What's up coach Dan Blewett here and today we're going to go over one of the
most underrated things a pitcher can do to eventually reach his goals in
baseball so I don't remember the exact moment when I started to figure this out
but I know that I started to accumulated over time especially as a freshman cuz
as a freshman I was looking for a throwing partner to throw on off days
when I wasn't at practice and especially in the winter when we had a four to six
week break and I remember throwing with one of the upperclassmen who was highly
regarded he's a guy who eventually made to the big leagues names that Clark and
he needs a throwing partner I needed a throwing partner because I want to throw
consistently so I didn't miss any days really and just could try to work on my
craft every single day and I didn't really know what to do I didn't know
what a game of catch looked like I knew as a kid I really liked throwing and I
was a accomplished pitcher but I never really got pulled aside and said this is
how you play catch this is your process any of that stuff so when Zack and I
played catch he was very meticulous about going through his delivery going
through a couple drills that he did and every throw that he made had a purpose
so now when I work with young players we start most of our lessons off the very
same way I have like three four five drills that I do with pretty much every
baseball player but each player is working on those drills with their focus
on a couple different little components of it so maybe it's their glove arm that
they're they're working on from the rocker drill maybe another pitcher is
working on his back leg doing the same drill maybe another kid is working on
where his chest moves on that same drill so even though I have only a handful of
drills that I use for most people and I have a couple dozen drills that have
different purposes but there's a bunch of ones that I use every day and I used
every day as a player that are kind of like lifelong drills that can keep you
on track and that's the big point of this video is that most pitchers are
looking for something like magic bullet to make themselves better and whether
it's Europe a pitcher or even a hitter it's about your daily routine never
missing reps and always having something that you
work on so one of our high-level pitchers kid that I worked with since he
was very very young I saw him pitch recently and I know his mechanics
probably better than he knows him himself I've been working with him since
she was a kid and he was about as far off track as I'd ever seen him I've
never seen him throw as bad as he did mechanically that game his velocity was
down his command was down his changeup wasn't there he would just sort of
wandered off track at some point he's in college we don't work with each other
that much because he's got his own team his own pitching coach but the point of
this story with him is that he was never very good at sticking to his drills and
being meticulous with them especially in the last couple years when he started to
get pretty good he started to think Oh like I throw hard I can kind of cruise
on this and it's not as big a deal that I do my drills perfectly your drills are
gonna keep you on track they're basically your mechanics so you've a you
know a Lamborghini or a Ferrari you take that car to someone else probably
probably don't change the oil yourself you take it to an expert to keep that
car running smoothly as a pitcher you're gonna have lots of different pitching
coaches some who are very hands-on mechanics some of you are more on the
mental side is gonna vary widely I've had the whole gamut of pitching coaches
my career what always helped me continue to get better each year was that my
drills that I did in my pregame routine my catch routine my long toss routine
anytime I touched a baseball I always did a handful of drills that I knew kept
me on track so for young players basically what they forget is that
they're throwing routine is going to prevent them from losing their way from
losing the things that make them good in the first place all pitchers sort of
degrade over time and if you find the right couple drills for you that you
know work on problem areas that say my front side is prone to getting low or
I'm prone to rushing or my back leg I've had to work really hard to get my back
leg drive where it needs to be the things that you know you will slip
backwards with you will struggle with if you're not
and they on them those should be things that you're doing in your daily throwing
routine those are drills that you should be doing constantly to reinforce the
things the places that you slip so a really good throwing routine always
continues to push you back onto the right path without letting you wander
off because again even if you have the best pitching coach in the world
he's not gonna instruct you through your daily catch play he's gonna be there
when you're thrown off the mound he's gonna watch during the game but he's not
gonna fix your mechanics during the game either so no matter how good your
pitching coach is no matter how hands-on your coaching staff is as a player
you're still going to be the number one person in charge of your mechanics and
ultimately your long-term development and so it comes back to finding a
pitching coach who can help you understand your mechanics show you the
drills and the things to focus on you internalizing them and then
constantly using those drills to keep you getting better and to keep you from
wandering off track losing the mechanics that make you at
your best and ultimately losing your way and seeing your performance slip so for
young players basically what they forget is that they're throwing routine is
going to prevent them from losing their way from losing the things that make
them good in the first place all pitchers sort of degrade over time and
if you find the right couple drills for you that you know work on problem areas
that say my front side is prone to getting low or I'm prone to rushing or
my back leg I've had to work really hard to get my back leg drive where it needs
to be the things that you know you will slip backwards with you will struggle
with if you're not constantly on them those should be things that you're doing
in your daily throwing routine those are drills that you should be doing
constantly to reinforce the things the places that you slip so a really good
throwing routine always continues to push you back onto the right path
without letting you wander off because again even if you have the best pitching
coach in the world he's not going to instruct you through your daily catch
play he's going to be there when you're throwing off the mound he's going to
watch during the game he's not gonna fix your mechanics during
the game either so no matter how good your pitching coach is no matter how
hands-on your coaching staff is as a player you're still going to be the
number one person in charge of your mechanics and ultimately your long-term
development and so it comes back to finding a pitching coach who can help
you understand your mechanics show you the drills and the things to focus on
you internalizing them and then constantly using those drills to keep
you getting better and to keep you from wandering off track
losing the mechanics that make you at your best and ultimately losing your way
and seeing your performance slip so in summary drills and your pregame throwing
routine your catch throwing routine your daily throwing routine they are the most
important things in my view when I do lessons with kids for a long period of
time the number one thing I impress upon them is how to have a throwing routine
so that when they leave me they can continue to stay on track and get better
for the long-term so don't forget how important your drills are to your
long-term goals as a pitcher all right so if you enjoyed this video definitely
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