what's up guys coach Madden official
trainer Yugo pro baseball and today we
got nine pitching velocity killers and
if you fix these you're going to pitch
faster now some of you may have seen my
video seven pitching velocity Killers um
where I talk about seven different
things that are killing your velocity if
you're doing them um and it's a it's
been a great video I think it's got
maybe 50,000 views something crazy I
don't even remember how many views it's
got but it was blowing up up there
everyone loves it but I want to upgrade
that video so we're going from Seven
pitching velocity Killers to nine
pitching velocity killers and I'm going
to take it a step further and I'm going
to show you how to fix each of the nine
things so this video is going to be very
very very valuable if you're a pitcher
so let's go the first pitching velocity
killer is going to be that you're not
getting deep enough into your back leg
what I see a lot of pitchers do is when
they go to pitch is they'll come up and
they start moving down the mound and
this back leg is kind of really straight
let me ask you something if you were
gonna try to jump as high as you can
would you jump with a slight Bend in
your leg or would you really get down
there and explode up you'd want to get
down there get into your legs and
explode up Bend those legs to create
energy upward we want to do the same
thing in pitching but we want to create
our energy going towards the home plate
so what it should look like when you're
getting into your back leg when you're
pitching is when you come up you kind of
want to sit into it and get a good deep
angle so that when you start moving down
that mound you can drive out of it and
create that energy going towards home
that's called leg drive and it's where
the Energy starts we create Ground Force
by pushing this rubber away from us and
in return we have an equal and opposite
reaction going the other way to do that
and to create enough energy and do it
efficiently we really need to get into
that back back leg so we can drive out
of it and extend out of it okay so
that's the first problem how do we fix
that how do we get better at it we can
do a drill that's called sit drives and
for sit drives all you're going to do is
take a bucket you're going to sit on
that bucket while you're on the mound
and you're going to drive out of that
sitting position and really think about
using that back leg you want to make
sure your knee is inside your back foot
when you do this pitching drill and
focus on going from that position
driving out and really using that back
leg to give you that extension and that
energy towards home the second pitching
velocity killer is going to be opening
your front side too early what I see a
lot of guys doing when they're pitching
is they start to pitch and right away
this front foot overtakes the delivery
so it's here and this starts to open
right away you're losing a lot of your
rotational energy and pitching velocity
by doing this because you're leaking
uh that rotational energy if
everything's opening up now you've just
got your arm to throw with basically so
what you want to do is keep that closed
you actually want to lead with the side
of your butt going down that mound for
as much as you can before you open up
your front side so you want to keep that
foot closed that hip closed going down
the mount so how do we fix this how do
we get better at this there's two drills
you can do one is the wall drill where
you get up close to the wall or to the
fence you're going to lift that leg and
start leading with the butt
the only thing that should hit that wall
or that fence is the side of your butt
your knee shouldn't hit your foot
shouldn't hit nor should your front
shoulder if you do this correctly you
know that you're leading with the side
of your butt going down the mount and
that you're staying closed the second
pitching drill to fix this or help get
better at this is going to be the uh toe
tap drill or The Empty Bottle drill
you're going to put a bottle um down
just to the side of the rubber you're
going to tap your toe to it and then
start moving down the mound while trying
to keep your toe connected to that
bottle before you release it and swing
that front door open this will also help
you keep that front side closed and
learn how to whip it open and get good
hip speed when you're pitching the third
pitching velocity killer is going to be
collapsing on your front leg I can't
tell you how many times I see this this
is probably one of the biggest pitching
problems that I see pitching velocity
killers that I see in uh young pitchers
is when they start to pitch they land on
that front leg and then they just
continue collapsing and their Shin angle
is way too vertical some guys even over
knee over the toe which is no bueno at
all um your shin angle wants to be
definitely with that knee behind that
ankle and pitching against that front
leg a lot of high velocity pitchers
you'll see are fully extended on that
front leg it's okay to have a slight
Bend because it's a very hard thing to
do but you want to make sure that chin
angle you're pitching into the ground
and that your knee is behind your ankle
and that you're not collapsing with the
knee going forward when you're pitching
so how do we work on this we do up the
mound throws so instead of throwing from
the uh rubber to home plate we're going
to go on the back of the mound and we're
actually going to go throw up the mound
okay and the reason why this is
effective is because it helps us teach
us that Shin angle and how to pitch
against our front leg okay so as we're
going up the slope we get to feel how
that front leg should feel okay and then
we really got to work against it and
throw down so that's a great pitching
drill to help fix that or get better at
that if you're collapsing your front leg
the fourth pitching velocity killer is
going to be flying open with the upper
body so we talked about flying open with
the lower body already but now flying
open with the upper body I see it happen
a lot as well um the the main reason I
see guys flying open with the front uh
side or the upper body um is going to be
because they start too open to begin
with so a lot of guys when they separate
their hands are separating straight
towards their target if you do this and
you start to create rotational energy
like you're supposed to a lot of times
you're going to fly out it just makes
sense so what you got to do is you have
to start more closed off what I teach my
pitchers to do is to separate their
hands at at least a 45° angle close so
if I'm pitching home and here's Third
Base 45° would be here so when I
separate my hands I'm separating at
least at a 45° angle closed a lot of
high velocity pitches will be 90 degrees
closed that's how closed they are so now
when they do open up they're just
opening up to in line okay so if you're
flying open on your front side it's
probably because you're starting too
open towards a Target start more closed
off try 5 45° at first and if that's not
working go a little further go a little
further go a little further a great
pitching drill you can do to uh fix this
or help work on this is going to be
reverse wall drills that's when you get
up against the wall going the opposite
way like the before earlier in the video
we talked about the wall drill going
into the wall this is the reverse wall
drill where we're going to go away from
the wall and the reason why this is
effective and can help us in this
situation is because if we separate
straight to our Target our hand is going
to hit that wall or that fence in the
back when we separate but if we're
separating at
45° uh or more closed off the angle at
which we separate our hands and if we're
moving down the mound at the right time
our hand and our arm is not going to
come anywhere near that wall when we're
pitching so that drill is a great drill
to help fix and work on the front side
opening a little too early all right the
fifth pitching velocity killer is not
getting enough hip Tosh shoulder
separation and what is hip Tosh shoulder
separation first of all hip Tosh
shoulder separation is how much your
hips are separated from your shoulder
when you get into your uh Landing okay
so when my front foot lands how far are
my shoulders separated from my hips
right okay the reason this is important
is they did a study a while ago that
shows that 80% of your pitching velocity
comes from your hip Tosh shoulder
separation so if you have good hip Tosh
shoulder separation you're going to
throw faster than a guy who doesn't have
good hip Tosh shoulder separation so
it's very very important so how do we
work on this couple things you can do uh
one and probably the most important is
mobility right you got to have good hip
mobility good mobility in general to put
your body and let your body get into
these positions and have these fluid
motions right so to have good hip to
shoulder separation you have to be
totally uh mobile and flexible as a
pitcher as an athlete okay I did I shot
a great video six simple stretches to
increase your pitching velocity by
unlocking your hips I'll leave a link
below but it's got some really great
stretches and Mobility exercises that
you can do to really uh unlock your hips
and get looser hips so it helped you get
into this uh these positions especially
this hip toh shoulder separation
position that we need for our pitching
velocity so that's one way check that
video out you can do some of those
stretches it's just being having that
Mobility the second thing is we can get
stronger faster and more explosive
through that movement and the way we do
that is by medicine ball throws so we
can grab our medicine ball down by the
side at our back hip we're going to
stride just like we're pitching we're
going to try to keep that medicine ball
back as long as we can and then we're
going to explode it and throw it going
forward we can also do the medicine ball
throws with the medicine ball up by our
back shoulder instead of down by our
back hip and we're gonna turn stride
keep that medicine ball back as long as
we can so we can feel that uh stretch
that tension that elastic energy uh
pulling and then unload it and throw it
forward as well so those are a few great
things you can do to work on getting
better hip Tosh shoulder separation
which will increase your pitching
velocity the sixth pitching velocity
killer is going to be being disconnected
with your arm when you're pitching what
I see a lot of guys do is they get when
they get into that power position or
that hip Tosh shoulder separ uh
separation position their arm is
disconnected like they're kind of
dragging that arm behind and they're not
connected where we want to be is at 90°
or slightly inside we want to be
connected so that we're loaded and then
we can unload right everything about
pitching is loading and unloading
loading and unloading when you think
about it we want to load up all that
energy and and unload it and if we're
disconnected with that pitching arm
we're not going to we're not going to be
able to have as much unloading that we
want when we're throwing right so we
want to be connected 90° or slightly
inide of that 90° angle so how can we
fix this there's a thing called The
Connection ball that I like to use you
just put the ball in between your bicep
and your forearm and you get into that
position and you could do rocker drills
you can even start in your scap load
when you're doing it or you can be in
that power position kind of get some
movement and then you're just going to
throw the baseball that connection ball
will pop out but you're working on the
feeling of staying connected and getting
used to being in that position when you
get there the seventh pitching velocity
killer and this is another huge one that
I see especially in the younger pitchers
is getting around the baseball when
you're throwing I see so many young
players when they throw they're
releasing the ball and they're like on
the side of it here here and they're
throwing sliders as their fast ball a
lot of those guys say they have elbow
soreness as well and this is no way know
you don't want elbow Sor you don't want
your elbow to ever hurt right that's a
bad thing when it comes to pitching
especially at a young age so uh what we
actually want to happen instead of being
on the side of the baseball is we want
to be behind that baseball at release
point and actually pronating through our
release Point okay pronating just means
turning the arm and the hand
this way as we release so think about
taking your thumb and turning it down as
you release if you guys ever uh learn
how to throw a circle change up that's
how you throw the circle change up but
this actually happens on your fast ball
as well the only difference between the
fast ball and the circle Change Up is on
the fast ball the pronation happens
through release point on the change up
it's going to happen a little bit
earlier okay so if you're a guy who gets
around the baseball when you're throwing
um how can we work on that how can we
fix it and make it better there's a
great pitching drill that you can do
called pivot picks and for pivot picks
you're actually going to throw to your
arm side you're going to get set up so
if I'm set up like this I'm actually
going to be throwing to you so all
you're going to do is get into an
athletic position you're going to come
up like you're making a muscle turn as
far as you can you guys are probably
going to be able to turn a little F
farther than I can turn as far as you
can and throw this way you can throw
into a net you can throw with a partner
um you don't want to throw super long
with this one but all you're trying to
do is focus on when you do throw you
throw and turn in this way when you
finish so it looks like
this that pitching drill really help any
of the guys who get around the baseball
and really feel that pronation when
they're throwing the eighth pitching
velocity killer is going to be early
pronation now we talked about pronation
uh in the last one and guys getting
around the ball too early and having
better pronation but this one is early
pronation and this is a big issue
because it's mistaught so much and it's
actually taught the wrong way so guy
pitchers are doing a lot because that's
what they're they're taught what happens
is early pronation is when you separate
your hands and you come back and the
ball is pointing away from you how many
of you guys have been taught that so
like when you separate your hands and
you're coming back and you want to point
this ball towards the second basement if
you're a righty right I was taught that
I'm not going to lie but it's wrong
that's early pronation again we talked
about pitching as loading and unloading
of your body right different movements
if you're here with your pronation and
you have to pronate at your release
point you have no loading you're already
unloaded right so we actually want to
load this forearm up so in reality we
want that ball to be facing the short
stop and maybe even the third baseman as
a right-handed pitcher so as we get here
we want to be here so now I'm
loaded up and now I can go from here to
unloaded which is my pronation but if I
have early pronation I can't unload with
pronation does that make sense so to fix
early pronation you just have to be
aware of it there really isn't any drill
that I use specifically to do it this
again is more just mistaught so if as
coaches we can understand the reason
behind this and start teaching the right
way this will help a lot of pitchers um
not get into this position and get used
to this position so just being aware
being conscious of this if you already
do this just getting a feel for staying
more loaded staying more uh less
pronated early in your delivery and last
but not least the ninth pitching
velocity killer is going to be having
flat shoulders so guys who move down the
mound and their shoulders just kind of
stay flat they kind of stay parallel to
the ground this is not good we actually
want to have a tilt to our shoulders we
want to be upward again this is kind of
mistaught a lot coaches think you know
you want to stay down with the front
shoulder so you can pull down no again
it's loading and unloading we want to
load to unload okay so we're going to
have a slight upward uh shoulder angle
as we move down the mount so it looks
like this as we separate again earlier
in the video we talked about starting
more closed off so we're starting closed
off but we're also starting with an
angle on the shoulders so now we're
closed
and we're loaded this way now we can
open and unload that's how we get all
our energy that's how we get all our
pitching velocity so if you have flat
shoulders you're losing you're killing
your pitching velocity so how do we work
on this how do we get better at this you
can do uh The Rocker drill rocker drill
is a great pitching drill all you're
going to do is get set up nice and wide
heel to heel going to sit into it and
you're going to rock back and forth now
when you Rock back and you start to
throw and you separate your hands you
really want to make sure that you get
that angle in your shoulder this way
before you turn and throw okay so it
looks a little something like
this guys I really hope you like this
updated version of the pitching velocity
Killers I know you guys loved the last
pitching velocity killer video I did the
seven this one has nine and I showed you
exactly how to to fix all of those
problems so I would really appreciate if
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oh