The Inverted Iron Pyramid
One of the key indicators of efficiency and power in a pitcher’s delivery is his use of his lower half.
At The ARMory and The Ranch, we’ve been studying this for a long time, and our understanding is constantly evolving. An efficient and powerful lower half definitely isn’t seen in the old “stay tall and fall” idea.
It’s amazing to me how many coaches I hear say something like “stay tall on the back side”, and then turn right around and tell a pitcher “you gotta use...
How Long? Yes!!
Good Morning,
Later today The ARMory will board a jet to Atlanta, GA for a two-day Road Show with 54 aspiring young rocket launchers and their families. Once we land we’ll load up 5 suitcases of equipment and 7 staff members into a rented Suburban and head off to our hotel. Tomorrow morning we’ll wake up, slam down a continental breakfast, and it then it will be...
Ty Sullivan, Matt Abramson, Josh Wagner, Amy Marsh, Lisa Church, Austin Bergner, and I will be laying down the knowledge...
Can You Train Spin Rate?
Last week I sent out an email called “Your Ticket To Opportunity”. The response I got was exactly as I thought it would be.
The number one question that came across my desk was:
“How do you teach spin rate?”
Well, the short answer (for now anyway) is this:
No one knows… yet.
I have spoken to Trevor Bauer (who owns a personal TrackMan), Wes Johnson, and Flint Wallace. Like me, they are all looking for ways to increase spin rate.
Spin rate is a measure of how...
Have You Ever Seen The Rain?
Two mornings ago it rained in Tampa Bay.
Yeah...
I can hear everyone who's ever been to Fort Myers or Disney for tournaments during the summer:
“Rain in Tampa Bay? Shocker.”
I agree, but to have a rainstorm in the morning, especially this time of year is unusual. In the summer, I check the forecast every day. In the spring, not so much.
So this time I was totally caught off guard.
I woke up at 7:30 am to the sound of raindrops on the bedroom window and suddenly...
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...
My Name Would Be Censored on British TV
Check this out,
A few months ago I was working in my physical therapy clinic when a patient came in for an initial evaluation. As she was escorted back to the evaluation area, I thought she seemed pleasant looking and kind. She was about 5'6" and thin. She had shoulder length silver hair and was using her walker to partially limit her weight bearing. I surveyed her chart and found that she was a 67 year old woman who had recently undergone a total hip replacement. She had no other...
The Arm Pain Assassin Strikes Again!
Last night was a great night at The ARMory.
We had 3 kids at the 6:00 class who were recovering from arm injuries. Two of them were in the last stages of their return to throwing and were doing well, the third, I’ll tell you about in a minute.
Most people think that The ARMory is all about developing velocity. That is partially correct. We are VERY good at velocity development. It’s actually just about the easiest thing we do. Give me a reasonably athletic guy with a burning desire to...
10 Absolute Demands for Your Pitching Instructor This Off-Season
A while back I read a story about a man named Charles Proteus Steinmetz. He was a dysplasic dwarf who lived from 1865 to 1923, and he was brilliant. He pioneered research in alternating current and founded a company that was eventually bought by General Electric. According to one report, Steinmentz “almost single brainedly created the entire electrical world of generators, transformers, and motors that we all take for granted today."
Steinmetz was a difficult and cantankerous man who was...
Weight Loss and Pitchers?
Last week I was working with a patient--I'll call her Kimberly.
She was a 54 year old, woman recovering from a total knee replacement. I have worked with her 8 times over the past 3 weeks. She owns a successful real estate agency that employs over 20 people, and every time I saw her she was well dressed and made up, even though she was only 3 weeks past her surgery and hadn't returned to work yet. She projected a sharp, professional image, but she was moderately overweight.--not obese by any...
Rocket Launchers Training Camp Saves a Pitching Career, Changes a Life
Everyone Said He Wasn't Good Enough. Then He Made a Phone Call.
You can't cookie cut pitcher development but you must have a process!!!!
Developing ability in pitcher is an incredibly complex endeavor. Ever pitcher is different--an individual snowflake with his own unique set of attributes and constraints. So there is no way a one-size-fits all approach can possibly work.
But if you're going to develop pitchers, you must have a process for evaluating each guy, and you'll need a tool...
