What's up?
I'm Coach Dan Blewett And in today's video,
let's talk about pitching from the wind up and whether young pitchers
should even be taught the wind up in today's game.
All right.
So if you're here, I've gotten this comment in this question quite a bit,
which is I'm a youth coach or I'm a youth parent.
My son or my team,
they're struggling to throw strikes because they're eight, nine, ten, 11, 12.
And we're considering just teaching everyone the stretch
rather than the windup or I get the more hostile version of this of this question,
which is why are you still teaching the wind up when the stretch is easier.
Even some major leaguers have gone to the stretch.
It doesn't make any sense to teach the wind up anymore.
And so my answer is yes, I think you should teach the wind up
and the stretch because they are parts of baseball.
And I overall think that you need to be preparing your kid for the bumpy road
ahead, not trying to do everything in your power as an adult
to smooth the road out for them, which is what you're doing.
Trying to, instead of teaching the wind up, go to the stretch.
Now, look, I understand that the stretch is, in fact,
a little simpler of a movement than the windup.
But look, it's also not 1950.
We're not doing this.
We're not Bob Feller or Tom Seaver or anyone like that
with these crazy, huge wind ups that you used to see They used to see.
Obviously, baseball realized that all that extra movement wasn't necessary.
So the wind up today and this is how I teach it is very simple.
It's a step.
It's a second step and it's a leg lift.
And so I want you to ask yourself now, is that a complex athletic movement?
Do you have to be athletically gifted to do the windup?
And what is it actually that's preventing a pitcher from throwing strikes
from these two tiny little steps that they can do it in in the stretch?
The big problem here
and this is the reason that I really take issue with parents
wanting to just put their kids in a stretch
because they struggle through strikes, is it does not address the root cause,
which is that your kids don't practice very much practicing at baseball practice
essentially doesn't count because when you're at baseball practice
with all your buddies around and it's very organized
and the coach is evaluating as they always do,
every practice, it's more like a recital than an actual practice.
Actual practice is in the backyard with mom, dad, grandpa, your buddies, whoever.
Actual practice there is experimental, it's non-judgmental.
Players can just throw to it to their buddies.
And no one's counting strikes right?
They're not walking anyone.
They're not making themselves
look like the worst pitcher on the team because the team's not there.
And so as a parent,
your kid has to be practicing on their own, away from their team.
And if the only time they practice is that their two practices a week
and they're games, that's the biggest problem.
And this comment might ruffle some feathers,
but you as a parent or a coach, you need to take some ownership
for how much your kid practices.
Have you made it fun for them or have you made it seem like work?
Do you encourage them
or even sometimes drag them in the back yard just to throw the ball around?
Do you make it fun for them?
Have you contributed to their passion for the game?
When I was a kid, I love to throw.
I was in the backyard throwing with somebody or throwing a rock against a tree
or throwing a tennis ball down the tennis courts against the rebounding wall.
If I didn't have a partner,
I was throwing every single day pretty much because I loved it.
That was the same way.
All of my buddies who became college or pro pitchers grew up.
They were throwing, throwing, throwing, throwing.
If your kids are only practicing at baseball practice or in their games,
they're not going to be successful players long term.
They just absolutely want it doesn't matter if they're a catcher, a hitter
or a pitcher, they will not be good if they don't practice on their own.
So the root cause here is not the windup.
This has just been the scapegoat.
This has been the scapegoat for parents who their kids
don't really practice at home.
This has been the scapegoat for players who complain
they can't throw from the lineup because it's too hard,
but yet they don't practice when they go home.
My issue is that I want people to know what actually matters
when they're doing training, when they're practicing,
when they're consulting, other people are getting coaches or instruction.
What actually matters.
This does not matter. This is a non choice.
The windup is so darn simple that any athlete can do it.
Any athlete can do it.
But if you don't practice, then maybe you can't.
If you absolutely practice consistently, the wind up is no problem for anyone.
It's a Band-Aid.
It's not a problem that's going to make your kid or not
a solution that's going to make your kid a more resilient pitcher in the future
and understand that pitching is really hard.
You're going to pitch in 100 degree heat.
You're going to pitch when it's 35 and windy,
you're going to pitch on flat mounds like this one.
You're going to pitch with a really tall, awkward mound.
You're going to pitch on turf mounds with on dirt, mounds with huge holes.
You're going to have huge holes right here.
Pitching is very, very much an an influx kind of activity.
Every time you step on the mound, it's different than the previous mound.
That's a little bit less true today because there's more turf
fields than ever.
But when I grew up, I pitched on the crappiest mound you'd ever seen.
And guess what?
I was still expected to go five innings and throw strikes and compete
for my team, and I never made the mountain excuse.
Yes, pitchers always complain about it here and there.
I have complained about Mound.
Sure, but when you're out there, you've got to deal with it and figure it out.
And so if you're saying that your son's not good enough
to do these two little steps, there's no way
they're going to be good enough to pitch when they have a huge hole.
There's no way they're going to be at a pitch
when it's 30 and raining sideways, which is how it is
in a lot of Northeastern colleges.
On Opening Day.
My first day, my sophomore year in college,
it was literally 35, with 20 mile per hour winds going the coldest days
I've ever like one of the coldest days of my life.
I still had to pitch.
I still had to be part of my team and get out and try to give up six innings.
There's no excuses.
So if your goal as a parent is to help your kid have fun
and have a long career, as long as they want to have,
then you should be forcing them into things like this.
Like, No, we're going to learn the wind up and you're going to figure it out
so that
they're more resilient when they're older
and not adopting this common attitude of,
I'm going to solve all your problems by making everything as easy as possible.
If you want your kid to have a successful career in baseball,
whatever that means to them, then don't smooth the road out for them.
Prepare them for the bumpy road that's ahead.
And that means explaining to them that the solution to this problem is practice.
It's not making it easier for them.
So teach them to wind up.
Let them sort it out with more practice and an honest conversation
about what it takes to be successful on the baseball field.
If any questions, leave a comment below.
Check out my books, my online courses.
If you want to learn more about the game and I'll see you in the next video.