.  This is exactly what 'traditional' baseball pitchers do that forces them to have to bend forward at their waist.

     However, if they choose to forwardly rotate their hips, shoulders and pitching upper arm over their glove (front) leg, then they will be able to forwardly rotate their acromial line, such that they point their acromial line as close to home plate as possible.  By pointing their acromial line as close as possible toward home plate, my baseball pitchers forwardly extend their driveline and release their pitchers closer to home plate than 'traditional' baseball pitchers.

     This means that, when I wrote, “All ballistic/explosive motor skills that use the arms, such as . . . baseball batting . . ., build to the critical moment.  This means that athletes initiate the acceleration with their legs, which come to a stop, continue with their hips, which come to a stop, continue with their shoulders, which come to a stop and finish with their arms driving through release,” I was wrong."

     This proves that I used to believe what I was taught about the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion.'  It is not easy to overcome what we believe is right.  Fortunately, I believe this is the last vestage of my grandfather's 'traditional' baseball pitching motion that I finally learned was also wrong.

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013.  I am honored to simply write to you Mr. Marshall.  I am still digesting the techniques involved in your revolutionary pitching mechanics.  I know very little about arm mechanics and potential injuries, but at the very least, I know the drastic drop off in complete games and innings pitched and the subsequent creation of the 6 pitch specialized reliever.

I long for the work horse starter and 150 Inning reliever to return.  I'm amazed how easily swayed major league baseball general managers and managers are towards this trend of specialized relievers which may be no more than a "collective hunch" and passing fancy.

I have heard from religious people that visionaries predicted an increasing laziness with every passing generation.  It seems sensible considering the rise of the machine and the decline of manual labor.  It would partially explain the frustrations of pitchers when their arm and enthusiasm are not on the same page and partially explain the desperation that follows and alternative solutions such as steroids.

However, I still am skeptical about training methods used in North America and don't understand why your techniques are not utilized by MLB. What do they have to lose in trying?  Are any current managers or gm's or players currently using your services?  It makes me wonder in a paranoid-conspiracy sort of way if doctors and baseball are colluding together to create more arm problems so doctors can get more patients.  This is probably a bit far fetched and more likely the material for fiction, but these are strange baseball days.

The other thing I wanted to ask you is what pitchers today do we see throwing with proper mechanics?  I'm a big fan of Dave Bush; who pitches for Milwaukee.  He ranked fifth in the NL lst year in BB/9 IP.  Is control a by product of your method?  I know it may sound childish, but a little league manager encouraging his ace to throw strikes seems to hold true for the majors as well.

Some might say,"Great, Bush throws strikes.  He can win a stuffed animal for his girl friend at the circus!"  But, he also strikes batters out.  This to me is a strong indication that he can be an excellent pitcher in major league baseball.

Any comments and answers you could provide would be greatly appreciated.  Your work is very appreciated.  All the best and hope to visit your school in Florida some day.

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     While throwing strikes is important, throwing a variety of pitches that baseball batters cannot hit for strikes is even more important.  If you go to my Special Reports file and read my I Love Strikeouts, Do not Mind Walks, but Hate Hits, especially Extra Base Hits report, then you will learn that the variable that correlates most to low earned run average is number of hits per nine innings.  The fewer hits baseball pitchers give up per nine innings, the lower their earned run averages.

     If you read the newspaper articles in my Articles file, then you will learn that professional baseball is not interested in my baseball pitching motion and training program because I cannot teach calculus to people who have difficulty counting.

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014.  Thank you for the feedback and references.  I read the recommended article proving how walks are less harmful than say, giving up base hits, especially extra base hits.  No argument there.

I think the key to your argument is encouraging pitchers to take risks and throw pitches that batters have trouble hitting, maybe outside the strike zone.  I mentioned Dave Bush because his statistics are confusing.  He has excellent control which I agree can be misleading.  He also has a decent strikeout total, but he gave up way more than one hit per inning.  This tells me he is not taking enough risks and probably making bad pitches on 2 strikes.

It's frustrating to watch because it's clear that he has the smarts and ball movement to throw pitches in places batters will swing, but not hit.  Yet, for whatever reason, he fails to follow this thinking throughout a pitching sequence.  It seems to reflect lack of confidence in his pitches and as you say, too much concern over walking batters.

Then again, some pitchers like Johann Santana pitch way more effectively with no one on base.  Maybe this plays into their fear of walking batters.  Santana is not the best example because he simply doesn't allow many baserunners.

This leads to pitching from a wind-up or from the stretch and maybe, now it's in the realm of mechanics.

Any pitchers in the majors right now whose motion mirrors what you are teaching?

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     When baseball pitchers are capable of striking out one batter per inning, but give up more than one hit per inning, this means that they are giving in to the strike zone, such that the baseball batters can correctly anticipate what pitch they will throw.  As a result, they give up too many hits and too many extra base hits.

     To prevent hits, baseball pitchers have to throw whatever pitches that each type of baseball batter has difficulty hitting when they least expect them.

     For example, glove side pull hitters have difficult hitting my Maxline Fastball Sinker, two-seam Maxline Fastball, Maxline Pronation Curve and Maxline True Screwball.  If baseball pitchers properly sequence these pitches and show case my Torque Fastball Slider and Torque Fastball off the glove side of home plate, this type of baseball batter will have great difficulty correctly anticipating which pitch is coming.  As a result, they will not hit these pitches with authority.

     The problem is that, whereas hits and extra base hits lead to runs, baseball field managers and pitching coaches mistakenly believe that walks lead to runs.  Walks only lead to runs when baseball pitchers give in to the count and throw pitches that hitters anticipate.

     It would be interesting to learn the differences in walks, base hits and extra bases hits when baseball pitchers pitch from the 'traditional' wind-up versus the 'traditional' set position.

     A critical element of my baseball pitching motion is powerfully pronating the pitching forearm, wrist, hand and fingers on the releases of all pitches.  There are some 'traditional' baseball pitchers who strongly pronate the releases of some of their pitches, but none that pronate the releases of all of their pitches.

     After pronation, I teach my baseball pitchers to pendulum swing the pitching arm driveline height in one movement.  There are a few 'traditional' baseball pitchers who do this.

     After pronation and pendulum swing, I teach my baseball pitchers to move their pitching arm to driveline height before their glove foot lands.  This is the crow-hop throwing rhythm.  A couple of years ago, I saw a 'traditional' baseball pitcher do this.  Unfortunately, I did not get his name.

     After pronation, pendulum swing and crow-hop throwing rhythm, I teach my baseball pitchers to use their Teres Major and Latissimus Dorsi muscles to powerfully inwardly rotate and decelerate their pitching upper arm.  When they powerfully pronate their releases, some 'traditional' baseball pitchers do this.

     After pronation, pendulum swing, crow-hop throwing rhythm and inwardly rotating their pitching upper arm, I teach my baseball pitchers to powerfully forwardly rotate their hips, shoulders and pitching upper arm over their glove foot.  No 'traditional' baseball pitcher does this.

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015.  I ran across an interesting find in our family home video collection.  Back when two of our sons were very small, 4 years old and 1 ½ years old, my wife video taped me “playing catch” with them.

What it amounted to was I rolled a sponge rubber ball on the ground to them.  They would pick it up and throw the ball back to me.  Without fail, both boys threw with the same motion.  That is to say they would raise their throwing arm up so that the throwing elbow was next to their ear.  They would position the ball behind their elbow, so that their throwing forearm would be fairly lined up and pointing at me.

Then they would drive the ball with pretty good force on a fairly straight line toward me.  No late forearm turnover.  No reverse forearm bounce.  No real forearm flyout to speak of.  Very little “traditional follow-thru”.  They both came very close to “sticking” their arm in the strike zone.  They weren’t pitching to me.  We simply threw the ball around until they lost interest, which was normally about 2 minutes.

What amazed me when I viewed the tape which was made about 15 years ago, is how closely their throwing motion paralleled your delivery style.  I had not taught them this.  They simply instinctively did it on their own.  Since then I have paid special attention to other very small children’s throwing style.  It seems most all of them throw in a similar fashion to what I just shared with you.

Since those days, my boys picked up the traditional pitching motion…and I have subsequently taught them your method.

This raises a question in my mind.  If children are born with a natural tendency to throw “non-traditional”, how did our collective baseball culture ever devise the “traditional” throwing motion, and why?

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     Oh no, your young boys threw like girls and you let them.  You should have immediately showed them how to destroy their pitching arm.

     Without knowing it, these young boys used my Wrong Foot body action and my Slingshot pitching arm action.  You caught me.  I am trying to emasculate youth baseball pitchers.

     The reason why they threw this way is because they had to take great care to not bend forward at the waist.  That is because, relative to adults, their heads are too big for them to move it far from their axis of rotation.

     If, at that time, you had praised their Wrong Foot Slingshot throws for their accuracy, like throwing bean bags into a strike zone opening in a backstop, then taught them my Wrong Foot Loaded Slingshot drill, my Wrong Foot Pendulum Swing drill and my Drop Out Wind-Up Pendulum Swing drill, then they would be highly-skilled throwers by now.

     This is exactly what I did with Kindergarten and Motor Performance Study children in East Lansing, MI when I was teaching Motor Skills Acquisition students and the local Elementary School Physical Education teachers how to teach the basic motor skills of running, jumping, throwing, kicking, catching and striking to their students in a technique that I called, Individual-Oriented Group Instruction.

     At that time, this teaching technique was so well-received nationally that the Chair of my doctoral degree committee went on the Phil Donahue show to explain this revolutionary new Elementary School motor skill acquisition teaching technique.

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016.  Some more questions:

1.  I am just over 4 months of your WW/IB regimen.  Progress has generally been very good.  For the first time in 4 years, I have real hope that I might pitch competitively again.  I hope you don't get tired of hearing "thank you".  I regret, with all my heart, that I did not discover you years ago.  The psychological pain of missed opportunities is far worse than any physical pain.

2.  Along the way there have been learning pitfalls and physiological change pains.  You have walked me through each of those pitfalls via email, although I'm sure you don't remember the specifics, let alone my name.

3.  My most recent issue seems to be a lingering one.  Weeks ago I emailed you regarding my concern for discomfort/pain in the middle-back part of my shoulder.  The issue remains.  It is not the "top-back" or "top-side", indicating supraspinatus.  It is not the "far back/bottom" (anymore) indicating the teres major.  It is between those 2, which I can only guess means that the infraspinatus and/or teres minor are either inappropriately recruited and/or are currently receiving more stress than they are conditioned for.  The pain is somewhat non-specific in nature, and is definitely muscular.

4.   This mid-back shoulder pain does not surface during WW/IB training.  It has only surfaced throwing baseballs.  Still, I am able to pitch fastballs max-effort for extended periods of time with good velocity (at or near my best ever, even before past injuries).  The pain/discomfort is "nagging", but not necessarily debilitating.  Towards the latter end of a bullpen, the "offending" muscles/tissue involved feel fatigued.  There is a minor throb, akin to the sore bicep of traditional throwers, after about 70 or so fastballs.  I am leery of another shoulder injury.  I've already suffered through a subscap repair and labrum repair.  I'm done with that.

5.  I'm now doing 15 lbs. WW.  With the recent increase to that weight, I've experienced mild discomfort in the top-back part of my shoulder, presumably the supraspinatus.  It is dissipating, and I know from your instruction that a physiological change is occurring.  I'm not worried about the WW discomfort.  I do wonder, however, why the aforementioned mid-back of the shoulder pain doesn't surface during WW/IB.

6.  My force application, I believe, is very sound.  I pendulum swing to driveline height prior to front foot landing.  I palm-out, lock, have forearm to upper arm angle of 90 degrees or more from the side view.  I passively rotate to driveline.  I do not reverse rotate.  My arm path is straight and true.  I actively pronate before, during, and through release.  My centripetal imperative has my throwing arm popping the elbow up.  I do not cross my body with my arm nor do I pull it down.  I "stick it".  My body rotates 180 degrees with throwing foot ending up directly in front of glove foot.  I stand tall and rotate.  My back bends only slightly to the side as an imperative from the glove side lean.

7.  I believe I know what I'm doing with respect to training and force application.  Still, I'm at a loss over this lingering pain.  Very discouraging.

8.  I will certainly keep training at appropriate intensities, and I will reduce my baseball throwing intensity.

To my question:  Help!  I realize that's not a question.  Have you seen this before?  Do I simply need more patience?  Did/do any of your students contend with lingering conditions such as this?

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     Although I am not available to verify, it sounds as though you are correctly performing the drills that I use to teach the skills of my baseball pitching motion.  If this is true, then whatever discomfort you experience is because the intensity at which you are performing is too greatly exceeding the ability of some tissue to withstand.  While we want the intensity to slightly exceed the ability of the bones, ligaments, tendons and muscles to withstand, we do not want any tissue to fail.

     Therefore, when you encounter a discomfort and every baseball pitcher I have ever training has always encountered several discomforts, you need to judge whether the intensity is helpful or too much.  If it is helpful, then continue at the same intensity and the discomfort should dissipate in a couple of weeks or so.  However, if the discomfort continues to increase, then you need to reduce you intensity to a level where the discomfort does not continue to increase.  It is possible for some discomforts to last months, but never increase.

     The locations that you describe for your discomforts are typical.  Depending on what injuries they might have suffered previously or the lack of fitness from not using these tissues, you may encounter many and some of them may last for awhile.  Nevertheless, you have to continue to train daily at whatever is the appropriate intensity.

     I have designed a one size fits all program.  It may be that, with your history of pitching injuries, my program is too rigorous for you.  In this case, you may need to stretch out the number of days that you stay at the same weight and number of repetitions.

     However, whatever you do, do not stop training.  If you do, that same tissue will not be able to withstand the stress when you encounter it again.  Rest means atrophy.

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017.  When and is it necessary to ice the shoulder and elbow after pitching?  I thought it was only necessary to ice when pain is involved, but now have heard pitchers should ice after pitching.  I am confused.

I bought the "Cold Ice" sleeve for my 16 year old son.  He is Pitcher and SS.  He throws an 84 MPH fastball (two + four seem), a changeup, and a curveball.

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     When baseball pitchers use the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion, not even icing their pitching arm before, during and after they pitch can save it.  If you want your son to eliminate all pitching injuries, then you will have him complete my 120-Day High School Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program.  With my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video, you can teach your son how to perform the drills that I use to teach the skills of my baseball pitching motion.

     In my entire baseball pitching life, I never iced my pitching arm.  However, I would wash it and take it home with me.

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018.  Thanks.  Once again, your words are very helpful.

Of note, the discomfort I described does not "feel" like rotator cuff issues I had in the past.  Assuming proper force application, it shouldn't be.  Perhaps the posterior deltoid is involved.  Regardless, I appreciate your instruction and advice, and will do as you say.

I have 3 more questions:

1.  I have noticed that, due to your trainining regimen, the correct force application is very natural.  It has become second nature.  I can't even remember throwing the "old" way.

Just as exciting, I've also noticed that I am able to throw at maximum effort and still throw very accurately.  That is, I can put every ounce of my being into each pitch and still confidently hit my spots.  By comparison, when I threw with the traditional pitching motion, "overexertion" led to wild pitches/walks.  Needless to say, it also led to shorter outings.  We have been cautioned by traditional pitching coaches to avoid "overexertion" for years.  I'm beginning to think that's BS.  Are these common observations?

2.  Related to number 1 above, I am pleasantly surprised at my accuracy.  It is much better than when I threw with the traditional arm path.  Again, is this a common observation?

3.  What are we going to do if and when you decide to "retire"?  I understand the nature of change.  I know we most teach our kids, peers and teammates to influence incremental change.  But I hope that your Pitcher Research/Training Center continues on.  It needs to.  Someone needs to get a PhD, work by your side, and take over the reigns when you're 99 years old.

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01.  With my baseball pitching motion, baseball pitchers use the muscles of their pitching arm in the manner they are supposed to use them.  Therefore, with little practice, the motion becomes natural.

     Because my baseball pitching motion eliminates as much side-to-side and up and down movement as possible, without regard for the intensity of their effort, it becomes very easy to drive the baseball in as straight a line toward home plate as possible.  That is why I tell my baseball pitchers to throw every pitch with as much intensity as they can.  Even when we have exhausted our ability to resynthesize adenosine-tri-phosphate, we do not lose our ability to throw strikes.

02.  'Traditional' baseball pitching coaches tell their baseball pitchers to throw at less than they maximum intensity because, with all the unnecessary side-to-side and up and down movement in the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion, they would not be able to throw their pitches anywhere near the strike zone.

03.  My plan is to make my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video so perfect that anybody will be able to watch it, master my drills and successfully complete my training programs.  Now, if I can just find a way to keep my website online for the next couple of hundred years.

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019.  My mother is getting up there in age and it does not seem like a week that goes bye without hearing about someone who lost their balance and broke their hip.  I notice at age 54 I don't seem to have as good a sense of balance as I once did.

My sister passed along the following article on Balance and I was wondering if you could comment on it.  I was not even close to the average time for maintaining balance as the national average in the article's self test.  You will note that the article goes on to describe a few exercises for maintaining balance.  I was struck that the article said that maintaining balance was a motor skill.  I told my sister that I thought you would say that if you want to stand on one leg with the other leg off the ground at a 45 degree angle then that is what you should practice.

If you disagree with the author, why do you think we lose our sense of balance and what do you recommend we do to prevent the loss of balance.

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Preserving a Fundamental Sense: Balance
By JANE E. BRODY

Scott McCredie is a Seattle-based health and science writer who says he “discovered” what he calls “the lost sense” of balance after he watched in horror as his 67-year-old father tumbled off a boulder and disappeared from sight during a hike in the Cascades.

Though his father hurt little more than his pride, Mr. McCredie became intrigued by what might have caused this experienced hiker, an athletic and graceful man, to lose his balance suddenly.  His resulting science-and-history-based exploration led to a book, “Balance: In Search of the Lost Sense,” published last June by Little, Brown.

Noting that each year one in three Americans 65 and older falls, and that falls and their sometimes disastrous medical consequences are becoming more common as the population ages, Mr. McCredie wonders why balance is not talked about in fitness circles as often as strength training, aerobics and stretching.  He learned that the sense of balance begins to degrade in one’s 20s and that it is downhill — literally and figuratively — from there unless steps are taken to preserve or restore this delicate and critically important ability to maintain equilibrium.

Vertigo, which can be caused by inner ear infections, low blood pressure, brain injuries, certain medications and some chronic diseases, is loss of balance in the extreme.  Anyone who has experienced it — even if just from twirling in a circle — knows how disorienting and dangerous it can be.  Really, without a sense of balance, just about everything else in life can become an insurmountable obstacle.

One normal consequence of aging is a steady decline in the three main sensory contributors to good balance — vision, proprioceptors on the bottoms of the feet that communicate position information to the brain, and the tiny hairs in the semicircular canals of the inner ear that relay gravity and motion information to the brain.  Add to that the loss of muscle strength and flexibility that typically accompany aging and you have a fall waiting to happen.

But while certain declines with age are unavoidable, physical therapists, physiatrists and fitness experts have repeatedly proved that much of the sense of balance can be preserved and even restored through exercises that require no special equipment or training.  These exercises are as simple as standing on one foot while brushing your teeth or walking heel-to-toe with one foot directly in front of the other.

Testing for Equilibrium

Marilyn Moffat and Carole B. Lewis, physical therapists in New York and Washington, respectively, agree with Mr. McCredie that “balance is an area of physical fitness that is often overlooked,” but they seek to correct that in their recent book “Age-Defying Fitness” (Peachtree Publishers).  They define balance as “the ability of your body to maintain equilibrium when you stand, walk or perform any other daily activity” like putting on pants, walking on uneven ground or reaching for something on a shelf.

Dr. Moffat and Dr. Lewis suggest starting with a simple assessment of your current ability to maintain good balance.  With a counter or sturdy furniture near enough to steady you if needed, perform this test:

1.  Stand straight, wearing flat, closed shoes, with your arms folded across your chest.  Raise one leg, bending the knee about 45 degrees, start a stopwatch and close your eyes.

2.  Remain on one leg, stopping the watch immediately if you uncross your arms, tilt sideways more than 45 degrees, move the leg you are standing on or touch the raised leg to the floor.

3.  Repeat this test with the other leg.

Now, compare your performance to the norms for various ages:

01.  20 to 49 years old: 24 to 28 seconds.
02.  50 to 59 years: 21 seconds.
03.  60 to 69 years: 10 seconds.
04.  70 to 79 years: 4 seconds.
05.  80 and older: most cannot do it at all.

If you are wise, whatever your age, you will want to strive for the norm of those younger than 50.  To increase stability and strengthen the legs, stand with feet shoulder-width apart and arms straight out in front.  Lift one foot behind, bending the knee at 45 degrees.  Hold that position for five seconds or longer, if possible.

Repeat this exercise five times.  Then switch legs. As you improve, try one-leg stands with your eyes closed.

You can also incorporate one-leg stands into daily routines — while on the telephone, for example, brushing your teeth, waiting in line or for a bus, or cooking and washing dishes.

Exercises to Build a Motor Skill

“Remember, balance is a motor skill,” Dr. Moffat, professor of physical therapy at New York University, said in an interview.  “To enhance it, you have to train your balance in the same way you would have to train your muscles for strength and your heart for aerobic capacity.”

Dr. Moffat pointed out that balance is twofold:  static while standing still and dynamic when moving, as in walking and climbing stairs.  Two main routes improve balance — exercises that increase the strength of the ankle, knee and hip muscles and exercises that improve the function of the vestibular system.

Like one-leg stands, many can be done as part of a daily routine.  Dr. Moffat recommends starting with strength exercises and, as you improve, adding vestibular training by doing some of them with closed eyes.

Sit-to-stand exercises once or twice a day increase ankle, leg and hip strength and help the body adjust to changes in position without becoming dizzy after being sedentary for a long time.  Sit straight in a firm chair (do not lean against the back) with arms crossed.  Stand up straight and sit down again as quickly as you can without using your arms.  Repeat the exercise three times and build to 10 repetitions.

Heel-to-toe tandem walking is another anytime exercise, resembling plank walking popular with young children.  It is best done on a firm, uncarpeted floor. With stomach muscles tight and chin tucked in, place one foot in front of the other such that the heel of the front foot nearly touches the toe of the back foot.  Walk 10 or more feet and repeat the exercise once or twice a day.

Also try walking on your toes and then walking on your heels to strengthen your ankles.  Another helpful exercise is sidestepping.  Facing a wall, step sideways with one leg (bring the other foot to it) 10 times in each direction.  After mastering that, try a dance-like maneuver that starts with sidestepping once to the right.  Then cross the left leg behind, sidestep to the right again and cross the left leg in front.  Repeat this 10 times.  Then do it in the other direction.

In addition, the slow, continuous movements of tai chi, that popular Chinese exercise, have been shown in scientific studies to improve balance and reduce the risk of falls.  This is the first of two columns.  The second will look at the vestibular system, which controls balance.

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     If you don't use it, then you will lose it.  Whatever you want to be able to do every day, you must do every day.  Therefore, if we want to be able to do these drills every day, then I would agree with what this article recommends.  I want to be able to jog every day, so I jog every day.

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020.  Subject:  YouTube-Shane Warne Magic Ball!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UHT3UIjwvE&feature=related

I hope you can open and play this youtube video.  It's a cricket bowler name Shane Warne.  In international cricket, he is known as the greatest "spin" bowler ever.  In this video it looks like he pronated the release of a screwball.

There is another clip to choose from titled, "Shane Warne-Ball of the Century".  You can really see the screwball action of his delivery.  The batsman didn't know what to do with it.  I am interested in your observations.

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     There is absolutely no doubt, this gentleman releases this throw with my screwball spin.  If I could have my pitches bounce before the batters could hit the, then I could have made my pitches bounce this erratically and nobody would have it them either.  Nevertheless, I do not like their throwing arm action.  Certainly, they do not separate the force applications of the throwing upper arm and throwing forearm.

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021.  I regularly go to the maxxtraining website.  Recently, exercisespecialist36 posted the following remarks about visiting your facility.

Well, for all those on here, I'm back and sorry for being away so long.  Anyway, I had the opportunity to have a visit from Maxx and him and I went to Z-hills yesterday, Sat. 12th, 2008 and met with Karma and saw the whole Mike Marshall deal in person and in full effect.  I must say that it was very interesting overall.  I will take you step by step what we saw and went through and then Ill give you all my take on it.

When we arrived we sat with Marshall and some of his guys and talked for about an hour or so about what he is all about, what his accomplishments were and why he himself got injured from baseball and then he explained in detail each and every muscle, joint and movement patterns in traditional pitching that MAY injury an arm.

He provided a booklet with each illustration of the muscle and bones etc and for those who don't know the human body and movement science, you would be very informed.

After that we followed two of his guys (one was a former minor leaguer who on here is fastball95), and they went through each station and progression all the way to mound type work. Overall, its hard to explain on here but if you haven't seen the motion and training, I suggest getting online and seeing the motion for yourself.  They start with their 30lb wrist weights and iron ball work, followed by a football rotational throws and a javelin type throw that mimics the motion and finally mound work that is about 50 feet with no catcher.

Over all I think it was a cool experience and when Joe threw his pitches some of them were really nasty.  He had really good movement on all his pitches and looked pretty good.  Now for all the issues and questions regarding Marshall, let me go through all of these.

First, when we arrived, I know it doesn't really matter what type of equipment or facilities you have but the place overall was pretty run down, it was almost like and old chicken farm. Now maybe you could get more kids to come if the facilities were better; however, this is really the least important thing but it could be more appealing. The one thing about Marshall is that his views are his and his are the only right views.  Not just about pitching but conditioning and all that, he would never integrate many theories to get his own.  I didn't like that as much.  His science was good but he did have some flaws (in my opinion) about some of his info.

One was a question about the kinetic chain and how the neurological system synergistically works with the muscular and articular system of the body. He says quote, "that’s all bulls**t", yet it is scientifically proven to be so and each effect one another.

Also, he talked about the hamstring and quadriceps and how they only flex and extend, but once again proven research will show that in function (walking, running) when you feet are on the ground, the hamstrings and quadriceps will move in the frontal and transverse plane and create more of a rotating motion of the femur, not just flexion and extension.

Also, he wasn't really huge of much weight training or conditioning at all which blew my mind.  Even with there new pitching motion, so sort of weight training and conditioning progression could even help them.

All this was almost like, not to offend anyone, but like a cult type thing where he brainwashed these guys into thinking only his way.  You have to look at many avenues on this to get an idea, but each one liked looked only one way and the way Marshall talked it was like David Karesh in Waco, Texas.  Marshall was a nice guy, he just came off kind of like that.

As far as the players there, it’s hard to tell what type of pitchers they were before using the traditional motion.  I have seen a lot of talent and some of the guys there just seemed that maybe with the traditional motion they probably had issues being the best they could be.

Overall, fastball95 was definitely the best one there and looked like he could really pitch well even from the traditional motion.  I don't understand some of the guys goals.  For instance, they have been there since August and they sleep in these little apartments that seems like an army base.

Anyway, they workout for like 6-7 months and then go play on their summer league teams.  After that, they will come back to Z-hills and train again.  Now if you have a dream, I say go for it b/c I did, but for most there, they probably won't make it to the show so what do you want to do?  How long do you stay there and train with no family, girlfriend, college, etc, etc?  How long do you do this lifestyle?

Lastly, Marshall kept saying over and over that the traditional motion WILL do this and this you your arm and you will get a hip replacement later in like and knee problems....etc.  Well how is this for sure?  It's NOT for sure!  Yes it could happen and that is a risk we all take.  But, I know plenty of pitchers who never had a issue and I'm one of them.

I pitched for 20 years and I have never had a problem with back ,hip, or arm.  I have never lost flexion and extension in my elbow.  Marshall said this will happen for sure to everyone, but yet I'm fine.  Nothing is for sure in this game.  I believe that most pitchers or athletes who get injured COULD be b/c they haven't trained properly as well as maybe even trained enough.

It very well could be the traditional motion that caused the injury, but you must look at it the athlete was lazy, or didn't have the education or worked with a trainer or coach who doesn't know the up-to-date training theories that are proven and then they injury themselves.  I think its really in the training itself and not the motion, although it could be the motion, but for me it was not the motion b/c I'm fine.

Last spring I came back pitch in a league after 6 years of not throwing at all, and I worked out for 7 months to get ready and I never pitched better in my life.  I went 19-4, although that doesn't mean anything, but what does matter is I threw just as hard as college and never had pain and felt strong and pitched great.

I'm currently training a ex-minor league player who has been out of baseball for 3 years but did throw 95 mph back then.  Anyway, he couldn't throw strikes so he was released.  Later he pitched in a men’s league and tore his labrum.  Now, I asked him how his conditioning was during that league, and he said almost non-existent.  Now that was his own fault, but he didn’t workout much, just showed up to pitch and BAM, torn labrum.  Was it solely the traditional pitching motion that caused it?  Who knows.

As for fastball95 on here, he tore is labrum (I believe he tore something) and he says', "oh its definitely the traditional pitching motion that caused it".  Yet, after asking him, he said he had played football back in high school and by looking at him, he is pretty huge and muscular.  Big kid, yet did early years of heavy weight training predispose his labrum or shoulder to being torn.  A good possibility!  I never played football in my life, and yet, I never had a injury ever playing the game of baseball.  There gotta be something there.

Overall, Marshall has something here worth looking into.  But overall, I believe it will never take full notice anywhere.  Overall I think fastball should get back on the traditional way, get with a renound, trainer who is well know about functional, integrated training and rehab and give it another shot that way.

The only thing I saw that was really interesting was in Marshall's DVD where Jeff Sparks was throwing.  He looked nasty, was throwing really well and you could see Marshall in his motion BUT, it looked like some of his motion was traditional and some was Marshall, but it was interesting.  What happened to Sparks anyway?  Marshall says that in the traditional motion you will get all these injuries later in life, but how do you know his motion won't do the same?  Sports take a toll on any body no matter if they have perfect technique and conditioning anyway.

As far as Marshall's knee problems and back issues; come to Largo, train with me for 3 months and I and for sure you will feel 10 times better and will have better movement b/c of my functional techniques.  You don't have to live in pain if you have someone that knows exactly the steps to take to make the person move better and with less pain, just as MAXX!

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     When Steve (Kharma) told me that he wanted to bring Bill (MAXX) and Adam (exercisespecialist36) to my Baseball Pitching Research/Training Center on the weekend that I cancelled my Certification Clinic, I was not pleased.  I would gladly have them when I have my materials together and the full day and one-half to present my information and personally answer all questions.  But, with less than two hours, I only had time to present the bare bones explanation of my baseball pitching motion.

     How Adam misunderstood what I said shows that I was right.  Nevertheless, Adam should be able to answer these questions.

01.  What injurious flaw inherent in the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion causes their baseball pitchers to lose the extension range of motion in their pitching elbow?

02.  What is the anatomical damage that results in the lose of the extension range of motion in the pitching elbow?

03.  What mechanical adjustment must 'traditional' baseball pitchers make to avoid losing the extension range of motion in their pitching elbow?

04.  What injurious flaw inherent in the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion causes their baseball pitchers to lose the flexion range of motion in their pitching elbow?

05.  What is the anatomical damage that results in the lose of the flexion range of motion in the pitching elbow?

06.  What mechanical adjustment must 'traditional' baseball pitchers make to avoid losing the flexion range of motion in their pitching elbow?

07.  What injurious flaw inherent in the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion causes their baseball pitchers to rupture their Ulnar Collateral Ligament in their pitching elbow?

08.  What mechanical adjustment must 'traditional' baseball pitchers make to avoid rupturing their Ulnar Collateral Ligament in their pitching elbow?

09.  What injurious flaw inherent in the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion causes their baseball pitchers to tear the attachment of their Subscapularis muscle to the lesser tuberosity on the front of their pitching shoulder?

10.  What mechanical adjustment must 'traditional' baseball pitchers make to avoid tearing the attachment of their Subscapularis muscle to the lesser tuberosity on the front of their pitching shoulder?

11.  What injurious flaw inherent in the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion causes their baseball pitchers to tear the anterior or posterior aspect of the labrum in their pitching shoulder?

12.  What mechanical adjustment must 'traditional' baseball pitchers make to avoid tearing the anterior or posterior aspect of the labrum in their pitching shoulder?

13.  What injurious flaw inherent in the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion causes their baseball pitchers to tear the Teres Minor muscle in the back of their pitching shoulder?

14.  What mechanical adjustment must 'traditional' baseball pitchers make to avoid tearing their Teres Minor muscle in the back of their pitching shoulder?

15.  What does the Pronator Teres muscle contribute to Dr. Marshall's baseball pitching motion?

16.  How does the Pronator Teres muscle enable Dr. Marshall's baseball pitchers to use their Triceps Brachii muscle to powerfully extend their pitching elbow?

17.  What does the Teres Major muscle contribute to Dr. Marshall's baseball pitching motion?

18.  What does the Latissimus Dorsi muscle contribute to Dr. Marshall's baseball pitching motion?

19.  Why does Sir Isaac Newton's first law require that baseball pitchers apply force to their pitches in straight lines toward home plate?

20.  What does Sir Isaac Newton's second law say are the two variables that contribute to release velocity?

21.  How can baseball pitchers satisfy Sir Isaac Newton's third law that says for every action force there is an equal and oppositely-directed reaction force?

     Joe (fastbal95) uses twenty-five pound wrist weight to do his wrist weight exercises, not 30 lbs. as Adam said.  He uses a ten pound iron ball to do his iron ball throws.

     To learn how to achieve the perfect spin axes for my Maxline Fastball, Maxline True Screwball, Maxline Pronation Curve and Torque Fastball, I use an appropriately-sized football.  How the tips of the football rotate immediately shows whether they are releasing these pitches correctly.  We also use the square lid off four gallon plastic buckets to learn how to release my Maxline Pronation Curve.  A modified plastic javelin helps baseball pitchers to learn how to not loop their pitching forearm.

     That Adam mistakenly believes that my baseball pitchers throw off mounds that are only fifty feet from home plate demonstrates how quickly the fastballs that my guys threw got to home plate.  From Adam's point of view, they got there ten feet sooner than he expected.  Part of Adam's confusion comes from the hidden velocity that my baseball pitchers enjoy from releasing their pitches closer to home plate than 'traditional' baseball pitchers can.

     On this day, Joe (fastbal95) threw my Maxline Pronation Curve and Torque Fastball.  He has an outstanding curve and torque fastball.

     My Baseball Pitching Research/Training Center is not a fantasy camp or a rip-off summer camp.  My baseball pitchers are here to work hard.  All equipment works properly.  That some of the material on the astroturf that covers where the baseballs sit after they hit the net is missing does not reduce the quality of their workouts or require that I needlessly spend thousands of dollars to replace them.

     I took two hours out of my busy life to explain to Adam and Bill my baseball pitching motion.  Whose views does Adam expect me to discuss?  If this had been my Graduate Exercise Physiology or Kinesiology classes, then I would have spent time discussing other training theories and why they fail.

     Near the end of the session, I was explaining how baseball pitchers should use their legs to apply more force toward second base.  Adam asked me a question about the kinetic chain.  I said that it is bullcrap to think that, in the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion, the legs contribute to the kinetic chain.

     Clearly, he did not understand what I was talking about.  But, he is not the first.  In fact, I believe that the vast majority do not understand.  But, since I am not hurried to leave as I was then, I will provide a more complete answer.

     First, what is a kinetic chain?  A kinetic chain starts with the first part of the body that applies force to the object of interest and lists all other body parts that also applies force.  For example, let us imagine a coal car like they have in coal mines on one hundred yards of level tracks loaded with coal that the miners push out of the mines.  Now, let us imagine that every ten yards someone gets behind the coal car and applies as much force as possible for ten yards.  When the first pusher encounters the coal car, it has zero velocity. When the second pusher encounters the coal car, it has some velocity.  When the third pusher encounters the coal car, it has some more velocity.  And so on until the coal car is moving as fast as the fastest pusher can run.

     Clearly, until the coal car achieved a velocity as fast as the fastest pusher could run, every pusher contributed to the final velocity of the coal car.

     However, with the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion, after the pitching foot pushes off the pitching rubber and the glove foot lands and pushes toward home plate, not only does the center of mass of the 'traditional' baseball pitcher come to a complete stop, the baseball is about half-way through the 'Late Pitching Forearm Turnover' flaw in the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion.  That means that, after the glove leg completely negates the toward home plate force that the pitching foot applied, the baseball has absolutely no velocity.  Therefore, as I cryptically told Adam, that the kinetic chain of the 'traditional' baseball includes the legs is bullcrap.

     This is because Adam, Bill and most everybody else does not understand Sir Isaac Newton's third law, the law of reaction.  The law of reaction says that for every action force, there is an equal and oppositely-directed reaction force.  To convert this law of motion to a law of force application for baseball pitchers, the law of reaction says that, for baseball pitchers to apply greater force toward home plate, they must apply greater force toward second base.  This means that both the pitching and glove feet have to apply force toward second base.  This means that baseball pitchers have to powerfully forwardly rotate over their pivoting glove foot, not reverse rotate over their fixed pitching foot.

     I know that it is not easy to think outside of the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion box.  Everybody is so accustomed to watching baseball pitchers stride so far that their glove foot kicks up dirt toward home plate that they think that is the only way to do it.

     However, if baseball pitchers are to ever apply force toward second base with their glove foot, then they have to move the center of mass of their body in front of their glove foot.  To move the center of mass of their body in front of their glove foot, baseball pitchers need to:

01.  step forward with their glove foot,

02.  push with their pitching foot and

03.  pull with their glove foot.

     Then, to apply more force toward second base, after the center of mass of their body moves in front of their glove foot, they need to push back toward second base with their glove foot.

     With my baseball pitching motion, the legs do contribute to the kinetic chain for baseball pitching.

     With regard to Adam's confusion about how the pitching knee should function, with my baseball pitching motion, I teach my baseball pitchers to point their feet toward home plate and walk forward off the pitching rubber.  Therefore, all the pitching knee needs to do is extend.

     With the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion, they turn their pitching foot to parallel with the pitching rubber.  As a result, when they push against the pitching rubber and move their body towards home plate, the inside of the pitching knee faces toward the ground.

     Over years of baseball pitching, this action lengthens the Medial Collateral Ligament and the lateral aspect of the pitching lower leg digs into the lateral aspect of the pitching upper leg.  These actions gradually destroys the pitching knee.  The X-rays of my pitching knee is my best evidence.  I am confident that X-rays of Adam's pitching knee will show lesser, but similar damage.  He just does not know it yet.

     When I taught my college courses, my supervisors referred to my students as disciples.  When I teach my baseball pitchers, they also believe what I teach them.  However, they do not have to take anything that I teach on faith.  The truth of what I teach is in the textbooks.  That those to whom Adam teaches do not similarly believe what he teaches shows that they do not believe what he teaches.

     Whatever my students have for goals is for them to decide, not Adam, me or anybody else.  It is their life.

     Apparently, Adam does not keep up with the major league disabled list.  Also, I have never heard any retired major league baseball pitcher say that he did not or does not suffer some malady from the years they pitched baseball.  I believe that with my baseball pitching motion, we can eliminate all pitching injuries when they pitch and after they are done pitching.

     At this point, actually when Adam started questioning the goals my students have, his discussion descended into silly gossip and unsubstantiable speculation and nonsense.  I will leave him there.

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022.  This is from Bill Vasko (MAXX):

Below you will find my thoughts on my visit and other things I have found of interest:

First, everyone was very helpful in showing us around and answering any of our questions.  I greatly appreciate the opportunity to visit and I am especially grateful to Kharma for making it a reality.

I have to agree with E36 on the conditions of the facility.  Especially if the trainees have to pay the amounts listed on MM's website.  Though MM might not have the money to upgrade the facility, I think it is needed before higher profile trainees would consider staying and/or training there.

Some of my points/questions/concerns come from my visit, while others come from MM's video.

As E36 mentioned, MM stated that the knee joint moved only in flexing and extending, which is not true.  While those are the primary movements, the knee is a multi-planar joint.  Just as there are rotational movements that occur in the elbow joint during pronation, the knee also has rotational and transverse movements, even during actions such as walking.

We've discussed scapular loading here and a bit at MM's.  While it may be harmful to "load" beyond the Acromial line, I still think rearward movement of the shoulders, and not so much the elbows, is an important component of posture.  Irregardless, one of MM's weightlifting "machines" was a prone position barbell row, the movement was restricted to a point.

I did not get the opportunity to ask MM about the 28-48 rep philosophy.  I did get to ask fastbal95, and his explanation, which I believe has been stated before, has to do with depletion of the substrate.  Fastbal, if you could point me to the section of MM's website where he describes this further, I'd appreciate it.  And in return, I challenge you to research the body's different energy systems--the phosphagen system, glycolysis, and the oxidative system.

A substrate is any molecule that starts the energy process--for example, phosphagens (ATP and creatine phosphate), glucose, glycogen, lactate, fatty acids, and amino acids.  The intensity of the activity and its duration determine which energy system is engaged.  That's why I am not sure why MM is a proponent of training that would engage primarily the use of glycolysis.

Pitching by nature is an anaerobic activity--yes, I know we have had this discussion before--Kharma will say it is ballistic--so let's say it is a very brief and intense activity with a period of rest immediately afterwards.  The 28-48 rep cycle does not replicate this game type activity.  Therefore, the training should focus on the phosphagen energy system.  I would love to hear your thoughts fastbal.

One of my regrets in not making it back Sunday, was that I wanted to hear MM's thoughts on hitting.  I do not coach baseball or pitchers, but I do coach hitting.  I am in the process of reading his hitting material on his website and I do have some questions--it's hard to understand what he is saying without video or photos.

For example, he discusses pronation in the rear forearm, but I am not quite sure when that pronation occurs.  I do not teach pronation in the rear forearm until well after contact.  There seem to be some inconsistancies in what he has in his hitting section and what elite hitters at the MLB level actually do.

Since I do not coach baseball or pitchers, the pitching motion is not of great concern to me.  But its application to throwing mechanics is of great interest.  I coach girls who often have poor throwing mechanics, and being able to diagnose potentially injurious motions will be a great benefit.  Some of the things that I agree with MM that will be part of my analysis is the pendulum swing, the positioning of the elbow in relation to the head (to a point), and eliminating forearm bounce or flyout and also looping. I do have some concerns about the pronation motion, which I will discuss below.

Concerns:

Reverse rotation and rotational force around a fixed front leg.  In MM's video, he states that he believes reverse rotation and rotation around a fixed but bent front leg is a problem of the traditional motion.  I don't recall exactly the reasoning.  But this is why pitchers who use MM's motion "walk" off the rubber in their delivery instead of powerfully rotating the trunk.

I am watching a DVD series by Gary Gray right now that discusses the kinetic chain and the use of the trunk or "core" in throwing and hitting movements.  I think Gary Gray is right on, and he is highly respected in his field.  I will make some copies of his material and send out to those that I think will benefit from it (fastbal, Kharma).  Also, if you read thru MM's hitting section on his website, he promotes the following:

Quote:  “In preparation for the powerful forward rotation of their hips and shoulders, I teach my baseball batters to keep their head absolutely still and relative to their body, keep their front and lead arms absolutely still and smoothly maximally reverse rotate their hips and shoulders."

So why is this rotation acceptable in hitting but not pitching?

Another concern is the ability to control pitches when using MM's delivery.  While there appeared to be great movement on the pitches that MM's students threw, there was an ability to know exactly where those pitches were going to end up.  MM himself even said that he did not care about control, that it would be taken care of after the students had mastered the motion.  I would have loved to get in and hit against one of the pitchers, but I really would have feared for my safety.  I think that a greater emphasis on control and pitching to a catcher would help the pitchers develop greater confidence in their abilities--this is just my opinion.

This lack of control would also be a concern for me if I were to introduce pronation to the regular throwing motion of positional players.  Should pronation even be introduced to positional players?  What is the application of MM's motion to positional players?

Another concern is with implementation and teaching.  This will probably be the greatest obstacle of all if MM's motion is ever accepted into mainstream coaching methods--and that is an even larger obstacle within itself to be discussed later.  But how do we get ALL of the coaches at ALL levels of baseball trained to teach this motion properly?  That is a great undertaking, especially when a lot of coaches are parents who volunteer to help out their kid's team.  Plus, the amount of time it would take to properly teach this motion to kids and train for it would be tremendous.  Is it all possible?  Well, anything is possible.

How do you convince people to change? Eliminating pitching injuries is an incentive.  But is it enough?  How many parents/players would be willing to trade their health for wealth?  What I am saying is; a lot of parents and athletes will take velocity over injury reduction in this age of high stakes sports.  Just look at the things that athletes are putting into their bodies today to secure a big contract, a college scholarship, or even a starting position on their high school team.

Injuries are a part of sports--and sometimes those injures may be life-long.  MM's motion produces pain-free pitching, based upon the reports of his students.  But how do we eliminate all injury in sports?  If you told me that I would lose 12 degrees of flexion and extension in my elbow joint like MM has, but I would be a multi-millionaire, I'd take the money any day of the week!!

So, if we are trying to prevent injuries, then the focus needs to be on the kids.  We have all read the debates over MM's students and the inability to produce top-notch pitching prospects.  While that may be holding MM back, shouldn't his focus be on eliminating injuries in KIDS?  He needs to find a way to target that audience.  Adults are going to make their decision on MM's motion or the traditional motion.  But we have the ability to steer kids down an injury free path.

Now, I am not sure if what MM is teaching is the only way to throw without injury.  I do not know enough about the biomechanics to offer up an appropriate recommendation.  But there are smarter people out there who can help in this area.  MM should find a way to get his message to those people.  If ASMI is not wiling to listen, then find others who are.

In my opinion, the missing component in preventing pitching injuries is the CORRECT analysis of mechanics and the diagnosis of injuries.  MM has claimed to have discovered the flaws of traditional mechanics that lead to these injuries--then he needs to keep trying to get this info to the appropriate people.  On the other hand, he should be willing to accept other thoughts on injury prevention.

For example, what types of training or modifications to the traditional motion can be used to prevent injury.  Is his way REALLY the only way?  E36 would say it is not the only way since he has pitched traditionally for 18 years without injury.  But I would have to add that E36 is probably the hardest working man I have encountered in my 15 years of coaching when it comes to training and preparing for his sport.  Is the TRAINING the missing component?  A great deal of athletes are either lazy, or really don't understand what it means to "train" for their sports.  And this is true at all levels!

Finally, I hope that fastbal95 has the opportunity to go and show his stuff at the highest level--he deserves the opportunity.  He is extremely diligent and dedicated and hopefully his hard work will pay off.  I understand what his goals are.  Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to talk much with the other students--but what are their goals?  I'm not trying to be condescending, but MM's other students are not MLB caliber, at least from what I saw.

It is great to chase a dream--whether it be semi-pro ball, college ball, high school ball, or simply to pitch injury-free.  But, if fastbal95 is MM's only legitimate student with a chance at "the show," then he is facing a much steeper climb than many of us realized.  Are there any other MM students out there with great potential?

Overall, the visit was thought-provoking and probably created more questions than answers.  Between the visit with MM and E36, I definitely have been able to add some things to my critical analysis of athletes and my training methods.  I hope I did not offend anyone with any of my comments.  I tried to be as honest and objective as I possibly could and I look forward to further discussion.

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     When Steve (Kharma) asked me to allow Bill Vasko (MAXX) and Adam (E36) to come to my Baseball Pitching Research/Training Center the second weekend of January after I had had to cancel my Certification Clinic, I told him that I could not promise that I could be there, such that the best that they could expect would be demonstrations of my baseball pitching motion and my training program.

     Now, I read from them nothing about my baseball pitching motion or my training program.  Instead, they whine that the some of the material attached to the astroturf in the high traffic area has come off and that is the reason why higher profile trainees do not train here.  It could not be that they are not willing to commit to 280 consecutive days of hard training.

     Then, Bill Vasko makes a big deal about whether the knee joint is a multi-planar joint that does movements other than flexing and extending.  Like the elbow joint, the knee joint only flexes and extends.  I could cite every muscle in each joint and where they attach and what we will find is that, when these muscles contract, they only flex or extend the joint.  The forearm joint pronates and supinates, not the elbow joint.  The Fibula does not have the same abilities as the Radius bone.

     The reason I mentioned that the knee joint only flexes and extends was to show that, by pointing their feet toward home plate, during my baseball pitching motion, my baseball pitchers only flex and extend their knee joint.  Therefore, they do not lengthen the Medial Collateral Ligament or dig the lateral aspect of the Femur bone into the lateral aspect of the Fibula bone, the result of which, if done enough times, will require knee replacement surgery.

     I did carefully point out the danger of taking the pitching elbow behind the acromial line, such as those who teach Scapula Loading ask their pitchers to do.  I believe that Scapula Loading injures the attachment of the Subscapularis muscle to the lesser tuberosity of the head of the Humerus bone of the pitching upper arm and the anterior aspect of the Labrum.  The instruction with regard to the prone rowing barbell is that participants do not take their elbows behind their acromial line.

     Nevertheless, as I told Mr. Vasko and Adam, I put that and other weight training equipment at the request of a parent in ways that made the performance of which as safe as possible.  I do not recommend that the pitchers do them and certainly do not believe that those weight training devices contribute positively to baseball pitching.

     Unfortunately, Adam, the exercise specialist, does not understand the principle of specificity of training and mistakenly believes that he can have athletes perform a variety of loosely related exercises, which will result in making them better baseball pitchers.  When athletes perform jumping jacks, they only get better at doing jumping jacks.  The same goes for every other type of training other that specifically practicing the force application technique for baseball pitching.

     Mr. Vasko and Adam watched my powerful baseball pitchers use my baseball pitching motion to apply force to twenty-five pound wrist weight and ten pound iron balls in precisely the same manner that they will apply force to their baseballs.  I challenge their 'traditional' baseball pitchers to similarly use twenty-five pound wrist weight and a ten pound iron ball.  I want to see how well their pitching shoulder and elbow handle the weight during their 'Late Pitching Forearm Turnover' and 'Reverse Pitching Forearm Bounce.'

     Now, from out of the blue, Mr. Vasko challenges Fastbal95 to explain which energy system baseball pitchers use.  In Chapter Thirty-One: Muscle Physiology of my Coaching Baseball Pitchers book, I explain the three energy systems and much more.  In my Question/Answer files, I have discussed this topic on several other occasions.  Like I tell everybody else who wants to understand what I teach, after they have watched my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video and read my Coaching Baseball Pitchers book and Question/Answer files, then they can ask me questions.  That Mr. Vasko was too lazy to do his homework is his problem, not mine.  If he were a student in my Graduate Exercise Physiology course, then I would have taught him that he had better never come to my class unprepared.

     I understand Mr. Vasko's confusion about whether baseball pitching is aerobic or anaerobic.  Because baseball pitchers apply their maximum force for two-tenths of a second, he believes that baseball pitching is an anaerobic activity.  However, to qualify as anerobic, activities must produce lactic acid.  Baseball pitching does not produce lactic acid.  Aerobic activity does not produce lactic acid.  However, the intensity is so high that baseball pitching cannot be aerobic.  Therefore, I say that baseball pitching is a ballistic activity.  But, what difference does it make what energy system they use?  My baseball pitchers train hard every day without meaningful discomfort.

     I have never said forward rotation over a fixed glove foot.  The glove foot is not fixed.  Athletes in many sports forwardly rotate over their front foot.  The front foot pivots.  I strongly oppose reverse rotating over the fixed pitching foot.  That action contributes litte and destroys much.  That action eventully requires hip replacement, knee replacement and ankle surgeries.

     In the previous question/answer, I already debunked the nonsense that 'traditional' baseball pitchers use their legs to accelerate the baseball.  After they push forward with their pitching leg and push backward with their glove leg, the baseball is either at a dead stop or moving backward.  Therefore, these actions contributed nothing to accelerate the baseball.  'Traditional' baseball pitchers might as well have started from this position, much in the same way that some baseball batters start with their feet spread far apart.  Whatever Gary Gray said was nonsense.

     As I have carefully explained in my Question/Answer file, the reason why baseball batters have to forwardly rotate over their rear foot is that, at contact, they need their acromial line perpendicular to the flight path of the baseball.  With my baseball pitching motion, I want my baseball pitchers to have their acromial line pointing as close as possible toward home plate, which is parallel with their driveline toward home plate.  The only way to achieve that acromial line position is to forwardly pivot over their pivoting glove foot.

     If Mr. Vasko had taken the time to read Chapter Thirty-Four: Motor Development, Learning and Skill Acquisition of my Coaching Baseball Pitchers book, then he would have learned that, when learning the skills of my baseball pitching motion, baseball pitchers should do everything that they can to maximize the quality of their pitches without regard for where the baseball goes.  That is why I have them throw into a sixteen foot by ten foot net.

     After they learn how to make their high-quality releases consistent, then they can learn how to throw the baseball into the strike zone.  In other words, to become the best baseball pitchers that they can be, baseball pitchers should always throw every pitch with maximum horizontal and spin velocities.  Then, when they master the wide variety of high-quality pitches that I teach, they become high-quality baseball pitchers.

     Because they are only interested in winning baseball games now, most coaches only teach their baseball pitches to throw strikes with two or three less than full intensity pitches.  Conversely, I am only interested in baseball pitchers becoming the best injury-free, highly-skilled baseball pitchers that they can be.  As a result, with my baseball pitching motion and training program, my baseball pitchers elevate the quality of baseball pitching.

     To implement my baseball pitching motion, baseball pitching coaches only need to teach their baseball pitchers how to:

01.  pronate the releases of their pitches,

02.  pendulum swing their pitching arm with their pitching hand under the baseball,

03.  use the crow-hop throwing throwing rhythm to make sure that they move their pitching hand to driveline height before their glove foot lands,

04.  take their pitching arm backward to point at second base and

05.  forwardly rotate over their pivoting glove foot.

     I have numerous parents teaching their youth baseball pitchers how to do this.  It is simple.  All they have to do is watch my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video and teach their youth baseball pitchers how to perform the drills that I use to teach the skills of my baseball pitching motion.

     With my baseball pitching motion and training programs, baseball pitchers do not generate the forces that destroy their pitching arm, lower back, pitching hip, pitching knee or pitching ankle.  And, because they generate more force toward home plate over greater distances, they achieve greater release velocities.  Lastly, because my baseball pitching motion enables my baseball pitchers to get their pitching forearm vertical at release, they can master pitches that move equally well to both sides of home plate.

     However, Mr. Vasko made a valid point about the quality of the baseball pitchers I am training.  Fastbal95 is the only draft-quality baseball pitcher I have.  It is typical that, for a draft-quality baseball pitcher to commit to training at least 280 consecutive days with me, they have to be seriously injured.  Otherwise, draft-quality baseball pitchers will take the money and run and never come close to becoming the best that they can be.

     For my part, except that they will train as hard as they can for 280 consecutive days, I do not have any requirements for those who want to train with me.  I am interested in helping those who are committed to hard work.  Unfortunately, for some reason, those with great gifts do not have great drive.  I suppose that I can thank my less than great genetic gifts for my drive to become the best that I could be.  With my baseball pitching motion and training program, with what little I knew at that time, I did all right.  I believe that, back before voters included relievers in their selections, I was the first close to finish fourth in the Cy Young Award, second in the Cy Young Award and first in the Cy Young Award.

     Nevertheless, I do want to congratulate Adam on the fine pitching career that he achieved with his baseball pitching motion and training program.

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023.  The discomfort that I wrote you about in a near-panic is starting to go away; just like you said.

I will start a competitive season in late March.  That will give me 6.5 months of training going in.  I will continue to train daily before, during and after the season, and will follow your advice regarding intensity et al.

I threw 35 maxline fastballs yesterday.  The velocity shocked me.  I believe I might be throwing harder than I ever did, even before injuries.  Maybe not, but I'm throwing hard.  And I'm confident in both my health and performance.

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     I never tire of your or anybody else's questions.  And, I am always pleased to learn how you are progressing.

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024.  From: MAXX Training:
Subject: Re: Response to your post

Thanks so much for responding to the comments made by Adam and myself.  And thank you for taking the time to meet with us and letting us watch the training at your facility.

I hope you understand that Adam and I meant no disrespect toward you with our comments.  We both enjoyed the visit, we both learned some things, and we both had questions after leaving--which we discussed for two days.  So it was a true learning experience.  There is no doubt that neither of us will ever know as much as you do.  But as part of the learning experience, we observe, we question, we reserach, and we experiment.  Using all of those scientific tools, we implement training methods which we believe will have the most successful outcomes.

By taking the time to respond to our comments, we can further learn more about the training that you are doing, and "pick" your brain about anatomical and physiological processes of the body.

Thanks to the internet, I think that the things that you are doing are making people take notice.  This is a wonderful thing.  I hope that this opportunity allows you to introduce your knowledge to more and more people.  Keep up the good work!

P.S.:  With your permission, I'd like to post your responses on my forum so that others can see what you had to say.  Thanks!

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     The only way that parties interested in the same topic will ever meaningfully advance their knowledge is through free and open communications with others.  Therefore, I am very pleased that you will share our communications with your readers.

     I am always thrilled to answer any questions about baseball pitching that anybody wants to ask me.  However, to avoid the possibility that someone misinterprets something that I say, I would appreciate having the opportunity to respond to any comments others might have.

P.S:  The Certification Clinic that I will hold on the second weekend in April will move more slowly, be more thorough and set aside considerable time for questions.  As I remind every interested attendee, the experience is much more valuable when attendees have fully reviewed my materials and come prepared with their list of questions.

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question for you, that I briefly mentioned in my comments.  How do you think you mechanics apply to the traditional mechanics of the positional player, specifically infielders?  Should an infielder use the pendulum swing?

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     In my response to your comments about your visit to my Baseball Pitching Research/Training Center, I provided the five adjustments that 'traditional' baseball pitchers had to make to eliminate injuries to their pitching arm.

     "To implement my baseball pitching motion, baseball pitching coaches only need to teach their baseball pitchers how to:

01.  pronate the releases of their pitches,

02.  pendulum swing their pitching arm with their pitching hand under the baseball,

03.  use the crow-hop throwing rhythm to make sure that they move their pitching hand to driveline height before their glove foot lands,

04.  take their pitching arm backward to point at second base and

05.  forwardly rotate over their pivoting glove foot."

     However, because baseball position players already use the crow-hop throwing rhythm and only throw fastballs, baseball position players need to make three adjustments, which many do already.  Of course, position players should always use the twelve to six rotation without any sideways movement.

01.  Baseball position players need to learn how to throw my Maxline and Torque Fastballs with powerful throwing elbow extension and forearm pronation.

     Because it has the longer and straighter driveline, outfielders should predominantly use my Maxline Fastball release.

     Whenever throwing the baseball to the left of their body, catchers and infielders should use my Torque Fastball release.

     When throwing the baseball to the right of their body or straight forward, catchers and infielders should use my Maxline Fastball release.

02.  When position players have sufficient time to use the one step crow-hop throwing rhythm, they have sufficient time to fully pendulum swing their throwing arm to driveline height.

     When catchers have to rapidly respond to steal situations, they should place their throwing hand behind their throwing knee and bring the baseball to their throwing hand and while they step forward with their glove foot, they should pendulum swing their throwing arm to driveline height before their glove foot lands.

03.  A critical aspect in correcting for the injurious flaws inherent in the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion is that baseball pitchers use the crow-hop throwing rhythm that position players use.  The crow-hop throwing rhythm moves the throwing arm to driveline height before the glove foot lands.

     A primary reason that baseball position players do not injure their throwing arms nearly as frequently as baseball pitchers is because their use the crow-hop throwing rhythm.

04.  Baseball position players typically take their throwing arm straight behind them and, in general, drive the baseball in straight lines to where they throw the baseball.  Therefore, most will not have to make any adjustment to what they already do.

     I would recommend that they always do this.  I do not believe that underhand, off-balance throws get the baseball to its intended target faster and certainly not as frequently.

05.  Baseball position players also typically forwardly rotate their body over their pivoting glove foot.  Therefore, most will not have to make any adjustment to what they already do.

     By the way, how did you and Adam do when you tried to answer the twenty-one questions whose answers I covered in our two hour discussion?  I can assure you that those who attend my Certification Clinic had better be able to answer these basic questions as well as explain what muscles baseball pitcher must use to generate their maximum force toward home plate.

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026.  I have been having my 11 year old perform your first 60 day program.  Since once he completes this it will be the end of January, should he be doing anything to maintain or just take a break until the spring season rolls around?

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     I designed my four 60-Day Youth Baseball Pitchers Motor Skill Acquisition Programs for youth baseball pitchers to complete before they were thirteen biological years old when they are ready to benefit from pitching one time through the line-up twice a week for two consecutive months.

     Unfortunately, that is not how people are using these programs.

     Because I cannot train youth baseball pitchers in the manner I believe that they should train, I should, at least, teach them how to minimize their unnecessary stress.  Therefore, I am going to combine all four 60-Day programs into one 60-Day program.

     However, no adolescent baseball pitcher can possibly master the first three drills that I use to teach the skills of my baseball pitching motion in twelve days.  This means that youth baseball pitchers will have to repeat this one 60-Day program every off-season until they are biologically sixteen years old.

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027.  This is Charlie.

I can't wait to show you that I am doing a lot of things correct now.  I do not have glove foot float.  I have a full drop step.  I am starting my pitching hip forward before I forwardly rotate my hips, shoulders and pitching arm to accelerate the ball through release.  However, sometimes, I have to lean to get my arm vertical.  Getting that last one down all the time is my next goal.

Things are going good and the team I am on up here has accepted me into the club association.  We have about 15 to 20 games this semester with 5 of them right outside Tampa over the week of March 10th.  So, I will be down there in about a month and a half.  See ya then Doc.

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     Congratulations.  I am looking forward to watching you pitch in person.  I have no problem with tilting to the glove side to get your pitching forearm inside of vertical.

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028.  I hope you don't mind a dumb question.  I need to use a quote, one attributed to 'Mike Marshall.'  Are you the person to whom this is attributed?

"Victory is in the quality of competition, not the final score."

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    That is my quote and what I believe.

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029.  This is Charlie.

Today, I threw multiple twelve-four maxline curveballs.  I am definitely starting my hip forward before I throw hard with my arm and I am getting the timing also.  I am also achieving a higher release point on my maxline fastball, so I am throwing it on steeper downward line to home plate.

Thanks again for everything and I will keep you posted.

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     It sounds like it is a good time being Charlie Long.  Congratulations.  With your continued hard work, you deserve it.

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030.  Out of all the current pitchers that play in the Major Leagues, who do you feel has the best mechanics/which mechanics most likely limit arm injuries.

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01.  To prevent Ulnar Collateral Ligament ruptures, baseball pitchers must pendulum swing their pitching arm backward with the palm of their pitching hand under the baseball when it leaves the glove, facing forward when it passes their pitching hip and facing away from their body when it arrives at driveline height.

     Therefore, to determine which of the current major league baseball pitchers are least likely to rupture their Ulnar Collateral Ligament, I look for how they pendulum swing their pitching arm.

02.  To prevent the lose of the extension range of motion as well as bone chips and spurs in the pitching elbow, baseball pitchers must pronate the releases of all pitches.

     Therefore, to determine which of the current major league baseball pitchers are least likely to lose the extension range of motion of their pitching elbow or create bone chips and spurs in their pitching elbow, I look at whether they pronate the releases of all pitches.

03.  To prevent the lose of the flexion range of motion in their pitching elbow, baseball pitchers must passively reverse rotate their hips, shoulders and pitching upper arm to point at home plate.

     Therefore, to determine which of the current major league baseball pitchers are least likely to lose the flexion range of motion of their pitching elbow, I look at whether they point their hips, shoulders and pitching upper arm at second base.

04.  To prevent injuring the front of their pitching shoulder, baseball pitchers must incorporate the crow-hop throwing rhythm technique of moving their pitching arm to driveline height before their glove foot lands.

     Therefore, to determine which of the current major league baseball pitchers are least like to injure the front of their pitching shoulder, I look at whether they pendulum swing their pitching arm to driveline height before their glove foot lands.

05.  To prevent injuring the back of their pitching shoulder, baseball pitchers must powerfully pronate their pitching forearm and extend their pitching elbow to drive their pitches in straight lines toward home plate.

     Therefore, to determine which of the current major league baseball pitchers are least likely to injure the back of their pitching shoulder, because when they do these actions, they will use their Terse Major and Altissimo Doris muscles to inwardly rotate their pitching arm, such that their pitching elbow points upwardly immediately after release, I look for whether their pitching elbow points upwardly immediately after release.

     Now, you can watch all the current major league baseball pitchers and rate them on these five criteria.  Those who receive the highest composite scores will be most likely to avoid pitching injuries.

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031.  I am 48 years old and have been teaching myself your pitching method for about 2 years now.  I have the technique mastered and everything feels great except one nagging little bad habit from the past that I just can’t seem to shake.

I still seem to contract my brachialis sometimes.  I am driving the ball in a very straight line.  I am rotating my humerus inwardly while pronating through release.

When throwing at intensities less than 95%, my arm turns over nicely after release with my elbow popping upward. My brachialis feels quite relaxed.

But every time I really try to “air it out” and throw with 100% intensity my arm becomes more “stiff” just before and through release.  I can feel my brachialis contract almost subconsciously.  It’s very difficult to disengage it at 100% throwing intensity.  It’s as if it contracts automatically and I feel I don’t have control over its action at 100%.

I have video taped my technique at 100% and at lower levels to see if I change anything.  The technique remains the same.

I can guarantee that I can throw 150 95% intensity or lower pitches today and my arm will feel great tomorrow.  But if I throw just 20 100% intensity pitches today, tomorrow my brachialis will be sore.  It’s VERY annoying.

One thing I may add is over 25 years ago I developed bone chips in my throwing elbow from baseball pitching.  It caused slight damage to the ulnar nerve.  A short time after that I tore my teres minor while pitching.  Could my body still be trying to protect my arm when I’m throwing full out even though it doesn’t have to?

If you’re going to tell me just to throw at 95%, I’ve already thought of that.  I want to throw as hard as I possibly can, without pain.

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     I would never tell you to only throw 95%.  I want everybody to throw absolutely as hard as they possibly can.

     First, let's make sure that the soreness is the Brachialis.  To touch the discomfort, where do you touch?  Could you possibly mistake discomfort in your Brachioradialis for your Brachialis?

     If you are correct in your analysis, then you might have some residual bone chip or nerve damage that subconsciously interferes with your high intensity.  Bone chip removal is a simple procedure, but I would not mess with the Ulnar Nerve.

     If it turns out to be essentially psychosomatic, where your anxiety of anticipated pain causes you to reflexively engage your Brachialis muscle, then the only remedy I could suggest is to throw at the intensity at which you feel comfortable for several weeks.  Then, after taking deep breaths, try to increase the intensity while remaining as anxiety-free as possible.

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032.  You are probably correct about the anxiety.  I will do my best to describe the location and type of pain I feel.

First, I wouldn't actually call it severe pain. It never hurts while I am throwing at 100%.  24 hours later I will experience a dull ache in the area.  It's more of a strong discomfort than anything else.  Now, if I were to then throw that next day at 100%, then it would hurt while I'm throwing.

So I back off to about 70% to 75% for 2 to 3 days until it feels fine, then I try it again at 100%.  That starts the cycle over again.

The location is on the anterior surface of my humerus about 3 inches up from the elbow.  I can find an area with my fingers that feels like it lies right next to the humerus bone.  When I apply finger pressure, it feels like sore overused muscle pain.  If I supinate my forearm, and extend my elbow fully, there is some stiffness and soreness in that area, not unlike in the summer when I was young after the first day of bucking 1,000 hay bales on my father's farm.  It really feels like muscle fatigue.

I helped move a large desk in our office today.  When I lifted my half of the desk, which probably weighed 80lbs., I felt muscle pain then.

When I look online to find the location of the Brachioradialis, it appears to me to be located more laterally near the outside of the arm.  If that is correct, I have never had discomfort there.

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     That is correct.  The Brachioradialis muscle lies on the lateral aspect of the anterior surface of the elbow joint.

     To check the Brachialis muscle you run your finger along the medial aspect of the Biceps Brachii but closer to the bone.  Then, at about four inches up from the elbow joint, if you apply deep pressure with your thumb as you squeeze that area between your thumb and fingers, then, if the Brachialis muscle is over-worked, you will illicit a pain response.

     What you have sounds like an involuntary response to pain.  I don't know whether to tell you to train through it or continually gradually extend yourself and drop back.  Just in case that you have some injury to the Brachialis muscle, I suppose that you should gradually extend yourself and drop back.

     I forgot to ask.  Does this happen with all pitches?  That is, can you throw at your maximum intensity with my Maxline True Screwball?  If so, then you should throw as hard as you can with whichever pitches you can and use the gradually extend and drop back technique with the other pitches.

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033.  I understand Dr Mike.  When are you expecting that you will be publishing your "combined" 60 day program?

I assume it is true that you still do not advise more than 60 days of your training a year...so is there no maintenance aspect to this at the youth level?

Thanks for everything you do!

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     This is something that I have been thinking about for quite a while.  Therefore, a couple of days ago, I eliminated my four 60-Day programs and designed one 60-Day program that incorporates all five of the drills that I use to teach the skills of my baseball pitching motion.

     I am still very concerned that, even with the elimination of the injurious flaws of the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion, youth baseball pitchers can apply more force than their growth plates can withstand.  Therefore, I still believe that youth baseball pitchers should be biologically thirteen years old before they pitch competitively.

     For youth baseball pitchers less than sixteen biological years old, I recommend that they complete my 60-Day Youth Baseball Pitchers Motor Skill Acquisition in the two months preceding the two months of their competitive pitching season.

     However, for youth baseball pitchers thirteen to sixteen biological years old, I recommend that they complete a second 60-Day program midway between the end of their competitive season and before they start their regular 60-Day program.

     By repetitively completing my 60-Day program, youth baseball pitchers will become more and more skilled with each drill, such that they will continue to increase the quality of their pitches.

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034.  The pronated curve and the screwball do not cause discomfort, only the fastball.

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     Okay.  You can throw my Maxline True Screwball and Maxline Pronation Curve at full intensity without any discomfort.

     When you throw my Maxline Fastball and Torque Fastball, do you experience the same discomfort?

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035.  I am a 5'8" 150lb high school pitcher.  I pitch on JV with about a 70mph fastball, 60 mph changeup, and I'm working on learning your maxline pronation curveball, maxline pronation screwball, changing my 4 seam fastball to your maxline fastball and I'm learning the torque fastball.

Basically, I'm replacing my repertoire with yours.  I was watching the Jeff Sparks clips from 2000.  I like his mechanics a lot and would like to copy him, how would I do that?

Also, for my 2nd question:  I have been having some pain in my elbow so I took 3 weeks off, came back and had pain in my shoulder.  I think it may be my motion what do you suggest?

Thanks a lot for your time.  I was planning on starting your 120 day program because a person who trains with you recommended it and that I would need the added strength to throw your pitches?

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     Why would you want to imitate the 1999-2000 version of Jeff Sparks when you could imitate the 2007 version of Jeff Sparks?  In addition, the pseudo-traditional wind-up baseball pitching motion that 2007 Sam Buchanan does is pretty good.

     Nevertheless, I recommend that you:

01.  Use my Wrong Foot body action; Slingshot glove and pitching arm actions drill to learn how to pronate the releases of all pitches, especially using an appropriately-sized football.

02.  Use my Wrong Foot body action; Pendulum Swing glove and pitching arm actions drill to learn how to properly pendulum swing your pitching arm in one continuous smooth motion up to driveline height and straight backward toward second base.

03.  Use my Drop Out Wind-Up body action; Pendulum Swing glove and pitching arm actions drill to learn how to pendulum swing your pitching arm to driveline height before your glove foot lands, and how to use your glove foot to apply force back toward second base.

     Then, when you have 120 uninterrupted days without baseball practice or games, I recommend that you complete my 120-Day High School Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program.

     After you complete my 120-Day program and master the proper way to apply force to your pitches, whatever discomfort you presently feel will be long gone.  Then, if, when you are biologically nineteen years old, you complete my 72-Day recoil training cycles, then you will become the best injury-free, highly-skilled baseball pitcher that you can be.

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036.  The fastballs tend to cause the most stress.  It may be that I pronate more efficiently on the curve and screwball than the fastballs.  In fact, in recalling how I throw each different pitch, it may be that my overall arm acceleration is not quite as great with the curve and screwball as it is with the fastballs.

    I believe my concentration on pronating on the curve and screwball may be greater than on the fastballs, and I am neglecting my overall arm velocity a bit.  Consequently, I may not be concentrating enough on pronating enough with the fastballs.  I'm not sure. At any rate, the pain is not serious, just annoying.

This does bring up another question.  Will maximum pronation while throwing a Maxline Fastball increase velocity, decrease it, or not effect it?  It seems that the more I pronate on the fastball, the more movement it generates.  But it also appears to reduce velocity slightly.  It sometimes feels like the more I pronate, the more difficult it is to generate overall arm speed.  Is this an illusion?

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     Provided that they continue to forwardly rotate their acromial line to point as closely as possible toward home plate, by powerfully pronating their pitching forearm before, during and after release, my baseball pitchers not only protect the back of their pitching elbow, they also increase the force that they apply to their pitches.

     Unfortunately, if baseball pitchers stop forwardly rotating their acromial line, such that it is significantly short of pointing at home plate, then they apply their pronation force significantly short of home plate.  Remember, release velocity relates only to the force that baseball pitchers apply toward home plate.

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037.  Thanks for reminding me about rotating the acromial line.

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     After years of the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion where baseball pitchers cannot forwardly rotate their hips more than forty-five degrees forward because their pitching foot is still close to the pitching rubber and cannot forwardly rotate their acromial line because it cannot rotate more than forty-five degrees than the hips, it is easy to forget that, with my baseball pitching motion, baseball pitchers can point their hips and acromial line close to pointing at home plate.

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038.  I have been experiencing pain, soreness and stiffness in the area of my lateral epicondyle.  If my anatomy is correct, both the lateral epicondyle and the capitulum are sensitive to the touch.  This has been persistent for a 2 mo. period.  The genesis is either hitting backhanded shots playing knee hockey (mini stick) with my son or attempting to throw pronation curves with whiffle balls to my son.

It is constantly stiff and hurts when I extend to shake hands and during the grip of shaking hands.  While in the anatomic position, it hurts to try to fully extend.  It also hurts to make a fist and when throwing a punch.

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      Unless you have mistaken supination for pronation, you will not irritate the lateral aspect of your throwing elbow.

     Much more likely is backhanding hockey shots, especially if, rather than bend your elbow to force-couple your arm action, you completely straighten your arm and supinate your forearm through release.

     You may also be joining the unhappy world of arthritis.

     Whatever it is, unless you train regularly for high-intensity activity, you should not participate in high-intensity activities.

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039.  Wow, thanks doc.  I've been looking at your videos and I've put some thought into it and do you think you'll still be doing this in a few years?  Perhaps when I'm 18 or 19, I may fly down there to go to college, and maybe I'll be able to come train with you.  I would highly appreciate it.

And about copying Jeff Sparks.  Thanks for the tips on the drills.  Would adding a leg kick to that hurt anything?  I'm just trying to make it look a little more traditional.  Thanks and I'll be studying your work for awhile.  Also could this increase my throwing velocity?  How hard have you had guys throwing that trained with you?

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      If I were you or anybody else interested in my baseball pitching motion and training programs, I would not expect to have me available to help in two or three years.  You should watch my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video, read my Coaching Baseball Pitchers book and Question/Answer files and complete the proper interval-training programs on your own.

     Lifting the glove leg is helpful when imitating a dog and a fire hydrant, but does absolutely nothing positive to add to either release velocity or consistency.

     To achieve your genetic maximum release velocity, you have to apply as much force toward home plate as you possibly can over as great a time period as you possible can.  That is exactly what I designed my baseball pitching motion and interval-training programs to enable every baseball pitcher to do.

     In addition, my baseball pitching motion enables baseball pitchers to throw a wide variety of high-quality pitches that 'traditional' baseball pitchers cannot throw.

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040.  I see where you and Jeff will be in Cooperstown for a demonstration Feb. 29th.  I live not far from there.  Is there anything I can help you with on this trip?  Perhaps you need a catcher for the demonstration?  Or someone to video the presentation?  Just let me know.

Also, one of your present students has been posting quite a bit on one of the message forums.  He has done a GREAT job representing you.  He is a really intelligent kid and no matter how far his talent and determination take him, it looks like he has a bright future in whatever he decides to do.

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     The convention hosts have told me that they will have young men with whom Jeff can do his football and lid throws and retrieve his iron ball throws, however we might be able to do them.  Nevertheless, please introduce yourself and if we need help, then I will know where to look for you.

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041.  On the blogs, they are saying that you have very effectively removed the injurious flaws from the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion, but that the price you paid is loss of velocity.  How do you counter this argument?

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     'Traditional' baseball pitching coaches mistakenly believe that the 'Reverse Pitching Forearm Bounce' injurious flaw in the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion is what the also mistakenly call an eccentric, concentric, eccentric series of muscle contractions that account for their high release velocity.      However, the 'Late Pitching Forearm Turnover' flaw in the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion leads to the 'Reverse Pitching Forearm Bounce.'  The muscles that 'traditional' baseball pitching use during their 'Late Pitching Forearm Turnover are the muscles that outwardly rotate the Humerus bone of their pitching upper arm.

     This means that, when their glove foot lands and 'traditional' baseball pitchers begin to powerfully rotate their hips, shoulder and pitching upper arm.  For their pitching upper arm to keep up with their body rotation, they need to use the muscles that inwardly rotate their pitching upper arm.  Instead, they are using the muscles that outwardly rotate their pitching upper arm.

     Unfortunately, because, like when athletes jump off various heights, the muscles that they are about to stretch are not contracting.  Therefore, when the stimulus is too much, the involved muscles, the muscles that inwardly rotate the Humerus bone of the pitching upper arm, shut down, which leaves the Ulnar Collateral Ligament without muscle contraction backup and injury can occur.

     What this means is that to suddenly 'stretch' uncontracted muscles is a crap shoot.  Everything may be fine for all, but one time.  But, that one time ruptures the ligament that holds the bone of the critical joint together.  It would be malfeasance for coaches to teach such a dangerous technique.

     However, when muscles are already contracted when athletes apply a stretch stimulus to them, these muscles will lengthen without injury.  For example, when athletes put heavy strap-on weights on their glove and pitching wrists and practice driving their pitching hand through release, they appropriately train the muscles that safely decelerate their pitching arm to a stop to do so much more quickly.  This means that, instead of having to decrease the rate at which they are accelerating their pitching hand and baseball before release, they can continue to accelerate their pitching hand and baseball through release.

     This is an example of the correct way to strengthen muscles while they are lengthening (eccentrically).

     With my baseball pitching motion, I teach my baseball pitchers another highly valuable way to use this training technique.  In my Wrong Foot body action; Slingshot glove and pitching arm actions drill, I teach my baseball pitchers to have their pitching upper arm as vertically as possible beside their head, such that when they drive the tip of their pitching elbow straight toward home plate, they stretch the muscles that extend their pitching elbow and inwardly rotate the Humerus bone of their pitching upper arm that are already contracting.

     This lengthening (eccentric) action increases the lengths of the involved muscles immediately before the powerfully accelerate the pitching hand and baseball through release.

     Therefore, contrary to your assertion that, in the name of injury-prevention, my baseball pitching motion decreases the force that my baseball pitchers can apply, the opposite is true.  Instead of dangerously seeking additional force, my baseball pitching motion uses safe techniques to increase our release velocity.

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042.  I want to throw your way.  However, I would never get any playing time and I would be made fun of.  It is not worth it.  I'm 15 years old.  A freshman in high school.  I'm a right fielder.  I throw the traditional way.  I currently throw lower-mid 80's.  My arm is out of control though.  I have pin-point accuracy with crow hops, but not regular throwing.  I want my velocity up.

Basically, what is the proper way to do the upper body with the lower body being the traditional way?  Kind of like Jeff Sparks did in 1999 and 2000.

Where should I start?  I know some stuff.  I've talked to one of your present students; he's a great guy.  He explained a lot of things to me that made sense.

So how can I throw using your upper body, traditional lower body... as a right fielder?

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     Nobody will know that you are pronating the releases of all pitches.

     Nobody will complain when you point your pitching arm at second base and drive your pitches straight toward home plate.

     Nobody will complain when you pendulum swing your pitching arm.

     Nobody will notice that you move your pitching arm to driveline height before your glove foot lands.

     However, they will notice that you do not lift your glove leg and bend forward at your waist.

     While lifting your leg and bending forward at your waist will reduce your release velocity and control and eventually injure your lower back, pitching hip, knee and ankle, if it is more important to you to not be made fun of, then knock yourself out.

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043.  I have a problem with your maxline pronation curveball.  I tried throwing it today how I was taught in your video.  It was getting the right forward spin, but it wasn't breaking?  The same thing happens when I throw the screwball.  How do I get more spin on it?  What drills do you recommend?

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     Are you using the lid drill?  Are you using the appropriately-sized football with my Wrong Foot Slingshot drill?  Until you perfect these drills and skills, you should not touch baseballs.

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044.  I just wanted you to know that I read your advice on hitting mechanics on your website and I was able to have an extremely effective batting practice today.  I read all the questions on your website tonight for the year 2008.  I also saw where it seems you really enjoy questions.

I am embarrassed to say that I do not know the meaning of the word "acromial" or "acromial line."  Would you be kind enough to define it for me?  Also, anything else you have to add to your hitting page I would be interested in.  It just seemed to me that you kept everything simple.  I especially liked your explanation of the set up.

Please define "acromial" or "acromial line."  Thank you.  Do you plan on adding more info to your hitting page?  I love your website.

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     If you can find an anatomy book and look up a picture of the Scapula bone, then you will notice that the lateral-most aspect of the bone is called the 'Acromial Process.'  Therefore, the acromial line is an imaginary line drawn through both acromial processes and laterally outward away from the body.

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045.  I completely understand your response in post #25, but the following comments confuse me a bit:

04.  Baseball position players typically take their throwing arm straight behind them and, in general, drive the baseball in straight lines to where they throw the baseball.  Therefore, most will not have to make any adjustment to what they already do.

05.  Baseball position players also typically forwardly rotate their body over their pivoting glove foot.  Therefore, most will not have to make any adjustment to what they already do.

I know that my position throwing contributed to my shoulder injuries.  When playing infield, I would throw ¾ arm slot (and I know now that arm slot is a false concept) and purposefully “grabbed” (forearm pointing forward, accelerating ball from behind the ear).  I did these things because that’s what I was taught during my youth.  And, I emulated what I saw on TV.  These flaws resulted in forearm fly out and perpetual bicep pain.  And, more significantly, reverse forearm bounce leading to a torn subscap tendon.

I’ve been training for nearly 5 months, have fixed those flaws, and my arm feels great.  I’m focusing primarily on pitching, but when fielding, I simply expedite the pendulum swing, achieve lock, pronate and throw on a straight drive line.  No thought required.  I’ve trained it, and I trust it.

My point is this:  I see a lot of fielders throw with injurious flaws.  Outfielders are generally less guilty than infielders.  Could it be that the lower volume of maximum intensity throwing by fielders delays or masks their injuries?  It’s common for fielders to have very sore arms or even out-right injured arms.  Still, they play, albeit less effectively.  They can “get away” with a broken wing.  I believe your training program and force application is a must for fielders.  Thoughts?

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     That sounds good to me.

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046.  I am sorry I missed you in Houston!  How did it turn out?  I am trying to get the CD and get a look for myself.  I have not heard a thing, and they, Pitching Central, would not say a thing when they were at the Texas High School Coaching convention in Waco, Texas.  It peeked my interest even more!  Do you do and certification courses in Texas?  I am interested in learning more about your methods.

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     Jeff Sparks and I showed what real baseball pitching coaching is all about.  Neither Ron nor Brent showed anything that would have value with regard to coaching baseball pitchers.

     On the second weekend in April, I will host a Certification Clinic in Zephyrhills, FL.

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047.  I am the father of a 9-year old son who has been playing baseball for a few years.  He has just entered kid pitch and is excited about the prospects of pitching.  He has solid speed/strength and more importantly at this age, he has accuracy.  However, he throws with a side arm motion.  The coaches are insistent that he change this motion.  My question is whether or not this is necessary.

My thoughts are that he is throwing in what is a comfortable motion.  You see big league pitchers who throw in unorthodox motions.

Lastly, my goal is for him to have fun not make the major leagues.  I have already witnessed that the change in his throwing motion has lowered his confidence and most likely will alter his throwing motion to where he is not as accurate.  Before doing this (as I do want what is best for him), I wanted to seek some additional advice as to whether or not this is critical to his development or is side arm really more dangerous.

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     You are in charge of your children, not non-trained volunteers of nine year old youth baseball teams.  It is your responsibility to determine how your son should pitch.  If I were you, I would find somebody with a doctoral degree in Exercise Physiology, Kinesiology, Child Growth and Development and Motor Skill Acquisition and, oh yeah, who finished fourth, second, first, seventh and fifth in the Cy Young Award.

     You need to watch my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video and teach your son how to properly perform the drills that I use to teach the skills of my baseball pitching motion and complete my 60-Day Youth Baseball Pitchers Motor Skill Acquisition Program.

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048.  Thanks for your great page on batting mechanics.  I think you've built a great baseball resource and I am writing to ask if I could buy a text ad on that page.

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     Everything on my website is free for all to watch and read without charge.

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049.  With your mechanics do they allow you to only be pain free or throw harder?  Because if you throw slower, I could see how they reduce pain because your never throwing hard.  But, what is it?

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     I have explained several times that, with my baseball pitching motion, baseball pitchers can apply more force toward home plate over a longer time period.  This means that the only way baseball pitchers will ever achieve their genetic maximum release velocity is when they use my baseball pitching motion and interval-training programs.

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050.  I am a high school baseball coach in Texas and a teacher so we do not get out until May 30th.  Do you offer anything during the summer?  Can I learn through viewing cd's or video tapes?  Did they video you in Houston?  If they did does it show everything?

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     On my website, I have my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video, Coaching Baseball Pitchers book, my Pitcher Training Programs and Question/Answer files for all to watch and read without charge.  If you want to own your own copy of my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video, then you need to send me one hundred dollars.  When I update my video, I will send you a copy without charge.

     From the third weekend in August to the fourth weekend the following May, I coach my baseball pitchers seven days a week for two hundred and eighty days between 9:00 to 11:00AM.  On the second weekend in April, I offer a Certification Clinic.

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051.  I heard you speak at Ron Wolforth's Boot Camp. I am the pitching/catching coach at a small private college in Iowa.  We will be playing games in the Orlando, Florida area the first week of March.  You invited anyone in the boot camp to come and check out your program.  I would be interested in accepting your invitation to come see your facility on our off day, Tuesday March 4th.  I remember you said you were located in Zephyrhills.  What is the actual address?

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     The actual address of my Baseball Pitching Research/Training Center is 4353 Gall Blvd.  To get there from Orlando, you need to go East on I-4, turn North of Hwy 39 at Plant City, continue North on Hwy 301 for four blocks, turn West on Vinson Avenue and immediately turn right into the first driveway.

     We train from 9:00 to 10:30AM.  Please do not be late.  We do not have a rewind button.

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052.  I found the problem.  In looking at stop action video of my motion, I found that I have been slightly reverse rotating my shoulders and pendulum swinging my throwing arm perhaps 10 degrees laterally behind me.

I adjusted my pendulum swing to straight back to second base.  Actually, it's more like 5 degrees to the shortstop side of second.  I am right-handed.  I made this adjustment about 5 days ago.  My arm feels so much better.

The pain is almost completely gone.  My driveline feels straighter and longer.  And, my velocity has picked up.

It is so important to stay vigilant in keeping the driveline as straight as possible, isn't it?  The slightest deviations can cause real problems.

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     With the drop step that I recommend that my baseball pitchers use with all my Maxline pitches, for you to take your pitching arm about ten degrees beyond second base is not a problem.  However, with the either straight ahead of slightly cross-step that I recommend that my baseball pitchers use with all my Torque baseball pitches, it is much better for you to take your pitching arm five degrees short of second base.

     After you get these glove steps straightened out, you need to add one step crow-hops to the end of your daily workouts.  I recommend that you take the final six baseballs and throw my Maxline and Torque Fastballs into the strike zone as hard as you feel ready to throw.  This drill is to help you make your Drop Out Wind-Up competitive pitching motion into the free flowing throwing motion that you eventually need it to be.

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053.  I am 15 years old and will be turning 16 in August and will be undergoing your 120 day training program once my high school season is over.  I would like to know which things I need?

6lb iron ball
10lb wrist weights
a football that fits my hand
bucket lids? where do you get these?
a mattress to throw against
2 dozen balls

Is that all?

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     You need all of them.  In my Equipment Vendors file, I provide information on how to obtain these items.

01.  I get my 6 lb. Iron Balls at Wolverine Sports at (800)521-2832.
02.  I get my 10 lb. Wrist Weight at Ooltewah Manufacturing at (800)251-6940.
03.  I get my appropriately-sized footballs at Wal-Mart.
04.  I get my four gallon buckets filled with detergent at Wal-Mart.
05.  Make up your own plan for your iron ball return.
06.  I get my baseballs from whichever baseball manufacturers sells them the cheapest.

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054.  I read somewhere that you trained Rudy Saenez and his velocity went from 94 to 103.  What did you do with him that allowed that 9 mph increase?

I'm 16 years old and pitch for my high school.  I throw about 75.  How would you recommend maybe that I could get up to 85 by my senior year?  I'm a junior now.

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     Unbeknownst to me, Rudy Seanez told a reporter with the Kansas City Star about the benefits of training with me for a couple of months in 1989.  If you click on my Articles file, then you can open the Kansas City Star article and read Rudy's comments for yourself.  I believe that, if Rudy had completed my entire interval-training program, I believe that he would have thrown harder and with much higher quality and a wider variety of pitches.

     All you can do is all you can do.  All baseball pitchers have different genetic maximum release velocities.  To start this process, you need to master my force application technique and complete the correct interval-training program for your age.

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055.  I learned an interesting fact lately.  R. A. Dickey, pitched from 2001 to 2006 for the Texas Rangers.  He was born without an ulnar collateral ligament.

With the forearm flyout that the traditional pitching motion produces, I would think that his forearm would practically shear off.

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     That would be a very interesting fact.  However, with my baseball pitching motion, I believe that my baseball pitchers could pitch without an Ulnar Collateral Ligament.  The reason is simple. Without 'Late Pitching Forearm Turnover,' my baseball pitchers would their Pronator Teres muscle to protect the inside of their pitching elbow and their Teres Major and Latissimus Dorsi muscles to inwardly rotate the Humerus bone of their pitching upper arm.

     By pendulum swinging their pitching upper arm to driveline height straight backward toward second base, my baseball pitchers immediately engage the muscles that inwardly rotate their pitching upper arm, flex their pitching elbow and pronate their pitching forearm, such that they would keep the coronoid process of their Ulnar bone tightly against the medial epicondyle of their Humerus bone.

     The result of these muscle action would be to eliminate the 'Pitching Forearm Flyout' injurious flaw of the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion and enable baseball pitchers to drive their pitching forearm and thereby, their pitches, within the seventeen inch width of home plate.

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056.  I read on your website you are coming to Cooperstown at the end of this month.  I live about 75 miles away and plan to make the trip this time of year to see you, and look forward to seeing you in person to demonstrate your pitching theories.

Are the talks open to the public and may I bring my video camera to film you?  I hope you will pitch a little yourself---it would bring back some great memories for me--the last time I saw you pitch was on t.v. with the Mets towards the end of your career over 25 years ago, and there was no mistaking that distinct motion!

By the way, even though you aren't in the Hall of Fame, I always thought you deserved to be---you opened the doors for all the relief pitchers with your Cy Young, and helped define the role with all those appearances.

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     Yes, on Friday, February 29, 2008, Jeff Sparks and I will be presenting our materials to the New York State Public High School Baseball Coaches Association in Cooperstown, NY.  I have no idea whether they mind non-members of their group attending, but I certainly do not.  I also have no objection to being videotaped.

     At sixty-five years old and having injured the front of my baseball pitching shoulder in a household accident several year ago, I no longer throw baseballs.  But, Jeff Sparks does and does so considerably better than I did when I pitched.

     You are correct Sir, that Gene Mauch and I developed the idea of having closers start their innings.  However, I never meant for that to be one inning and only when the team has a lead.  I averaged two innings per appearance for the decade of the 1970s and entered the game with the score tied, especially when we played on the road.

     You might find it interesting that, if I were given the opportunity to develop a major league pitching staff, I would have my best pitcher start every Wednesday and Sunday game, my second best pitcher start every Tuesday and Saturday game, my third best pitcher start every Monday and Friday game and my fourth best pitcher start every Thursday and close every Saturday through Tuesday game that my third best pitcher did not close.

     Then, my fifth best pitcher would close whatever other games we need to close.  Needless to say, unless we have unforeseen situations, we probably would not need three more pitchers, but we should have them available.  The idea of using someone who does not have the skills with which to start games as the closer sounds goofy to me.

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057.  I thought you might be interested to know that the Dodgers signed 39 year old Rudy Seanez to a 1 year contract today.  I believe is the only pitcher in still playing MLB to have trained with you.

1.  Do you still maintain any relationship with him and is there any way that you can leverage the relationship you have with him to get out the message of how pitchers can benefit from your program?

2.  Do you think that his longevity and fairly injury free career can be attributed to the pronation release on his fastball?

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01.  Last year, when Rudy volunteered the information that I saved his major league career, he did everything he was going to do to thank me.  To read what he said, you should go to my Articles file and read the Kansas City Star and Yahoo.com stories.

02.  It is amazing how straightening the driveline and pronating the releases improve baseball pitchers.

     However, Rudy should have been a much better baseball pitcher than he became, but he refused to learn everything I teach or complete all my training programs.  It is those guys with whom I want to work.  I am only interested in training baseball pitchers who want to be the very best that they can be.

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058.  It has been awhile since I threw a baseball question your way.  I hope all is well with you.

In a recent discussion, we have been debating the role of the catcher with the pitchers game.  You often hear how well some catchers are at calling a game.  Just how important, in your opinion, is a catcher to a pitchers game, beside the obvious defensive qualities he may bring to it.

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     I live in a different baseball world than the rest of the baseball players, coaches, scouts and administrative personnel.  In my baseball world, I know every pitch I have thrown to every batter.  This means that I know what every batter can hit and cannot hit and what pitch sequence works best.

     Therefore, before I step on the pitching rubber, I know what pitch I am going to throw.  I don't care what the catcher thinks I should throw.  By waiting for the catcher to get to the sign for the pitch I am going to throw, I am simply telling the catcher what I am going to throw.

     To learn how to play in my baseball world, interested parties should read Chapters Twenty-Three through Twenty-Eight of my Coaching Baseball Pitchers book.  Or, they can continue to wander around in the darkness.

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059.  I was watching a slow motion video of Zumaya on the internet and he appears to loop badly.  It appears that his 100 mph throw is totally arm, as the ball completely comes to a stop at the end of his stride.

Is this the time where his throwing muscles are completely fully extended and loaded for the throw?  What do you see that is he doing that has prevented him from becoming seriously injured?  Is it the leading elbow?  Pronation?  Genetics?

Any predictions to an upcoming injury that he will have? (you were exactly right about other videos I have sent and predicted injuries).

The video link is below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbSujT7MWy8&feature=related

Also:

There is a Junior in High School this year that throws similarly to Zumaya and he is hitting 90 mph.  The only pain he experiences is when he tries to throw a traditional slider.  I stopped this pain by teaching him to throw your sinker instead.  (Doc, he throws it so good, I could not believe it!).

I have found that is it quite impossible to start every High school pitcher from scratch with your motion.  So, I work with them, teaching as many of your injury preventing techniques as possible.  I film them with my 120 fps camera and cover every detail.  (Like teaching pronation, the screwball, pronation curve, and your sinker).

It is helping them immensely.  This same Junior throws your screwball with the movement exactly like you threw it in the majors.  Unbelievable!

Thank you for all your hard work in pitching research.

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     This past summer, Zumaya ruptured the tendinous attachments of his Flexor Digitorum Profundus muscle to the distal phalange of his middle finger.  I doubt that he will ever again be a quality reliever.

     I realize that time constraints prevent these high school kids completing my 120-Day program.  However, as soon as they have time, they need to do my program.

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060.  I am teaching your baseball pitching motion everyday.  Therefore, I am learning every day.

Your article, 'Pitchers: Average to Special.' is making a big difference to the High School kids.  For the first time they are actually understanding "why" what you teach works.

Thank you for all your time and work.  You have made an incredible difference in my life.

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     You are learning correctly.  You have to jump in and work with the students.  You need to explain how their pitching arm works.  You have to show them their muscles.

     In my rush to answer your last email, I did not congratulate you on telling the 'looper' not to pull his slider, but to drive his sinker.  When baseball pitchers learn how to drive their pitches, they will throw some outstanding reverse breaking ball pitches.  But, they also need to learn how to drive my Maxline Pronation Curve.

     I will put the article, 'Pitchers: Average to Special' in my Special Reports file.  I had forgotten about it.

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061.  Teaching your maxline pronation curve is very difficult.  When my kids have trouble, I have them try the true screwball.  It amazes me sometimes, that kids that have trouble getting the curve to work, can throw the screwball with no trouble at all.

I teach arm and shoulder anatomy to every student, not in highly technical terms, but in terms they understand.  I feel that the more they know about their own anatomy, the better they can understand why they need to do things a certain way.  So far, it is going very well.

By the way:  Parents and coaches are much harder to teach your skills.

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     To learn how to throw baseball pitches involves learning how to grip the baseball, how to use the pitching elbow and forearm to drive their baseball and how to use the wrist, hand and fingers to release the baseball.

     That is why I never teach my pitches with baseballs.  Instead, I use appropriately-sized footballs and the square lid off four gallon buckets.

     To learn the grips of my Maxline True Screwball and Maxline Pronation Curve is simple and everybody learns them quickly.

01.  With my Maxline True Screwball, I teach my baseball pitchers to place one tip of the football between their index and middle fingers and place their thumb on the seams.  Then, with their pitching forearm maximally pronated, such that their fingers point away from their body, I teach them to lay the football tightly against their pitching forearm.

02.  With my Maxline Pronation Curve, I teach my baseball pitchers to place one tip of the football between their middle and ring fingers and place their thumb on the seams.  Then, with their pitching forearm maximally supinated, such that their fingers point toward from their body, I teach them to lay the football tightly against their pitching forearm.

     I find that all baseball pitchers can accomplish these positions.  Next, I teach my baseball pitchers how to use their pitching elbow and forearm to drive the football to release.

01.  With my Maxline True Screwball, I teach my baseball pitchers how to assume my Slingshot glove and pitching arms positions, such that they point their glove arm at home plate and point their pitching upper arm as vertically upward as possible beside their head and their pitching forearm as horizontal as possible the full length of their pitching forearm behind their pitching elbow pointing at second base.

     On all Maxline pitches, I teach my baseball pitchers how to assume the starting position of my Wrong Foot body action, such that their feet are side-by-side pointing forty-five degrees to the glove side of the line between their feet and home plate.

     To start my Wrong Foot Slingshot drill, I teach my baseball pitchers to step backward one full step with their pitching foot at the same forty-five degree angle and reach as far backward as they can.

     To properly position their body to be able to drive their pitching hand to the pitching arm side of their body directly at home plate, I teach my baseball pitchers to step at the forty-five degree angle across the front of their body, such that, when their pitching foot lands, they have forwardly rotated their hips, shoulders and pitching upper arm to point directly at home plate.

     To make sure that they completely reverse rotate their glove shoulder, you must pay special attention to their glove arm action.  You cannot allow them to leave their glove shoulder short of pointing away from home plate.  Their glove hand should lay on top of their glove shoulder with their glove forearm pointing away from home plate.  They should stand tall and rotate.

     To drive my Maxline True Screwball through release, I teach my baseball pitchers to 'shave' the top of their head with the thumb side of their pitching hand and 'stick' their pitching hand at the pitching arm side batter.

     The extreme pronated position of their pitching forearm throughout the extension of the pitching elbow prevents the pitching forearm from adding any force to the release by pronating the pitching forearm.  However, the extreme pronated position of their pitching forearm prevents baseball pitchers from 'looping' their pitching forearm.

     This is why baseball pitchers can quickly perfect the drive phase of my Maxline True Screwball.  This is why I teach my Maxline True Screwball before I teach my Maxline Pronation Curve.  When I find baseball pitchers who have a very difficult time learning my Maxline Pronation Curve, I will not let them throw footballs until they have mastered throwing my square lids.

02.  With my Maxline Pronation Curve, I also teach my baseball pitchers how to assume my Slingshot glove and pitching arms positions, such that they point their glove arm at home plate and point their pitching upper arm as vertically upward as possible beside their head and their pitching forearm as horizontal as possible the full length of their pitching forearm behind their pitching elbow pointing at second base.

     On all Maxline pitches, I teach my baseball pitchers how to assume the starting position of my Wrong Foot body action, such that their feet are side-by-side pointing forty-five degrees to the glove side of the line between their feet and home plate.

     To start my Wrong Foot Slingshot drill, I teach my baseball pitchers to step backward one full step with their pitching foot at the same forty-five degree angle and reach as far backward as they can.

     To properly position their body to be able to drive their pitching hand to the pitching arm side of their body directly at home plate, I teach my baseball pitchers to step at the forty-five degree angle across the front of their body, such that, when their pitching foot lands, they have forwardly rotated their hips, shoulders and pitching upper arm to point directly at home plate.

     To make sure that they completely reverse rotate their glove shoulder, you must pay special attention to their glove arm action.  You cannot allow them to leave their glove shoulder short of pointing away from home plate.  Their glove hand should lay on top of their glove shoulder with their glove forearm pointing away from home plate.  They must stand tall and rotate.

     To drive my Maxline Pronation Curve to release, I teach my baseball pitchers to 'shave' the top of their head with the little finger side of back of their pitching hand and 'stick' their pitching hand at the pitching arm side batter.

     Because I teach my baseball pitchers to maximally supinate their pitching forearm at the start position for my Maxline Pronation Curve, they have the urge to drive their pitching forearm vertically upward and release the football over top of the index finger of their pitching hand.  This is the dreaded 'supination' release that destroys the back of their pitching elbow.

     However, if they try to do this with my square lid, they will turn the face of the lid to face forward and the lid will fall to the ground like a wounded duck.  To get the lid to fly properly, they have to pronate their release.  That is why, when I find baseball pitchers who are so ingrained with supinating the release of their curve that they cannot do otherwise with my appropriately-sized footballs, I do not let them throw footballs and certainly not baseballs until they master their lid throws.

     I do not understand how anybody can teach the pitching arm and shoulder anatomy in any other terms than the proper names of the muscles.  They are past the goo, goo, gaa, gaa language period of their lives.  The Biceps Brachii is the Biceps Brachii.  That is not technical, that is their name.  We need to take the time to learn the proper names of the muscles and call them by their proper names.  No nicknames allowed.  Okay, Stinky?

     Sincerely,

Dr. Mike Marshall:  (aka Iron)

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062.  I have an 8 year old son playing kid pitch baseball in 9 and up league.  Coach wants him to pitch because he has good arm and accurate.  I read some of your on line book which is very impressive technically, can you recommend books that have drills that incorporate the correct pitching mechanics?

  Here are references I have used so far:

1.  Some old pitching drills (chair drills) by a man named Green
2.  Ron Polk book from Mississippi State
3.  Ed Emanski video
4.  The Total Pitching Program by Daron Schoenrock
5.  The Pitching Manuel by Chris McCoy

Can you recommend better references?

What is the difference between an 8 year old making 30 throws from outfield position to a base vs. having him throw 30 pitches in the bull pen or a game?

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     These guys have no clue that they have no clue about how to teach the proper way for baseball pitchers to apply force to their pitches.

     To learn how to teach your son how to perform the drills that I use to teach the skills of my baseball pitching motion, you need to watch my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video and the Analysis of my 2007 Baseball Pitchers video.  Then, you need to copy my 60-Day Youth Baseball Pitchers Motor Skill Acquisition Program and teach your son how to throw correctly.

     The crow-hop throwing rhythm.

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063.  I am a huge fan of yours and have followed your career closely.  I emailed you previously about an autograph for my collection.  You have refused me and countless others on this subject.  You have gone on to say you do not believe in autographs and say to ask your fireman, doctor and so forth because they are "heroes" are you aren't.  You also say its not about money to sign autographs.  You just DO NOT sign.

Yet, I was emailed today and was told you are booked for a baseball card show signing in New Jersey in April.  Why the sudden change in mind?  What about your morals?  What about hating autograph seekers?

Please enlighten me.  I'm really looking forward to your pompous response and to know why you have suddenly changed your mind and decided to sign autograph$$$$$$$$.

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     Unfortunately, I am not the only Mike Marshall to have played major league baseball.  Before you make a fool of yourself, you might check to see whether I am the Mike Marshall scheduled to appear in New Jersey.

     Nevertheless, to satisfy the true autograph collectors, a few years ago, I did autograph some baseballs, baseball cards and photographs.  To inquire as to their availability, you may contact Jim Corcoran at (813)972-8175.

    For the reasons you cited, I do not sign autographs.  If you mail stuff to me, then you have better make sure to mail something to return it in.  Otherwise, it goes in the trash.

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064.  Thanks for the swift response.  I just checked again and they say it is YOU: The Seattle Pilots/Montreal Expos/Dodgers Mike Marshall.  I knew it was too good to be true, but apparently a lot of collectors are under the idea it is you appearing.  I am sorry to bother you sir and have a nice day.

P.S.:  If you would like to contact the company promoting your appearance, there number is 1-973-808-1740 and the contact name is Mollie Bracigliano.

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     I can assure you that I am not appearing at any autograph signings anywhere.

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065.  I have had the pleasure of speaking with some of your students and teachers over the past few months about the motion that you have come up with.  He gave me your email and said that you are happy to answer any questions about your motion, so I thought I would drop you a line.

Obviously, my future lies as a position player, but I am a student of the game and I am aware of the controversy that any talk about you or your motion creates in many baseball circles.  However, I am very interested in your motion along with the science and research behind it.  I appreciate you taking the time out of you day for any response.

Ok, here are a few questions that I would like to know about:

1.  I have been reading up on your book online and was wondering; where have you quantified the research you have done?

More specifically, how have you quantified the reduced torques on the elbow and shoulder in your delivery?  Do you have any numbers to back this up?

2.  Finally, are there any journals or such that have published your papers regarding the current state of your mechanic?

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     I am very happy to answer any questions about my baseball pitching motion and interval-training programs.  I did my first research study in the fall of 1967 to determine the cause of baseball pitchers losing the extension and flexion ranges of motion in their pitching elbows.  You can find those research findings in Chapter Ten: Bi-Lateral Elbow X-Rays of Two Major League Pitchers of my Coaching Baseball Pitching book, which is free on my website for all to read without charge.

     If you have read Chapter Thirty: High-Speed Film Study of my Coaching Baseball Pitchers book, then you know that, in 1971, I was the first Kinesiologist to determine the displacement, velocity and acceleration graphs for baseball pitching.  That was many, many years before my Michigan State University colleague, Dr. Richard Nelson, invented the term, Biomechanics.

     Of course, this research was several years before the development of the present equipment that uses reflective dots for determining the displacement, velocity and acceleration graphs for the x, y and z axes.  Nevertheless, the principles were that same; we just had to do our calculations by hand.  Unfortunately, looking at shiny objects move around the computer screen does nearly nothing with regard to teaching the skills of baseball pitching.

     That is why I prefer to use my limited resources to take five hundred frames per second of sixteen millimeter film.  Obviously, to be able to work with the material into my video studio, we digitize the film.  This way, I am able to use video and high-speed film to show my baseball pitchers precisely how they apply force to their pitches.

     A few years ago, I read an article from the American Sports Medicine Institute that stated that 'traditional' baseball pitchers 'red-line' their Ulnar Collateral Ligament with every pitch and provided the numbers.

     If you have watched my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video, then you know that the injurious flaw inherent in the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion is 'Reverse Pitching Forearm Bounce.'  Thirty-three years ago, to eliminate the unnecessary stress that caused the rupture of his Ulnar Collateral Ligament, I advised Tommy John to pendulum swing his pitching arm with his pitching hand under and behind the baseball rather than on top.

     While Tommy went on to win more games after his Ulnar Collateral Ligament surgery than any other similarly-situated pitcher since, I decided that I needed direct evidence that my baseball pitching motion significantly reduces the stress on the Ulnar Collateral Ligament.

     In my baseball pitching motion, I teach my baseball pitchers to pendulum swing their pitching arm downward out of their glove with the palm of their pitching hand under the baseball, backward vertically beside their body with the palm of their pitching hand facing forward and, at forty-five degrees behind their body, upward with the palm of their pitching hand facing away from their body with their thumb on top straight backward toward second base.

     When their pitching arm is forty-five degrees behind their body, I teach my baseball pitchers to lift their glove foot off the ground and, with my Maxline pitches, step forward at a forty-five degree angle to the glove side of the line between their pitching foot and home plate and, with my Torque pitches, step straight forward of their glove foot or their pitching foot, whichever enables them to drive their pitching shoulder toward the glove arm side of home plate better.

     As a result of delaying the forward step of their glove foot until after baseball pitchers have pendulum swung their pitching arm forty-five degrees behind their body, my baseball pitchers will have their pitching arm at driveline height before their glove foot lands.  This means that, when their glove foot lands, my baseball pitchers have their pitching arm at driveline height moving forward 'locked' with their pitching shoulders.

     With the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion, when the glove foot lands, 'traditional' baseball pitchers are about halfway through their 'Late Pitching Forearm Turnover,' where their pitching forearm moves upward and backward.  As a result, the backward movement of their pitching forearm and baseball and the forward movement of their pitching elbow combine to either 'red-line' or rupture their Ulnar Collateral Ligament.

     Therefore, I contacted Professor Murray Maitland, the Director of Physical Therapy, at South Florida University to see whether we could conduct a research study in which we compare the stress on the Ulnar Collateral Ligament with the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion and my baseball pitching motion.  Professor Maitland agreed.

     Starting four years, Professor Maitland biomechanically analyzed my baseball pitchers and the baseball pitchers on the University of South Florida baseball team.  He completed the study two years ago and gave me the preliminary results.  He said that the data show that my baseball pitchers stress their Ulnar Collateral Ligament at one-half the intensity of 'traditional' baseball pitchers.

     Now, I know that, as would I, you would like to see a published report on this study.  However, Professor Maitland is now at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA and it takes time to write these studies and it takes time for periodicals to review these studies and it takes time to publish these studies.

     For my part, I am not working at a research university or for a well-funded private research company.  That I helped finance this research is out of my pocket with no possibility to recoup my expenses.  Nevertheless, I conducted this research to show what I already know.  With my baseball pitching motion and training programs, no only will baseball pitchers never injure themselves, but they will also be able to achieve their genetic maximum release velocity and throw the wide variety of high quality pitches required to succeed at the highest level.

     If the American Sports Medicine Institute or any other private or university-affiliated biomechanics laboratory wants to biomechanically analyze and compare my imperfect baseball pitchers with any 'traditional' baseball pitchers to determine and compare the stress on their pitching shoulder, pitching elbow, pitching hip, pitching knee, L5-S1 inter-vertebral disk and any other typical baseball pitching injury location, then I will gladly offer my baseball pitchers as subjects in this research.  Otherwise, all these labs are doing is reporting on the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion, not investigating how to eliminate pitching injuries.

     I assure you that, if I had these resources at my disposal that these researchers have had, then I would have answered these and many more questions about the perfect way for baseball pitchers to apply force and train to become the best, injury-free, highly-skilled baseball pitchers that they can be.

     Even without funding and facilities, forty years ago, I learned what injurious flaws inherent on the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion decrease the extension and flexion ranges of motion of the pitching elbow and these guys still do not understand what causes these problems or how to prevent them.  And, this stuff is Baseball Pitching Injury Prevention 101.

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066.  My son is a seventeen year old left-handed pitcher.  He started throwing curve balls in eighth grade.  His elbow is starting to get sore when he throws now.  Any suggestions for exercises, diet or technique?

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     At biological sixteen years old, I recommend that youth baseball pitchers complete my 120-Day High School Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program.  You can find that program in my FREE Baseball Pitcher Interval-Training Programs file.  To learn how to teach your son how to properly perform the drills that I use to teach the skills of my baseball pitching motion, you need to watch my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video that you can find in my FREE Baseball Pitching Instructional Video file.

     So, there you have everything that you need to take care of you son's baseball pitching needs; free on my website.

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067.  I have a serious question that I need help with now.

I started having a lot of pain in my throwing elbow last Tuesday, we started on Monday.  I went to the doctor and he said it was epicolydis or tennis elbow and recommended I get one of those straps.  So. I did.  It still hurts just as bad.  I mean on a scale of 1-10, it is a 7.5 after practice and a 8.5 during when I'm trying to throw.  I can't throw hard at all anymore.  I normally throw 70.  I now can barely throw 20 without it hurting.  And it hurts after I finish the throw.  What can I do?  Please help.  Seriously, I need a lot of help.  The doctor offered to give me cortisone shots.  Should I do it?  I'd do anything to be able to throw hard again.

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     If you were to reach fully extend your pitching and glove arms straight forward in front of you with the palms of your hands facing upward, where do you feel the pain?  Is it on the little finger side, on the thumb side, the front of your elbow or the back of your elbow?

    As you learned, the strap does nothing and neither will the cortisone shot.  What you need to do is to learn how to properly use your pitching arm to apply force and complete the appropriate training program.

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068.  The pain when I do that is on the pinky side on the front of the elbow.

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     The bony knob on the little finger side of the Humerus bone at the elbow is called the medial epicondyle, which is also called, the Little League elbow.

     'Traditional' baseball pitchers unnecessarily stress the medial epicondyle ossification center, ligament, tendons and muscles when they take the baseball back with their pitching hand on top of the baseball.  Because their pitching hand is on top of the baseball, 'traditional' baseball pitchers cannot smoothly and continuously pendulum swing their pitching arm to driveline height.

     Therefore, they have to stop their pitching hand and raise their pitching forearm and hand straight upward. I call this, 'Late Pitching Forearm Turnover.'  Then, because they stepped forward at the same time that they started their pitching arm backward, when their glove foot lands, they start their pitching elbow forward before their pitching arm is at driveline height.  As a result of their pitching forearm and hand still moving upward and backward and their pitching elbow moving forward, the medial epicondyle of the inside of their pitching elbow receives a 'Reverse Pitching Forearm Bounce,' which injures the involved tissues.

     To prevent these injuries, baseball pitchers need to take the baseball out of their glove with their pitching hand under the baseball, not on top, then, with their pitching arm fully extended, pendulum swing their pitching arm backward toward second base with the palm of their pitching hand facing forward and, lastly, when their pitching arm is forty-five degrees behind their body, they need to turn the palm of their pitching hand to face away from their body.  This prevents 'Late Pitching Forearm Turnover' and 'Reverse Pitching Forearm Bounce.'

     As I said in my earlier email, to learn how to do the drills that I use to teach this and the other injury-preventing skills of my baseball pitching motion, you need to click on the FREE Baseball Pitching Instructional Video and watch my video and click on the FREE Baseball Pitcher Interval-Training Programs, select the program for your biological age and complete it.

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069.  Which of your training programs do you recommend that I do?  Do you mean that I should use the one with the wrist weights that go from 10 lbs. to 25 lbs?

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     At the beginning of each of my interval-training programs, I explain the biological ages of those who should complete each of my interval-training programs.

01.  If you are ten to sixteen biological years old, then you should complete my 60-Day Youth Baseball Pitchers Motor Skill Acquisition Program.

02.  If you are sixteen biological years old, then you should complete my 120-Day High School Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program.

03.  If you are nineteen biological years old, then you should complete my 280-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program and my six 72-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Wrist Weight and Iron Ball Recoil Interval-Training Programs.

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070.  In the answer to an earlier email, you said, "The American Sports Medicine Institute or any other private or university-affiliated biomechanics laboratory wants to biomechanically analyze and compare my imperfect baseball pitchers with any 'traditional' baseball pitchers to determine and compare the stress on their pitching shoulder, pitching elbow, pitching hip, pitching knee, L5-S1 inter-vertebral disk and any other typical baseball pitching injury location, then I will gladly offer my baseball pitchers as subjects in this research.  Otherwise, all these labs are doing is reporting on the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion, not investigating how to eliminate pitching injuries."

I thought that these laboratories were researching how to eliminate pitching injuries.  If they are not trying to learn how baseball pitchers can pitch without injury, then what are they doing?

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     They are making money.

     These are not federal grant funded research facilities like those doing research at State Universities.  They charge serious money to biomechanically anayze baseball pitchers.  When they give you the results, they do not tell you what you need to do to prevent all the injuries that I listed in my paragraph.  Instead, they just send you on your way.

     This past November, I presented my materials at a day-long seminar for the continuing education of athletic trainers and physical therapists.  I was thrilled to learn that a former employee of the American Sports Medicine Institute, Jeramy Loftice, was also presenting his materials.

     Mr. Loftice earned his Master's Degree at Louisiana State University where he also pitched for their baseball team.  Unfortunately, like over ninety percent of all baseball pitchers at LSU at that time, he injured his pitching arm and required surgery.  To his credit, to find out what baseball pitchers had to do to eliminate pitching injuries, Mr. Loftice joined the American Sports Medicine Institute.  In the spring of 2006, instead of me, the St. Louis Cardinals hired him to help them eliminate injuries to their baseball pitchers.

     Clearly, Mr. Loftice did not help the pitching staff of the St. Louis Cardinals avoid pitching injuries.  When I listened to his presentation, I found out why.  He has absolutely no idea what causes pitching injuries.  When asked what causes pitching injuries, he started by saying five year olds throw too many pitches and continued blaming everything he could think of, including genetics, except the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion.  It was clear to me that Mr. Loftice and the American Sports Medicine Institute are more interested in continuing their financially successful businesses than eliminating pitching injuries.

     When I was asked what I thought about what Mr. Loftice's presentation, I said that he said only one thing with which I agree and that was that baseball pitchers should pendulum swing their pitching arm straight backward toward second base.  I said that everything else he said causes pitching injuries.

     At his point in this discussion, I want to direct your attention to a newspaper article in my Articles file that appeared on Yahoo.com.

"Fleisig questions a large chunk of Marshall's motion.  While the idea of directing force toward home plate and only home plate makes sense logically, Fleisig said, "We were dealt elbow joints and knee joints and hip joints."  In Fleisig's mind, pitchers achieve maximum velocity when they coordinate those joints, not pronate their wrists and use pendulum swings."

     So, instead of, as I do, crediting Sir Isaac Newton's law of inertia as the scientific reason why baseball pitchers should apply force to their pitches in straight lines toward home plate, Dr. Fleisig agrees with me that "the idea of directing force toward home plate and only home plate makes sense."

     This is from where Mr. Loftice came up with the idea that baseball pitchers should pendulum swing their pitching arm straight back toward second base.

     Unfortunately, Dr. Fleisig also said, "We were dealt elbow joints and knee joints and hip joints."  "Pitchers achieve maximum velocity when they coordinate those joints, no pronate their wrists and pendulum swings."

     Before Dr. Fleisig complicates the discussion of how the pitching arm should apply force to the baseball with what the hip and knee joints need to do, lets return to what he said about straight line force toward home plate.  Javelin throwers drive the javelin in straight lines straight forward.  They have elbows, hips and knees.

     My point is; baseball pitchers are perfectly capable of applying force to the baseball in straight line toward home plate from the first moment the baseball moves forward through release.  Elbow, hips and knees do not get in the way of driving the baseball straight toward home plate.

     For the sake of accuracy, baseball pitchers pronate their forearms, not their wrists.  Wrists only flex, extend, radial flex and ulnar flex.  I keep getting this feeling that Dr. Fleisig did not excel in anatomy.  That is unfortunate because, without a solid knowledge of anatomy, he can never understand what muscles are available to perform specific movements.  For example, he will never understand how the Pronator Teres muscle prevent the loss of the extension range of motion in the pitching elbow and much, much more.

     Neverthless, when Jeramy Loftice teaches baseball pitchers to pendulum swing their pitching arm straight backward toward second base, then, eventually, he will have to also teach baseball pitchers to pronate their releases, move their pitching arm to driveline height before their glove foot lands, use their Teres Major and Latissimus Dorsi muscles to inwardly rotate their pitching upper arm and everything else that I teach baseball pitchers about how to apply force with their pitching arm.

     Dr. Fleisig and Mr. Loftice do not yet realize it, but once they understand that baseball pitchers must apply force straight toward home plate, they have to accept every other aspect of my baseball pitching motion.  For example, they have to understand that baseball pitchers have to point their pitching and glove feet toward home plate.

     This leads me to what I learned at the Houston baseball pitching clinic.  First, while I personally like both Ron and Brent, I learned that neither have the slightest idea what they are talking about.  Second, I learned that Brent Strom has jumped ship from Tom House and Paul Nyman and is now preaching what I teach.

     When Brent took the microphone, he said:

01.  that he spent two months learning how to throw my Maxline Pronation Curve and it is a far better curve than the 'traditional' curve,

02.  that Dr. Glenn Fleisig of the American Sports Medicine Institute agrees with me that baseball pitchers should drive their pitches in straight lines toward home plate,

03.  he agrees with my pendulum swing with the pitching hand leaving the glove under the baseball, facing forward when the pitching arm passes the hip and, at forty-five degrees behind the body, faces away from the body,

04.  that baseball pitchers should get their pitching hand to driveline height before their glove foot lands and

05.  that he believes that baseball pitchers should point their feet toward home plate.

     However, because he believes that 'traditional' baseball pitching coaches will not like the looks and because he believes that the 'traditional' body action provides more power than the body action that I recommend, he hoped that he and I could come to some compromise.

     Then, Brent Strom announced that he would start a new job with the St. Louis Cardinals shortly after this December 2007 baseball pitching clinic.

     Some of you may recall that, a few weeks before the start of spring training in 2006, the St. Louis Cardinals sent a representative to my Baseball Pitching Research/Training Center to evaluate my baseball pitching motion and interval-training program.  This gentleman had already talked with all the other usual baseball pitching coach suspects.  While he did not have sufficient academic background to understand everything on which I base my materials, he did recognize that it works.

     After delivering his report, this gentleman telephoned me and told me that the St. Louis Cardinals had decided to go another way.  He said that the Cardinals wanted real peer-review research and they felt that I only had empirical information.

     I immediately recognized Dr. Fleisig's words.  However, I also knew that the American Sports Medicine Institute does not research baseball pitching; it reports on the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion.  Therefore, like with every major league team they have worked, they will not eliminate pitching injuries.

     As part of his introduction, Jeramy Loftice says that he consults with major league baseball teams.  I knew immediately that the St. Louis Cardinals hired him in 2006.  I also knew that, from March 2006 to November 2007, the Cardinal pitching staff has undergone numerous surgeries.

     Therefore, I immediately understood that Brent's new job meant that Mr. Loftice no longer worked for the St. Louis Cardinals.

     Now, the St. Louis Cardinals finally correctly decided that, except for the body action, they like my baseball pitching motion.  They are going to pendulum swing their pitching arm to driveline height.  They are going to move their pitching arm to driveline height before their glove foot lands.  They are going to drive their pitches in straight lines toward home plate.  They are going to pronate the release of their curves.

     Loyal readers, we have won.  After I teach Brent that the 'traditional' body action is injurious, inefficient and not effective with my pitching and glove arm actions, a Major League Baseball team is going to use my baseball pitching motion and the Brent Strom Fractured Olecranon Curve.

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071.  It is no longer hearsay, the proof is in.  The St. Louis Cardinals are using the pitching arm action that Dr. Mike Marshall teaches and teaching their pitchers how to throw the Maxline Pronation Curve that he invented.

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New pitching camp is a pilot program
By Derrick Goold
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/13/2008

JUPITER, FL.  —  The Cardinals invited the elite from their next generation of pitchers to come to spring training early and brush up on the classics.

Six of the Cardinals' best pitching prospects, including rising reliever Chris Perez and first-round pick Adam Ottavino, came to Roger Dean Stadium this past weekend for a minicamp with the club's minor-league pitching coaches.  Billed as a chance to prep the youngsters for their first major-league spring training, the six-day camp is also a pilot program for a larger initiative.

The pitchers are getting extensive video work, going through a new long-toss program, and learning the principles of what the Cardinals call "classic mechanics," what they believe are the shared traits from the deliveries of great pitchers.

"We're not trying to reinvent the wheel here," said Brent Strom, the Cardinals' new minor-league roving pitching instructor.  "Before coaches came along, Bob Feller, Sandy Koufax, all the greats, did what they did because they had to.  The body found a way to do what it needed  —  to throw hard, with velocity, and get hitters out.

"It's a very natural approach to finding the best mechanics."

All six of the minor league pitchers in the minicamp are non-roster invitees to major-league spring training, which begins Friday for the Cardinals.  Pitching coach Dave Duncan has been watching the minicamp.  He's intrigued by three of the prospects: hard-throwing closer Perez, reliable starting pitcher Mitchell Boggs and lefty Jaime Garcia, a 21-year-old who might be the organization's top starting prospect.

The other three minicamp participants are P.J. Walters, the reigning organization pitcher of the year; Ottavino; and Clayton Mortensen, a 2007 draft pick out of Gonzaga who appears primed for a rapid rise.

The six pitchers each will throw their third bullpen session of the camp today.  Each time the pitchers throw, they are videotaped by pitching coach Tim Leveque.  Earlier in camp, the players compared video from before they were drafted, video from last season and video from Saturday's bullpen sessions.

Perez said that in watching tape of his college innings he realized he has shortened his stride to the plate.  Ottavino called the minicamp "liberating" because he believes the video and the instruction have helped him rediscover his earlier delivery.

"Natural mechanics," said Dyar Miller, the Cardinals' minor-league pitcher coordinator.  "We're looking at what's natural for them and working from there."

For several years, farm director Jeff Luhnow has directed a study that analyzed video of pitching mechanics to find shared traits from effective and healthy deliveries.  Illustrator Michael Witte has assisted the Cardinals, drawing on the research he did as a fan  —  watching old games and identifying key elements of the best deliveries.

The Cardinals have used these studies to assist them in the draft.  How Ottavino's mechanics lined up with this information, for example, was part of why they selected him 30th overall in 2006.

On the first day of minicamp, the prospects watched a video of former major-league pitchers and their "classic mechanics."  Witte, who is attending the minicamp and working with Strom and Leveque, helped pick the subjects, which included Koufax, Bob Gibson, Jim Palmer and Satchel Paige.

Leveque said the pitchers are urged to use their athleticism.  In an attempt to "mass produce pitching mechanics," he said, it has been forgotten that "pitchers are athletes; pitchers are not caged animals."

Strom, who has been pitching coach for Houston and Kansas City, said that realization changed his view on pitching.  He remains an advocate of long toss  —  having the six pitchers throw at distances.  That has caught the attention of a few major-league pitchers regarding how far and how early in spring the kids are throwing.  Strom has also embraced some new approaches since he last was a pitching coach.

"Sure, there are some things I wish I hadn't coached before; there are things I'd like to take back," Strom said.  "The biggest thing I was guilty of was reducing the pitcher's delivery into its lowest common denominator.  Looking for the perfect movements.  They don't exist."

But there are truisms, he said.

Strom, a former major-league pitcher, has stressed the importance of tempo and rhythm to the pitchers in the minicamp.  He also has worked with them on momentum.

Leveque has a database of video that includes at least a thousand pitchers, including all major leaguers, many past major leaguers, and all of the Cardinals' draft picks from the past three years.  This helps the coaches to chronicle improvement and find a model for the individual pitcher.  It is the Cardinals goal, Luhnow said, to tape every pitcher in the minors and give them the same tutelage.

In a couple weeks, another 10 pitchers  —  top prospects on their way to minor league spring training  —  will go through a similar mini-camp.

"This is a start, and we'd like to expand it even more," Luhnow said.  Strom "has a very refreshing perspective and new ideas we're adding to the knowledge we have.  We want the pitchers to see what got them here  ...  and then see what it's going to take to get to their potential."

dgoold@post-dispatch.com  |  314-340-8285

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     To understand that this newspaper article confirms that the St. Louis Cardinals are going to use how I teach baseball pitchers to use their pitching arm to apply force to their pitches, we only have to read the last paragraph of the article.

"This is a start, and we'd like to expand it even more," Luhnow said.  Strom "has a very refreshing perspective and new ideas we're adding to the knowledge we have.  We want the pitchers to see what got them here  ...  and then see what it's going to take to get to their potential.""

     Jeff Luhnow, the guy that St. Louis Cardinal owner, DeWitt, assigned the task of eliminating pitching arm injuries and training better quality major league baseball pitchers said, 'Brent Strom has a very refreshing perspective and new ideas we're adding to the knowledge we have.

     Those of you who, with me, listened to Brent speak at his Houston baseball pitching clinic, know that that very refreshing perspective is mine and those new ideas are pronating all releases, smooth, continuous pendulum swing of the pitching arm, moving the pitching arm to driveline height before the glove foot lands and straight line drive toward home plate.

     As I said earlier, rather than the Marshall Maxline Pronation Curve, the Cardinal baseball pitchers will learn the Brent Strom Fracture Olecranon Curve.  I name it that because some stupid baseball pitching coach taught Brent to extend his pitching elbow straight toward home plate without pronating his pitching forearm and, as a result, Brent fractured his olecranon process.  He has a huge scar to prove it.

     As I also said earlier, from attending that Houston clinic, I came to like both Brent Strom and Ron Wolforth, but neither have any idea what they are doing.  This means that, when Brent teaches them my pitching arm action, he will not use the drills that I use to teach the skills of my baseball pitching motion.  He will not use wrist weights, iron balls, lids, appropriately-sizes footballs or any of the teaching and training aids that I use.

     Therefore, while I do believe that Brent will eliminate bad mechanics as the cause of pitching injuries, he will not eliminate lack of appropriate training as the cause of pitching injuries.

     I am also very concerned about how he teaches my Maxline Pronation Curve.  Without clearly understanding how to pronate the release, Brent could incorrectly teach his baseball pitchers to do the same thing that his baseball pitching coach taught him and get the same results.

     When these types of injuries result, who do you think they will blame?

     I suspect that, even though they have not mentioned my name as contributing anything with regard to this 'classic mechanics' project, when these injuries occur, my name will come to the top of the list.

     I understand why baseball pitching coaches plagiarize.  However, Mr. Luhnow has earned advanced degrees.  I do not understand why Mr. Luhnow would not want talk to me about the baseball pitching motion and the Maxline Pronation Curve that I invented.

     Also, I cannot imagine that, if he knew that this is my stuff, the Cardinal owner would not want to talk with me.  I know that he understands copyrights and getting the best people to do a job.

     If, as Mr. Luhnow says in the last sentence of this article, "We want the pitchers to see what  ...  it's going to take to get to their potential," then I am the only person who knows how to teach and train the Cardinal baseball pitchers how to become the best injury-free, highly-skilled baseball pitchers that they can be.

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072.  Looks like someone in Japan has been watching your video.

  http://youtube.com/watch?v=5-mkW5xFB_s

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     Although they did not draw the circle on the baseball, they certainly did show the grip that I teach to throw my Maxline Fastball Sinker.  However, they still have not figured out my Maxline Pronation Curve.

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073.  When your body is tired (muscles and tendons), what are the best recovery methods?

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     Your muscles metabolize glucose and triglycerides to resynthesize adenosine-tri-phosphate for continued muscle contractions.  When they run low on these substrates, you need to replenish them.

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074.  There is a Phillies pitching prospect named Josh Outman.  His father had him pitching differently from the conventional motion.  However, he has switched back to the traditional motion to play pro baseball.

Here is a story of him when he was in high school using his unorthodox motion.  Could you comment on it?  Specifically on this business of raising your pitching arm vertically and then placing it behind you almost touching your opposite shoulder.  I don't know how similar it is to yours after this starting movement.  I don't see any mention of pronation of all the pitches, either.

http://outmangenealogy.org/docs/articles/joshoutman.html

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     In my 2005 Question/Answer file, I talk about Mr. Outman in questions #980, #982 and #988.  Then, in my 2006 Question/Answer file, I analyzed his pitching motion in #517.

     Basically, instead of pendulum swinging his pitching arm up to driveline height, he simply lays his pitching arm on his back, much like with my Slingshot glove and pitching arm actions.  However, instead of keeping his pitching hand the full length of his pitching forearm behind his pitching elbow, he allows his pitching hand to move forward.

     While this pitching motion prevents the 'Late Pitching Forearm Turnover' and 'Reverse Pitching Forearm Bounce' injurious flaw inherent in the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion, he still has all the other injurious and mechanical flaws of the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion.

     With my baseball pitching motion, from the end of the pendulum swing of their pitching arm where the pitching hand is at driveline height reaching straight backward toward second base, I teach my baseball pitchers to raise their pitching upper arm to as vertical as possible beside their head with their pitching hand the full length of their pitching forearm behind their pitching elbow.

     However, from that point onward, I teach my baseball pitchers to drive their pitching hand straight toward home plate by powerfully pronating their pitching forearm, extending their pitching elbow and inwardly rotating their pitching upper arm.  Unfortunately, from what I have seen, Mr. Outman does not use the same force application techniques.

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075.  Last spring, my son worked in the 60-Day Youth Pitchers Motor Skills Program.  In August, you viewed his X-rays and determined him to be, at least, biologically sixteen years old.

We are now preparing to begin the 120-Day High School Pitchers Interval-Training Program and I am not finding the "Step Back" and "Drop Out" body actions on our 2006-edition DVD.  Are these new body actions, new names for old body actions, or am I just blind?

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     I am in the process of reorganizing my interval-training programs.  If you click on my 60-Day Youth Baseball Pitchers Motor Skill Acquisition Program, then you will notice that I have changed the names of those drills as well.

01.  For my Wrong Foot Slingshot drill, you use my Wrong Foot body action and my Slingshot glove and pitching arm actions.

02.  My Wrong Foot Loaded Slingshot drill remains the same.

03.  My Wrong Foot Pendulum Swing drill remains the same.

04.  For my Drop Out Wind-Up Pendulum Swing drill, you should watch the baseball pitchers in my Analyses of my 2007 Baseball Pitchers file.

05.  For my Pseudo Traditional Wind-Up Pendulum Swing drill, you should also watch the baseball pitchers in my Analyses of my 2007 Baseball Pitchers file.

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076.  I was wondering what value you place on location and command with your pitchers?  Through my background in baseball, the best pitching advice I have ever received is three most important things a pitcher must do;  location, movement, and deception.

Location meaning being able to not only throw strikes, which I would call having control, but being able to command your pitches in specific locations.

Movement obviously meaning the ability to move your pitches the way you want them to move.

Deception meaning the ability to deceive the hitter with your motion, your pitches, and the location and movement of those pitches.

From what I have seen in your studies and what you seem to teach, movement is a big part of what you teach.  I haven't heard much about location or command, as well as deception.

I know your pitchers throw into nets in Zephyrhills.  Do you think that is an effective way to learn how to locate and command your pitches?

If you could, please rank location, movement, and deception from most important to least important in your view.

Also, from a hitters point of view, all of your pitchers look the same to me.  Pretty much the same arm slot, same tempo, etc.  How would you expect a whole team of pitchers with your motion to fare against a team, given that they all throw with the same motion and the same pitches?  To an outsider and a hitter, there doesn't seem that there would be much need for adjustment from pitcher to pitcher with your motion.

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     There are four general types of hitters; Pitching Arm-Side Pull Hitters, Pitching Arm-Side Spray Hitters, Glove Arm-Side Pull Hitters and Glove Arm-Side Spray Hitters.  Each of these general types of hitters has pitches with which they have more difficulty hitting.

     First, I teach my baseball pitchers to be able to throw the wide variety of pitches that they need to succeed against all types of hitters.

     Second, I teach my baseball pitchers how to sequence the appropriate pitches for each type of hitter that will enable them to achieve the best results.

     With regard to control:  I want my baseball pitchers to throw every pitch within the twenty-four by seventeen inch strike zone.

     With regard to movement:  I want my baseball pitchers to make every type of pitch that I teach them to move as I have designed them to move.

     With regard to deception:  With my baseball pitching motion, without regard for the type of pitch, the pitching arm follows the same driveline.  Therefore, until it is too late to adjust, baseball batters have no idea which of the wide variety of pitches that we throw is coming.

     If you were to read Chapters Twenty-Three through Twenty-Eight of my Coaching Baseball Pitchers book, then you know that I kept pitch by pitch records of every game and every batter.  As a result, I know the At Bat results for every one pitch, two pitch, three pitch and so on sequence that I used against the four types of hitters.

     The secret to successful pitching is to throw whatever pitches hitters are not expecting you to throw.  My theory:  With each pitch, baseball pitchers should challenge themselves to throw the toughest pitch for each baseball batter to hit, never the batters.

     Before baseball pitchers throw to catchers, they need to master how to grip, drive and release the wide variety of pitches that they need to succeed.  With my ten by sixteen feet nets, they have plenty of room to throw while they master these pitches.  Until my baseball pitchers can throw strikes with their pitches into the net, they should not throw to catchers.

01.  Clearly, once they show that they can throw strikes into the net, the next test is whether they can throw strikes to catchers.

02.  Clearly, once they show that they can throw strikes to catchers, the next test is whether they can throw strikes to baseball batters in batting practice.

03.  Clearly, once they show that they can throw strikes to baseball batters in batting practice, the next test is whether they can throw strikes to baseball batters in simulated games.

04.  Clearly, once they show that they can throw strikes to baseball batters in simulated games, the next test is whether they can throw strikes to baseball batters in competitive games.

     To become the best injury-free, highly-skilled baseball pitcher they can be requires a lot of very hard work and dedication.  But, it also requires pitching coaches who know how to teach the skills of baseball pitching.  I believe that, if they understand how good they can become, baseball pitchers would do the work.  Unfortunately, they have never met a baseball pitching coach capable of teaching them how to do master these skills.

     To maximize release velocity, release consistency and a wide variety of baseball pitches, baseball pitchers need to drive their pitches in straight lines toward home plate over as great a distance as possible with their pitching forearm vertical or slightly inside of vertical at release.  With every pitch coming from the same release point, baseball batters have no way of knowing which of my six basic adult baseball pitches my baseball pitchers are throwing.  Therefore, the sameness is a benefit not a deficit.

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077.  I just had to put in my post on the ASMI, “What’s Wrong with Mike Marshall” forum.

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Re: What's wrong with Mike Marshall
« Reply #22 on Today at 10:27am »

I can't understand how people will be so open minded to all the "varied styles" of baseball pitching techniques, when the human anatomy is the same in each person.  We all have one humerus bone, one radius, and one ulna bone in our arms.

Our elbows flex our forearms toward our upper arms.  They extend the forearm to straighten out the arm, and not beyond, etc., etc..  We are all built with the same biomechanical components in the same places.

Athletes of all types of sports must learn how to master certain techniques in the same manner if they are to achieve excellence.

The basketball player must learn to master his jump shot in a precise manner in order to excel.  When you see master 3 point shooters, their techniques are identical.  They are using their biomechanical structures in the same manner to achieve the desired results.

In order for a figure skater to master the triple toe loop, the technique must be exactly the same for every skater.  Why?  Because every one has the same body parts, and these parts only move in specific directions with specific strength capabilities and similar balance points.

Olympic class sprinters ALWAYS set up on the starting blocks in a 4 point stance with one foot slightly behind the other.  When they are sprinting you can see the entire group's running technique is identical.  Why?  Because their human bodies are constructed the same.  If one runner was built like a cat, then he would run on all fours.

But people run on two legs.  And world class sprinters master every movement of their body, even down to how they use their fingers when running.  And they all do it the same way...if they wish to excel.  They are simply making every movement of their body as efficient and as effective as they can in order to aid them in achieving their top genetic running speed.

In the martial arts, dozens of very specific body movements and techniques must be mastered in order to achieve excellence.  I find it very interesting that the masters of boxing, karate, gun fu, etc., all agree that the greatest force delivered from a punch is when the forearm is pronated while extending the elbow.  Hmm... I wonder who realized some 41 years ago that pronating the release of a pitch not only protects the elbow but also delivers MORE release velocity?

The point I'm trying to make is, the vast majority of top performing athletes MUST master motor techniques that maximize the capabilities of their bodies.  They must work WITH their body structure, not against it.

What I don't understand is when it comes to baseball pitching, there is as much diversity in pitching technique as there are pitchers and "pitching coaches".  Why?  Aren't we all constructed the same way?

The last time I looked "Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body" it hadn't been revised to read, "Exception:  The baseball pitcher may have as many as one million variations of biomechanical features that differ from the normal human.  The baseball pitcher may have more bones, fewer bones, more muscles, fewer muscles, different attachment points, more joints and ligaments, fewer joints and ligaments, and joints that flex and extend in the opposite direction as the normal human.  This evidence is due to the fact that there as many pitching styles as there are baseball pitchers".

Please forgive me for making such an absurd comment.  I don't mean to be sarcastic, but sometimes it seems that the only way to reveal absurdity is to demonstrate it.

The belief that many different styles of performing such an explosive and violent action as throwing a baseball 100 times at 100% intensity is somehow a good thing is totally absurd to me!

Every human being has a HUMAN body, with a HUMAN foundational construction.  I know nobody wants to hear this, but it's the truth...there is only one way for the human body to throw a baseball at its maximum efficiency and maximum effectiveness.  Dr. Marshall has spent 41 years developing this technique, and has done it!

Now, instantly the "relativists" will call me "arrogant", "pompous", and "close-minded".  Well, I've seen and tried everything else...it doesn't work.

For those who believe there is no one absolute perfect way to throw a baseball...for those who believe that there are just endless "possibilities" and no "for sure" answers, I ask you these questions:

1.  When your first grade teacher taught you that 2+2=4, did you argue with her, and insist the answer was 5?  Not if you were willing to acknowledge an absolute.  (Also, not unless you wanted to graduate to the second grade).

2.  If you were trapped in a burning building with seemingly no way out, and suddenly somebody told you that there was one doorway you could escape through, would you stand there and argue that there must be more than one way, or would you accept the absolute fact that if you don't take the one way, you will burn up?

3.  Take a look at javelin throwers, shot putters, and discus throwers in action.  Then ask yourself this question,  "Why do all of these athletes in their respective throwing sports all perform their throwing actions in practically identical fashions, yet baseball pitchers are all different?"

Why do we have an epidemic of baseball pitching injuries while other throwing sports have proportionately few?  Baseball pitchers cannot continue to violate the laws of physics, work against their anatomy, and expect to escape the consequences.

Many other throwing sports appear to have come quite far in developing techniques and training methods to build their athletes competitive edge.

Traditional baseball pitching failure is evidenced in the hundreds of thousands of destroyed pitching arms scattered across thousands of baseball fields.  It's a miserable testament to the "arrogant", "pompous", and "close minded" mentality of baseball people today.

They are more interested in tradition than innovation.

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     Are you trying to say that, for every human movement, there is one perfect way to apply force?  But, if you don't know what that one way is, then don't you have to claim that there are infinite ways?

     Nicely done.

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078.  Out of all the current pitchers that play in the major leagues, who do you feel has the best mechanics and the type of delivery that eliminates all arm problems?

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     That sounds like a worthwhile study.  To determine whether their baseball pitching motion eliminates pitching injuries, why don't you make a check list of the following criteria and evaluate every major league baseball pitcher.

01.  If current major league baseball pitchers have their pitching hand on top of the baseball when they swing their pitching arm backward out of their glove, then they do not have the type of delivery that eliminates pitching injuries.

02.  If current major league baseball pitchers reverse rotate their hips, shoulders and pitching upper arm beyond second base, then they do not have the type of delivery that eliminates pitching injuries.

03.  If current major league baseball pitchers do not have their pitching arm at driveline height before their glove foot lands, then they do not have the type of delivery that eliminates pitching injuries.

04.  If current major league baseball pitchers do not drive the baseball in straight lines from second base to home plate, then they do not have the type of delivery that eliminates pitching injuries.

05.  If current major league baseball pitchers do not powerfully pronate the release of all pitches before, during and after release then they do not have the type of delivery that eliminates pitching injuries.

06.  If current major league baseball pitchers do not stand tall and forwardly rotate their hips, shoulders and pitching upper arm over their glove foot, then they do not have the type of delivery that eliminates pitching injuries.

     I look forward to your report.

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079.  Thank you for your very quick response.  Reading this criteria I am beginning to think that no pitcher is invulnerable to arm problems.  I cannot think of one pitcher who brings the ball out of their glove with their pitching hand under it.

However, if there is/are a major league pitcher(s) with these type of mechanics, and I correctly identify these pitchers, will there be some sort of reward for my hard work?

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     These are simple mechanical adjustments to make.  Unfortunately, for various reasons, baseball pitchers refuse to make them.  Most notably, because their pitching coaches will not let them.  I have trained hundreds of baseball pitchers and not one has ever suffered a pitching injury.

     This is your question, not mine.  Did you offer me a reward?

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080.  I was thrilled to read that the St. Louis Cardinals are interested in your pitching motion.  You wrote that Brent Strom is going to teach your concepts, but that he wants you to compromise your body action.  If that will make your pitching motion acceptable to professional baseball, then why not do it?

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     During his presentation at the Houston baseball pitching clinic this past December, Brent Strom said that he agrees with how I teach baseball pitchers to use their glove and pitching arms, but he wanted me to compromise how I want baseball pitchers to use their body.

     Later, I heard that Mr. Strom wanted this compromise for two reasons.

01.  He did not want to upset ‘traditional’ baseball people with the lack of glove leg lift and reverse rotation of the hips, shoulders and pitching arm beyond second base.

02.  He personally believes that the ‘traditional’ body action generates more force than the body action that I teach.

     With regard to his I-do-not-want-to-offend-anybody reason, science is science, absolutes are absolutes, we cannot compromise Sir Issac Newton’s three laws of motion.  Basically, Mr. Strom is asking Sir Isaac Newton to rescend the law of reaction.

     While I am sure that Mr. Strom does not understand, he is also contradicting himself.  Mr. Strom recommends that his baseball pitchers long toss.

     When baseball pitchers long toss, they use the ‘crow-hop’ throwing rhythm, not the ‘balance position’ pitching rhythm of the ‘traditional’ baseball pitching motion.  I have never seen baseball pitchers use the ‘balance position’ pitching rhythm when they try to throw the baseball as far as they can.

     The reason is simple.  The body action of the ‘crow-hop’ throwing rhythm is mechanically superior to the body action of the ‘balance position’ throwing rhythm.      The ‘crow-hop’ throwing rhythm has three elements that are critical to enable baseball pitchers to achieve their maximum release velocity.

01.  They pendulum swing their pitching arm downward, backward and upward straight toward second base such that their pitching hand arrives at driveline height at the same time that their glove foot lands.  When baseball pitchers achieve this skill, they make certain that they conserve the momentum of the baseball.

02.  They keep the center of mass of their body moving forward until after they release their pitches.  When baseball pitchers achieve this skill, they make certain that they conserve the momentum of the center of mass of their body.

03.  They forwardly rotate their hips, shoulders and pitching upper arm to point toward home plate over their glove foot, not their pitching foot.  When baseball pitchers achieve this skill, they make certain that they continue to increase their rate of acceleration through release.

     To learn my body action, I have my baseball pitchers practice my one step crow-hop body action.

01.  To assume their starting position, I teach my baseball pitchers to stand with their pitching foot one step behind their glove foot, which is one and one-half steps behind the pitching rubber, with their glove and pitching hands together at shoulder height.

02.  To start their one step crow-hop body action, I teach my baseball pitchers to simultaneously take a half-step forward with their glove foot, start to swing their pitching arm vertically downward to their pitching arm side.

03.  To continue the one step crow-hop body action, I teach my baseball pitchers to hop a full step forward with their pitching foot, such that, when their pitching foot lands, their pitching arm is vertically beside their body.

04.  To continue the one step crow-hop body action, I teach my baseball pitchers to simultaneously step forward with their glove foot, pendulum swing their glove arm downward and upward to shoulder height straight toward home plate and pendulum swing their pitching arm backward and upward straight toward second base to arrive at driveline height at the same time that the glove foot lands.

05.  To continue the one step crow-hop body action, I teach my baseball pitchers to simultaneously drive their pitching knee inward and forward toward their glove knee, pull their glove arm straight backward toward second base and powerfully forwardly rotate their hips, shoulders and pitching upper arm to point toward home plate.

06.  To continue the one step crow-hop body action, I teach my baseball pitchers to simultaneously powerfully push backward toward second base with their glove foot and extend their pitching elbow, pronate their pitching forearm and inwardly rotate their pitching arm through release.

07.  To finish the one step crow-hop body action, I teach my baseball pitchers to keep their glove hand beside their head, stick their pitching arm in the strike zone and land with their pitching foot in line with the glove foot and home plate.

     Brent Strom and just about everybody else mistakenly believe that baseball pitchers should use the 'traditional' body action, which includes striding seventy to ninety percent of their standing height.  When 'traditional' baseball pitchers stride so far, they apply force toward home plate.  This clearly violates Sir Isaac Newton's third law.

     My goal is to use scientific principles to develop the perfect way for baseball pitchers to apply force to their pitches.  Every human activity has a perfect biomechanical and anatomical way to apply force.  Baseball pitching is no different from any other human movement.

     Rather than to dumb down the baseball pitching motion to satisfy those who cannot accept anything other than the 'traditional' baseball pitching body action, I prefer to teach them why they need to accept the glove leg as another way to apply force toward second base.

     For whatever reason, all I have to do is consider Newton's Law of Reaction and it is clear to me that the pitching leg, glove arm and glove leg must all apply force toward second base.  However, I seem to be in the minority.  It probably has something to do with the excitement I felt when I saw my first algebraic problem.  It opened new worlds of Math to me and scared many around me.

     Therefore, like with every other Newtonian principle, I have to come up with an analogy that makes the principle easier to understand.

     The first analogy I tried in my undergraduate Kinesiology class was rocket science.  I told my students to consider the booster rockets strapped to the side of the space shuttle as the sources of oppositely-directed force.  I told them that, for the shuttle to climb to the edges of earth's atmosphere, all these booster rockets must apply force back toward earth.

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081.  Here is an interview from a website called Baseball Prospectus I thought you might like to dissect.  http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=7171

After reading your Q&A's for a while and this interview, I feel like the NPA is not on "cutting edge of research and instruction" and is actually seems to be taking a step backward from your research on keeping pitchers healthy.

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February 24, 2008
Prospectus Q&A
Doug Thorburn
by David Laurila

Pitching is both an art and a science, and from youth leagues to the big leagues, so is the challenge of keeping pitchers healthy.  The National Pitching Association (NPA) is on the cutting edge of research and instruction on all three fronts, and many of their concepts are shared in their forthcoming book, Arm Action, Arm Path, and the Perfect Pitch: a Science-Based Guide to Pitching Health and Performance.  David talked to the NPA’s motion analysis coordinator and coach, Doug Thorburn.

(I would disagree with Mr. Laurilla that baseball pitching is both and art and a science.  Baseball pitching is pure applied anatomy and force vector mechanics.  The same goes for eliminating pitching injuries.  He is perpetuating the ignorance in baseball.)

Baseball Prospectus:  The title of the new book includes the term "arm action."  How do you define arm action?

Doug Thorburn:  That is a question that I’ve asked many coaches and scouts, only to get several different answers.

(Whoa.  Sorry to interrupt all ready.  Mr. Laurilla said that the National Pitching Association is on the cutting edge of research and instruction and the first thing that Mr. Thorburn says is that he has talked with many coaches and scouts, only to get several different answers.  That is not science, that is an opinion poll.  I will read the rest, but I already know that he is not a scientist.)

Some define arm action as everything that the arm does from the time the pitching hand separates from the glove to ball-release and follow-through, while others use it to describe a more specific piece of that sequence.  You’ll hear other terms such as 'arm path' and 'arm circle,' and some use these terms interchangeably with arm action, while others consider them distinct.  Personally, I like to use arm path to describe the route that the pitching hand takes from glove break to the start of upper-body rotation, and arm action to describe the overall arm speed as the pitcher incorporates the rotational elements of the delivery into ball release.

(Scientifically, the baseball pitching motion has five phases)

01.  When baseball pitchers move the baseball from their glove to the moment immediately before the baseball moves toward home plate.  I call this, the 'transition' phase.
02.  When baseball pitchers forwardly rotate their pitching upper arm to point toward home plate.  I call this, the 'pitching upper arm acceleration' phase.

03.  When baseball pitchers explosively extend their pitching elbow, pronate their pitching forearm and inwardly rotate their pitching upper arm through release.  I call this, the 'pitching forearm acceleration' phase.

04.  When baseball pitchers reach as close to home plate as their pitching arm allows.  I call this, the 'deceleration' phase.

05.  When baseball pitchers return their glove and pitching arms to the best defensive positions.  I call this, the 'recovery' phase.)

But these definitions are by no means standard across baseball, and I try to avoid these terms because they cause so much confusion.  This is a big problem with much of the vocabulary for pitching mechanics, as there are so few definitions that are standard throughout the industry.  Two coaches might agree that a pitcher has good arm action, but disagree on what that means.  So it seemed an appropriate book title, given that we challenge conventional wisdom throughout the book, and much of that conventional wisdom is rooted in this misunderstood vocabulary.  Meanwhile, terms like arm action have been passed down through generations of coaches, and like the conventional wisdom of pitching mechanics, they have survived largely because their interpretations were never challenged.

(That Sir is why science clearly defines the five phase of the baseball pitching motion.)

BP:  The terms 'command' and 'control' are often used interchangeably.  Should they be?

DT:  Command and control are two more examples of pitching vocabulary that can cause confusion.  At the NPA, we have unique definitions for each.

Command is used to describe the ability to consistently execute a certain pitch type, or as a 'command pitch' that a pitcher can trust to locate whenever necessary.  Most developing pitchers start without a command pitch, until they can consistently harness a fastball.  But by the time a player reaches the majors, he usually needs to have command of three different pitches to keep hitters off balance.

Control is what we use to describe a pitcher’s ability to locate a pitch at any given time, as stuff will vary throughout the season or during a game.  A pitcher might have exceptional control of his curveball today, but when he is faced with a jam and runners on the corners, he might go to his command-pitch fastball that he knows he can locate low in the zone.

Kevin Goldstein has offered other definitions of command and control, with control representing the ability to avoid walks, and command defined as locating pitches within the zone, and hitting specific targets.  I think that Kevin’s definitions are outstanding, and like the NPA versions, they describe two unique aspects of pitch execution.  Ideally, we can use Kevin’s definitions in conjunction with the NPA’s to better describe the ability to locate a baseball.

(To me, when baseball pitchers can throw the six basic adult baseball pitches that I teach my baseball pitchers such that they move the same every time and find the strike zone two-thirds of the time, they are ready to learn how to pitch competitively.)

BP:  At a recent SABR conference in Boston, Bill James questioned the impact longer games have on a starter’s innings and health, theorizing that it is harder to keep your arm warm for three hours than it is for two.  Assuming the same pitch count, is there anything to that?

DT:  I don’t know of any research in this particular area, but there could be something to it.  We are currently studying several different elements involved with pitcher fatigue, including workloads, mechanical efficiency, functional strength, and stamina.  The duration of games could contribute as well, but it’s difficult to study the issue until we have an objective measurement of fatigue.  PAP (Pitcher Abuse Points) is a great start, but unfortunately the 100-pitch threshold that is inherent in the system is a bit misleading when applied with individual players, unless an adjustment is made to account for the pitcher’s particular fatigue rate.  For example, the PAP barrier for Pedro Martinez might be 90 pitches, and Randy Johnson’s might be closer to 110.

(Pitcher Abuse Points my ass.  I pitched in 106 games, threw batting practice every day after I did not pitch the night before and closed every World Series game and never felt stiff, sore or tired.  The problem with the injurious flaws in the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion and the lack of a quality interval-training program to train baseball pitchers.  Give me the baseball pitchers in any major league baseball organization for three years and I will show you how meaningless this statistical nonsense is.)

Understanding the factors that lead to fatigue is crucial, as is the ability for a coach to identify when fatigue sets in for an individual pitcher.  Fatigue affects different pitchers in different ways, but many will sacrifice their mechanics and timing as they get tired, and the associated risk of pitching while fatigued is at least somewhat dependent on how a pitcher responds mechanically when it sets in.  The challenge is different for starting pitchers than for relievers, and until we have a definitive measurement of in-game fatigue, we will have to use educated guesses and previous patterns to establish those thresholds for individual pitchers.

(Fatigue my ass.  It is the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion and the lack of proper training.)

Tools such as motion analysis can help the process, to establish mechanical baselines so that coaches and players can more accurately assess fatigue during the course of a game.  Other tools such as PAP and even time-of-game measurements can add to the information we can use to establish fatigue thresholds.  A manager can go into a game knowing that tonight’s starter typically goes 95-100 pitches before fatigue has an effect, that it sets in after an average of 140 minutes, and that this player tends to lose balance and posture as he gets tired.  All of this information can go into the decision-making process of when to remove the starter for a reliever, and the costs and benefits associated with each side of the decision.

(Can't you hear me?  The 'traditional' baseball pitching motion is the problem.  It does not help to motion analyze the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion for mechanical baselines.  Those baselines mean nothing.)

BP:  It is often stated that throwing split-finger fastballs increases the likelihood of arm injury.  Why?

DT:  I haven’t come across any research that found a convincing link between a split-finger fastball and a specific arm injury, and I would put this in the category of unproven conventional wisdom.  If the pitch is thrown properly, and with the correct frequency of 15-20 percent, there shouldn’t be an increased risk of injury beyond other types of pitches.  Everything about a split-finger delivery is the same as a regular fastball, aside from the grip.  The only difference is the physical split of the fingers, and it is true that players with small hands will feel pain in those fingers if they attempt to stretch too far, and get an extremely wide grip.  A wide grip is not necessary to throw a split-finger, and what most kids try to find is actually a forkball grip.  Forkballs are great if you’re Bob Welch or Jose Contreras, but not so great if your hands are still growing and can’t yet hold a baseball properly.

During my playing days, I relied heavily on a split and eventually a forkball, as I couldn’t grip a changeup properly, and had not yet learned how to throw a breaking ball that didn’t hurt my elbow.  I would spend hours with a forkball in my left hand, so that I could stretch out my fingers and grip the pitch easily.  I never experienced any pain in my elbow from forkballs, and throwing the pitch felt the same as a fastball, but there were nights when my hand hurt from the stretching exercise.

To get around this, I have taught some young players to throw a 'pitchfork,' which is like a combination split-change, or a three-finger splitter.  The name fits when the pitch is gripped correctly, with the index and ring fingers split to the sides of the baseball, and the middle finger gripped right over the top, bisecting the ball with the thumb.  The pitchfork requires less stretching of the fingers, but allows the pitcher to grip the ball deep in his hand, and create a velocity drop with the same arm action and forearm angle as a fastball.

(I know that it is expecting too much to think that Mr. Thorburn has heard of the Lumbricals, Dorsal Interossei and Palmar Interossei muscles.  But, if he did, then he would realize why the split-finger grip between the index and middle fingers excessively stresses the index fingers.  But, I also doubt that Dr. Andrews understands this as well.)

BP:  So, you see no direct correlation between the pitch and increased injury risk?

DT:  I am not an expert on how the finger spread impacts the connective tissue within the throwing arm, and would have to defer to our colleague Dr. Andrews for a proper opinion.  Mechanically, we have not detected any injury risk factors that are associated with splitters, but the guys at the Andrews Institute or ASMI could definitely add to the discussion.  The difficulty with injury prediction and prevention is similar to that for fatigue, as there are several confounding variables.

Arm injuries are a product of mechanics, workloads, functional strength and flexibility, nutrition, genetics, and luck.  You can have great mechanics and functional strength, like Mark Prior, and still get taken down by a Brad Hawpe line drive or a collision with Marcus Giles on the bases.  Of course, Mark was also in the top four in baseball in PAP in 2003 and 2005, while still thick in the injury nexus, so he’s dealt with a combination of bad luck and heavy workload.

(What crap.  Pitching arm injuries are a result of the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion and lack of proper training.  End of story.)

BP:  When Tom House talked to BP in July 2006, he mentioned the importance of timing in a pitcher’s delivery.  Can you elaborate on what he was referring to?

DT:  Tom was referring to the amount of time that it takes for a pitcher to execute each individual phase in the kinetic chain of the pitching delivery, as well as the time for the entire pitch cycle from first movement to ball release.  In my opinion, timing is the single most important aspect of the delivery, and teaching a pitcher to find his own ideal timing signature is the most critical phase in development.  Each player has a unique personal timing, but all pitchers fall within a predictably narrow range, once they’ve achieved a strong level of mechanical efficiency.

(Here we go with this 'kinetic chain' nonsense.  The 'traditional' baseball pitching motion does not have a kinetic chain.  For baseball pitching to have a 'kinetic chain' requires that every segment of the body contributes to the acceleration of the baseball.  However, when we look at the baseball after their glove foot lands, we see that the baseball is actually moving backward.  This means that the pitching and glove legs have contributed nothing to the acceleration of the baseball.)

Working with our colleagues at Titleist Golf, we have learned that the timing and sequencing for the kinetic chain of events is very similar between a golfer’s swing, a batter’s swing, and a pitcher’s delivery.  The best pitchers of all time have been able to consistently repeat their deliveries, including timing, positioning, mechanics, and sequencing.

In the book, we challenge the established convention of using a slide step from the stretch, and study how a forced change of timing can impact the effectiveness of pitches thrown with a slide step.  There are numerous mechanical flaws that arise from improper timing, and the key to correcting those flaws is the recognition that timing is important, and the identification of the timing that produces the best delivery for each pitcher.  The key to mechanical consistency is repetition of proper timing, and it's one thing that pitchers like Maddux and Smoltz do better than anyone else in baseball.

(I have to give him one here.  He is absolutely correct that for 'traditional' baseball pitchers to change from their normal set position pitching rhythm to a 'slide step' set position pitching rhythm does severely disrupt their ability to properly position their body for their maximum release velocity.  But, that is a result of the 'balance position' pitching rhythm of the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion.  With the 'crow-hop' pitching rhythm of my baseball pitching motion, my baseball pitchers do not have the same difficulty with a 'slide step' glove leg action.)

BP:  From a motion analysis standpoint, how would you break down Felix Hernandez and Dontrelle Willis?

DT:  Well, I would love to get those guys under the high-speed cameras, pitching at 1,000 frames per second; then I could really do a breakdown for you.  But going from what I have seen with my 32 fps eyeballs, here’s a brief assessment of their deliveries:

(Wow, I would like to see their 1000 frames per second high-speed cameras.  Actually, I expect that they would be video cameras where, rather than stop each frame at the aperture, they pull the film past the aperture.  Nevertheless, I would like to see how clearly this film shows the action of the middle fingertip at release.  Also, I believe that the normal video film speed is slightly less than thirty frames per second.)

On Hernandez, speaking of inconsistent timing, he is one of the first pitchers that came to mind when I answered the last question.  In particular, he struggles with his timing from the stretch, though he is much better from the windup.  He also has a pretty big posture change near release point on most of his pitches, particularly from the stretch.  Those are the negatives, but there are pitches when he lines it up that look outstanding, with great balance, momentum, and stride, as well as excellent hip-shoulder separation (his greatest asset) and angular-trunk-rotation timing.  He is explosive when he lines up all the pieces, but he needs to do that more often.  In my opinion, he has a lot more in the tank, and with some refinement with his timing and his posture (possibly related to functional strength), he could really take a big step forward.

(Jibberish.  He should have waited until he had high-speed film.  Then, he might have been able to say something real.  For example, I would like to know precisely how far forward Mr. Hernandez rotates his hips at release and how far forward Mr. Hernandez rotates hie shoulders at release.  If he answered these questions correctly, then he would understand that hip-shoulder separation is bad, not excellent.)

As for Willis, he provides one of my favorite examples of signature, and how genetics can play a role in mechanical efficiency.  Dontrelle has had the extreme leg kick since he was in high school, and he depends on that leg kick to generate stride and momentum, and to create ideal timing for his personal signature.  When the Marlins tried to change the leg kick, it had a disastrous effect on his timing, and he struggled to find rhythm for most of the season.  The only issue I have is that he seems to lose balance momentarily as he brings the lift leg up to its maximum height, but he consistently regains that balance before he completes his stride.  He could get going to the plate a bit sooner, but he efficiently directs his energy to the target once he gets moving, and finishes with a strong posture and glove position at release point, while releasing the ball close to home plate.

(More goofy nonsense.  Lifting the glove foot off the ground does absolutely nothing to increase release velocity.)

BP:  How would you break down Tim Lincecum?

DT:  Lincecum is a fascinating case, and he does a lot of things exceptionally well mechanically.  He definitely has plenty of Koufax in him, both good and bad, but the pitcher I find myself comparing him to most often is Roy Oswalt.  They are very similar with respect to mechanics, size, and stuff.  I’m actually going to be breaking down individual players’ mechanics in a series of articles on our website, within the vein of the great work being done by Carlos Gomez, and Lincecum versus Oswalt will likely be one of the first examples.  I’m going to break down strategic pairings of pitchers, either based on age, handedness, stuff, hype, stats, or mechanical trends, and then compare and contrast the pitching motions of those players.  The breakdown of similarities between Lincecum and Oswalt is also covered in the book, as we address the conventional wisdom of "don’t rush."

(When you have no idea what you are talking about, start mentioning the names of successful baseball pitchers.  That way, you can bask in the glory of their successes and nobody will realize that you have no idea what you are talking about.)

BP:  Michael Bowden, a top pitching prospect in the Red Sox organization, has a delivery that has been described as being long in back and short in front.  What is your opinion of him, mechanically?

DT:  Michael Bowden and I actually share a birthday, though my cake has seven extra candles every year.  I have never seen Bowden pitch in person, and have only watched video from a single outing, so I can’t make a full assessment, but my first impressions were that he is a "stay back" pitcher, who is a bit slow to the plate until after maximum leg lift.  His balance is strong for the first part of the delivery, but his head tends to trail behind his center of mass as he gets into foot strike, which could hinder his consistency at release point.  He has a good, high leg kick, with some funk as he brings his lift leg down near the ground, and then bursts toward the plate with the foot just off the ground.  The lift sequence looks a bit funky, but it works well for him, as it helps him get a good stride despite relatively low momentum. He lands with a closed stride, which some scouts hate to see, but he is able to properly time his upper body rotation, and doesn’t throw across his body.  He has good delayed trunk rotation, including a bit of a hitch in his throwing shoulder that he uses for extra load, and to buy a split second of time.  Like the leg kick, this is a good example of what I call 'functional funk,' which might look a bit weird to the eye, but actually helps him coordinate his delivery.  This is an area where I often disagree with other scouts and coaches, because what they see as ugly, I see as something that can disrupt a hitter’s ability to pick up the baseball.  Funk can work as an edge for deception, as long as it’s mechanically efficient.  In the video I saw, Bowden had pretty good posture on his fastball at release point, but he got on top of some curveballs by sacrificing posture to get a higher release.  It’s a common trend that is correctable through mechanical consistency and proper timing, and is likely the result of the overall emphasis on downward plane, particularly with breaking balls.  Incidentally, downward plane and its effect on mechanics and batted balls is another conventional wisdom that is covered in the book.  Bowden also has a pretty solid glove side, keeping the glove in front of the torso through ball release.  I like his delivery overall, as he does a lot of things well, and has some room for improvement.  Of course, even Nolan Ryan had room for improvement, so that is no slight to Michael.

(What?  Nevermind.)

BP:  You said Bowden has "a pretty solid glove side, keeping the glove in front of the torso through ball release."  Why is that important?

DT:  Conventional wisdom also dictates how a pitcher should position his glove, as many coaches instruct a player to 'pull the glove to the hip' before ball release.  At the NPA, we teach players a strategy that we call 'swivel and stabilize' which involves keeping the glove out in front of the torso through release point.  In the book, we break down the motion analysis pitchers into two groups, based on glove position at release point, and compare the data for the 'pull glove to the hip' pitchers to those in the 'swivel and stabilize' group.  We also look at pictures of six elite major league pitchers throughout the study of conventional wisdom, including the evaluation of glove position.

(challenged.  The sole purpose of the glove arm in the baseball pitching motion is to provide the reaction force to the pitching arm's action force.  Use your swivel and stabilize on your favorite bar stool.  When the National Pitching Association studies pictures of six elite major league pitchers, they can only report on the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion.  They are only pretending to be conducting research.  In the world of real research, they are laughable phonies.)

BP:  You also said that some scouts hate to see a pitcher land with a closed stride.  Why?

DT:  When evaluating a pitcher, many coaches and scouts follow the conventional wisdom of 'stride straight at the plate,' as pitchers that land open or closed are often assumed to have other mechanical flaws that are associated.  So we did some research, using motion analysis numbers and 3-D video, to test the mechanical implications of an open or closed stride.  We use a sample of 33 pitchers, aged high school to professional, and look for correlations or trends in the data.  We also take a look at elite major league pitchers, using photos provided by Getty Images.  The NPA Model is rooted in the motion analysis of elite pitchers, and we have found that mechanical efficiency is strongly related to performance, and that the best pitchers of all time have consistently displayed many of the same mechanical advantages.

(Again, this is all irrelvant.  You are only reporting on the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion.  You have no idea how where baseball pitchers place their glove foot influences the baseball pitching motion.)

BP:  Barry Zito and Tom Gordon have outstanding curveballs.  What are the similarities and differences in how they deliver the pitch?

DT:  Curveballs are a hot topic of debate, given the perceived injury risk associated with Little League players throwing curveballs at an early age.  But there is more than one way to throw a breaking pitch, and the NPA method is different from what some coaches teach.  At the NPA, we teach a 'karate chop' curveball, where the pitcher throws the ball with the palm facing the body as the throwing arm goes through internal rotation and release point.

(How do baseball pitchers release their 'karate chop' curveball?  He said that baseball pitchers throw the baseball with the palm of their pitching hand facing their body as their pitching arm goes through internal rotation and release point.  Internal rotation means inwardly rotating the pitching upper arm.  But, what do baseball pitchers do with their pitching forearm?

With my Maxline Pronation Curve, I teach my baseball pitchers to extend their pitching elbow, pronate their pitching forearm and inwardly rotate their pitching upper arm through release.   Are they stealing the release of my Maxline Pronation Curve?)

The alternate method is what many Little League coaches teach, which is to snap or twist the wrist for a curveball, just before release point.  Some coaches call it "pulling down the shade," while my Little League coach said it was like "throwing a Pringles can, end over end."  Unfortunately, I found out pretty quickly that twisting my wrist near ball release was really painful, specifically to my elbow.  But since I joined the NPA, I have developed a decent karate chop curve, which has never resulted in elbow pain.

(I don't know whether he is Kinesiologically ignorant and does not know supination from pronation, or he is trying to hide the fact that he is stealing my Maxline Pronation Curve.  But, if it does not slam the olecranon process into its fossa, then he is stealing my Maxline Pronation Curve.)

Barry Zito actually has two curveballs, and takes advantage of both the karate chop curve and the twister.  But he is most famous for his huge looping curveball, which I call the 'grandfather clock,' since it's so much deeper in shape than your standard 12-to-6.  The grandfather clock is a twist curveball, and twist curveballs typically leave the pitcher’s hand with a slight upward trajectory when compared to a fastball or karate chop curve, so many hitters can identify it right out of the pitcher’s hand.  So a pitcher needs to have exceptional spin and depth on his twister, like on Barry’s grandfather clock, in order to be effective at the highest level.  The karate chop curves typically look more like a fastball when they leave the pitcher’s hand, and are more likely to generate a swing-and-miss when buried in the dirt.  Gordon appears to be a karate chop guy, but I would have to take a closer look at high quality video to be sure.

(Twister and karate chop curveballs.  I wonder from where this guy earned his college degree and in what discipline.  It is like he is trying to write his own terminology for standard Kinesiological language.)

BP:  You said that Zito throws two distinct curveballs, a karate chop and a twister.  Which is more common, and how many pitchers utilize both?

DT:  Zito is the only example that stands out as a player that uses both, and most pitchers that make it to the major league level use a karate chop curveball.  But I would need high-speed motion analysis video of every major league pitcher to make a true count, as the twist occurs in about 0.01 seconds, just prior to ball release, and is difficult to see with our eyes.  Roy Oswalt is a great example of a major league pitcher with an outstanding karate chop curveball, as he gets a steep downward break on his curve without the use of a twist.  [Editor’s Note: Further information on the subject can be found on the NPA-produced DVD, Safe Curveballs.]

(Safe Curveballs.  I think that I now know where this guy got this curve.)

BP:  Rich Harden, Francisco Liriano, and Ben Sheets have all spent time on the disabled list in recent years.  To what extent do you feel their mechanics may have contributed to their injuries?

DT:  Unfortunately, I cannot publicly go into the details of these three players’ injury histories or their possible association with mechanical trends.  But injury analysis is also covered in the book, as we have found some particular mechanical inefficiencies that are potential precursors to injury, and an astute reader that is familiar with these players’ mechanics could put the pieces together.  In the cases of Harden and Liriano, however, I will say that they have likely suffered from the injury cascade effect.  As Will Carroll has noted, non-arm injuries can cause a pitcher to alter his mechanics in order to compensate and avoid pain, creating an immediate increase in further injury risk.

(That he quoted Will Carroll shows that he has no idea what causes pitching injuries.)

BP:  If you did a motion analysis of every pitcher in a given organization, to what extent could you predict short- and long-term arm health?

DT:  Again, pitching mechanics are just one element of the injury prediction equation, and the precursors that we have found are the result of some of the latest research.  We continue to gather the data necessary to further verify the trends that we have come across, and to search for other potential precursors.  From an organizational standpoint, motion analysis could be used to monitor the mechanics of every pitcher in the system as they develop, to help with the assessment of health and performance.  This could be used to assess short-term injury risk by looking out for precursors, and perhaps setting up workload limits based on mechanical efficiency, so that pitchers with higher-risk deliveries are kept on a shorter leash until they improve.  But the key would be to establish mechanical baselines and player signature, and then monitor that progress throughout the year, and from season to season.  For pitchers in the low minors, that might mean two or three analyses per year, while the pitchers on the major league staff might benefit from an analysis per month.

(I am sorry, but I have had enough of this guy.  Read on if you want.  I am out of here.)

I think the most practical and immediate application would be to find the baseline for individual major league pitchers, and anchor on the mechanics that produce the best results.  Then, if a pitcher does go down with any kind of injury, the anchor would be treated as a goal line, and a pitcher wouldn’t be put back on the field until he had reached his established level of efficiency.  This would help to greatly reduce the occurrence of cascade injuries, and to ensure that pitchers have reached full strength in their recovery before they toe the rubber.  Meanwhile, teams can test their own methods of coaching and development by making the appropriate measurements for the players in their system, and compare the motion-analysis results to performance.  In this way, each organization has the ability to use motion-analysis data to create their own model for pitching or hitting mechanics.

BP:  One last question.  A BP reader recently asked if James Shields' changing mechanics may be due to his regaining velocity and control post-surgerically.  Can you address that?

DT:  Well, it is likely that the causation arrow is pointing in the other direction, in that his regaining velocity and control post-surgery may be due to changing mechanics, and some of the mechanical alterations may have been necessary due to the surgery.  Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the specific mechanical adjustments that he has made since 2002, but I did notice an improvement with his balance and posture in 2007 compared to 2006, which I believe helped with his effectiveness.  In general, the easiest way for a pitcher to improve his stuff is to work hard on mechanical efficiency, as well as functional strength and flexibility.  Mechanical efficiency can improve real (radar gun) velocity, perceived velocity, command, deception, and the available options for playing the chess match between hitter and pitcher.  This is why I have a hard time with scouts that are quick to hand out ceilings and projection, because in most cases they underestimate the ability for a player to hone his skills and improve his talent level beyond raw tools.  By definition, player development requires athletes to learn, and the learning curve in baseball is steeper than any other major sport, as evidenced by the minor league system.  Learning ability is one of the strongest tools a ballplayer can have, and the motivation to improve through hard work is what separates success from failure for countless athletes.  But they can only get so far without quality information and communication, which is where we come in.

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082.  Last time we corresponded, I mentioned I was attending the pitching clinic put on by Ron Wolforth and Brent Strom.  I was a bit disappointed as their presentation was very unorganized.  After a whole day, I really have no idea what they were trying to teach.  However, one of their points was that they recommended pitchers throwing hard every day.

  Up here, our kids don't have the opportunity to throw 12 months out of the year.  Under our High School rules, we just started "pitchers and catchers" work outs last night.  I have always believed in building up a pitchers velocity as well as pitch count, different from what Wolford and Strom suggested.  What are your thoughts on how hard a High School age pitcher should throw and, how many pitches do you recommend he throws?

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     The most important factor in eliminating pitching injuries is to teach baseball pitchers of all ages how to properly apply force to their pitches.  This means that we have to stop teaching the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion and start teaching my baseball pitching motion.

     On my website, I provide everything that baseball pitchers of all ages need to learn how to properly apply force to their pitches.  Unlike Wolforth and Strom, I am very specific about how baseball pitchers learn the skills of my baseball pitching motion.

     Before their season starts, all high school baseball pitchers should have completed my 120-Day High School Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program.  For baseball pitchers to start their baseball season without proper instruction and training invites injury.  Therefore, whether they do it on their own or surreptitiously, high school baseball pitchers need to properly prepare for the season.

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083.  I'm working with a minor leaguer who has a lot of ability but has had some elbow problems in the past (stress fractures in the olecranon).  I've convinced him that he needs to pronate all of his pitches.  He wants to know how to throw a pronated slider.

What is the best clip on your site to refer him to?

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     There are no shortcuts to perfection.  I have twelve very precise steps that I recommend baseball pitchers master before they try to throw my two-seam Torque Fastball Pronation Slider.

01.  With my Wrong Foot Slingshot drill, they must perfect their lid throws.

02.  With my Wrong Foot Slingshot drills, they must perfect my Maxline Pronation Curve release with their appropriately-sized football throws.

03.  With my Wrong Foot Slingshot drill, they must perfect my Maxline Pronation Curve release with their baseball throws.

04.  With my Wrong Foot Loaded Slingshot drill, they must perfect their lid throws.

05.  With my Wrong Foot Loaded Slingshot drill, they must perfect my Maxline Pronation Curve release with their appropriately-sized football throws.

06.  With my Wrong Foot Loaded Slingshot drill, they must perfect my Maxline Pronation Curve release with their baseball throws.

07.  With my Wrong Foot Pendulum Swing drill, they must perfect their lid throws.

08.  With my Wrong Foot Pendulum Swing drill, they must perfect my Maxline Pronation Curve release with their appropriately-sized football throws.

09.  With my Wrong Foot Pendulum Swing drill, they must perfect my Maxline Pronation Curve release with their baseball throws.

10.  With my Maxline Drop Out Wind-Up Pendulum Swing drill, they must perfect their lid throws.

11.  With my Maxline Drop Out Wind-Up Pendulum Swing drill, they must perfect my Maxline Pronation Curve release with their appropriately-sized football throws.

12.  With my Maxline Drop Out Wind-Up Pendulum Swing drill, they must perfect my Maxline Pronation Curve release with their baseball throws.

     Then and only then, is it safe for baseball pitchers to practice my two-seam Torque Fastball Pronation Slider with my Torque Drop Out Wind-Up Pendulum Swing drill.

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084.  From this article, it seems as though the White Sox are going to have pitcher injury problems.

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02/24/2008 3:43 PM ET
Buehrle to skip Monday's intrasquad tilt
Normal soreness cited for decision; lefty to start Friday
By Scott Merkin / MLB.com

TUCSON, Ariz. -- The White Sox will skip Mark Buehrle's start during Monday afternoon's first intrasquad game due to slight soreness in Buehrle's shoulder.

But before the city of Chicago flies into a panic, particular fans of the South baseball organization, the left-hander clearly stated Sunday morning how the issue was absolutely nothing of concern.  In fact, Buehrle didn't know his start had been skipped until he was informed by a pair of media members.

It's just Spring Training soreness, really nothing to worry about," Buehrle said.

"I'm always aware of guys with soreness and stiffness, especially during Spring Training," added White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, referring specifically to Buehrle in this instance.  Buehrle will throw a bullpen session on Tuesday in place of the two innings he was scheduled to throw Monday and then get right into Cactus League games. Buehrle comes back Friday against Arizona at Tucson Electric Park.

According to the White Sox ace, the short time it takes for him to get ready for the season already was being factored into how he approached Spring Training before arriving in Tucson.  That plan, coupled with the mild soreness, moved Buehrle's start back four days.

"[Pitching coach Don Cooper] told me this offseason he was going to take it slower," Buehrle said.  "It takes two games and I'm ready.  So, they were going to take it slower with me and get right into games."

Guillen pointed out how Buehrle has logged a large number of innings since 2001, a total of 1,577 2/3, to be exact, ranking him second behind Livan Hernandez in all of baseball during that period.  There also was the second-half rise of Buehrle's ERA in 2007, jumping from 3.03 before the All-Star break to 4.43 after the Midsummer Classic.

That particular leap marked the third straight season in which Buehrle struggled in the second half, or at last didn't pitch as well as he did in the first half.  So, Guillen and Cooper set up a plan where the Spring Training innings would drop in order to help keep Buehrle fresher later in the season.

"Obviously, when you pitch that many years and you have that many innings without any problems, any injuries, before Spring Training we think about monitoring him real well," said Guillen of Buehrle, adding how the southpaw said he felt tired after pitching two days ago.  "Don't pile him with that many innings here so he can stay stronger."

"We're going to get him short and just make sure he's ready, not over-ready," Cooper added.  "He piles up the innings during the season, and we want to make sure he doesn't pile them up down here.  Skipping him two innings in an intrasquad game is not going to put a crimp in his schedule."

Gavin Floyd, Ehren Wasserman, Andrew Sisco, Scott Linebrink and newcomer Tomo Ohka are set to throw in Monday's three-inning contest.

Scott Merkin is a reporter for MLB.com.  This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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     Without knowing where Buehrle's discomfort is, I cannot predict whether it is simply too much, too soon or a sign of future breakdown.  Nevertheless, if were I in charge of having a major league pitching staff ready for spring training, then they would have completed my off-season recoil cycles and well beyond any too much, too soon lack of fitness.

     This is their job.  They need to work at it every day.  That is what I did.

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085.  Yes.  My high school aged son understands this now all too well.  He has been working under your full training program for 120 days now.  The results have been nothing less than very impressive.

Varsity baseball tryouts have been this week.  Their workouts are much easier than the intensity he has been training at home.  The coach wants to "ease" them into workouts.  My son has been game ready for a long time now.

He said that on the second day, every other pitcher in camp reported having sore arms after just throwing the coach prescribed 40 pitches at 80% the day before.  For him, that is basically the same as doing nothing.

It's truly a shame, but while the other pitchers go home from practice icing their arms, my son goes home and does his full routine.

The coach keeps asking him if his arm hurts, and of course he said he throws a lot more than this every day, and he feels fine.

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     I understand that states have rules that limit the amount of pre-season training that baseball pitchers can have.  When I coached college baseball, the NCAA only gave baseball coaches three weeks to get their baseball pitchers ready to pitch competitively.  Obviously, that is ridiculous.

     Therefore, I guess the answer is what you and your son have done.  He completed my 120-Day High School Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program on his own.

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086.  I'm at the 6 month mark of training.  I got up to 20 lbs WW.  Tryouts/season start is 2 March.  In anticipation of that, I had reduced my WW regimen down to 10 lbs and 24-36 reps (vice 20 lbs, 60 reps).

1.  Should I stay at 10 lbs with reduced reps throughout the season, or return to 20 lbs with reduced reps?

2.  You had helped me understand that, based on an individual's pathology/history;  he may experience many discomforts throughout his training evolution.  But, he must keep training.  I have had numerous discomforts, but have still trained.  And, despite the discomforts, my health, longevity, accuracy and velocity have improved.  My discomforts generally surface during baseball throwing, and not during WW/IB training.  Is that common?

My latest discomfort has me confused.  It is one that I've written you about before.  This particular discomfort had disappeared for 3 months, but returned during baseball pitching yesterday.  Specifically, it is the far-back part of the shoulder.  It is in the shoulder "proper";  it does not feel to be latissimus or rhomboid related.  If you were to bring your throwing arm across your chest, and then reach under with your other arm, poke around with your fingers in the meaty "bottom" part of the shoulder…THAT is where the discomfort is.

Could you please confirm that that is the Teres Major?  What could be the cause?  My drive line is straight.   I pendulum swing to driveline height, palm out at shoulder height, lock, powerfully pronate through release at or inside the vertical.  I stick it.  I do not pull down or wrap across my body.

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     If you have told me what you were doing before you started my 280-Day program, then I would have told you that, since you will not be able to complete the 280-Day program, you should do my 120-Day program.

     Therefore, if we treat this like it is the 120-Day program, then you should train with fifteen pound wrist weights and an eight pound iron ball.

     The discomfort that you describe does sound like the Teres Major muscle.  As long as it is not the Teres Minor muscle, I do not worry about back of the shoulder discomfort.

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087.  I was wondering if the thumb positioning is important in holding the sinker.  Is it important to catch a bottom seam because with my hand I can't if I refer to the index and middle finger positioning on the ball that you explain for that pitch.

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     To throw my Maxline Fastball Sinker, baseball pitchers have to push the baseball with the side of their thumb toward their ring finger.  Basically, they have to squeeze the baseball out between their middle and ring fingers.

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088.  I have just read, with great excitement, the news that it may be the St. Louis Cardinals who "expose" your motion for what it is...the best way to eliminate arm injuries.

With that, what skills do you think current professional pitchers have that give them an advantage over everyone else when it comes to learning your motion, or do you think that some will not be able to fully grasp the grips and releases and thus remain average, yet uninjured?

In other words, what have these guys demonstrated to this point with their traditional motions that puts them ahead of someone who would have trained with you?  Is it pure physicality?

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     I believe that Brent Strom will try to teach the Cardinals pitchers with whom the higher-ups allow him to work:

01.  How to throw my Maxline Pronation Curve.

02.  How to take their pitching arm straight back toward second base.

03.  How to pendulum swing their pitching arm with their pitching hand under the baseball smoothly and continuously up to driveline height.

     I hope, but I am not sure, that he will also teach:

01.  How to move the pitching arm up to driveline height before their glove foot lands.

02.  How to drive their pitching hand and baseball straight toward home plate.

     However, unless he teaches these baseball pitchers how to do my drills with my interval-training program, I cannot be confident that his pitchers might not suffer lack of proper training injuries.  We cannot eliminate pitching injuries by correcting mechanics alone. But, it will be better than what has been.

     Brent does not understand how much better baseball pitchers can be with my entire training program and baseball pitching motion.  The fact that he believes that he can use the perfect pitching arm action that I have designed with the horrible reverse rotation over the pitching foot shows that he does not have the ability to properly implement my program.

     That said, I am pleased that he has moved somewhat over from the dark side of Tom House, Paul Nyman and the American Sports Medicine Institute, before Dr. Fleisig changed his mind and agrees with my straight-line drive concept.

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089.  Do you think that teams are wise to sign these pitchers who have had a couple of good seasons to long-term, lucrative contracts?  I think it is way too risky what with the rash of arm injuries that we see year after year.  Are these contracts insured?  If so, then I understand.  If not, I can't see me as an owner giving someone, a pitcher, all that money when he is a few more reps of the traditional pitching motion away from a serious injury.

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     The problem for the owners is that they do not have anybody capable of watching even highly successful baseball pitchers, let alone those that they draft, and knowing which ones are on the rapid pathway to injury.  Even with 30 frames per second video, I can see what injurious flaws they have and how much unnecessary stress they are suffering.

     I have heard that these contracts are insured.  However, I cannot imagine any insurance company doing this for a cost that would not be prohibitive.  I think that Workers Compensation could be involved.

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090.  We have the uploaded all the pitching instructional videos to google video servers.  The analysis videos are uploaded as well.  I will send them later under a different email.  I expect there will be minor changes to the HTML as we come to understand Google better.

When the user clicks on your link, it will open a google window for the user.  He will then have to click on the play button to play the video segment.

After this change, a virtually unlimited number of people can watch at the same time.  (You may want to remove the link to my write up on watching your videos, as it no longer applies.

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     I will do this immediately.  On behalf of my readers and myself, I thank you for everything that you have done to help me and them to understand our mission statement of high quality baseball pitchers without injuries.

     I will leave the Analysis videos as is until you send me the changes I need to make.

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091.  I came to your house in the early 90s.  One of my biggest regrets was not being able to contract with you.  Instead, I retained all that I could and eventually pieced together as much Marshall information as I could and used it to the best of my ability.  I am sure to this day I still don't know enough about your mechanics, but little pieces have gradually helped me.

I just tonight learned of your website and I was engulfed with your information.  I am now 38 with a bunch of kids and pro ball seems like a long time ago.  I did about 8 years in independents and an extended spring with the Yankees.  I eventually played on a team with Jeff Sparks and learned a lot watching him.

I love baseball and pitching mechanics even more and after 30 plus years of pitching coaching or teaching, I have come to the conclusion that all roads (pitching wise) lead to you.

I would like to meet you again and even train with your technique, if I didn't already detach my subscapularis.

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     I do remember you.  Unfortunately, it was that you wanted to take every shortcut and not commit to doing the work.  I am sorry that it turned out as I expected that it would.

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092.  You are right about the commitment at that time, but mostly my concerns were financial and honoring any financial commitment I made.  I have a desire to know your information and I am sorry I didn't recognize your opportunity when it bit me.  Do you believe in redemption?

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     I have much in my life that I wish that I would have done differently.  What are the saddest words anybody can say?  Answer: What might have been.  All we can do is to learn from our mistakes adn move on.

     Unfortunately, neither I nor you will ever be what we could have been.

     Another reason why I am sharing much of what I know about baseball pitching is so that someone might become what I believe I could have been.

     I believe that, with a couple of more years of my off-season training program and the Maxline Pronation Curve and Torque Fastball pitches I have invented since then, I could have pitched two inning per game in all 162 games.

     Unfortunately, my mistaken attempt to throw the 'traditional' supination curve stopped that quest.

     We all live with dreams unachieved.

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093.  I was watching the analysis videos today again for the 100th time and I feel some of the young men are not getting enough wrist action (backward to forward) into their fastball pitches.  I believe that with added wrist action, they could throw much harder.  Their arm speed is great, but the added wrist could add another 5-10 mph to the maxline fastball.

I have successfully used a training tool called a zip trainer to help teach wrist action.  It has added velocity (5-10 mph) to many kids I have worked with.  It costs only about 15.00.  (This is not an advertisement)  It works on one of the principles you teach, strengthening the muscles that start and stop the wrist.

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     How many pounds of force do adult baseball pitchers have to be able to apply with their wrist, hand and fingers to accelerate a baseball moving at ninety miles per hour in the final one-tenth of a second before release?

     Specificity of training requires that they learn how to apply that force with the identical force application technique that they use when they are pitching, not with a training tool.

     The answer is thirteen point two pounds.  They achieve this ability when they complete my 72-Day Fifteen Pound Iron Ball Recoil Interval-Training Program.

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094.  I would like to thank you for sharing your knowledge and for doing the incredible amount of work you have put into teaching all who want to learn your pitching method.

I used to think that people were born to be either good athletes or nerds.  I now firmly believe that almost any kid, no matter how bad they are athletically, can dramatically improve as a baseball player if given the right training and encouragement.

I remember 3 years ago when my youngest son left a baseball practice crying because the other boys were making fun of his lack of talent.  I then decided to do something about it.  I surfed the Internet looking for instructional videos and purchased several including yours.  My son has evolved from being the worst to being one of the best on his team.

Last Saturday was our team's 1st practice of the year which was held in a gym and my 10 year old son was throwing bullets.  His Torque Fastball comes in at 55-60 mph and has movement that breaks a few inches just before it crosses the plate.  His Maxline Fastball is fast also, but does not have as much movement.  His screwball looks like a football pass and his curve is just not there yet.

A Pony League pitcher was playing catch with him and couldn't believe that he was only 10 years old.  He kept asking "Doesn't your arm hurt throwing that fast?"  My son said, "No, it feels good throwing this fast."

My advice to anyone who wants to learn your method is to not take any shortcuts.  Start out with the 1st drill and do not move on to the next one until the previous drill is close to perfect.  Get that elbow up and point it toward home plate.  I highly recommend doing all of the wrist weight exercises in front of a full length mirror in order to get immediate feedback on your form.

In addition to using footballs, I also paint a black stripe on the baseball so we can easily see how bad or good our spin is.  Another thing that I do is have him lay on his back and throw your 4 pitches straight up in the air so that he can see how the ball is spinning.

My son really wants to pitch for the team this year.  I told him that he can try out, but I am certain that the Manager will again this year tell him that he can't pitch because his mechanics are all "wrong".

That's OK with me, he is doing well as a catcher and 3rd baseman, but when he turns 13 biological years old, I am going to make sure that I find a team that lets him pitch using 100% Marshall mechanics.

Thank you again for helping me turn my son into a great player.  Life is so much easier when you know what you're doing.

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    You and your son are doing it right, that is, not taking any shortcuts.  If he completes my 60-Day Youth Baseball Pitchers Motor Skill Acquisition Program every off-season until he is biologically thirteen years old, then completes my 120-Day High School Baseball Interval-Training Program every year until he graduates high school, you and he will build a baseball pitcher you could never have dreamed he could be.

     Congratulations.

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095.  I appreciate your mission, which is blending your personal experience with a scientific approach to creating pitchers who are highly effective and are nearly immune to pitching related injury.  If only more instructors at every level had those goals at heart (and the knowledge to do so), we'd have many more young men pitching near their potential for longer periods of time.  Career ending injuries are a heartbreaking epidemic.

I do have an issue with the questions and answers section of your web site, however.  You seem to have no problem bashing some people whom I find to be knowledgeable, good men.  I attended a "bootcamp" in Houston in December, primarily because I heard you would be there speaking about pitching.

You did a great job both explaining and demonstrating (with pitcher Jeff Sparks) the benefits and effectiveness of your methods.  Everyone there, including Ron Wolforth (the workshop host and organizer) and Brent Strom (another speaker there) treated you with the respect you deserve.

Certainly, without the benefit of your experience, they teach pitching differently.  But if you heard them speak, it is obvious that they care about their craft and about the young men they teach.  They both stated they saw the value in your knowledge by letting it influence their future teachings.

I understand that you may feel (both emotionally and scientifically) that you know much more about how to make pitchers both more effective and nearly immune to injury.  Thank you for putting the time into that pursuit, and making it into something that you can continue to do.  But it was obvious to me that although both Brent Strom and Ron Wolforth are different than you, they are also knowledgeable and caring.  They seem to be learners who value new information, analyze it, and let it influence their teaching for the better.  Life and growth is nothing but learning and adapting.

Please don't diminish your message by allowing posts on your web site to bash good people.  Isn't that how you wish you were always treated?

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     It would be unfair to my readers to allow them to believe that anything that Ron and Brent believe about baseball pitching is correct.  Therefore, I tell the truth about their knowledge. Ron and Brent do not know what they are talking about.  They simply do not understand the science.  That does not make them bad people, just ignorant of the facts.

     You and they should sit before a panel of experts in your doctoral dissertation topic and see what it is like to answer questions about your work.  By comparison, I am a pussycat.  During much of Brent's presentation, I could have ripped much of what he said to shreds.  I did not.  The same goes for the other presenters at that clinic.  To me, it is a shame that this is from where those attending that clinic get their information.

     Nevertheless, I welcome both to the science behind what I teach.  Sir Isaac Newton will be pleased.  It is also helpful if they open an anatomy book instead of cutting photographs of baseball pitchers out of magazines where they have no idea how the pitchers got into or get out of that pose.  That might work for some elementary school project, but it does not work where the pain of pitching injuries is the result.

     That these self-appointed baseball pitching gurus continue to teach injurious flaws in the face of the hundreds of thousands of pitching injuries that they cause with their ignorance is what really makes me mad.  Those are the people that I bash.

    If I thought that Ron and Brent did not care about that, I would not say that I like them.  Nevertheless, I also think that hundreds of dollars for what they presented at their clinic is highway robbery.  But, I suppose that it is free enterprise and the rule is let the buyer beware.  You get everything off my website for free.

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096.  What do you exactly means when you say to keep your elbow ahead of your acromial line?

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     The acromial line is an imaginary line that we can theoretically draw between and beyond the acromial processes at the lateral tips of our shoulders.  When baseball pitching, I do not want baseball pitchers to take the tip of their pitching elbow behind their acromial line.

     While I don't think that it is necessary to talk about, I also do not want them to take the tip of their pitching elbow in front of their acromial line.  I want them to pendulum swing their pitching arm straight back toward second base and stick their pitching arm in the strike zone.

     This means that I want the tip of their pitching elbow on their acromial line at all times.

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097.  I have not contacted you for a while.  I am the A's fan who continually promotes your philosophy on the Oakland A's Fan Forum.

From what I have read regarding your pitching arsenal (fastball, breaking pitch, reverse-breaking pitch and 'splitter'), the two pitchers who had this were Hall of Fame New York Giants Christy Mathewson and Carl Hubbell.  They pre-date you, used a different conditioning program and pitching delivery than you.  But, did they influence your pitching (while you played) or your current program in any way?

I watched a few episodes of the Tim McCarver Show.  Your name was mentioned by some retired MLB players (namely, Rollie Fingers).  I forget who the others are.  They reckon that you should be inducted into the Hall of Fame as much as Ray Guy should be (for the NFL).

Your ex-Dodger teammate Tommy John and Jack Morris also appeared.  McCarver thinks both should be voted in and likewise with Luis Tiant and Jim Kaat.  I don't think you were mentioned on that episode.  Would you be willing to appear on that show?

And how good was Tim McCarver as a player?

ed Mike Marshall.  Is he related to you?

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     When I pitched major league baseball, I threw a two-seam Maxline Fastball, a two-seam Torque Fastball Slider, a two-seam Maxline Fastball Sinker and a Maxline True Screwball.  Sir Isaac Newton and Daniel Bernoulli influenced my pitch development and the Overload Principle and Specificity of Training influenced the development of my interval-training programs.

     Tim McCarver and I played together on the Montreal Expos.  He is an excellent bridge player.  I would love to appear on his show.

     I am not related to the Stanford Mike Marshall.

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098.  Just saw your name in an ad for "Real Sports" next week ands nearly fell off the couch!  Holy Cow that's GREAT!

Of course, I want to take credit for having you as MY go-to baseball guy for several years!  I am glad someone else has "rediscovered" you!  In all seriousness, what I really hope for you is that someone in organized baseball does the same.

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     Thank you for the shout out.

     This twelve minute segment on 'Real Sports' has been a couple of years in the making, but they do appear to be ready to show it.

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099.  You might not think it is necessary to talk about but the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs are a couple of the missing links I have been looking for these past 2 years?

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     Okay.  But, if baseball pitchers pendulum swing their pitching arm straight backward toward second base, drive their pitching hand straight forward toward home plate and 'stick' their pitching hand into the strike zone, then for me to explain that they remain on their acromial line is unnecessary.  When possible, I try to minimize the scientific language.

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100.  I am a former minor league pitcher and one of my friends just recently showed me your video.  I was at awe of your former student and Major Leaguer at the end of your video.  His stuff was straight filthy!

I am now a high school coach and I think there is some merit in what you are saying.  Is there any way possible to incorporate any of your techniques into a kid with "traditional" mechanics?

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     Congratulations on being a former minor league baseball pitcher.  I will bet that experience will help you greatly with your current position.

     I thank you for taking the time to send me an email in which you tell me that you think that, after forty years of research, you believe that there is some merit in what I am saying.  It makes me feel as though I did not waste the thousands of dollars and hours of hard work to earn my doctoral degree that, in my fourteen years of major league pitching, enabled me to set numerous major league baseball records and finished fourth, second, first, seventh and fifth in the Cy Young Award.

     Now, if only I were smart enough to figure out how to violate Sir Isaac Newton's three laws of motion and incorporate parts of my scientifically perfect baseball pitching motion into the worthless techniques of the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion just for you.

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101.  For the sake of accuracy, do you want the tip of the elbow on the acromial line?  Does that means on the outside of home plate to outside of 2nd base or the center of home plate to the center of 2nd base or the inside of home plate to the inside of 2nd base?

Also, if they do not have their elbows tips on line what kind of injury can be expected?

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     I want my baseball pitchers to pendulum swing their pitching hand downward, backward and upward to driveline height straight at the middle of second base.  From this 'Ready' position, I want my baseball pitchers to move their pitching elbow upward, forward and downward to point straight at the middle of home plate.

     With this movement of their pitching upper arm, baseball pitchers will minimize the horizontal error in their pitch locations.

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102.  I have a pitching and hitting question with regard to pronation.

In pitching, you say pronation is important because you are able to involve the Latissimus Dorsi and Teres Minor muscles to drive the baseball to home plate.  Putting aside the safety issue, this seems to me to be a reason that your pitching motion will improve release velocity.  If this is the case, why do you say that you make no claims that your pitching motion increases release velocity?  It seems to me that this would improve the force you could apply to the baseball.

In batting, you seem to talk mostly about the force coupling right before contact that maximizes bat head speed.  You also want hitters to pronate their top hand forearm through contact with the baseball.  Does this pronation bring into play the Latissimus Dorsi and Teres Major as it does with pitching. And does this, in turn, help the batter to apply more force to the baseball?

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     I do claim that my baseball pitching motion and interval-training programs enable baseball pitchers to achieve their maximum genetic release velocity.  The difficulty is that everybody does not have the same maximum genetic release velocity and we have no way of knowing what the maximum genetic release velocities of individual baseball pitchers are.

     However, the muscle most responsible for increasing release velocity with my baseball pitching motion is the Triceps Brachii, not the Latissimus Dorsi and Teres Major.  While they do help with the inward rotation of the pitching upper arm, the Triceps Brachii is the muscle that enables my baseball pitchers to continue to increase their rate of acceleration through release.

     Inward rotation of the rear arm in baseball batting is not as important as it is in baseball pitching.  The key to increasing bat head velocity is the force-coupling action of the front and rear arms immediately preceding contact.

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103.  Tonight, my wife and I visited your website and we couldn't be happier to find it!  What brought us to your web site, was an interest in learning about pitching, from a Dr's point of view, because our young son is a pitcher in the youth league.  We parents, do not understand proper pitching mechanics, most of the books are just too difficult to follow, and there is not much information available.  You explained things very well.

Most important is our son's health.  What we learned from you about baseball injuries and how pitching can affect a young man's anatomy and physiology, frightened us.  As parents we always follow the rules and do not have our son over do it (at least we thought we were).  I'm now have heightened sense of concern, because we didn't know growth plate development in my son's arm, would be affected by pitching, even if, we followed the rules (as explained by youth league baseball).

Some background about our son's baseball experience:

(1)  He never pitched longer than 2 consecutive months in a year.
(2)  He always followed a pitch count (minor league rules).

However the following concerns me;

(1)  My son's has been pitching since 7.5 years old.  The first year he pitched 1 or 2 innings, but this didn't happen until the last month of the season.
(2)  In year 2, he pitched spring minor league ball he threw 30 pitches with one day's rest.  One time, he did pitch 60 pitches, but he then rested for 3 days.  However, he pitched fall baseball too (approximately 14 innings during the entire 2 month season).   Pitch count was 60 pitches max.  These were the rules we followed, as told by the league.
(3)  He throws a 2 seam and four seam fast ball & changeup.
(4)  This year, my son began his 3rd season last month.  He is 9 yrs 8.5 months old.  We began coaching lessons.  Each week, he has one pitching lesson - throwing 65-75 pitches (not all at full speed).  Working technique, and strategy (e.g. pick off move, etc).  My son is proceeding fantastically, however your advice really made us more aware of injuries.

I would like to take you up on your offer, and send X-rays for evaluation.  Kindly write what I need to say to the X-ray tech, so that I obtain the correct X-rays, for your future evaluation.  Also, what are your rates, for the evaluation?

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     You need to have front and side view X-rays taken of both arms from the mid-forearm to the mid-upper arm, make copies and send them to me along with your email address.  I will read the X-rays and tell you your son's biological age and whether I see any differences in the development of the growth plates in your son's pitching elbow versus his glove elbow.

     I do not charge for this service.

     The biggest danger to your son's pitching arm is when he takes that coaching lesson from the 'traditional' pitching coach.  The second biggest danger to your son's pitching arm is when he uses that 'traditional' pitching motion in games.

     You, your wife and son need to watch my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video and follow the drills that I use to teach the skills of my baseball pitching motion to complete my 60-Day Youth Baseball Pitchers Motor Skill Acquisition Program.  Until your son is biologically thirteen years old, he needs to perfect my motion and the pitches that I teach, not pitch competitively.  At nine years old, he should repeat my 60-Day program every year until he is biologically sixteen years old.

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104.  I just watched the Real Sports clip with Bryant Gumbel.  It was very interesting and will get your message out to millions.  I first met you at Henderson State and would watch your pitchers do exercises no other pitchers I had ever seen perform.

I remember asking you about putting your thoughts in a book and your response was "It would be outdated in a week" as I continue to improve the program.  Since your website has provided so much information for us to consider and ingest, I know your approach is correct.

Here is my frustration which was brought to my attention again in the Real Sports clip when Jeff Sparks mentioned the transition took 5 years or more to master.  The benefit was that his arm no longer hurt and was able to enjoy the joys of pitching.  How can the high school coaches like me ever be true to your principles and be considered a competent instructor when we have so little contact with our athlete?

I remember one of your frustrations with the college game was the restrictions place on your time spent with the athlete.  If you were ever to attend one of my practices, I would want you to see this guy is on the right track with these pitchers.  Right now, I feel you would be disappointed and just another challenged damaging pitcher's opportunity to be all they can be and enjoy the act of pitching.

Thanks for all you have done and continue to do to help us be better instructors in this great game.

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     It has taken me to this year to complete my research.  I can now say that when I next update my Coaching Baseball Pitchers book and Baseball Pitching Instructional Video, I will have the final finished product of each.

     The worst comment on the Real Sports show was when Jeff Sparks said that it took him years to master my baseball pitching motion.  He told the truth, but he started in 1993 and I was building a baseball field as I was trying to teach my baseball pitchers this motion.  Then, I did not see him for a year.  Then, I would only see him for a few months in the off-season.

     Now, I have a 724-Day program that would teach him what he did in bits and pieces.  With this program, I could teach high school graduates or drafted professional baseball pitchers everything that they need in less than two years.  If they master the pitches that I teach, then they would be the best injury-free, highly-skilled baseball pitching Monsters that they can be.

     I understand that does not help high school and college coaches.  But, they can do it in the following way.

     For high school baseball coaches, when their high school baseball pitchers are biologically sixteen years old, their baseball pitchers should complete my 120-Day High School Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program every year until they start college.

     For college baseball coaches, when their baseball pitchers start the fall season of their Freshman year, college baseball coaches should have them complete my 120-Day High School Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program.

     Then, immediately after their first spring season, college coaches should have their baseball pitchers complete my 280-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program in time for the next spring season.

     Then, immediately after their baseball pitchers second spring season, college coaches should have them complete my 72-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Fifteen Pound Wrist Weight Recoil Interval-Training Program, my 72-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Eight Pound Iron Ball Recoil Interval-Training Program and my 72-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Twenty Wrist Weight Ball Recoil Interval-Training Program.

     Lastly, immediately after their baseball pitchers third spring season, college coaches should have them complete my 72-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Ten Pound Iron Ball Recoil Interval-Training Program, my 72-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Twenty-Five Pound Wrist Weight Recoil Interval-Training Program and my 72-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Twelve Pound Iron Ball Recoil Interval-Training Program.

     If college coaches red-shirt their baseball pitchers during their Freshman year, then their baseball pitchers will have completed my entire interval-training program before their Junior season and college coaches will have quality, injury-free, highly-skilled Monster baseball pitchers for two more years.

     Then, every off-season after their baseball pitchers complete my 72-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Twelve Pound Iron Ball Recoil Interval-Training Program, for as long as they want to pitch competitively, they should complete my 72-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Thirty Pound Wrist Weight Recoil Interval-Training Program and My 72-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Fifteen Pound Iron Ball Recoil Interval-Training Program.

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105.  I have a 12 year old son and I would like for your techniques to become his pitching style.  A couple of questions:

1.  When should he start your 60 day Youth Motor Skill program?  His baseball season starts in 4 weeks.  Is this something we can start now or wait until after the season, which ends in mid-July?

2.  After completing the 60 day program, is it safe to begin practicing the Maxline screwball and pronation curve?  Do we need to wait until the growth plates mature more?

3.  How much down time should there be between the 60 day programs?

4.  He’s big kid for his age, about 5’11”, 180 pounds.  Is it OK to start with 5 pound wrist weights and 4 pound iron balls?

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     It is not only a waste of time for unskilled youth baseball pitchers to pitch, but when they use the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion, it is also injurious.  With every 'traditional' pitching motion pitch he throws, he is destroying his pitching arm.

     I recommend that youth baseball pitchers complete my 60-Day Youth Baseball Pitchers Motor Skill Acquisition Program once a year until they are biologically sixteen years old.  I also recommend that they do not pitch until they can throw all four pitches that I teach for strikes and not until they are biologically thirteen years old.  Until they are biologically sixteen years old, I recommend that they only pitch one time through the line-up twice a week for only two consecutive weeks.

     The answers to the rest of your questions are in my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video.

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106.  I received your 2006 DVD about 2 years ago.  I just want to thank you for producing it.  I have used it to teach my son.

He is 15.  At high school tryouts 2 weeks ago, some of the boys were making fun of him by making the loaded slingshot position, and actually mimicking your drive line and pronation quite well.  When they would do this, they would say, ”Who am I right now?”  Of course, they were mocking my son.

My son said they mimicked his motion so well it proved to him he was doing it correctly.  After a few days of practice when every other pitcher had a sore arm and he felt great, I told my son as a joke, he should walk into camp with a bag of ice on his shoulder and ask, “Who am I right now?”

Well, after about 10 days of inter-squad games, all the mocking has stopped.  Yesterday, the Head Varsity Coach told my son that he had earned the right to be the starting pitcher for their first district game next week.

He is the only sophomore on the varsity team, and the only player who doesn’t have a driver’s license.  Yet, he beat out every other pitcher for the first game start.

Now, his next goal is to be this year’s ace of the varsity staff!  I just wish to offer you HUGE thanks for your work.

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     You and your son make my heart sing.

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107.  Do the same problems persist with girl's underhand fastpitch?  If they throw too much will they hurt their growth plate as well?  Will some of your exercises help avoid or reduce injury?  If yes, which ones?

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     Because to throw fastpitch softball, youth softball pitchers do not have 'Reverse Pitching Forearm Bounce' and flex the pitching elbow, they will not suffer the same injuries as youth baseball pitchers.  Because I have not researched fastpitch softball pitching as thoroughly as I have researched baseball pitching, I cannot say that they will not do any damage to growth plates in their pitching elbow.

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108.  I am enjoying, as I expect the entire country is, the current HBO Real Sports segment about your determination to rid major league baseball of arm ailments.  I've watched it numerous times already.

I'm a few years younger than you, and I saw you pitch in your glory years with the Dodgers when they came to New York.  Besides being a great pitcher, I enjoyed the swagger you always brought to the mound.  "Colorful" the sports writers might say, in every good sense of the word.  Although I was a fan of both the Yankees and the Mets, I most admired you and the great Dick Radatz (Red Sox) among relievers for your ability and mound presence.

I was a pretty good pitcher until I injured my arm at age 15 on a cold day pitching a complete game.  Never the same after that, although I switched to the outfield and continued on to play in college.  My pitching arm steadily worsened over the years as a result of throws from the outfield, etc.

Just as you demonstrated on Real Sports, to this day I too am unable to extend my elbow completely or to bend it completely.  If one looks carefully at my suit jacket, they can notice one straight arm and one bent one.

I had to learn to use my left arm to shave and comb my hair for just the reasons you described on the program -- and over the years I have become more of a 'lefty' than a righty in everyday activities.  I e-mail you because I'm in the process of winding down my business career and starting to focus on the pleasures of retirement (including playing catch with the grandchildren.  I have had to give up another love of mine, golf, because my right arm has become sufficiently bent as to not allow a proper address position without contorting myself.

Consequently, I have seriously begun to explore possible surgical solutions to my elbow problems for quality-of-life purposes.  I have seen a few specialists, some with sports medicine credentials, but I can't seem to get comfortable with the procedures they propose.  They have different opinions about the problem, and propose different surgeries.

I feel like I have the calcification you spoke of (which is impeding the elbow joint in both directions), but my basic question is -- should I even consider surgery after all these years, or simply live with what I have?  Physical therapy, tried extensively many years ago, helped not at all because of the abnormal bone mass which developed in the injured area.  I wonder if you ever had elbow surgery on your right arm, after the career ended?

I look forward to your reply.  It would be a great thrill to once again have full extension of my right arm at the elbow, but I'm careful enough to want to understand what the risks are and what I should (or shouldn't) reasonably expect.  Thanks for taking the time to read my e-mail.  And congratulations on all the valuable research you do that eventually will save generations of future baseball players from a lifetime of pain and handicap.

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     Sorry.  We are both doomed to live out our life with the irreparable damage that the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion caused.  Who can we sue?  I believe that if we had purchased a video from one of today's self-appointed gurus, like Tom House or Dick Mills, and followed it, then we could and should sue them.

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109.  The segment of yours recently aired on HBO sports intrigued me.  It's a shame the baseball establishment is so entrenched and limited in their thinking.  While I have never pitched I have played volleyball much of my adult life.  When I saw your method I was wondering if there might be some sort of correlation between the pitching motion and the volleyball spike.

It's such a popular game these days, but the injury rate, particularly rotator cuff injuries, are quite numerous.   It's more a case of when and how bad a case you'll have if you play enough volleyball.  The spike puts an enormous strain on the shoulder and there must be a way to generate similar force and control without having to blow a shoulder out.

I know this isn't your normal field of interest, but if you should somehow find the time, give it a look see.   I'm sure if there was a better way to spike, we in the sport would be much more open to it than the baseball establishment.

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     All sport skills that use the maximum intensity overhand throwing motion should use the technique that I teach.  With volleyball strikers, I would teach them my Wrong Foot Slingshot and Wrong Foot Loaded Slingshot drills and then show them how to use the Loaded Slingshot arm action which the requisite jumping action.

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110.  I have emailed you before about the high school 120 day program.  Being a full time high school player as a senior I find no time to do the training program anymore.  I pronate as much as possible, even from the outfield.  I have all six pitches and am at 90 mph now.  I hide the marshall delivery with a leg kick because of the negative attention I receive if I don't.

I was clocked at 91 mph the day after I threw 4 innings.  I never ever have a sore arm anymore, except for one reoccurring problem.  Every time I pitch now, it feels like I have pulled a muscle in my lat.  I understand that the lat should be worked as a decelerator muscle rather than the small fragile muscles of the rotator cuff, i.e. the labrum.  The pain is directly below my shoulder blade and only discomforting during the pronation snap.  Is there anything I can do to do fix this problem?

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     Yes, you need to learn how to stand tall and rotate over your glove foot through release.  By lifting your glove leg and striding too far, you are leaving your pitching leg so far behind that you are unnecessarily stressing your Latissimus Dorsi muscle on your pitching side.  That is why I teach my baseball pitchers to use the crow-hop body action.

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111.  I caught an episode of Real Sports the other day on HBO and I saw your segment on there and your pitching methods.  I am sure ever since that episode aired you are getting more email than ever, but hopefully you will find the time to read my email.

I guess I will start out by saying that I have never been more upset by any other TV show that I had ever watched...but let me explain:

There you were, methodically describing your new way of pitching, and there I am sitting on the couch with a 12" titanium plate and 12 screws in my right humerus, with all of my once major league aspirations well beyond me by 10 years.  You see, growing up I was a flame thrower all through the Little League (minor, major, junior, senior) levels.  And just as I was starting my high school career, and making my way into my new 6'-4" lanky body frame, that dreadful day happened to me is a blink of an eye.  I can still remember it this instance as if it were yesterday.

It was the bottom of the first inning, two outs, full count.  All I wanted to do was paint the outside edge of the plate with an 80 mph fastball and take it back to the dugout.  I wound-up, began my delivery, then SNAP!  I immediately saw double/blurred vision, and the ball ended up in the third base side dugout.  Everyone in the crowd and outfield could hear the snap.  I grabbed my arm in disbelief.  Did I just dislocate my shoulder?  I had no idea.  I remained standing there until the coaches ran out to me.

They began investigating my arm and they could feel that my right humerus was in two pieces.  I couldn't grasp what just happened.  I just stood there with disbelief holding my arm.  Thus, this was the end of my baseball career, my dreams of pitching in the Bigs, etc.

I say your appearance on this HBO episode was so upsetting to me because I wish me and my family knew about your philosophies.  But I guess looking back, we all have 20-20 vision.  Do you think your pitching methods could have saved me from breaking my arm while pitching?

Now, before you answer, there is one of unusual twist to my story that I would really like get your opinion on.  After many hospital visits and bone scans, it was determined that I had fibrous dysphasia, smack-dab where my arm broke.  Just for details, my arm broke in a splinter-like fashion from the top of the humerus down to the bottom, all the way through.

My question now is, with my arm having fibrous dysphasia, do you think your pitching methods could have still prevented my arm from snapping while pitching?

  I don't have any children now, but when I do, and they want to play ball, I hope I can still find your teachings then.

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     I cannot claim any expertise in whether fibrous dysphasia weakens bone.  However, I know that the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion unnecessarily stresses the Humerus bone of the pitching upper arm.

     It does so with an injurious flaw that I call, 'Reverse Pitching Forearm Turnover.'

     When 'traditional' baseball pitchers take the baseball out of their glove with their pitching hand on top of the baseball, they come to a point in their take-away where their pitching arm stops moving backward and they have to raise their pitching forearm to driveline height.  I call this, 'Late Pitching Forearm Turnover.'

     While they are in the process of raising their pitching forearm upward, they glove foot lands and they immediately start to forwardly rotate their shoulders and pitching upper arm.  This means that they have started to move their pitching elbow forward, but their pitching forearm is still moving upward to driveline height.

     The result of these opposing forces is that the pitching forearm moves backward and downward until it reaches the limit of its ability to outwardly rotate.  At that moment, all that backward and downward force focuses on the Humerus bone and ruptures the Ulnar Collateral Ligament or fractures the Humerus bone.

     You are not the only 'traditional' baseball pitcher to fracture your Humerus bone.

     Tony Saunders of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays fractured his Humerus during a game when trying to throw the 'traditional' supination curve.  Then, after the break healed, he fractured it again.  Unbelievably, the doctor, trainer and pitching coach sent him back to the pitching mound to use the same baseball pitching motion that broke the bone the first time.

     I have removed this unnecessary stress from my baseball pitching motion.

     For as long as I live, I plan to keep my website on line and up to date.  I will also try to find a way for it to continue after I die.

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112.  I understand that parents come to you "after" an injury.  It seems to me that teaching this "before" any injury would be the way to go; then you are starting with a fresh arm and it would seem that it would progress much faster.  But as you know, progress moves slowly, especially in the sports-medicine field.

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     Parents believe the 'traditional' baseball pitching coaches until their sons cry themselves to sleep with the pain created by the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion.  After all, baseball pitchers have pitched this way for over one hundred years.

     Sports Medicine claims to conduct research in the prevention of injuries.  They have failed baseball pitchers.  Nevertheless, they still keep the money from the surgeries.

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113.  I generally don't bring what I read about you on other web sites to you unless I feel it is serious enough to get your comment.  As you know, Bill Petersen has pretty much broken with your pitching motion.  I personally have no problem with this, but he is saying that your pitching motion is injurious.  As this has been the cornerstone of you life's work I feel this is a serious charge.

I gather we will have to pay Bill to obtain this his new motion, but I gather one has to incorporate a high leg kick into the pitching motion although I'm not positive on this.  Here is Bill's exchange with two of your students.  This is the best I can find of what he disagrees with you on.

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Bill wrote to your student who goes by Postblank:

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"You really should be more careful when you write or speak of things of which you have no personal knowledge.  I've taken about all I wish to absorb and the time has come to speak up.  Many on this board are aware of the process my son and I have been involved in for over four and a half years now, and have communicated with me for a very long time.

Earlier this year, under the direction of a biomechanics PhD, using a sophisticated motion sensor system, we did some scientific biomechanical analysis of both Marshall's mechanic and something more hybridized.  The sample size was one.  One pitcher throwing with two mechanics: my son.

The analysis showed conclusively why, when throwing with Marshall's technique, learned under Marshall's supervision, my son developed substantial and ongoing shoulder pain.  This same analysis also documents conclusively the changes we have made and why he no longer hurts.

Shortly, there will be a paper released that will detail all of this and many here will find it enlightening.  In a nutshell, many of the ideas and theoretical constructs you THINK you know something about have little bearing on truth when it comes to pitching.  It's time to check your hole card."

Bill Peterson (Coach45)

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Then he writes to Fastball95 who trains with you.

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"Summer 2005, long before you were around, Marshall passed off my sons' shoulder problem as an anterior deltoid issue.  It wasn't then and never has been.  I asked point blank, face to face, if we should have an MRI done and was told, 'no, he's just not strong enough yet.'  You know Pat well enough to know this is not likely.  Out of the 3+ years my son trained you were there for the last four MONTHS.  You have not seen how the program has changed.  Likely, you are the beneficiary of work laid down by those before you.

Here's a sample of what we've found:

Marshall's body action disconnects the pelvis and torso rotation from the arm/shoulder very early.  We measured it.  In essence you're throwing all arm.  By pointing the entire glove arm at home plate, it opens the entire shoulder line very, very early.  Combine these two elements and it's a prescription for the arm to lag behind.  Anterior shoulder damage.

In my son's case he's a good enough athlete that his hip- and torso- rotation rates are exceedingly high.  We measured it.  And in his case you also have to add inordinately long arms into the equation...at 6'-4 he has the wingspan of someone 6'-9.  Things lagging behind are now lagging even further behind.  Couple these things with a professional caliber athlete, and the ability to apply force just went through the roof.

Joe, how does 98.3% straight to the plate in the X axis sound?  Do you think Doc would like that number?  That's where my son was using what Doc taught him.  I doubt that anyone in the camp even comes close.  The problem is the arm is driving upward at just under 50 mph.  It would be very easy to call it vertical flyout.  Doc doesn't like the term, but it's true.  We measured it.

Doc has historically talked about the driveline as ear height.  Simply and observably not true.  But take a skilled motor learner, embed that in their head, and tell them to drive the ball straight at home plate.  The result?  Flexing the shoulder joint downward.  It appears to be dropping the elbow.  It's not.  Everyone else there, that I'm aware of, flexes the elbow.  Doc calls it grabbing.  It's not.

It's the body's natural response to the chain of events happening.  My son was an adept enough learner to over-ride this natural sequence and follow instructions.  And it added to the problem.  The instruction and the concept was wrong.  We've fixed it.

If Doc couldn't effectively get all this across in three years of work, why could I, without my Cy Young and PhD, break through.  Because I'm teaching something that works and it's repeatable with other students.  It's different.  Why in the world would I wish to hang onto something that doesn't return what is promised?  I'm more pragmatic than that.

I understand why Marshall tried another body action:  he could't seem to keep guys from reverse rotating.  His solution threw the baby out with the bath water.  What we've found is that a rather simple adjustment at hand break fixes the problem.  Our high speed imagery proves that we've fixed it, and the kids I'm teaching don't have the problem.

Anyone down there in the camp have 30 degrees of separation on a fastball release?  With serious velocity?  Here it is below, and I'd like to see yours.  Joe, whether you like it or not, there are some smart people out here in the real world.  And it doesn't take a specialized degree.  It takes a gift for observation and perseverance.  I could write many more volumes about this, but I have no clue whether you'll listen or not.  You've got choices ahead of you.  I hope you choose wisely."

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My questions:

Has Mr Peterson discussed these issues with you?

Can you comment on Pat's pitching arm injury?

Mr. Peterson has no problem with "grabbing," can you comment on this?

Bill writes, "Marshall's body action disconnects the pelvis and torso rotation from the arm/shoulder very early.  We measured it.  In essence you're throwing all arm."  Can you comment on this?

Bill writes:  "I understand why Marshall tried another body action:  he couldn't seem to keep guys from reverse rotating.  His solution threw the baby out with the bath water."  What does he mean by this?

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     I will respond first to the biomechanical analysis of Pat Howe throwing with my baseball pitching motion and with Bill Peterson's baseball pitching motion.  He did not throw with my baseball pitching motion.  While he trained with me, there were brief times when he came close to throwing with my baseball pitching motion, but, for whatever reason, he would revert back to the pitching arm action with which he came to me.

     On the day after my students arrive, I take videotape of them throwing the way that they have thrown all their lives.  When I watched Pat, I saw that he would drop his pitching upper arm well below the line across the top of his shoulders.  This usually indicates that baseball pitchers are protecting an injury to the front of their pitching shoulder.

     However, when I asked him whether he had ever injured the front of his pitching shoulder, he said no.  I told him that, if this is true, then he has a mechanical flaw in the action of his pitching upper arm that I will show him how to correct.

     Also, as you know, at the start of every single day of training with me, I ask every baseball pitcher whether they have any discomfort.  I keep all records.  Never did Pat Howe ever say that he had any discomfort in the front of his pitching shoulder.

     I have never said that Pat had a shoulder problem because he never told me that he had a shoulder problem.  Bill never asked me whether Pat should have a MRI taken.  If he had, I would have asked him why he would ask that question because Pat never complained of any shoulder problem.

     With regard to whether I continually have changed my program, the answer is that I am still teaching the absolutely same baseball pitching motion that I have always taught.  What changes is the pedagogy.  That is, I am always searching for better ways to help baseball pitchers to learn the skills of my baseball pitching motion.

     The idea that my baseball pitching motion disconnects the hip and thorax rotation from the pitching shoulder and pitching upper arm is ridiculous.  The 'traditional' baseball pitching motion requires baseball pitchers to forwardly rotate their hips first, then their shoulders, then their pitching upper arm.  That is what causes unnecessary stress to the front of the pitching shoulder.

     With my baseball pitching motion, I use the crow-hop throwing technique.  This means that, instead of reverse rotating over their pitching foot, I teach my baseball pitchers to forwardly rotate their entire body over their glove foot.  We do not separate the hip, thorax, shoulder and pitching upper arm at all.  We bring them forward together.  Then, because we time the moment that our glove foot lands with when our pitching arm reaches driveline height, we remove all the unnecessary stress from the front of the pitching shoulder.

     If Bill Peterson will give me the name of the biomechanist with whom he is working, I would be glad to debate this matter in exhausting detail.

     I would also like to debate the biomechanist's misconception that, "By pointing the entire glove arm at home plate, it opens the entire shoulder line very, very early."  When my baseball pitchers move their pitching arm to driveline height at the same time that their glove foot lands, they do not put any unnecessary stress on the front of their pitching shoulder.

     That is why no baseball pitcher that I have ever trained who uses my baseball pitching motion has ever injured the front of their pitching shoulder and that includes Pat Howe.

     Bill did not say what moved 98.3% straight toward home plate.  If he is talking about the pitching elbow, I would be thrilled.

     Do you remember when you emailed me and questioned me about the segment in my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video where I asked the question, Does he move his elbow to driveline height?  I always responded, No.  I said no because none of the baseball pitchers did?  That is the point.  I teach my baseball pitchers to raise their pitching elbow to driveline height.  For whatever reason, nobody was doing it.

     If you look at my Wrong Foot body action, Slingshot glove and pitching arm actions drill, then you will see that I want their pitching upper arm vertically beside their head.  I do not want any 'flaring.'

     If you look at my Wrong Foot body action, Loaded Slingshot glove and pitching arm actions drill, then you will see that, from my 'Ready' position, I want my baseball pitchers to immediately move their pitching upper arm into my Slingshot position.

     Unfortunately, for whatever reason, until this year, not one of my baseball pitchers has ever done what I asked.  I cannot make them.  But, I continually tell them.  But, for whatever reason, they never did.  Now, this is not an injurious flaw, it is a mechanical flaw that decreases their horizontal command.  That is why they miss inside and outside.  It is a form of 'flaring,' just like 'traditional' baseball pitchers, although not nearly as bad.

     This year, just like I did with Pat's group, I again started out with my returning baseball pitchers explaining the importance of the vertical pitching upper arm and plioanglosly lengthening the Triceps Brachii, Teres Major and Latissimus Dorsi muscles of their pitching upper arm.  But, this time, two of my baseball pitchers did it.  I smiled and waited.

     After they finished their wrist weight recoil cycle and were about one-half way through their iron ball recoil cycles, these two guys were ready to show the other guys what I have been trying to teach them all these years.

     With my Wrong Foot Loaded Slingshot drill, I told these two guys that, during the pitching upper arm acceleration phase of my baseball pitching motion, I wanted them to wait until they pointed their pitching elbow straight at home plate and then, I wanted them to try to rupture their Ulnar Collateral Ligament.

     Before I continue, I have to tell you that I know that, because they are already contracting all of their accelerator muscles, no matter how hard they try, it is impossible to actually rupture their Ulnar Collateral Ligament.  They might feel some training discomfort in their Triceps Brachii, Teres Major and/or Latissimus Dorsi the next day, but that is a good thing.

     One of the two kids does a great job of keeping his pitching hand on the driveline toward home plate.  Therefore, he was able to keep horizontal command.  The other kid moves his pitching hand laterally behind his head just before he starts toward home plate, which means that the extra force decreased his horizontal command.  But, both kids visibly increased their release velocity.

     In the poorly chosen words that Kinesiologists regularly use, these kids eccentrically, then concentrically contracted their Triceps Brachii, Teres Major and Latissimus Dorsi muscles.

     Immediately, the other baseball pitchers recognized the increase in release velocity.  One of the more experienced baseball pitchers was throwing on the pitching mound immediately to the left of the kid with the straighter driveline tried to keep up with the kid next to him and could not.  Jeff Sparks was sitting with me.

     After they finished, Jeff and the other more experienced baseball pitcher asked me, what did these kids do that they were not doing?  I said, for the first time in the all my years of coaching baseball pitchers, they did what I asked them to do.  When they asked, what was that?  I told them that they immediately moved their pitching elbow to driveline height.

     Within a few days, Jeff appropriately adjusted his pitching arm action and he is throwing better than I have ever seen him.  The other more experienced baseball pitcher has made some improvement, but can make significantly more.

     To answer Bill Peterson's complaint about vertical flyout:  I have said this all along.  I say it in my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video.  The cure is for baseball pitchers to move their pitching elbow to driveline height.  When their pitching elbow is at driveline height and they drive their pitching forearm as horizontally close to the top of their head as they can, they greatly decrease the upward angle at which they drive their pitching hand through release.

     Therefore, despite Bill's claims that Pat performed my baseball pitching motion exactly as I teach it, he did not.  In fact, except when I was standing over him making sure that he had his pitching upper arm vertical, he was the only baseball pitcher I have ever trained that dropped his pitching upper arm well below the line across the top of his shoulders.

     If you watched the 'Real Sport' show on HBO, then you watched the best evidence of whether Pat had an injured shoulder.  Remember when, just after Pat fired an iron ball at one of my rebound walls, Bryant Gumbel asked Pat how much the iron ball weighed and Pat told him fifteen pounds?  If you rewind and watch Pat powerfully throw that fifteen pound iron ball at the wall, you will see that Pat has his pitching upper arm absolutely vertical.  I guess that that video proves that Pat did not have any pain in the front of his pitching shoulder with my baseball pitching motion.

     Bill, you must stop lying.  I have the evidence that proves that you are lying.

     I love Pat and he works very hard, but, for whatever reason, except for brief periods, he just will not do what I tell him that he needs to do.  He is the only baseball pitcher I have trained that never learned how to throw my Maxline Pronation Curve.  Oh, there were moments when he would get it right with my Wrong Foot drills, and, for brief periods, with my Wind-Up body actions.  But, very shortly, he would start dropping his pitching upper arm downward and, as a result, he could never drive his pitching forearm inside of vertical, such that he always spiraled the baseball.

     Bill said that I started to teach the crow-hop body action because I could not keep my baseball pitchers from reverse rotating over their pitching foot.  That is not true.  I started teaching the crow-hop body action because it is the only way to enable my baseball pitchers to lengthen and straighten their drivelines.

     I could once again try to get Bill and my readers to understand the proper way for baseball pitchers to satisfy Sir Isaac Newton's law of reaction, but I have done that many times before.  Therefore, I will leave that discussion as is or if someone wants to challenge me about what I have said with something more than it looks different, I will gladly revisit that discussion.

     Perhaps Bill's biomechanist would like to explain how he/she satisfies Sir Isaac Newton's third law of motion.  I would love to debate that issue.

     Bill claims that Pat has thirty degrees of pitching forearm to pitching upper arm separation with his fastball releases.  That is very good.  I would like to see that high-speed film.  With Bill's track record for the truth, I do not believe anything that he says.  He is going to have to show me the irrefutable evidence.  Where is the high-speed film?

     Now, to answer your questions:

01.  No, Bill Peterson has not discussed these issues with me.

02.  As far as I know and according to my records, when he left here, Pat did not have a pitching arm injury.

03.  When baseball pitchers 'grab,' they move their pitching hand closer to their pitching elbow than the full length of their pitching forearm.  With your kind assistance, we are using plastic practice javelins with great success at correcting this problem.  The vertical pitching upper arm also helps to correct this problem.

04.  I believe that I have already explained how my baseball pitching motion does not disconnect the hips and trunk from the shoulders and pitching arm.  But, the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion does.

05.  I believe that I have also already explained why I stopped trying to placate the 'traditional' baseball pitching coaches with a small glove leg lift and some minimal reverse rotation over the pitching foot.  Apparently, Bill thinks that, when I did that, I removed the most valuable aspect of my baseball pitching motion.  Once again, he is wrong.

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114.  I have an 11 year old in Little League who has an incredible arm for his age.  Your teaching techniques really intrigue me.  I know he is too young to teach these methods from some of your emails I have read (if I understood them correctly), but I have a few questions for you.

I was wondering if your motion was legal as baseball rules are today?

And also I notice the position that the pitchers body is in almost looks like you're in a vunerable position for line drives and hard grounders.

Also at what age would your recommend your techniques and how much do your camps usually cost?

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     You are correct, I have only worked with high school and junior college graduates.  I leave training youth baseball pitchers to their parents.

     Everything that your parents need to learn how to teach you how to become the best injury-free, highly-skilled baseball pitcher is on my website without charge.  You and your parents should start by watching my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video.

     Yes, my baseball pitching motion is completely legal.

     With my baseball pitching motion, my baseball pitchers are in the perfect position to protect themselves from hard line drives back at them, to field bunts and topped baseball in front of them and ground balls hit to their glove side.

     And, when we pitch to glove arm side batters, we expect the pitching arm side middle infielder to move closer to second base and field ground balls to our pitching arm side.  That is much more than you can say about the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion.

     Parents should use my 60-Day Youth Baseball Pitchers Motor Skill Acquisition Program to teach the drills that teach the skills of my baseball pitching motion when their youngsters indicate that they want to play baseball.

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115.  First of all, I have to congratulate you for your web site, it is more than informative site, to me, it is more educational.

My 14 years old son started pitching last year and your web site has helped us to achieve certain grade of improvement.

He does the weight training (16 rep) with therapeutic weight, this has giving him more endurance in his arm.

The question I have is this:  This kid, in the outfield , has a  very strong arm, from the center field fence (300’) he can make a throw to home plate in one bounce.  What could cause him to loose speed when he pitches from the mound?

Could it be the release?

I would appreciate any suggestion how to improve his speed.  Probably, the video clip can not help too much to analyze the release point; I have been working with the “form.”  I would like your opinion with the Kick, the stride etc.

This kid is planning to go to high school next year, since he is lefty.  I would like him to improve and make the Varsity team.

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     Most baseball position players use the crow-hop body action to throw.  All 'traditional' baseball pitchers use the balance position body action to throw.  Therefore, if position players want to throw as hard on the pitching mound as they do in their positions, then they need to use the crow-hop body action.

     In my baseball pitching motion, I use the crow-hop body action.

     Everything you and your son need to learn to become the best injury-free, highly-skilled baseball pitchers that they can be is on my website for all to watch, read and copy without charge.

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116.  I don't particularly mind that guys like Bill Peterson and Chris O'Leary go their separate ways from you.  But, I am disappointed with the dishonesty associated with the break.  I don't see any reason for it.

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     Both Bill Peterson and Chris O'Leary only know what they mistakenly think they know from watching and reading my stuff.  Now, they want to make money from what they think that they know.  But, to do that, they have to discredit the source of their knowledge.  They are not the first to try this in business.  They will have the same success that all other phony imitators.  None.

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117. I have already started watching the videos online.  I probably will go pick up the wrist weighs today or tomorrow.  How much does the 120 day program cost and what stores is it being sold in, or is that also online?  Also, what was the name of the pitcher you taught who went on to play for the Devil Rays who went from a 79 mph fastball to 96?

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     I will say it again.  Everything that you need is on my website without charge.  When you watch section eleven of my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video, you will learn the name you seek.

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118.  I am a 17 year old high school senior baseball player.  Your research has really been an eye-opener to me.  My plans after my baseball career ends are to do similar research like you have done.  I am currently planning to study exercise and sports science as my major in college after I transfer from playing baseball.

Of course, I am a “traditional” throwing right-hander and your research has given me many ideas.  But, a question I would like to ask, a question that many pitchers ask, is how do I build velocity?

What are the effects of long toss, weighted balls, weight-lifting, and even possibly too much flexibility?  I recently finished an off-season training program at a place called Carolina Acceleration.  It included weight-lifting, speed and agility, but most of all we used a throwing resistant cord to increase velocity.  The program guaranteed an increase of at least 4 mph, but possibly 6-8 mph.  Mine went from 78-78 mph.  I was extremely disappointed.

After working extremely hard to better my stamina, strength, power, and speed I find myself early in the season with an aching forearm or “tennis elbow”, and a muscle spasm in my lower scapular area.  The physical therapist and orthopedic are trying to calm these down.  Do you have any ideas on these subjects of injury?  I believe the muscle spasm happened from playing shortstop and having a quick-short arm action that pinched my scapula inward towards my spine.

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     To prevent the problems that you are experiencing, you have to stop being a 'traditional' baseball pitcher and learn how to use my baseball pitching motion.

     Release velocity equals the force toward home plate that baseball pitchers apply times the time period over which they apply that force divided by the mass of the baseball.

     This means that, to achieve their genetic maximum release velocity, baseball pitchers have to drive the baseball in straight lines toward home plate over as great a distance as possible.

     This is exactly what I train my baseball pitchers to do.

     I recommend that you complete my 724-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program.  To learn how to perform the drills that I use to teach the skills of my baseball pitching motion, you should watch my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video.

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119.  When I played baseball my teammates called me "the intellect," partly in a pejorative way I suppose.  In truth, I was neither that smart, nor that skilled.  But, watching you on Real Sports and remembering your career, I personally have no greater admiration than for someone who is blessed with both outstanding physical prowess and exceptional mental faculties.

Without using those words, I think that's the real reason you expressed to Bryant Gumbel deep satisfaction with your life despite the challenges of gaining wide acceptance for your pitching techniques.  The people who are blessed with great physical and mental gifts -- in painting, sculpture, music, etc. -- are the ones who create the masterpieces which forever smile on mankind.

You should be as widely cheered now for your efforts to save future generations from arm ailments as you were cheered for your boffo relief performances thirty years ago.  I wouldn't be surprised if someday you're remembered more for your advances in pitching kinesiology than for your own pitching heroics.

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     I hope that you enjoy my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video.

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120.  I learned about your life after baseball from your appearance on Ed Randall's radio show last year on wfan and was really interested in what you had to say.  And I've kinda followed your idea and train of thought since then, and I came up with a question for ya.

Recently I heard the question put to Mel Stottelmyre about how the modern pitcher just can't pitch allot anymore, and Mel agreed that it's true that pitchers just aren't taught the way they used to be to just throw and throw and work super hard on their bodies.  But he said, in his role as a major league pitching coach, he can't change stuff.  He's going to continue to baby his pitchers too, because by the time these guys reach the bigs, it's too late to start conditioning them any other way.

So, I guess I want to know if you think this current generation of pitchers is doomed to be chained to the pitch count, or do you think if one team or two tried experimenting with your style of doing things, they might get some results. also, you'd think the Latin and other foreign born ball players wouldn't be part of this American trend of pitchers that can't pitch anymore, yet they seam to follow.

my own opinion is that pretty soon teams are going to get so tired of their starters not being able to eat up innings anymore and their bullpens swelling to 6, 7 or sometimes even 8 guys, they are going to look for a better way of doing business.

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     I understand what Mel means.  By the time that baseball pitchers work their way to the major leagues, they are not about to change what they do.  However, if they are not successful or become injured, then the door opens for some minor adjustments.

     That is why I believe that major league teams could use my services for their baseball pitchers who are not successful, injured or drafted.  After a couple of years, I believe that the other baseball pitchers in that organization would come sniffing around to see what is going on and, inevitably, want to try the wrist weight and iron ball drills.

     I know that major league baseball pitchers are not fit. Most of the reason is that the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion is so injurious that baseball pitchers have to wait for their minor injuries to heal before they can train again.  By this, I mean that 'traditional' baseball pitchers have severe discomfort after they pitch.

     However, with my baseball pitching motion, my baseball pitchers can train every day and once fit, never have any discomfort after they pitch.  I pitched 179 closing innings in 1973 and 208 closing innings in 1974 without ever having any discomfort of any time.

     In the 1968 off-season, I started every Wednesday and Sunday games for my Puerto Rican team.  I know that, with my baseball pitching motion, I could train baseball pitchers to start twice a week every week of the season and go three times through the lineup.

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121.  As a strong believer in the theory and practice of your pitching philosophy, I have a question regarding my young nephew, Simon, at what seems to be a fairly significant time in his baseball development.  He is, as I said, young, only 10.  But this is the first year in little league that he is planning to pitch.  He is a manifestly gifted kid with an extremely strong and accurate arm, and his coaches are understandably looking forward to putting him on the mound.

But, as the person whose voice counts most with his parents regarding Si's baseball life, I have reservations about having him pitch at this age.  First, I just have basic doubts about how much is learned about the craft at this age vs. how much damage can be done to unformed joints, etc.  It has always seemed like a fundamentally questionable tradeoff, though I'm certainly not educated enough to say with any absolute conviction.

Beyond that, however, since I am such a strong believer in your school of thought, I tend to feel that it might be better to keep him off the mound for the even more significant reason that when he reaches the age of player that you work with, he might do better absorbing the mechanics of your motion if he doesn't need to unlearn five or six+ years of bad habits in order do it.  Intuitively, it seems that maybe the best-case scenario would be to have a kid who is athletically gifted, has a live arm, but no baggage in the form of muscle memories that have to be excised.

The flip side of that argument may be, however, that unless the student/player has at least some significant pitching experience then he may not have any knowledge base on which you can build -- you may just be speaking a language he doesn't understand.  So, essentially, this is my extremely long-winded way of asking what you think would be easier for you to work with when the time comes, a completely blank slate with RAW talent, or someone who already knows something about pitching, it's just that he knows the wrong things.

Again, I apologize for my wordiness here.  I realize your time is extremely limited and valuable and I'll understand completely if it's simply not possible for you to answer.  In any case, I do appreciate your work and your efforts to help reduce the unnecessary suffering of so many young athletes.  A life's work to be admired after such an already admirable career on the field.

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     My advice is the same for the parents of all youth baseball pitchers.

01.  As soon as youngsters show interest in baseball pitching, every year until they are biologically sixteen years old, parents should use my 60-Day Youth Baseball Pitchers Motor Skill Acquisition Program to teach them how to perform the drills that I use to teach the skills of my baseball pitching motion.

02.  When they are biologically thirteen years old, youth baseball pitchers should pitch one time through the lineup twice a week for two consecutive months.

03.  When they are biologically sixteen years old, youth baseball pitchers should complete my 120-Day High School Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program every year until they are biologically nineteen years old.

04.  When they are biologically sixteen years old, youth baseball pitchers should start and pitch no more than three times through the lineup and relieve and pitch one time through the lineup once a week for four consecutive months.

05.  When they are biologically nineteen years old, young adult baseball pitchers should complete my 724-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program.

06.  During every off-season thereafter for as long as they want to pitch competitively, they should complete my 72-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Thirty Pound Wrist Weight Recoil Interval-Training Program and 72-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Fifteen Pound Iron Ball Recoil Interval-Training Program.

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122.  More from the Peanut Gallery of Bill Peterson.

--------------------------------------------------

"Dirt,

As said elsewhere, I think Marshall was the first out-of-the-box thinker to accurately asses and describe some of the mechanical causes of injuries.  And I don't believe anyone else was really looking.

Your last statement is the one I find problematic and it's problematic because his proposed solutions have created another set of problems.  From our findings (an admittedly small sample size) the body action and glove-side techniques cause the throwing shoulder to lag even farther behind than with conventional mechanics.  The guys he trains, even those most particularly adept athletes, make tremendous strength gains.  Without those strength gains I suspect every one of them would have been injured.

There are also serious inefficiencies in the driveline.  In reality it's very short, not having the length Marshall describes, because the ball actually comes almost to a complete pause before final acceleration starts, and even then the ball is not driving straight toward the plate it's being driven upward very fast (we've measured this component at almost 50 MPH).

That's a bunch of wasted force, as is the disconnect of pelvis/torso rotation from the shoulder & arm.  I'll see if I can put together an animated GIF that shows this...I'm still figuring out software issues.

In the interim, here's a still that shows the specific evidence of shoulder lag.  You can study Marshall's other students and see that they are all essentially the same.  This problem is induced by his body action and glove side technique as taught.  The fixes for this are proprietary, though we hope to share them with everyone in baseball."

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          This photograph shows exactly what I have said about Pat Howe.  He refuses to perform my baseball pitching motion.

          After my baseball pitchers pendulum swing their pitching arm downward, backward and upward to driveline height, I teach them to ‘lock’ their pitching upper arm with their shoulders and immediately raise the pitching elbow to driveline height.  Patrick consistently refused to do so. This photograph shows that he has failed to ‘lock’ his pitching upper arm with his shoulder.

        The first step in my cure was to teach him how to properly perform my Wrong Foot Slingshot drill.  That was the drill he was using in the ‘Real Sports’ segment in which he very powerfully threw a fifteen pound lead ball at my rebound wall.  If you watch Pat throw that lead ball, then you will see that he had his pitching elbow at driveline height, which means that he did not drive the ball upward.

         The second step in my cure was to teach him how to properly perform my Wrong Foot Loaded Slingshot drill.  This drill requires baseball pitchers to immediately ‘lock’ their pitching upper arm with their shoulder as they assume my Slingshot position.  Unfortunately, before he mastered that skill, his father told him to stop doing my training program and start getting ready to pitch in the Colorado summer league.

        As I have said all along, the only detriment to Pat’s success is his father’s interference with very bad advice.

          We shall see whether what Bill has Pat doing now works.  I will bet that Pat never achieves the skills and success as the high school pitcher with whom Bill worked who now does precisely what teach.

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123.  I have been coaching baseball for over 20 years.  The one thing that I have always considered to be my best attribute.  No matter how successful I have been, I am always looking for new or better ways to coach.

I just saw Bryant Gumbel Real Time Sports and was intrigued with your pitching method.  I would like to find out how I can become Certified to be a Marshall Baseball Pitching Coach.  With pain in my shoulder due to pitching and playing all of my life, it would be easier to convince others to teach your way of pitching. Please let me know how to become certified.

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     For the time being, I am not offering my Certification Clinics.  However, on my website, without charge, I have provided everything that you need.

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124.  I received your response from my earlier email and copy and pasted it onto Baseball Fever.  It was subsequently deleted by Jake Patterson.  He protects Bill Peterson from anyone who questions anything he says.

Also, Sam's mom has begun posting on Baseball Fever and pretty much all of her posts get deleted by Jake Patterson.  So after her posts were deleted, I posted and said, "I guess some people cannot handle the truth."  This post was of course deleted by Jake Patterson and I was subsequently banned for two days from Baseball Fever.

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     It sounds to me that Jake Patterson is un-American.  When Jake cannot handle the truth, he silences the messengers.  If Jake does not change his ways, free-thinking bloggers should boycott Baseball Fever.

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125.  Do you give lessons in Florida?  If so, how much do they cost?

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     At sixty-five years old, after this group finishes, I will not longer sit in my chair at my Pitching Research/Training Center for two hundred and eighty consecutive days and teach amateur baseball pitchers.

     However:

01.  I will continue to provide my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video and other materials without charge on my website.

02.  I am considering a consultant relationship, where I would personally work with baseball pitchers for four consecutive days at selected times during the completion of my 724-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program.

03.  If enough readers are interested in learning more about my baseball pitching motion and interval-training programs, then I would consider offering Baseball Pitching Seminars.

04.  And, I plan to speak at as many baseball clinics and conventions as I receive invitations to do so.

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126.  I have a son who is 11 years old.  He's a southpaw.  He plays up for his age on a travel baseball team.  His mechanics are solid.  He has been getting pitching lessons since he was 7.   He never complains of any pain.  Sometimes soreness after pitching a game of 60 or so pitches.  He never throws more than 60-65 pitches a week.

I did not see your HBO special.  I do not have HBO.

I am impressed with the time that you have dedicated towards pitching and youth sports.   My son takes about 2-3 months off a year from pitching.  I try to learn as much as possible so that my sons arm will be in great shape for both HS and College if he still has an interest.

After reading on your website how little they should be pitching at this age, I feel that I may have gone wrong with my son.

I listened to Tom House speak one day and his philosophy was that kids don't throw enough.  If you don't mind answering my question, how would you change his training?  Should I just have him stop pitching?

One of my son's pitching coaches is coming down to your home next month to learn more about you and your pitching.

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     My advice is the same for the parents of all youth baseball pitchers.

01.  As soon as youngsters show interest in baseball pitching, every year until they are biologically sixteen years old, parents should use my 60-Day Youth Baseball Pitchers Motor Skill Acquisition Program to teach them how to perform the drills that I use to teach the skills of my baseball pitching motion.

02.  When they are biologically thirteen years old, youth baseball pitchers should pitch one time through the lineup twice a week for two consecutive months.

03.  When they are biologically sixteen years old, youth baseball pitchers should complete my 120-Day High School Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program every year until they are biologically nineteen years old.

04.  When they are biologically sixteen years old, youth baseball pitchers should start and pitch no more than three times through the lineup and relieve and pitch one time through the lineup once a week for four consecutive months.

05.  When they are biologically nineteen years old, young adult baseball pitchers should complete my 724-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program.

06.  During every off-season thereafter for as long as they want to pitch competitively, they should complete my 72-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Thirty Pound Wrist Weight Recoil Interval-Training Program and 72-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Fifteen Pound Iron Ball Recoil Interval-Training Program.

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127.  I saw your spot on ESPN and it was great.  I like when people try to make a Baseball better.

While on your website, I saw "I cannot teach calculus to people who have difficulty counting." and I had a hearty laugh.  Although I think you can and I hope you keep trying.

From what I've seen, I really think if you have more success, people will slowly begin to use your methods, or variations of it.

If it takes 5 years to master your method, 2-3 years just to learn, in professional baseball time, that's a very long time for a player to be immobilized.  I understand the possibility of a longer life for a pitching arm.  How else can you just such large bet on unproven system?  With all due respect, CY young didn't use your method, nor did he use some variation of your method?

Other than pitching arm longevity, theoretically speaking, does your method allow for any benefits?  Are they any extreme possibilities with your method (105 mph fastball, new pitches, etc.)?

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     In the 'Real Sports' segment, Jeff Sparks said that it took him five years to learn my baseball pitching motion.  But, that was because we did not train together on a continuous basis.  Today, with my 724-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program, he would have learned my baseball pitching motion and had the terminal strength that all baseball pitchers need in less than two years.

     With my baseball pitching motion and interval-training program, regular baseball pitchers can become Monster baseball pitchers.

     In 1972, after I used high-speed film to refine my baseball pitching motion, I pitched 116 innings in 65 games with a 1.78 earned run average and finished fourth in the Cy Young Award, the highest any closer had ever finished.  At the end of the season, I told my manager, Gene Much, that I could do more.

     In 1973, I pitched 179 innings in 92 games, both major league records, with a 2.66 earned run average and finished second in the Cy Young Award, the highest any closer had ever finished.  I had become a Monster baseball pitcher.  At the start of the next season, I told my manager, Walter Alston, that I could do more.

     In 1974, I pitched 208 innings in 106 games, both major league records, with a 2.42 earned run average and finished first in the Cy Young Award, the highest any closer had ever finished. I had become a bigger Monster baseball pitcher.  At the end to the season, I told my manager, Walter Alston, that I could do more.

     However, during the off-season as a result of a pitch sequence study I completed, I determined that I needed to add a curve ball to my selection of pitches and mastered the 'traditional' suspiration curve.  In the first month of the 1975 season, I pitched fifteen innings in five games against the Cincinnati Reds and shut them down.  Unfortunately, in the second month, I threw my new curve and pulled the seventh rib on my glove side away from my Sternum.

     While that ended my climb up the Monster baseball pitcher ladder, I knew that, even when the results were bad, all research is valuable.  I learned that the 'traditional' suspiration curve was the wrong way to throw curve balls.

     Eight years after my professional baseball career ended, I created my Maxline Probation Curve.  Fifteen years later, I created my Torque Fastball.

     If, in 1975, I had known how to throw these two additional baseball pitches, I believe that I would have pitched 230 innings in 115 games.  And, each succeeding year, I would have continued to do more.  In my reality, I believe that I could have pitched two innings in all 162 games in a season.

     That is the kind of pitching that baseball pitchers who master my baseball pitching motion and finish my interval-training programs can do.  That is the reality of baseball that I know can happen.

     I know how to build Monster baseball pitchers.  If the parents of youth baseball pitchers would follow the guidelines that I have outlined, then, when their sons become the best injury-free, highly-skilled adult baseball pitchers that they can be, they will be Monster baseball pitchers.

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128.  We are planning to come out on the 12th of April this year.  Please let me know what to do.

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     With only two reservations, I have cancelled my April Certification Clinic.

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129.  Do you know when you will have your next Certification Clinic?

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     With the lack of interest, at this time, I have no plans for hosting another Certification Clinic.  However, until I close up shop this summer, individuals are welcome to visit my Baseball Pitching Research/Training Center.

     After that, interested parties have my website where everything that they need to learn how to teach my baseball pitching motion is available without charge.  They only have to watch my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video, read my Coaching Baseball Pitchers book, my Question/Answer files, my Special Reports file and my other files and copy my training programs.

     For those who want to understand how the baseball pitching arm works, I am working on my Anatomy of the Baseball Pitching Arm handout.  After I learn the printing costs, I will make it available for interested parties to order at my costs.

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130.  In regard to question #113 of your 2008 questions:

You say, "Before I continue, I have to tell you that I know that, because they are already contracting all of their accelerator muscles, no matter how hard they try, it is impossible to actually rupture their Ulnar Collateral Ligament.  They might feel some training discomfort in their Triceps Brachii, Teres Major and/or Latissimus Dorsi the next day, but that is a good thing."

1.  What are all the accelerator muscles that have to contract?  I assume the Triceps Brachii is one.  I think that the Subscapularis is also an accelerator muscle.  I was under the impression that the Teres Major and Latissimus Dorsi were decelerator muscles, but it seems to me they would also accelerate the baseball.  I'd like to be clear on all the accelerator muscles.

2.  My second question concerns the concept of proprioceptive awareness.  I'd like to discuss this in the context of your two guys who finally immediately raised their pitching upper arm to elbow height from the Ready Position.  You say that these two were the first to do this.  My question is how they were able to accomplish this?  As they both have been with you for a while, was it simply a case of them feeling what you were asking?

If this is the case would this be an example of Proprioceptive awareness?  You say that Jeff Sparks was able to mimic what these guys accomplished.  Would this again be an example of Proprioceptive awareness?  Are these three able to consistently repeat this maneuver?

3.  Finally, are you saying that because these guys are now immediately bringing their pitching upper arm beside their head with (I assume) the forearm the full length behind, that the forearm from there goes horizontally straight toward home plate and does not fly up?

I hope to see you at your April Certification Clinic.

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01.  With my baseball pitching motion, my baseball pitchers 'lock' their pitching upper arm with their shoulders and forwardly rotate their body to point their pitching upper arm as close as possible at home plate.  From this position, they powerfully pronate their pitching forearm, extend their pitching elbow and inwardly rotate their pitching upper arm.

     a.  To powerfully pronate their pitching forearm, they use their Pronator Teres and Pronator Quadratus muscles.

     b.  To powerfully extend their pitching elbow, they use their Triceps Brachii muscle.

     c.  To inwardly rotate their pitching upper arm, they use their Teres Major and Latissimus Dorsi muscles.

02.  When I watched the first young man who, from my 'Ready' position, immediately raised his pitching upper arm vertically upward to beside his head and forwardly rotated his body to point his pitching upper arm at home plate before he drove his pitching hand straight at home plate, why he was able to do this and he said, because I have faith in what you say to do.

     I understand this.  These kids come to me with pre-conceived ideas of what they are supposed to do.  When I tell them something that is too far away from what they think that they should do, they do not do what I say.  My biggest battle in developing my baseball pitching motion has been overcoming their skepticism.  For whatever reason, this young man believed that I was trying to do what was best for him and simply did what I asked him to do.  As a result, I now have a camp where everybody is trying to learn this technique.  I am having more fun watching even the worst of them than I have ever had before.

03.  The only way that baseball pitchers can have either horizontal or vertical or something in between baseball pitching forearm flyout is if they generate centripetal force.  To generate horizontal centripetal force, they have to move their pitching arm horizontally from their glove side to their pitching arm side.  To generate vertical centripetal force, they have to move their pitching arm vertically from below their pitching shoulder upward.  Obviously, when they raise their pitching upper arm to vertical, they do not generate any vertical centripetal force.

     From this position, it is more likely that, from years of the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion, that my baseball pitchers actively extend their pitching elbow upward rather than horizontally inside of vertical.  This is not vertical baseball pitching forearm flyout.  It is simply a force application flaw.

     If you watch my kids complete their wrist weight exercises and iron ball throws, then you can readily see that they can drive their pitching hand absolutely straight toward home plate without any horizontal or vertical movement.  That proves that they can do what I ask.  The difficulty is in forgetting the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion and believing in what I teach.

     While I am absolutely thrilled with how well my baseball pitchers are performing my baseball pitching motion, the final proof will come when I high-speed film them.  I have no illusions that they are perfect, but I expect considerably improved.

     Due to lack of interest, I have cancelled the April Certification Clinic.  After watching over one hundred and fifty high school and college coaches pay about five hundred dollars each for the, except for my presentation, worthless Wolforth/Strom clinic in Houston, I am convinced that, to get people to attend, I need to charge too much money, over-state everything with nonsensical boot camp and so on language and flood the high schools, junior colleges and college baseball coaches with flyers.

     Since I am closing shop this summer, I doubt that will happen.

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131.  I saw your interesting piece on Real Sports.  You mentioned not being able to straighten your arm because of elbow arthritis.  I am fifty, and have the same problem in my left elbow, and I don't have full range of motion in either direction.  I've tried hanging weight on it, but it doesn't help.  Is there anything that you can suggest to help regain full use of my elbow?

P.S.:  I grew up near Cincinnati in the '70's and always hated seeing you coming in from the bullpen when you played the Reds, but I enjoyed watching you pitch the rest of the time.

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     I did not say that baseball pitchers lose the extension range of motion because of arthritis.  I said that they lose the extension range of motion because the constant slamming of their olecranon process into its fossa caused the hyaline cartilage in the fosse to calcify.  No surgery or rehabilitation technique can fix that.

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132.  I have a 13 year old going on 14 in May.  Baseball is his game and has been for the last 4 years, nothing but baseball.  He is or now was a pitcher.  After two serious arm injuries in three years and coming back from the latest injury, I'm not sure what I can do or what direction to go.  I do know that at this age I do not want to risk another injury.

The first injury was a 45% separation of the growth plate in his right or throwing elbow.  It took 18 months to come back from that one and another 9 months before he could pitch again.  The second one was a severe strain of the Tommy John ligament same elbow, he just was released for baseball activities again, but not pitching, both mine and the doctors wishes.

My predicament is this: he made a little bit of a name for himself locally in the pitching circles for being a hard thrower with accuracy.  Now that I put a stop to pitching, we've been told that he will never make the high school team unless he pitches.  I say that he needs another year or two to grow and develop without pitching, and then start back up slowly at the age of fifteen or sixteen in his jr. and sr. year.  He does play travel ball and I've since found out that since he can't pitch maybe he might be replaced because he's taking up space on the team.  This has been devastating to him and we have had several arguments over this, but my word is final, no pitching.

The only consistent and valid advice I've gotten is to follow through with what I'm doing.  Help, I just don't know what I'm going to do yet.  Some of the people who have told me he won't make the high school team unless he pitches are volunteer coaches involved with the team.

Then, on the other hand, I've been told by others that he has a gift of the ability to throw hard with accuracy.  He has always been undersized compared to others of his age group, he will be fourteen years and four months old when school starts in September of this year.  He is right now 5ft. 7 inches tall and still barely 105 lbs.  Most of his teammates are close to 25 to 35 lbs heavier then he is.  He was always throwing harder then his teammates up until this summer when he took his two month break from baseball.

I guess I'm asking for your opinion:  Do you think I'm doing right by my son?  There will be no pitching for him in the near future on a regular basis.

One last thing: I did pay for an independent evaluation from a professional college coach, and he said yes there is talent there in his pitching a baseball.  This same coach suggested that he stay in baseball shape and get ready for the summer camps and tryouts.  Pitch for the tryouts so they can see if there is still potential, and then stop pitching un till his junior year.

Is there any kind of advice you can give me about this?  I'm sorry for the long winded rambling e-mail, but I was trying to give you as much accurate info as I could.

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     The advice is simple.

     First, your son should wait until the growth plates in his pitching elbow have completely matured.  At that point, he will be biologically sixteen years old.

     Second, in the meantime, every year until he becomes biologically sixteen years old, your son should complete my 60-Day Youth Baseball Pitchers Motor Skill Acquisition Program.

     Third, when your son is biologically sixteen years old, he should complete my 120-Day High School Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program.

     On my website, without charge, I have provided everything everybody needs to learn how to perform my baseball pitching motion.  You and he should start by watching my video.

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133.  If what I am hearing is correct, your guys are now starting to get their pitching hip ahead of their glove hip before they release the ball.  As I look at the 2007 videos of your guys none of them do this so this is pretty big news.  I see this as your vision to drive completely behind the baseball.  If I am correct on this then the summation of the increased force plus releasing the baseball closer to home plate should be pretty significant.  Am I correct on this?

One of life's great mysteries to me will be why there is not a line to get into your training facility every day.

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     What I said was that, from my 'Ready' position, my guys are immediately raising their pitching elbows to vertical, such that they are pointing their pitching elbow at home plate before they accelerate their pitching forearm through release.

     When I take high-speed film, we will see precisely what they do.

     The slingshot action of their pitching elbow pointing at home plate serving as the fulcrum from which their pitching forearm accelerates through release is significantly increasing their release velocity and consistency.

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134.  I wrote to you the other day regarding the 1-7 rotation on my son's screwball.  Thank you for the reply.  You didn't go so far as to tell me to change it, so I haven't said anything to my son yet.   He throws it very comfortably, actually keeps his hand WELL INSIDE his elbow (~ 30 deg) as his hand passes his head and as I mentioned his control is good and it's starting to break (regrettably like a slider!)  Is this something he should keep or abandon?

Also, he has been working on the Drop-Out Windup and does it really well.  It has simplified motion really helps him direct the ball to home plate.  He doesn't over-rotate and throws about 30% of the Maxline Fastballs to where I simply DO NOT have to move the glove!  When he strays from the zone he only has to check TWO things.  One:  is the glove side foot "dangling" or not taking a direct and immediate step forward.  This is the usual culprit.  Two:  is the hand flying outside of the elbow?  This is happening less and less with the fastball and never with the screw/slider hybrid.

My concern is this:  my son (11 y/o) was demonstrating the Maxline Fastball for his friends at Little League practice today.  And he was using the Drop-Out Windup.  Well, I was told that a "concerned parent" was watching and before it was all said and done they had clocked him at 62mph with his MF and were commenting on how he is going to "wear out his arm without a proper windup" - you know, the usual BS.

Is throwing out of this windup at practice or with me on the side ok for him?

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     If your son is throwing his screwball for strikes, then I would leave him alone.

     When he throws my Maxline pitches, are you teaching your son to drop step?  By moving his body to his glove side, it is easier to forwardly rotate over his glove foot and gives his a better angle at which to throw his pitches to home plate.

     Your son should practice both my Drop Out Wind-Up and Pseudo-Traditional Wind-Up.

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135.  Has anyone from an MLB team made their way to Zephyrhills during spring training this year?

I'm counting down the days until the April certification clinic.  I can't wait, even though I despise flying.

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     No.

     Because yours was about the only deposit I received, I have cancelled the April certification clinic.  I will return your deposit.  Nevertheless, if you want, you can visit my Baseball Pitching Research/Training Center on Saturday and Sunday and I will explain what we do.  We train from 9:00 to 10:30AM.

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136.  I watched the special on HBO again.  I really think you know what you are talking about with the arm and throwing motions. The only way to conquer that throwing motion is to start out as an infant.  That is so unorthodox and unnatural.

I really hope you find a pitcher that can throw like that.

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     If you knew anything about child growth and development and motor skill acquisition, then you would be able to understand that my baseball pitching motion is orthodox and natural.  In truth, the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion is unorthodox and unnatural.  Without training, all children throw 'like a girl,' with an arm action very much like my Wrong Foot Slingshot drill.  No child would ever voluntarily throw with the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion.

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137.  I don't know if you can help me or not, but after seeing your story on Real Sports, I figured I'd give it a shot.

I was wondering if you have given any though to the mechanics of softball pitching.  I pitch in what is called a modified fast pitch league in which the ball cannot rise above the shoulder before releasing.  I have heard that underhand is the natural way the arm was meant to throw and in looking at the mechanics of your method, it seems though you're reversing an underhand throw, thereby reducing injuries.

I guess my question is: is there any possibility you can show me how to throw that way underhanded?

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     The baseball pitching arm action and the softball pitching arm action are totally opposite.  In baseball pitching, baseball pitchers should extend their pitching elbow and pronate their pitching forearm.  In softball pitching, softball pitchers should flex their pitching elbow and supinate their pitching forearm.

     I have spent over forty years researching baseball pitching.  Someone else will have to research softball pitching.

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138.  I was completely blown away watching the real sports segment you were interviewed on. I am a Pre-Athletic Training and Pre-Physical therapy student.  I see, on a regular basis, pitchers on our baseball team endure the painful process of rehab from Tommy John surgery as well as pitchers merely trying to prevent it from happening.

I was only able to see part of the interview, so I was wondering about how long it can take for a pitcher to adopt your style of pitching?  As well as a little on how you came up with the change in the biomechanics of the throw.

I was wondering why it is that lifting the leg on the non dominant side is changed?  My last question would be whether the pitching style prevents injury to both the shoulder and elbow?

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     No baseball pitcher who has learned my baseball pitching motion and completed my interval-training program has ever suffered any pitching injury, pitching elbow or shoulder.

     To convert adult 'traditional' baseball pitchers to my baseball pitching motion and give them the strength and skill that they need requires my 724-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program.  Non-polluted youngsters master the skills much faster.

    With my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video, I tell the story of how I developed my baseball pitching motion.  It is free for all to watch on my website.

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139.  Thank you so much for your hospitality several weeks ago during our visit to your training center.  It always amazes us visitors your willingness to accept us, converse and share your ideas.

I had not been there since your certification seminar last year, and it was again inspiring to see the intensity of your pitchers and your passion for pitching.  I loved hearing about how during your career sometimes you just did a blowout workout, throwing dozens more iron balls than normal, just because you felt so strong and were so overjoyed at the art and science of pitching.

It was enlightening to hear your thoughts on the vertical forearm.  Would you again delve into your reasons for naming it "loaded slingshot?"  It might be helpful to others in the great wide world who are learning your motion from a distance to hear the thoughts you shared on the unwillingness of some of your past pupils to get the elbow to driveline height, and how doing so is the key to activating the triceps in a plioanglos manner and really driving the baseball straight forward.

Many people in the greater pitching world now know your full-time passion is training young pitchers in Florida, even your most savage and ignorant critics who make ridiculous statements about what release velocities that can be achieved with your motion.

Critics who don't know you aren't willing to force pitchers into "my way or the highway" even as they pay the princely sum of $10 a day for you instruction.  Critics who don't know you accept anyone for training, regardless of native ability.

Critics who don't now the lengths to which you have gone to get your pitchers a fair shot in pro ball.  Critics who don't know what it is like to have a gaggle of young men living on your property for two-thirds of the year, young men who need jobs, support, supervision, and occasionally, a surrogate father.  Critics who chastise your Astroturf, when you could have sold out Sir Newton and charged $1000 for a worthless weekend of band-aid instruction by teaching a bastardized motion.

What they don't know is that you aren't operating in a vacuum.  They should always remember there are dozens, if not hundreds, of us out there.  We are doing your training programs ourselves.  We are visiting Z-hills when we can.  Some are coaching college baseball.  Some are playing professional baseball, or about to.  We are dissecting your pitcher trainer video daily and teaching youngsters in our towns the best we can, with no compromises to the traditional motion.  We are silent, for the most part.  That's because we have better things to do than whine and argue on those wanna-be Internet sites out there.

Great ideas prevail.  Training every day prevails.  Words on a computer screen written by ignorant critics or pretenders with pseudo credentials are cheap.

There is nothing like training every day.  Besides being the road to getting hitters out, it is a stance against stasis, a belief that improvement is the center of our lives that we can be something tomorrow we aren't today.  If you don't train every day, you aren't improving.  And there is only one way to train every day at maximum intensity.  Without shredding your olecranon process or the front of your shoulder, that is.

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     When my baseball pitchers raise their pitching upper arms vertically upward to beside their head and forwardly rotate over their glove foot to point their acromial line and pitching upper arm at home plate with their pitching hand the full length of their pitching forearm behind their pitching elbow, they have maximally lengthened their Triceps Brachii, Teres Major and Latissimus Dorsi muscles for powerfully contractions that will explode their pitching hand and baseball straight toward home plate.  I call this position of the pitching arm, the Slingshot.

     When my baseball pitchers pendulum swing their pitching arm downward, backward and upward to driveline height pointing at second base with the palm of their pitching hand facing away from their body, I call this position, the Ready position.

     From the Ready position, my baseball pitchers have to move their pitching arm into my Slingshot position.  To do this, they have to immediately vertically raise their pitching upper arm to driveline height and move it forward to beside their head with their pitching hand remaining the full length of their pitching forearm behind their pitching elbow.  I call this action, Loading the Slingshot.

     Back in the early 1970s, when I was teaching myself this baseball pitching motion, despite the fact that, in 1967, I had an 1.98 earned run average for the Detroit Tigers, I dedicated myself to changing my baseball pitching motion as I determined that I should.  I have never regretted the four years of back to the minor leagues and struggle to master my new skills.  With what I know today, I could have accomplished the change in half the time.  But, the point is; if I ever wanted to be all that I could be, I had to change.

     Five top seven finished in the Cy Young Award, the first closer to win the Cy Young Award, setting numerous major league records and being better than I ever thought I could be for fourteen years of major league pitching made is worth the effort.

     After my major league career, I have learned much more about what I could have done to make myself an even better baseball pitcher.  That is what I am teaching my students.

     However, because I was no longer teaching something so drastically different from the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion, I knew that I would have to accept whatever changes my students make and use each generation of my students to build more changes.  That does not mean that I taught any of them differently.  It means that each generation of students made slightly more changes than the group before.  Finally, with my 2007-2008 group, they have incorporated all the changes that I want baseball pitchers to make.

     That does not mean that they are all perfect.  It means that they are all finally trying to incorporate all the changes in their baseball pitching motion that I want them to make.  This is the natural evolution of motor skill development.  Now, I want to go back to all those preceeding generations of students and show them the final changes that they need to make.  Once he saw it, Jeff Sparks made the change almost overnight.

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140.  I thought you and your readers may be curious to how the "Marshall disciples" Kurt and Aaron are doing at Becker College in Worcester, Mass.

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http://www.becker.edu/pages/322.asp

"Lake Mary, FL 3/15/08:  In his first start of the season, Kurt Tholen (Goshen, CT) led the Hawks to a 4-2 victory.  Kurt Tholen was solid on the mound for the Hawks.  The sophomore pitched a complete game, allowing two runs on eight hits, to earn his first win at Becker College.

Kissimmee FL 3/11/08:  The Hawks pitching staff was led by Aaron Sayad (Chicago, IL) who allowed four runs on three hits, in five innings of work, to earn the win."

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http://www.becker.edu/Include/athletics/Baseball%2008/teamcume.htm

               ERA   APP   W/L   INN   H   R   ER   BB   SO   2B   3B   HR   AB   B/Ave
Kurt Tholen:   3.00   2    1-0   9.0  10   3   3     2    2    2    0    0   24   .294
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I recently attended a few of their spring training games in Orlando area and while they have much more work to do, specifically following pitch sequences more precisely, educating catchers and coaches on pitch sequences and maintaining more exact pitching charts.  Suffice to say, they are improving with more innings and beginning to surface as the dependable guys who can eat up innings and get people out.

I have received a few calls from people in the Northeast about watching them pitch, after they saw the HBO show.  These folks should go to the Becker College baseball website and look up the schedule.  I'm sure Aaron or Kurt would be happy to speak with them.

While attending games in Orlando at Disney Wide World of sports, there was an "ice station" complete with coolers, a trainer and boxes of cellophane to ice down the traditional pitchers, it seemed like the thing to do for all of the pitchers, almost as if it were a given.  Of course, your guys laughed and asked for ice for their drinks.  It was sad and eye opening at the same time.

Facing a pretty tough lineup vs. Ramapo College, Kurt did win his first college game, and believe me, after all he's been through, this was a proud and exciting moment in our household.  While he worked hard to get this far, let me thank you again for all you have done for him.  It is a great start, but he knows he has much remaining to do.  Aaron pitched very well after the first inning, but had no run support and lost 2-1.

After the 1-2 "marshall" punch the Ramapo team was glad they were done with Becker, and even posted the following on their website: http://www.ramapoathletics.com/news/2008/3/16/BB_0316082626.aspx

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"The Roadrunner offense was able to pound out eight hits and drew a pair of walks in game one, but was unable to deliver with runners on base, and only tallied two runs for the game."

------------------------------------------------

I suggested that Aaron chart and call pitches from your pitch sequences when Kurt pitches and vice versa, seems to me that is the most effective way of progressing and using pitch sequences.  The coaches still are light years behind in figuring all this out, but we're giving it our best shot.  All they know is these guys can give me innings and get guys out- maybe that is goodness.  We have only just begun.  Will keep you posted.

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     My congratulations to you and your son for all the hard work.

     When Kurt arrived at my Baseball Pitching Research/Training Center, he was still suffering from years of shoulder pain.  While changing how he applied force to the baseball eliminated the pain, it could not immediately eliminate the adjustment in his pitching motion that he used to protect his pitching shoulder.

     Instead of raising his pitching upper arm vertically upward to properly load my Slingshot pitching arm position, he would drop his pitching elbow below his shoulder height and drive the baseball at a very steep angle upward and forward.  Of course, this took away both his release velocity and consistency.

     To correct this mechanical flaw, Kurt worked for many, many hours with my Wrong Foot Slingshot and Wrong Foot Loaded Slingshot drills.  I also believe that it helped him to drive over from their game site and watch the guys training with me this year and how well they are raising their pitching upper arm to vertical and pointing their pitching elbow at home plate before their accelerate their pitching forearm through release.

     However, he did it, to have the success he had, he must have made a meaningful adjustment to his driveline.

     Aaron Sayad is also an interesting story.  When Aaron showed up at my Baseball Pitching Research/Training Center, he also suffer pain in his pitching arm, but his pain was the result of pulling his pitching arm across the front of his body and supinating his releases.  I wish that I could say that he has learned to pronate his curve, but he is the only guy who has not.  However, he has learned to pronate his Maxline Fastball, Maxline Fastball Sinker, Maxline True Screwball and Torque Fastball.

     This means that Aaron has a solid glove side of home plate game.  Aaron has a very good arm, which means that he can throw the baseball in the high eighties to ninety miles per hour.  Unfortunately, he still pulls and supinate his curve and slider, which means that these two pitches are release consistency unreliable and have the same low quality as the 'traditional' supination curve.  Nevertheless, by relying on his glove side corner game, Aaron can have some success.

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http://www.becker.edu/Include/athletics/Baseball%2008/teamcume.htm

               ERA   APP   W/L   INN   H   R   ER   BB   SO   2B   3B   HR   AB   B/Ave
Aaron Sayad:   5.24   4    1-3  22.1  18  15  13    14   25    7    0    0   81   .222
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     In Florida, Aaron started games on Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday of the same week.  In those four starts, he pitched 22.1 innings.  With a 5.24 ERA, he clearly does not follow my pitch sequences, which means that he has to give batters pitches that they are anticipating.  Without my Torque Fastball Slider and Maxline Pronation Curve, he cannot have the success he should have.  However, that he struck out 25 batters in 22.1 innings shows that, if he masters these pitches, then he could become a quality baseball pitcher.

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141.  My son is a freshman in a Division I university on a baseball scholarship.  He was heavily scouted his junior and senior years of high school by the MLB.  However, a series of tragedies happened to him his senior year in high school.

1.  His velocity went from low 90's to max 84 and started having shoulder discomfort.  We quietly took him to a nearby doctor who also does work for a major league baseball team.  James was diagnosed with a cyst in his right shoulder.  His high school coach disclosed this to the pro scouts.  After intense physical therapy and anti-inflammatories, he was released and allowed to pitch.  This was April 2007.  The discomfort was gone, but velocity wasn't there.

2.  In May, he ended up in the hospital diagnosed with type I diabetes.

Two days after being released from the hospital, he pitched in our districts and did very well.  By the end of summer he was back to hitting 92.

Whereas the majors backed off drafting him, the university did not blink and honored their scholarship offer.  He's gotten to pitch and got a start against a top Division I team and closed against another top Division I team.  However, his velocity is not there again and now has discomfort in his elbow.

The trainers took X-rays today and I'm mailing a CD of his MRI.  He has fluid in his elbow.  X-rays show no bone damage or chips floating in there.  However, after throwing 42 pitches in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings, he is very sore in his elbow.  He never struggled with pain in that location before.

I am very interested in your program and I am trying to figure out how we can eventually get him some help.  Our problem is: he is in the beginning of their season and has been assigned and has signed a contract to play in a college baseball summer league.

My son's dream has been to pitch in the majors from a little boy.  We've done everything to help him, but always have told him to have a plan B.  If we could I would like to get some information on when and where you have clinics and then begin on figuring out how we can get him to see you.

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     As long as your son continues to use the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion, he will suffer ever-increasing pitching arm injuries and pain.  To break his downward spiral to oblivion, he needs to complete my 724-Day Adult Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program.

     On my website, without charge, I have provided everything your son needs to learn how to become the best injury-free, highly-skilled baseball pitcher that he can be.  He should start by watching my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video.

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142.  I am a certified athletic trainer for a small high school.  I just finished watching the interview you gave with Real Sports.  We just started our season here and, within two days, I had three of my five pitchers in my athletic training room complaining of shoulder and elbow pain.  One has a SLAP lesion and another has an avulsion fracture of his medial epicondyle.

I had a father who "taught" his son how to pitch cuss me out in October because I told him his son's biomechanics of pitching have caused his son's SLAP and Bankhart lesions that have resulted in surgery.  I slowed down a couple of the pitches and watched them.  It makes perfect sense!  The arm follows a natural motion.  I would be interested in learning more.

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     On my website, without charge, I have provided my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video for my readers to watch, my Coaching Baseball Pitchers book for my readers to read, my Question/Answer files for my readers to scan and my Pitchers Training Programs for my readers to download and complete.  Have a good time and, when you are finished, if you have any questions, then please email them to me.

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143.  I am a freshman in high school.  I saw your video on Real Sports and I knew right away that your pitching motion makes complete sense.  I was wondering if you would ever consider working with a high school student like me?  I would love to learn everything about your pitching motion.  I look forward to hearing from you and hope to get the chance to learn under you.

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     You do not have to learn under me.  On my website, without charge, I have provided my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video for you to watch, my Coaching Baseball Pitchers and other text files for you to read, my Question/Answer files for you to scan and my Pitcher Training Programs for you to download and complete.  If, after you have watched, read, scanned and downloaded, you need any help understanding how to complete my training programs, then please email me.

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144.  Is your instructional video and book also geared for young boys?  My son is eight years of age and is a passionate lefty.  My husband and I are interested in purchasing the training material, but from what we gathered it is primarily intended for High school through MLB.

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     As soon as youngsters show an interest in learning how to pitch baseballs, parents should show them how to complete my 60-Day Youth Baseball Pitchers Motor Skill Acquisition Program.

     On my website, without charge, I have provided my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video for you and your son to watch, my Coaching Baseball Pitchers book and other text files for you and your son to read, my Question/Answer files for your and your son to scan and my Pitchers Training Programs for you and your son to download for your son to complete.

     If, after you and your son have familiarized yourselves with these materials, you have any more questions, then please email me.

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145.  I am currently playing Independent professional baseball.  Last year, I played Division I colleg baseball.

I was introduced to your pitching philosophy today and I found it interesting to say the least.  As you probably assume, I am skeptical about what you are teaching.  I am not saying you are wrong, but I would like to know what parts of the traditional mechanics you do consider wrong or harmful.

I am not writing you to contradict your teachings, but your pitchers look very awkward.  I understand that Major League clubs have turned your philosophy down several times, simply because they are too thick headed.  That I do understand.  They will try to fix you even if you are not broken.

I noticed several things about your pitchers’ mechanics.  (I did not read your philosophy in detail.  I just watched the videos online).

1st, the actual windup seems traditional, but at the time of separation, the drive foot does not come in line with the rubber; it stays perpendicular.  I would think there is no balance, which makes for a lack of consistency.

2nd, there is no leg lift, also a balance position and, to my knowledge, a power generator.  The motion you teach is like a slide step from the wind up.

3rd, the pitchers step away from center (to their glove side), which in my experience allows for better arm side movement, but less control.  That could be because I was not doing it on purpose and I was “flying open.”

4th, the shoulder rotates like a screwball.

The 5th, and my concern, is that each pitcher has his back turned to the plate after each pitch.  I understand that you have done a large amount of research on the topic, but would agree with me that this puts the pitcher at risk each time he makes a pitch?

Dr. Marshall, I do not want to seem like I am closed-minded about your philosophy, but I do not just want to hear why your way works.  I would also like for you to disprove the traditional/current way of pitching.

I do know that pitching mechanics have evolved over time and that there have never been more pitching injuries than in today’s game.  Do you think it is all about the mechanics?  Perhaps it is also about the workout regimen.  Back in the ‘50s, there was only a four man rotation and pitchers were throwing complete games left and right, on three days rest.  There was no such thing as a pitch count, when he was done he was done.

Dr. Marshall, I greatly appreciate your time and I hope you can answer my questions.  I am very interested to hear from you.

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     On my website, I have already answered each of these questions several times.  You said that you attended college.  Therefore, you should know not to ask questions of your professor until you have completely prepared for the lecture.  Nevertheless, you seem to be a thoughtful young man.  Therefore, I will answer these questions.

     However, before you ask my any more questions, I ask that you give me the respect of watching my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video, reading my Coaching Baseball Pitchers book and other text files and scanning my Question/Answer files.

01.  With my Pseudo-Traditional Wind-Up competitive baseball pitching motion, I have my baseball pitchers raise both arms over their head.  This does absolutely nothing to increase the release velocity or consistency of their pitches.  It is simply an unnecessary movement that I designed to appease fans of the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion.

     When 'traditional' baseball pitchers turn their pitching foot to parallel with the pitching rubber, they:

     a.  Insure that some day they will need pitching hip replacement surgery and/or pitching knee replacement surgery and/or pitching knee surgery.

     b.  Make it impossible to not take their pitching arm well beyond second base, which insure that they will injure their pitching arm and because only the force baseball pitchers apply toward home plate contributes to release velocity, decrease their release velocity and release consistency.

02.  When 'traditional' baseball pitchers lift their glove leg off the ground, all they accomplish is to raise their center of gravity, which decreases their body control.  Lifting the glove leg does not contribute anything to release velocity.

03.  When 'traditional' baseball pitcher stride to their pitching arm side, to get the baseball into the strike zone, they have to pull their pitching arm across the front of their body, which decreases release velocity and consistency.  The reason why 'traditional' baseball pitchers stride to the pitching arm side of their body is because their glove foot lands before they have properly positioned their pitching arm to accelerate toward home plate.  With my baseball pitching motion, because we properly position our pitching upper arm to accelerate toward home plate before our glove foot lands, we can use our pitching upper arm far more powerfully.

04.  The two most powerful muscles operating on the shoulder joint are the Teres Major and Latissimus Dorsi.  By powerfully inwardly rotating the pitching shoulder, they considerably increase the straight-line force toward home plate.

05.  Because they were not pitching to baseball batters, after they release their pitches, my baseball pitchers watched the flight of their pitches with no concern for line drives hit back at them.  In game situations, when their pitching foot lands in line with their glove foot toward home plate, they would stop their body from further forward rotation and be ready to move forward to field bunts and topped baseballs, ground balls hit to their glove side and line drives hit at their heads.  Therefore, the risk of line drives injuring my baseball pitchers is far less than line drive injuring 'traditional' baseball pitchers.

     My grandfather gave me a lot of good advice, but none better than, 'nobody can know that you are a fool until you open your mouth.'  What this means is that you had better learn everything about a subject you can before you declare knowledge of the subject.  Therefore, you need to learn how to ask questions as though you do not know anything and you will not show yourself to be a fool, but you will also have a chance of learning.

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146.  Some questions:

1)  Are you still offering your Certification Clinic the second weekend in April?  I read in your 2007 file that you need to have 10 people sign up of the clinics or they will be cancelled.  If it is still on, I will send you a $100 check in the mail.

2)  Generally speaking, what are the differences in speed, trajectory, and movement between your maxline screwball and curveball?  The releases are very different, however it seems that they are similar pitches after release.  I assume that your maxline curve has a sharp downward break and the maxline screwball is a few miles per hour slower than the curve and breaks downward as well as horizontally to the pitching arm side.

3)  The following is my understanding of a portion of your instruction.  Please help me where I misunderstand.  You say that pitchers should raise their elbow above their pitching hand during the acceleration phase.  Leading up to the ready position a pitcher first pendulum swings their arm until it is horizontally extended pointing straight toward second base with the palm facing upward.  From this point, where the arm and ball start forward, the elbow should be raised above the hand and ball.  I believe this can only be done by actively externally rotating the humorous with the muscles in the back of the shoulder Beginning to lean the upper body to the glove side during the acceleration phase may also help in getting the elbow above the hand.  The reason for getting the elbow above the hand during the acceleration phase is to allow the ball to accelerate along a smooth path and in a straight line.

In your instructional video, I watched the side view of your pitchers training with wrist weights and iron balls as they attempt to do this.  Some of your pitchers came very close to a smooth straight line path during acceleration.

In the more recent video clips of each pitcher throwing various pitches from the side view, it looks like most of the pitchers to not raise their elbow as soon as they do while doing the drills, thus shortening the useful length over which they have to accelerate the ball.

In any case, the ball begins horizontal acceleration toward home plate from the first movement forward after the ready position.  It appears that the hand and ball drift forward with a small amount of acceleration until the point where each pitcher has their humorous maximally externally rotated.  From that point, a greater force can be applied further adding to the acceleration toward home plate.  From the video, it looks as if this fully loaded state happens when the hand and ball have already moved forward several feet toward home plate.  It would seem better to reach this fully loaded state sooner so that the maximum force can be applied over a longer distance.  Your raising the elbow above the hand advice seems to addresses this issue because to do it a pitcher's humorous must already be maximally externally rotated.  It is easier said than done.

  When, if at all, should a pitcher use the muscles in the back of the shoulder to actively externally rotate the humorous?  Near the end of the pendulum swing?  Once the pitching arm is straight back in the ready position with the palm facing upward?  After the hand starts toward home plate?  Or not at all?  I have tried actively externally rotating my humorous beyond a relaxed state with the palm facing upward in the ready position while keeping my forearm and hand relaxed, however the muscles in the back of my shoulder are not relaxed.  Throwing like this seems to feel more powerful and smooth, but I could be imagining things.  I notice that when I actively externally rotate my humorous that I am not very good at instantaneously relaxing the muscles in the back of my shoulder and maximally applying force with the muscles on the front of my shoulder.  I'm sure a little practice would help or maybe I shouldn't try to do it that way.

I enjoyed reading your research and analysis in chapter 30 of your book.  It supports and validates everything you teach.

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01.  No.  Nevertheless, everybody is welcome to visit at any time.  However, it is something that I would like to do at some future date(s).

02.  With my pronation release, my Maxline Pronation Curve moves more dramatically than my Maxline True Screwball.  However, because the pitching arm action so closely resembles my Maxline Fastball and Maxline Fastball Sinker, my Maxline True Screwball has greater deception.  They both achieve the same release velocity.

03.  I want my baseball pitchers to pendulum swing their pitching hand to driveline height with the palm of their pitching hand facing away from their body.  Then, when they start their body forward, I want my baseball pitchers to also raise their pitching elbow to driveline height and reposition their pitching forearm for whatever pitch they want to throw.  Then, immediately before they accelerate their pitching hand through release, to insure that they can get their pitching forearm horizontally inside of vertical at release, I want my baseball pitchers to tilt their body at least forty-five degrees to the glove side of their body.

     I am fully aware that my baseball pitchers do not perfectly execute my baseball pitching motion.  That does not mean that they cannot.  It means that, like everybody else, they cannot get their head around everything that I want them to do.  Fortunately, with every group that I train, they move closer.  My present group is getting very close.  As always, I will take high-speed film of them and put it on my website.

     I see no purpose in examining what they do that is contrary to what I want them to do.  That only shows that they are not sufficiently skilled to perfectly perform my baseball pitching motion, not that they cannot do it.  Certainly, it does not mean that we should accept or teach what they are doing.  However, even with these mechanical flaws, they can pitch far more frequently than 'traditional' baseball pitchers without discomfort and better quality pitches.  Nevertheless, I want perfection.

     To raise their pitching upper arm vertically to driveline height is not easier said than done.  It is very easy to do.  That last year's baseball pitchers did not do it only shows that, for whatever reasons, I failed to convince them that they should do it.  Because a couple of my second year guys believed me that they would benefit from doing it, all in this year's group does it.

     Like when students raise their hand in class, for baseball pitchers to raise the pitching upper arm to vertical involves shoulder girdle upward rotation and shoulder joint abduction.  To upwardly rotate the shoulder girdle, baseball pitchers use their Trapezius I muscle.  To abduct their shoulder joint, baseball pitchers use their middle Deltoid and Supraspinatus muscles.  To reposition their pitching forearm for whatever pitch they want to throw, to varying degrees, involves what appears to be shoulder joint outward rotation, but the inertia of the pitching forearm, wrist, hand, fingers and baseball plioanglosly forces this to happen.  Therefore, it actually involves the muscles that inwardly rotate the shoulder joint.

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147.  My son is a freshman at a local university where emphasis is placed on academics, not athletics.  Understandably, he wants to be as good a pitcher as possible and perhaps be in the starting rotation at some point.  Do you offer any summer clinics that he can attend?

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     Even though I could earn a ton of money training baseball pitchers such as your son for four to eight weeks during the summer, I understand that four to eight weeks is far too short to truly benefit these young men.  Therefore, no I do not offer any summer clinics that your son can attend.

     However, on my website, without charge, I have provided my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video for visitors to watch, my Coaching Baseball Pitchers book and other text files for visitors to read, my Question/Answer files for visitors to scan and my Pitcher Training Programs for visitors to download and complete.

     Therefore, your son has everything that he needs to become the best injury-free, highly-skilled baseball pitcher that he can be.  All he as to do is learn what I have placed on my website.

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148.  It seems silly to me that the people writing checks to pitchers would look into changing the dimensions of the mound and the game, rather than the mechanics of the pitchers.  Nevertheless, I would be interested in hearing your comments on how lowering the mound may or may not reduce injuries for "traditional" pitchers, and of course the effect that lowering the mound would have on your approach.

I found this study online and thought I would forward it to you:

http://www.scientificblogging.com/news_releases/lower_pitchers_mound_will_reduce_baseball_injuries_study

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Lower Pitcher's Mound Will Reduce Baseball Injuries - Study Submitted by News Account on 23 March 2008 - 1:47am. Applied Science

In baseball's golden age, pitchers had a higher mound and threw more complete games, but careers were shorter.  As salaries continue to rise there is greater concern about protecting the investments.  A new study involving several Major League Baseball pitchers indicates that the height of the pitcher’s mound can affect the athlete’s throwing arm motion, which may lead to potential injuries because of stress on the shoulder and elbow.

The study was led by William Raasch, M.D., associate professor of orthopaedic surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, who also is the head team physician for the Milwaukee Brewers.  Major League Baseball funded the study in an effort to help prevent injuries among professional baseball players.

While they did not get enough data to recommend reducing the 10-inch mound height, which became standard in 1968 and is also used in college and high school baseball, Dr. Raasch says the findings give trainers information that can help them determine if pitchers would be better off practicing on flat ground especially after an injury.

The researchers recruited 20 top-level, elite pitchers from Major League Baseball organizations and Milwaukee-area NCAA Division I-A college pitchers for the study, which was conducted both during 2007 spring training in Arizona and at the Froedtert & Medical College Sports Medicine Center in Milwaukee.

“Our researchers employed a motion analysis system using eight digital cameras that recorded the three-dimensional positions of 43 reflective markers placed on the athletes’ bodies.  Then we analyzed the pitching motion at mound heights of the regulation 10-inches, along with eight-inch and six-inch mounds, as well as having the athletes throw from flat ground,” Dr. Raasch explains.

The study focused on determining if there is increased stress on the shoulder or the elbow based on the height from which the pitcher has thrown. A kinematic analysis provided information regarding pitching motion (position and velocity), while the kinetic analysis determined the forces and torques generated at the shoulder and elbow.

“We found that compared to flat ground, pitchers using a 10-inch mound experience an increase in superior shear and adduction torque in the shoulder – meaning there’s a greater amount of stress on the joint surface and surrounding structures.  That greater stress may result in injury to the shoulder including tearing of the rotator cuff or labrum which may result in surgery and long-term rehabilitation.  It also can make it difficult for the athlete to replicate the same throw and develop a consistent strike,” Dr. Raasch says.

“The most notable kinematic difference was the increase in shoulder external rotation at foot contact. This probably represents a change in the timing of the foot contact relative to arm position, because the foot lands earlier in the pitch delivery during flat ground throwing than with a slope,” he says.

“Nolan Ryan, who played major league baseball for 27 years, often threw pitches more than 100 mph, even past the age of 40, and he liked to throw on flat ground in his waning years.  I think others might follow his lead,” Dr. Raasch says.  He adds that he hopes subsequent research during spring training in 2008 will provide even more valuable findings for baseball players and trainers.

The results of the study were presented at the 2007 MLB Winter Meetings at the joint session of the Major League Baseball Team Physicians Association and Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society.  Coauthors of the study include Jeremy R. O’Brien, M.S., research engineer; Craig C. Young, M.D., professor of orthopaedic surgery; and Mark W. Lydecker, MPT, OCS, ATC, physical therapist at the sports center.

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     That Dr. Raasch cares what Nolan Ryan has to say about anything proves that he is not a research scientist.

     That Dr. Raasch does not understand that baseball pitchers spend years to master their baseball pitching motion with regard to the height of the mound, such that, when they threw on lower mounds, their pitching rhythm would remain the same as they have used for years proves that he does not understand motor skill acquisition.

     Basically, this (research) study is ridiculous.

     The cause of the unnecessary stress on the pitching shoulder and elbow lies in the injurious flaws inherent in the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion, not the height of the baseball pitching mound.

     The cure for rupturing the Ulnar Collateral Ligament is for 'traditional' baseball pitchers to pendulum swing their pitching hand all the way up to driveline height in one smooth, continuous movement.

     The cure for irritating the front of the pitching shoulder is for 'traditional' baseball pitchers to move their pitching hand to driveline height at the same time that their glove foot lands.

     Therefore, lowering the mound would not decrease pitching arm injuries and practicing pitching off flat ground between pitching off the mound in competitive games, because of the muscle memory that baseball pitchers develop relative to pitching off mounds, would increase pitching arm injuries.

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149.  Thank you for making sense of the pitching motion.  As an engineer, I always puzzled at the supposed benefit of a high leg lift.  I remember reading one book where a pitcher claimed that he gained at least 5 mph when he used a higher leg lift.

I also was glad to see you state (in #81) that the changing from a windup to a slide step disrupts the pitching rhythm.  Your consistent motion is reason enough to change.

Don't feel too upset that Newton's Laws are poorly understood.  When recently researching my father on the web (he was a rocket scientist), I came across the fact that Fritz Zawicky - the father of the jet engine - claimed in 1937 that a rocket could not operate in outer space because it required the atmosphere to push against to provide thrust!  (By 1940, he realized that he was mistaken.)  Maybe, he was absent the day they discussed Newton's Third Law!

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     At least it only took Mr. Zawicky three years to correct himself.  Baseball has had over one hundred and thirty years and still does not get it.

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150.  After watching your video, I am utterly amused and disgusted that you are actually teaching someone to throw a baseball using these mechanics.  The concept makes absolutely no sense and the probability of an injury occurring by using this technique increases ten fold.

I truly believe this is money making scheme and even the players in your video could not successfully use the mechanics you were attempting to teach consistently or properly.  Someone from the medical field such as Dr. Andrews should take a look at what you are teaching and make a medical judgment on the actual positioning of the elbow.  It is sad that people across the country are actually watching this and trying to replicate whatever the hell you are teaching.

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     Finally, I have encountered someone with the insight and intelligence to see through my charade.  I am raking in the money fooling the dunces into believing that I actually pitched 208 closing innings.  Like the moon landing, I filmed it in the back lots of a Hollywood studio.

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151.  Sports Illustrated has opened its archives for free.  Here is a copy of the article about you in 1974 that I think your Web site viewers would be interested in reading.  I think you should have been in the Nike commercial for "I am not a role model" instead of Charles Barkley.  This should also be seen and given to every youth baseball coach as well as major league pitchers to see what they could become in terms of durability.

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August 12, 1974

HE ALSO SERVES WHO SITS AND WAITS

But baseball's best reliever—and most reluctant hero—seldom waits for long.  Mike Marshall is busily working on his doctorate and a pennant for the Dodgers.

By Ron Fimrite

It is best that Mike Marshall never learn that his peers—if it can be said he has any—tend to think of him as a luxury item.  As an academician and a libertarian, Marshall has little tolerance for those who would confuse a person with a commodity.  The dignity of man is one of his enduring passions, a subject to be taken no more lightly than, say, physiological psychology, his field of scholarship at Michigan State University.

Nevertheless, when Walter Alston was asked last week to describe what the addition of this indefatigable relief pitcher had meant to his team, the Dodger manager said, "Mike Marshall gives us the luxury to do things we could not do before."  He cited as a perfect example the events of that very night when Andy Messersmith, the Los Angeles starter, mysteriously departed a game against San Diego after seven innings of nearly flawless, seven-zip pitching.

Naturally, his replacement was Marshall, making his 70th appearance of the season.  With the bristling efficiency that characterizes his every movement on and off the diamond, Marshall mixed his favorite screwball with a good fastball and a hard slider to retire the next six Padres and preserve the victory.

"Why was Messersmith removed?" Alston was asked.

"We talked it over and decided to rest Andy for the important games coming up with Houston and Cincinnati," he replied.  "And we had a pretty good man out there in the bullpen."

Was Messersmith, whose record is 13-2, miffed at being deprived of both a complete game and a possible shutout?

"So what if I go nine and get a shutout?" he said.  "That's personal baseball, and I don't believe in it.  Besides, Mike had a day off yesterday and we were afraid he'd get rusty."

Two nights later, Marshall relieved starter Al Downing after that worthy walked the first San Diego batter in the seventh inning.  Downing was leading 3-1 despite occasional fits of inaccuracy and seemed to be pitching effectively enough.  No matter.  In came the ubiquitous Marshall for the 71st time.

Did the Padres score another run?  Is a betting man a good credit risk?  Marshall not only shut them out in the remaining three innings, he singled in two of the five runs the Dodgers scored after he appeared on the scene.  But why was Downing taken out of the game so abruptly?

"He kept getting in trouble with his control," said Alston.

"We only had a two-run lead," said Downing, a gracious man.  "And we've got a pretty good man out there in the bullpen."

In both instances, Marshall was a luxury.  He can work so often and with no appreciable diminution of skill that a manager can rest a Messersmith or remove a slightly shaky Downing with no fear of the consequences.  Because of Marshall, Alston carries only nine pitchers on his roster, although he ordinarily prefers 10.  He could just as well limit himself to five—four starters and that "pretty good man out there in the bullpen."

"If he wasn't winning, I might complain about not pitching," said fellow reliever Charles Hough of Marshall.  "What can you do when you're playing behind the best there is?"  Not much.  After relieving Don Sutton last Friday, Marshall had appeared in 73 of the Dodgers' first 109 games, including a record-breaking 13 in succession from June 18 through July 3.

During those thirteen consecutive games, he won six, lost none and saved two.  In one six-game stretch, the Dodgers won five times by one run and Marshall was the winning pitcher in all of those narrow victories.  Dodger pitchers have not had two complete games in a row since mid-May and have had only 26 this year.

Complete games are indeed rare when Marshall is within hailing distance.  Last year, when he was with Montreal, which traded him during the off-season to the Dodgers for Willie Davis, he set a major league record by appearing in 92 games, a total he is certain to exceed this season.  His record is already 11 and 6 and he has 16 saves.  He could become the first pitcher to appear in 100 games in a season and the first reliever to win 20.  He is, as Hough says, "fantastic."

Marshall rejects such hyperbole.  He is able to do what he does, he says, because he has spent 10 years studying both pitching technique and the workings of the human body.  Despite the objections of several major and minor league managers, he developed the screwball to a fine art.

But Marshall is not merely a student of the game.  Sometime this year, he should receive his doctorate in physiology from Michigan State as the result of a five-year program of study that he describes pedantically:  "I am in the College of Education, Department of Physical Education, majoring in exercise physiology with a cognate degree in physiological psychology.  My specialty is child growth and development.  The topic of my dissertation is Classifying Adolescence Males for Motor Proficiency Norms.  No one ever seems to get all that straight."

Marshall insists it is scholarship, not unusual physical prowess that is the source of his durability.  He can pitch more often than anyone else because he knows more about his body.  He trains his own way, stubbornly ignoring baseball conditioning rules that were developed, if that is the word for it, in the days of the brothers Delahanty.

"He's inventive in a game that hasn't had much inventiveness in the last 103 years," says Steve Garvey, the Dodgers' first baseman who was a student of Marshall's in a kinesiology class at MSU.

"Mike believes in long-distance running, not sprints, in weight work and in a lot of muscle stretching," says Messersmith.  "He knows more about what goes into the pitching motion than anybody in the world.  He has lectured to me a lot about the functions of the body."

Marshall's 31-year-old body is unremarkable.  He is short for a pitcher—only 5'10"—and he weighs 180 pounds.  He has big shoulders and a weight-lifter's arms, but he bulges at the middle.  He has long sideburns and an impressive mustache, but his curly brown hair has thinned on top.  Standing one sunny day last week in the doorway of the Lanai Coffee Shop at San Diego's Town & Country Hotel pensively chewing on a toothpick, he could have passed for a life-insurance salesman.

What is remarkable about Marshall is his mind.  Baseball may never have known one quite like it. "I am an educator," he explained from the improbable vantage point of the Dodgers' dugout.  His teammates busied themselves with batting practice and shagging fly balls, activities that seemed increasingly trivial as Marshall ventured random opinions on the human condition.

"Baseball is a hobby I pursue.  Other than the actual playing of the game, I find the whole of professional baseball extremely boring and mind-dulling.  Oh, certainly, there are some fellows here I enjoy, but it's not the same as in the academic community.  Fortunately, I'm able to see some of my friends in education during the summer.  They recharge me."

(There seems to be something missing here.)

He could not think of it.  Maybe it was:  "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."  Anyway, Marshall was off and running, looking strangely like a small boy at play.

That night he would jog in from the bullpen, carefully tamp down the mound, rescue Downing and, as a true team player, help achieve victory with his bat.  Afterward, he would dress quickly, steer clear of journalists imposing on his privacy and retreat out of sight.

Marshall has a wife and three daughters, but he refuses to discuss anything so private as family life.  He is equally reluctant to reveal what plans he might have after he achieves his doctorate.  He has said before that he is fully prepared to abandon the ball park for the groves of academe, although he cannot expect an educational institution, even one as affluent as Michigan State, to reward him with a salary comparable to the $87,500 the Dodgers reportedly pay him.  The inordinate amounts paid big leaguers is merely an added incongruity in the life of an intellectual who plays a child's game so well that he keeps winning, even while deploring the concept of victory.

Messersmith, also a speedy dresser, was happy with the victory that kept the Dodgers 5½ games ahead of the Reds, their opponents in a key three-game series this week.  "I know what Mike says about winning, and how performance is all that really matters," he said.  "But there's one thing:  his kind of performance leads to winning."

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     Those were the days.  If I had known then what I know now, then I could have kept those days going for several more years.  Nevertheless, that year provides the evidence that, today, I know how all baseball pitchers can do what I did and more.

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152.  I have a client who is a professional tennis player; she has had a chronic tendonitis of the supraspinatus for approx. 6-8 month.  Without going into too much detail, she is becoming extremely disheartened about any overhead movements.  I am an ex-physiologist who studied in England.

I watched your show the other night and am coming to the conclusion that you could help not just baseball players, but tennis servers too.  By the way, I run a Physical Therapy clinic in Tampa and I’m treating her with conventional shoulder stabilization exercises as well as passive modalities.  What are your feelings on the matter?

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     With some minor adjustments to meet the needs of each sport skill, the drills that I use to teach my baseball pitching motion works for all maximum intensity overhead throwing motion.  This includes tennis serving.  I have rehabilitated many tennis servers including a professional player who won major tournaments.

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153.  I just watched your pitching videos and that could be the ugliest pitching motion ever.  How can you teach someone to do that?  If it is so great, why don't you see and major league guys do it?

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     Isn't it amazing what a doctoral degree in Exercise Physiology, Kinesiology and Motor Skill Acquisition, fourteen years of major league experience with five top ten finishes in the Cy Young Award, including being the first closer to win the Cy Young Award and forty-one years of research would teach me was the best injury-free, highly-skilled baseball pitching motion?

     It is too bad that you and major league baseball pitchers are insufficiently educated to understand that the 'traditional' baseball pitching motion has destroyed hundred of thousands of pitching arms, yet you continue to support it.

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154.  I heard about your services on the television.  I can’t remember which channel, but your program looks a quite interesting approach.

I am the mother of a very highly skilled baseball player who has lost his ability to throw the baseball to its desired target.  Just about 4 weeks ago he was throwing rockets with his dad from any position 200-250 ft arm speed is about 80-82 15 years old.  He went to tryouts and the second day came back like an 8 year old throwing the ball.  He has played for numerous travel teams here in the northeast and played well and was well known.

Is this the yips or is this an amenity problem that the brain forgets how to throw properly.  Oh, another thing the slower he tries to through the worst he looks and, in the gym, they told the boys I don’t want anyone throwing hard.

Can you help us?  Is baseball over for him?

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     It sounds to me like performance anxiety.  I recommend that you don't bring someone in to teach him.  I recommend that you leave him alone.  If he wants to play baseball, then he will figure it out on his own.

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155.  I am currently working on my Doctorate in Physical Therapy.  I am doing a project on Little League Elbow, and I am very interested in referencing your research on a more biomechanically efficient method of pitching.

I was wondering if you could verbally describe the motions from the beginning phase to the release of the ball.  I can visualize it, but I can't seem to figure out which muscles are being activated at which points.

I was watching your segment on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel and it appeared that most of your athletes had significant hypertrophy in the triceps.  I am wondering if that is due to specific training exercises, or due to the actual pitching motion.  Is the force being generated from the triceps?

If you could get back to me when you get a chance, I would greatly appreciate it, as I think this method would show great results in the physical therapy community.

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     I have answered these questions many, many times.  I request that you scan through my Question/Answer files, starting with 2008.

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156.  I understand you want your pitchers to point their feet directly toward the catcher, (0 degrees) and step forward as in a normal walking motion when driving the ball home.  By moving the center of mass forward in this way, you can very efficiently rotate the pitching hip and shoulder toward home plate and beyond the glove foot.  The large muscles on the front of the thigh, as well as, I assume, the Soleus muscle of the lower leg help to accelerate the pitching hip forward.  Then, the pitching knee should drive inward toward the glove side thigh.

I understand that when traditional pitchers place their pitching foot parallel to the pitching rubber, (90 degrees) they cannot perform this action, because they are merely using the muscles located laterally on their upper leg to “abduct” their leg away from their body, and not getting the full benefit of rotating their hips until well after the ball is released…which is too late.

I have seen javelin throwers using a foot placement action during final drive that would appear to have them pointing their throwing foot about 30 to 45 degrees toward the throwing arm side of their body.  It appears they abduct their throwing leg to a certain degree, then as forward momentum carries them forward at the proper instant they immediately, and slightly lift the throwing heel, powerfully rotating on the “ball” of the foot to transition into a very powerful forward walking motion.  To my untrained eye it appears they are receiving the dual benefit of “abduction” then “extension” as their “in between” throwing foot placement allows for the smooth and powerful transition from one to the other.

If your pitchers would use their foot placement and leg action in a similar fashion, couldn’t they get the dual benefits of leg abduction and extension?  Perhaps I’m missing something.

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     Rather than the force generated by the pitching foot pushing back toward second base, the critical element in the actions of the legs is the powerful forward rotation of the body through release over the glove foot.  Therefore, the action of the pitching leg must help the body accomplish this forward rotation.

     This means that how quickly my baseball pitchers can move their pitching hip forward is more important than how powerfully they can push off the pitching rubber.  Therefore, they need to powerfully flex, not extend their hip joint.  To do this, they contract their Abdominal, Rectus Femoris, Vastus Medealis, Vastus Intermedius and Vastus Lateralis muscles.

     With my Maxline pitches, I want my baseball pitchers to step at forty-five degrees to the glove side of their body (drop step).  They should have their pitching arm in my Loaded Slingshot position a the same time that the heel of their glove foot touches the ground.

     At this moment, I want my baseball pitchers to simultaneously roll across the entire length of their glove foot, move their pitching arm into my Slingshot position and drive their bent pitching knee diagonally toward their glove knee.

     Next, I want my baseball pitchers to simultaneously raise up on the toes of their glove foot and point their acromial line and pitching upper arm at home plate.

     Lastly, I want my baseball pitchers to simultaneously pull their glove forearm straight back to their glove shoulder, push hard backward toward second base with their glove foot and powerfully extend their pitching elbow, pronate their pitching forearm and inwardly rotate their pitching upper arm.

     With my Torque pitches, I want my baseball pitchers to step toward their pitching arm side such that their glove foot lands on the line between where their pitching foot is on the pitching rubber and home plate.  They should have their pitching arm in my Loaded Slingshot position a the same time that the heel of their glove foot touches the ground.

     At this moment, I want my baseball pitchers to simultaneously roll across the entire length of their glove foot, move their pitching arm into my Slingshot position and drive their bent pitching knee diagonally toward their glove knee.

     Next, I want my baseball pitchers to simultaneously raise up on the toes of their glove foot and point their acromial line and pitching upper arm at home plate.

     Lastly, I want my baseball pitchers to simultaneously pull their glove forearm straight back to their glove shoulder, push hard backward toward second base with their glove foot and powerfully extend their pitching elbow, pronate their pitching forearm and inwardly rotate their pitching upper arm.

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157.  I recently had to pitch off of a mound that had a virtual crater in front of the rubber.  I tried to keep my normal toe-forward approach, but the mound simply did not allow for it.  So, I was forced to place my foot parallel to the rubber and compensated by:

1.  Passively rotating acromial line to point no further than home plate (as usual).

2.  Pendulum swung down/back/up such that the palm faced outward at shoulder height, etc (as usual).

3.  Made sure that, given my parallel foot placement, I did not reverse rotate acromial line and arm past 2B (as usual, but with a little more attention to this particular component).

4.  Straight drive line, pronate (as usual).

Results were good.  I did not allow the mound to throw me off balance physically or mentally.  I managed to stand tall and rotate, but not as well as I would have on a well groomed mound.

Was my compensatory approach OK?  Do you have any other recommendations?

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     With my Maxline pitches, I want my baseball pitchers to step at a forty-five degree angle to the glove side of their body.  This should put your glove foot to the side of any hole made by 'traditional' baseball pitchers.

     With my Torque pitches, I would have taken the time to push the displaced dirt into the hole and stomp it down.

     Under no circumstances would I turn my pitching foot to parallel with the pitching rubber.

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158.  I see on your website that you recommended a book called, You Must Relax, to someone with performance anxiety.  Do you think this is good reading for a teenager?

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     You Must Relax by Edmond Jacobson is a good book for everybody to read.  I used it to teach a course in Neuromuscular Tension Control.  If you have any problems finding a copy, let me know.  I believe that I still have some from those days that I taught the course.

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159.  My son is 19 years old and is a college freshman.  He is getting some playing time as a PH,DH and PR.  He is now considered an outfielder and a first baseman, but will never be used in these positions because of a throwing anxiety he developed 5 years ago.  I realize you work to teach different mechanics to pitchers.  However, I wondered if you thought teaching him to throw another way might restore his confidence to overcome his anxiety?

I will attempt to give you a brief background.  Up until age 13, he was an exceptional pitcher and shortstop with speed, great hands and fluidity.  He has always been a hard worker.  In fact, he was voted the hardest working freshman this year.  I only mention this because Tom Hanson (sports psychologist) told me that most of the ones to develop this anxiety are hard workers.  Anyway, he lost his throwing mechanics just before age 14.  I feel this was due to an embracing moment when he made a bad throw during a game.  Since then he has struggled with his mechanics and never knows where it is going.  He has never had any pain or injury with his arm.

I saw your interview with Bryant Gumbel tonight and the guys throwing with your mechanics remind me of Zeke.  This made me wonder!  I'll admit it maybe far fetched but we are desperate.  This is a kid that was signed by one of the top baseball programs in America only for his hitting and speed.  His defensive abilities would be his best tool if he could throw again.  Many Pro scouts have told him that he would be signed if he could whip this throwing problem.  Problem is, no one has found a solution.  This has been a gut-wrenching time.  It's like having a child with a disability and no one to help him!!!  Do you think you can help or do you know anyone that could?

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     The reason why your son and many, many others develop a fear of throwing is the uncertainty they have in their ability to repeat the same throwing motion in competition as when they practice.  When they practice, they do not feel rushed or pressured.  However, in competition, they feel rushed and pressured.

     Their throwing inconsistency comes from the amount of horizontal centripetal force that they generate with the 'traditional' throwing motion.

     However, with my baseball pitching motion, my baseball pitchers do not generate horizontal centripetal force.

     Therefore, your son should practice throwing with my Wrong Foot Slingshot drill, my Wrong Foot Loaded Slingshot drill, my Wrong Foot Pendulum Swing drill and my One Step Crow-Hop Pendulum Swing drill.  I believe that he will find less inconsistency between his practice throws and his competition throws.

     On my website, without charge, I have provided my Baseball Pitchers Instructional Video for visitor to watch, my Coaching Baseball Pitchers book and other text files for visitors to read, my Question/Answer files for visitors to scan and my Baseball Pitchers Training Programs for visitors to copy and complete.  I recommend that, except for throwing screwballs and curves, your son complete my 120-Day High School Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program.

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160.  I looked through your on-line book and videos, but could not see any examples or mention of pitching from the stretch.

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     With base runners on first and second bases, my baseball pitchers use my Drop Out Wind-Up body action.  When they suspect an attempt to steal second, my left-handed baseball pitchers can use my Set Position Wind-Up body action.

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161.  I saw your story on HBO the other day and was impressed.  I have a couple of questions for you.

My son is 11 years old and has never played baseball.  He would like to play and has natural athletic ability.  I was wondering if he learned your technique if he would be able to start playing the game now or is it too late for him.  We have a very competitive league and most kids his age have been playing since they were 4 or 5 years old.  I feel like he may be able to play if he could pitch.  This brings me to my next question.

Do you offer any kind of camp that he could attend for a week this summer?

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     Because I strongly recommend that youth baseball pitchers do not pitch competitively until they master the skills that I teach in my 60-Day Youth Baseball Pitchers Motor Skill Acquisition Program and are biologically thirteen years old, this is the perfect time for your son to start to learn how to pitch.

     I do not offer camps for youth baseball pitchers. Instead, I want their parents to become their baseball pitching coach.

     On my website, without charge, I have provided my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video for parents to watch, my Coaching Baseball Pitchers book and other text files for parents to read, my Question/Answer files for parents to scan and my Baseball Pitchers Training Program for parents to copy and have their sons complete.  You and your son should start by watching my video.

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162.  I do/did place my landing foot at 45 degrees.  As best I could, I did as you said with maxlines.  The torques were the problem, as you can imagine.  The ground was frozen.  But, I get your point.  Much appreciated.

One more thing.  I've been using an 8 lbs shotput that feels too big for my hand.  I tried calling for a special order 8 lbs ball per your website instructions.  I know you're busy.  How can I get an 8 lbs ball without intruding on your time?  If it's listed somewhere in the Q&A, I've missed it.

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     With my drop step, baseball pitchers step forty-five degrees to the glove side of the line between their pitching foot and home plate and, when their glove foot lands, to have a stronger base from which to drive their body toward home plate, they have the foot turned outward at forty-five degrees.

    In my Equipment Venders file, it shows that I am the person to contact for the eight, ten and twelve pound iron balls.

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163.  I wondered what your history was following MLB.  Now, I know.  I saw the piece Bryant Gumbel did on your insights into throwing techniques and injury rehab.  I am a physician.  I played in the Minor leagues of tennis 35 yrs ago.

Recently, I have been unable to reach full extension at the elbow.  Routine XR is negative for fx, dislocation, or pathology, e.g. OA etc.

  In the piece, you mentioned Olecranon Bursitis as a possible precipitant?  How did you treat?

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     Unfortunately, it is impossible to regain the loss of extension and flexion ranges of motion in the pitching elbow.  The only thing that athletes can do is to learn how to powerfully pronate their pitching/serving forearm before, during and after release/contact.

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164.  I understand.  I use the pseudo-traditional and I step 45 degrees to the glove side of the line.  And, my foot is turned outward at 45 degrees.  All very natural and powerful thanks to your training.  I'm not a power pitcher, but I did add 4 mph over the past 7 months.  I don't need to tell you how much fun I'm having with your pronation curve.

I did refer to the Equipment Vender file and did call the number listed as directed.  I can send a money order if that is acceptable.

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     Are you able to properly time the push-back off your glove foot with your pitching forearm acceleration through release?

     Can you imagine what would happen in major league baseball if I taught all the baseball pitchers on one team how to properly throw my Maxline Pronation Curve?

     To purchase the eight, ten and twelve pound lead balls, you need to send me three dollars for every pound of lead balls that you want plus twenty dollars for shipping.  This means that if you want all thirty pounds of lead balls, you need to send me one hundred and ten dollars.

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165.  I am a 14 year old right handed pitcher.  I've pretty much pitched and played baseball all my life.  I have gone to a pitching coach named Eric Sparks for about 5 years now and he says he has worked with you in the past.

He uses most of your techniques and mechanics such as a scap-load, hip load, and moving your body around the baseball with his major goal of being throwing without pain.  He has the same mentality as you in which the traditional motion causes arm injuries.

Late last September, I was pitching in a game when I fractured my medial-epicondyle bone.  The fracture required surgery where they put a screw in my elbow to hold the bone in place.

Now, my question to you is why did this occur? What was I doing wrong in my mechanics?  How can I fix this mechanical flaw? Was it because I was throwing too much (which I did a lot during the summer)?  Also, since the screw in my elbow is removable, is it recommended that I get it removed?

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     I do not teach Scapula Loading.  I do not teach Hip Load, whatever that is.  And, I have no idea what moving your body arong the baseball means.

Those are very dangerous techniques that contributed to your injury.  I am afraid that the few months that Mr. Sparks trained with me did not prepare him to properly teach my baseball pitching motion.  He added some garbage of his own.

     You pulled the ossification center for your medial epicondyle off the shaft of the Humerus bone in your pitching upper arm because of the unnecessary stress of the 'Reverse Pitching Forearm Bounce' in your baseball pitching motion.  'Reverse Pitching Forearm Bounce' occurs when baseball pitchers take the baseball out of their glove with their pitching hand on top of the baseball.

     Without Mr. Sparks' future involvement, after the medial epicondyle ossification center reattaches to its Humerus bone, you need to complete my 120-Day High School Baseball Pitchers Interval-Training Program.

     On my website, without charge, I have provided my Baseball Pitching Instructional Video for visitors to watch, my Coaching Baseball Pitchers book and other text files for visitors to read, my Question/Answer files for visitors to scan and my Baseball Pitching Training Programs for visitors to download and complete.  You should start by watching my video.

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166.  I saw in this week's letters that one of your readers got banned from baseball-fever and Jake Patterson for two weeks.  Tell him he's not trying hard enough.  For what it's worth, I thought I'd post what Jake Patterson wrote on baseball-fever after a visit to your Training Center for your readers:

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3/8/2007

"Hi All,

Some time ago I promised a report on my eventual visit to Dr. Mike Marshall's facility.

I was able to visit Dr. Marshall's facility in Zephyrhills, FL this past week and had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Marshall, Bill Peterson (Coach45) and 10 of Dr. Marshall's students.

What these young men are doing is remarkable.  While I do not profess to understand Dr. Marshall's methods (yet), the affects of his training were very impressive.  When comparing Doc's guys to what I saw in the Pirates and Reds spring-training bullpens this week I would have to say Doc's guys (The more senior ones at least) seemed to be throwing every bit as good and seemed to have a larger variety of pitches than the Pirates' and Reds' squads.  This of course is my opinion only as I did not have a gun nor did I track pitches for comparative analysis.

Marshall himself is a wealth of information and an asset to the game.  He is truly the gentleman others have reported.  He was extremely open about what he does and why and very passionate about his work.  The visit clarified many misconceptions I had about his techniques, and more important, what others have led me to believe about his training - more specifically his weight and iron ball training.  I have a ways to go before I can say I understand the motion and will go back and view his DVD again.

Bill Peterson's son is every bit as impressive as the few short clips Bill has posted on various sites demonstrate.  Bill understands the technique and I believe he is more than capable of helping others better understand what Marshall has spent the better part of his life developing.

The most impressive part of my day there was Bill was able to get me to throw (at 50+ years old) with a few minutes of training pain-free.  It was the first time in 15 years."

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