This past week a baseball pitcher who I’ve just started training texted me about his start he’d just had. He said that he was 81-83mph, and expressed how he’s been stuck in that range for awhile. I told him this:
“What’s happening is that you’ve probably reached the “high school wall”, meaning you’ve maximized your SHOULDERS ability to throw a baseball, aka your genetic layback, and other hereditary shoulder factors that influence velocity...
Bearing in mind that you can roughly break down shoulders as such:
-The Freaks, the 1%, that touch 91-95mph in high school genetically
-The second 1%, the “showcase” kid, who more or less throws 84-86, but touched 91 that one time at a PBR, and so committed D1.5
-The vast majority, the 98%, who throw 76-84
It’s at the “high school wall”-when the shoulder’s ability is maxed out- that most kids get stuck (and eventually are out of the sport because of it). However, you’ve already realized you’re not the Freak 1%, and that’s why you started training. Add size and turn your body into a MLB body (avg 6’3” 227lbs for a pitcher), build your hip and leg strength, develop plane specific force, and now you’re maximizing not just your arm (which nearly all kids do), but your overall ability to produce more force.
If you’re not 93-96 mph and climbing in Milb at that point, then it wasn’t written in the stars.
But over and over once a kid takes the step they need to physically, they get where they want to go. We’ve had kids who started 72-74 mph-who were in college- go to 90. 82mph at a D3 college, go to 94. 78mph and sitting JC, go to 91-94.
The problem is most aren’t willing to work that process, hence bands, weighted balls, etc, all “hope for a quick fix” type gimmicks that try to get even more out of the shoulder itself, which has more often than not already been maximized.
The solution is increasing power
And that requires consistent, intelligent, hard training
-Fenske