| Jim Hendry - Baseball in the United States "How Right you are" |
Jim Hendry - Your belief is our mission
Chicago Sun-Times Article on November 8th, Jim Hendry admitted what we have been preaching for the past 2 years. In fact Jim hit our mission right on the head when he spoke the truth in this article titled "Cubs Picking Up Japanese".
" The world has changed. The rest of the world has gotton a lot better at baseball in the last decade or so. At the amauter level going into professional baseball I can't say that the United States has."
Jim Hendry - Chicago Cubs General Manager
To all of the lesson providers, parents, specialized trainers, those who favor pitch counts, no curve balls, more rest, more games, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT?
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You said it Jim. We have been saying it now for the past couple of years. This is why we have programs like “Black Belt” and the TBA and TSA programs. Let’s look at the results of pitchers shall we?
Injuries are at an all time high among youth, high school, College, and pro. One major league organization reported that 64% of it’s pitchers went through some type of re-hab or surgery in 2003. All these injuries happen, despite the dramatic change in our world. YOUR RIGHT JIM, THE WORLD HAS CHANGED, AND SO HAS LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES.
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Injuries continue to happen despite:
* Pitch Counts (Pitchers are throwing less pitches in a game)
* Innings (Very rarely do you see a 200 plus inning pitcher)
* Starts (The quality start of six innings – remember when they went 9)
* More Rest (Pitchers now have more rest between starts)
* More Lessons (Typical travel pitcher get’s lessons on how to pitch and avoid injury. Many coaches trying to cookie cut people into throwing exactly a like. Cues like "Pause at the top" "Get the arm UP" "Level Shoulders"
"Slow Down" "Balance being the key"
* Better Technology ( Video Tape, Slow Motion Video, Bio-Mechanical Analysis, but we are still getting hurt!)
* Easier Access to Orthepedic Surgeons, Trainers, Specialist in Science of throwing
* Typical youth pitcher plays and pitches in more games today, and practices less.
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Now let’s look at yester year when injuries were not as common
* Pitch Counts (Prior to 1975 there was no such thing as pitch counts)
* Innings (Pitchers throwing 200 innings was expected and 300 innings was in range)
* Starts ( You were expected to go 9 innings, and pitchers wanted to go 9)
* Rest (Pitchers threw with only 3 days rest, not the typical 4 they get today)
* Lessons? Ya Right! It was leave the house at 8am and come home for lunch, and go back out again until dinner. Our lesson was the success or failures we had playing fastpitch, burnout, lob league, running bases, and pinners.
* Technology - Once again the results dictacted our direction of change
* Typical kid threw, played and practice baseball way, way, way more than we played in games. We played all day everyday. We practice 3-4 times per week to play only twice per week. When I was 12 I believe I played in a total of 30 games which included regular season and Little League Tournament Play.
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THE PROBLEM AT THE ROOT IS.....
When I hear people talk about more rest, less pitches, private lessons, I kind of cringe. Not because I don’t think any of those are very important (because each has it’s own unique positive purpose) but I believe we have lost sight of what is really holding us back as a country in baseball, and especially with pitchers.
# 1 Our pitchers throw way to little, and pitch way too much. Todays youth player plays in 3 - 4 times the games we played in when we were kids. They are pitching like crazy, but this has elminated practice time. If we don't throw enough, our arms are not going to be strong enough.
# 2 The typical pitcher is not in the physical condition to handle the stress of pitching. This is where pitch counts can be good but the same reason why pitch counts is not the answer. The typical baseball player is not strong enough in the legs, core, or has built up enough arm strength to withstand the stress of pitching several pitches, several innings, over a course of a season. So our intentions of giving rest is good, we are only ignoring the real problem.
The days of riding your bike and playing ball all day are gone and video games and computers are in. Everything we do is “Adult Sponsored”. This is the new world we live in. Because of this kids are not doing the activities they once did. The result is they are naturally weaker in the legs, stomach, back. They don’t go out and play catch, they do this when they have practice and are made to play catch.
So while the rest of the world tries to play the blame game, and cutout pitches, curve balls, and tries to make everyone look exactly a like when they pitch, I will not stand by and watch it happen.
#3 Games Change Goals - The typical hitter is deathly afraid of striking out. Because we play so many games their is very little time to experiment. We are afraid to fail in games, with competition, and fans looking on. The typical hitter in the United States Does not hit like the typical hitter in the Dominican Republic. It comes down to a lack of swings, experimentation, and fear of looking bad when they strike out in front of their peers. Swinging hard and letting it hang out is part of the culture in other countries. Not in ours, not anymore.
Pitchers are competing at such an early age, they immediately are told "strikes" is the key to pitching. Good point, and well taken. But.......pitchers will then adapt and adjust to the goal. The goal is to throw strikes, not to throw hard. The result is you have 100 pitchers at a college showcase in the month of November whom are lucky if they are passing the 80mph mark. (That's for another day!)
As soon as the pitcher starts to get wild, he is immediately told to slow down and slow equals control. At least that's what everybody thinks. Pitchers in other countries throw and throw often. They throw hard, with natural athletic ability, not with cookie cutter lessons. They don't do lessons, they get out and experiment with the goal of throwing harder and farther.
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Our goal Today and why we have implemented Black Belt/TBA/TSA
From here on forward we will prepare the pitcher for the stress of pitching. Our focus will be on preparation, not limitation. We will prepare the body to be stronger, the arm to be stronger, and make our preparation extremely difficult and challenging. In fact when people leave our academy they are exhausted, physically and mentally. Our goal is to make the preparation so challenging, that when it comes to pitching in a game and throwing 80 pitches in 95 degree heat, he will consider this EASY!!!! The problem is when your not prepared physically, you most certainly will break down.
Mechanics most certainly play a role, however, good mechanics with poor preparation, and too much pitching will still equal eventual breakdown. Then you also have to keep in mind that no two pitching coaches in the world completely agree on what great pitching mechanics really are. Mechanics is simply your pitching coaches personal rendition of what your suppose to look like when you pitch.
With all of this said, if have not already, I invite you to come in and see what preparation is all about at 7pm Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday each week. You will see exactly why not only do our pitchers get prepared for the stress of pitching, but also how they build arm strength and throwing velocity. If you don’t want to get hurt then don’t throw hard!!! Throwing hard creates more danger for injury. So does this mean you don’t throw hard? Last time I checked scouts are not looking for 79mph throwers who can hit spots. They are looking for flame throwers that the personnel people can then work on improving command and off-speed.
Jim Lefebvre heads the Chinese National Team and has implemented the same program we are using right here at Fastball USA for the Chinese National Team. Brent Strom, former major league pitcher, and pitching coach believes so much in this system that he trains players on this all year. Finally, we shall thank Coach Ron Wolforth, CEO of Pitching Central, and the Texas Baseball Ranch for leading us down a road of much more successful baseball and softball athletes.
As we say everyday in our Black Belt Classes, " if you continue to do what your currently doing, then your going to continue to get the same results you always get". Change is needed, and needed now. Find out what everybody else is doing in the United States, and do the exact opposite.
Mike Ryan
Fastball USA
Questions/Comments
email fastballusa@hotmail.com
Jim Hendry Article Link:
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/640590,CST-SPT-cub08.article
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