Welcome to Pitching Coaches Anonymous
My name is Randy Sullivan.
I’m pitching coach.
And I am a confirmed talkaholic.
I’ve wasted too many coaching years telling kids how to do things, then telling them how to do them better. I have coached some amazing kids over the years and, thank goodness, many of them have survived, and even thrived, despite my “assistance”.
You see, in the past 5-7 years, I have come to learn that in the science of motor learning and human performance, the words get in the way. Very few...
Back Pain in Pitchers
A few days ago I got an email form a concerned Dad. His name Jeff, and his son is having low back pain on the landing side when he pitches. We spend a lot of time studying and talking about arm pain, but this is something I've seen seen enough that I though it might be worth sharing.
Here is my response to Jeff's question.
Hi Jeff,
I can't say that I see this frequently, but it does come up from time to time, and when it does, it usually appears on the left side for right handed...
The Island Of Misfit Pitchers
When I was a kid (back when we did our homework on stone tablets) there were no DVDs or Netflix, and we only got 3 stations on TV. One of my favorite parts about the Christmas season were the holiday cartoon shows. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was a classic, and I loved “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”.
But my personal favorite was “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”. One of my favorite parts was when Clarice told Rudolph he was cute. He danced around shouting, “I’m cuuuute! She...
The Hooter’s Defense
Yesterday I watched the news for the first time in a very long while. I used to be a bit of a news junkie, but now, frankly, it bores me.
The idea of listening to a bunch of Washington elitists bloviate about problems with no apparent solutions is irrepressibly mind numbing. I tell my wife and kids all the time, "If we have a problem without a solution, then we don't have a problem." So I got back on the news yesterday. Apparently, we have ourselves a pretty big problem with these...
What If OJ Didn’t Do It?
Avoiding Observational Bias
During the first three quarters of 1995, our nation was riveted, and unfortunately divided, by murder the trial of football legend OJ Simpson.
I was working as a home care Physical Therapist.
I spent my days and often worked deep into the night visiting patients in their homes, helping them recover from injury or illness.
During the trial, everyone had their TV on and it was always tuned to one thing... the trial of the century.
I did my job with one...
The Top 10 Reasons (You Might Not Have Considered) For All These Elbow Injuries
The following message is intended to be rich with tongue and cheek satire, but I promise you I will take some flack for it. Mark my words, some shallow minded half wit will cherry pick excerpts and quote me as if were serious. Anyone who knows me understands that while I am deeply compassionate and caring, I am rarely serious.
So here goes.
With debate on the rash of UCL injuries raging, and "experts" crawling out of every nook and cranny with what they claim to be undeniable...
Man Survives Bataan Death March: Here’s What He Had to Say About It
I met a 92 year old man named George the other day.
He came into my Physical Therapy Clinic, escorted by his Granddaughter, for rehab after a Total Knee Replacement, and he is truly one of the most remarkable people I have ever encountered.
George looks every bit his age.
Wrinkled and well worn, his back is giving way to gravity and curves froward to make him hunched over when he stands and walks. He uses a cane to get around, but he has all his wits about him and frequently projects a...
The Dangers of Not Assessing and Re-assesing Pitchers
Want The Perfect Arm Action? Convert a Shortstop
Ok, so there is no such thing as the "Perfect arm action", but converted shortstops and catchers are about as close as it gets.
Many of you know Dylan Barrow’s story, but for those of you who don’t, here is the reader’s digest version.
Dylan was a mediocre shortstop in high school. Until he walked into The ARMory about 3 weeks before graduation his senior year, he had not pitched since he was 11 years old. He had...
Hey Pitcher! You’re The Fat Chick
Lonely Cat
This morning when I woke up there was a black and white tuxedo cat named Molly sitting on my chest purring.
As I mentioned in an earlier e-mail, I'm home alone for the next 3 weeks. My wife and youngest son (age 15) are at East Cobb, Georgia for a series of baseball tournaments. Two of my sons are college pitchers who are training with Ron at the Texas Baseball Ranch for 2 months. Some of you might ask why I would send my sons all the way out to Texas when they could train right...
And They Call It a Woody: Station Wagons and the Danger of Looking Back
When I was 10 years old we were stationed at
Yokota Air Force Base near Tokyo, Japan.
We had 2 family vehicles.
One was a 1968 sky blue VW Bug that would become my
first vehicle when I got my drivers license 6 years later.
The other was a nondescript black 4-door sedan.
My father had purchased it off some guy he knew.
It had no distinguishing features. It wasn’t cool or sexy.
It was simply…a car. I called it plain car.
Having served 4 years in Japan, it was time for us to return
to the...
