Testing Human Movement: Difficult to Quantify…Easy to Overlook
By Mark Frens, MS, CSCS, NASM-PES
Strength Coach, Minnesota Twins (AAA)
 Life and competition is a test of one’s all out efforts and ability to accomplish work through a natural and instinctive means of surviving. Emotionally, mentally, and physically going all out, battling, and controlling the body through the chaotic, unpredictable, unstable, and constantly changing situations and geographical environments faced will dictate the consistency in one’s ability to recover and repeat those efforts efficiently. It’s instinct and human nature to constantly look for a better way of performing skills and out performing opponents. Instinct creatively finds more difficult ways of doing things to get better through basic progression so that the body can adapt, adjust, learn, and evolve quicker and better. Natura... |
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Over the years there have been several philosophies on the mechanics of pitching. It is the most discussed topic in coaching and it appears to have the most differences of opinion when it comes to deciding what is “right” and “wrong”. That being said, the ultimate goal of having good mechanics is to allow the pitcher the ability to throws strikes and get hitters out. Some experts believe that the key to getting hitters out starts and ends with the pitchers mechanics. The perfect delivery will equal the perfect result. Others believe that concepts such as intent, feel and repeatability of the delivery play a larger role in that process. We have posed this question to our panel of experts to decide; Mechanics in Pitching…..Essential for Command or Over Taught? 
When evaluating the potential college pitcher you have to consider several different factors in determining what it is you are looking for. How does the hitter react to the ball? Is he able to command the baseball? Has he showed a legitimate second or third pitch? What is his future in regards to healt... 
Recently in the Southeastern Confernce they have implemented a pitch clock that will be used during the regular season and tournament. This of course is being done in an effort to speed up the game and move play along which will hopefully make the game a little more fan friendly and cut down on game times. This new change has come with some mixed reviews amongst coaches through out division one baseball. The pitch clock was also attempted previously in the Missour... 
As with any pitcher at any level, being able to consistently throw strikes is the name of the game. However, because of limited experience and repetitions youth pitchers tend to falter more often. Contributing factors could be a breakdown in mechanics, anxiety, reluctance, or a combination of all three. In order to prevent these factors from occurring regularly, you should really start at the core of the problem. This will vary from pitcher to pitcher ... 
