Hey guys, what's going on?
Uh, I sent out an email the other day about the King of the Hill pitcher's trainer that
you see here, uh, and I got a ton of questions about how it works and what you use it for
and things like that.
So I just wanted to take a second to kind of clarify and go over and answer some of
the questions that I got.
One of the best questions I got was from Bill.
He said John, don't you need to get your momentum going forward with your lower half first and
then start leg drive?
So if that happens you should have no problem with leg drive except for lack of strength
driving sideways to home plate.
Does this thing help learn to shift weight first and if not, I think if it did it would
be a gem.
Bill.
Well, Bill, it absolutely does help teach to shift the weight first or get into the
proper position or create that angle early and it doesn't put you into that position.
There's another product out there that is very similar and kind of put you into that
position, but then the the the pitcher doesn't really do it himself.
He doesn't have to learn that.
Ok?
With this, to make it click, you have to create that angle because you're going to hear two
clicks on it.
You're going to hear once you create enough force and momentum and get that angle and
ride it and once you create enough force on that angle then you're going to hear your
first click and then as you drive through your leg drive and that foot kind of turns
in and the knee turns in and you get off of that rubber, you'll hear a second click.
Ok?
So a pitcher can learn very quickly by not being put into the position but how to do
it because he's not going to be able to hear it, he's not going to be able to click it
if he doesn't get to that proper position or create enough ground force with his angle
and then through leg drive.
I got another great question from Steve and Steve asks, Hey John, this looks like a great
product, but how do you know that the player is doing it correctly and how do you tell
if he's on the right setting.
Well, that's a great question Steve.
The way you set this is it comes with an allen wrench and it's very easy to do.
You just stick it in the back hole here and you just twist it.
Very simple to do.
Ok?
Then you just turn it as needed to get it tighter or looser as you go.
Ok?
And what I like to do is, you'll get used to it, but start, I start my younger guys
on a little bit lower of a setting and then if they click it easy, I turn it up a little
bit, click it easy, turn it up a little bit.
Until they get to the point where they're challenged a little bit and then I make them
get a few good ones in a row there and then I'll do a half of turn and try to challenge
them a little bit more.
So, I'm always pushing them to try to create a little bit more ground force until they
get to that spot where I feel is good enough and they're not sacrificing any mechanics
going through there.
So, it's really just finding the perfect spot for each individual and then work in there
until they can be consistent with that and have good mechanics through it.
Another question I got was from Jeff and Jeff asks, are there any drills that you can do
with the King of the Hill pitcher's trainer?
Absolutely there is.
My favorite is just what we're doing right here, sorry my camera died yesterday in middle
of explaining the pitching drill but here it is.
So, to perform this pitching drill what you're going to need is a King of the Hill Trainer.
Ah, and if you don't have one of those, I have them for sale on my website YouGoProBaseball.com
and all we're going to do is, we're going to utilize the King of the Hill and what it
helps us do as pitchers, but we're also going to add in the wall drill to this as well.
So, our goal for this drill is two things, first, we're going to try to get a good click
on the King of the Hill and when I say a good click, what I'm talking about is, I want a
good click after I ride my angle down that mound and then a good unclick after I finish
getting through leg drive.
Now, at the same time, we want this King of the Hill flush up against the wall and what
we're going to focus on is not letting our back hand hit this wall when we separate our
hands.
Ok?
The reason why we don't want our back hand to hit this wall when we separate our hands
is because we're not going to be going straight back to this wall when we separate.
Ok?
We're not going straight back.
What we want to do is, first I told you three things that we're going to be working on,
the first one is going to be timing of hand separation.
So, I don't want to break my hands up here too early.
I want to start going forward before I break my hands.
So, I'm going to start going forward before I break my hands.
Ok?
So, that should keep me away from the wall.
The second thing is the angle or the path in which our arms separate.
I'm not going to be going straight towards my target and straight back.
I'm going to be closed off and opposite with the other arm.
Ok?
So, I'm going to be even further away from this wall and then third we're going to focus
on our leg drive through the King of the HIll.
Ok?
So, two things we're looking for, a good click and a good unclick and also not hitting the
wall with our throwing arm.
Ok?
So, it's going to look a little something like this.
Here is a good one.
And now let me show you a bad one as far as timing of the hands separating and arm path.
So, I hit my hand on the wall.
I broke my hands too early and too straight back.
So I want a good angle, closed off this way, and also a good leg drive on my legs.
Listen this time for the click and the unclick of the King of the Hill.
One more time.