Toss the doughnut...The Fallacy of Over Loading in the On Deck Circle

First, the good news is that the weighted bat in the on deck circle makes your bat feel lighter to provide more bat speed. The bad news is the effect only lasts 20 seconds. After 20 seconds, you actually become weaker than before you started swinging the weighted bat. See kinesthetic function and overloading on my blog.

For added strength, you’re better off by taking advantage of the neuro-muscular response provided by squeezing the handle at contact. It’s the body’s way of enabling a natural strength boost.

The not so good news is that overloading alters your hitting mechanics which plays havoc on muscle memory. Can you say, "Self-induced slump?" Conclusion: Nix the bat weight.

My comment on Eric Johson's PAP effect article on http://www.mlstrength.com/on-deck

"Nice information. Always liked the idea of kinesthetic overload for the PAP effect for shot and discus. Since I’m a hitting instructor, I’ve always stayed away from promoting it in the on deck circle after a college professor, Dr. Simpson, told us that the effect wears off after 20 seconds and the hitter actually becomes weaker than he was before…temporarily. My hitters are taught to recycle after each pitch and work the count so they’re in the box a while. Del Pittman"

Eric's Article...

Most rituals are born the same way as legends, from their great performances. Just think of your last accomplishment. You probably know your exact actions before getting that clutch hit, landing that overdue raise, or raising the bar for a new personal record. Those same actions, in some way, probably have become a part of what you do before attempting your next accomplishment. In the sport of baseball, superstitions and rituals are as big a part of the game as the seventh inning stretch, cracker jacks, and lucrative contracts. From never stepping on the foul lines to lucky hats and gloves, the most unique of them all may be a batter’s routine while on deck.

Next time you are at a ball game or watching from the convenience of your home, check out a batter’s routine when on deck. Beyond their mental preparation and focus, finding the pitcher’s release point, and getting their timing down, you will see many players go through their own individual routines. Within that circle, each player has own way of warming up, analyzing the current situation, and preparing the mind and body for the task at hand. From little to major league, many players love taking some practice swings using a weighted sleeve or baseball donut. This phenomenon where the bat feels lighter when stepping up to the plate from their warm up swings is called postactivation potentiation (PAP). Through heavy loading, the central nervous system is stimulated to a higher degree and translates to greater motor unit recruitment and force. In simplest terms, the muscles are primed and prepared to function at that level of intensity when a lower stimulus is presented.

So to break some of those same routines you have had in your training for the last year and still haven’t made any progress to show, take these same principles of the batter on deck and hit a home run with your next work. Here’s one way of taking a piece of America’s pastime into your next training session.

Try This: Add some volume while still increasing your intensity and building strength. With one of your core test lifts, whether it be the bench press, deadlift, front squat, perform two to three sets of the respective movement with a heavy weight and low reps (i.e., 3 sets of 2 to 3 reps). After the completion of those sets, perform two more sets with a slightly lower load for two sets of five or six reps.

Create a new ritual for yourself with your next breakout performance by incorporating postactivation potentiation into your training. “Remember kid, there’s heroes and there’s legends. Heroes get remembered but legends never die, follow your heart kid, and you’ll never go wrong.”

By Eric Johnson, CSCS


New Additional Information ...YouTube Sport Science Video

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_vR8U_KrhY&feature=player_embedded

Caveat: If you're using Jaime Cevallos' MP30 Training Bat during Tee hitting drills, I'd recommend using it in the on deck circle for muscle memory reinforcement.  

Perfecting Pitching Deliveries

First thought that helps minimize injuries is that pitching is more than just throwing. Use the strike zone to your advantage...change speed and location of your pitches to disrupt the hitter's timing.

Learn the hitting flaws. Most lineups only have a few grooved hitters even on the pro level.

Learn how to take advantage of the flaw and pitch to that specific flaw.

If you’re at the Little League level, eventually your catcher will learn the flaws, too. Right now he’s learning to receive, block pitches, set defenses, and busy watching the hitter’s feet and bat speed while tracking your pitch.

Pitching coaches and pitchers have their own language and sayings to get the message across:

Sit and Drive…Land at a 45  

“Sitting” helps you to not “rush”, but instead, stay balanced in your delivery. As you step toward home plate, stride so that the ball of your lead foot and toe will land at a 45 degree angle. This ensures proper hip rotation after your lead foot lands, and that you’ll be using your legs as well as your arm in your pitching mechanics.

Push, pop...over the top...leaves you with pep in your step*

The push is the balanced push off of the pitching plate (pitcher’s rubber). Pop is a term for the hip rotation after landing the front foot at a 45 degree angle during the delivery.

“Over the top” is the action of the trailing foot in a complete follow through (this happens naturally after your pitching arm elbow passes by the opposite knee following your delivery). Hence, after your elbow passes your knee in your follow through, your throwing side foot will rise above your throwing side hip without any extra effort on your part. This is what pitching coaches actually mean when they say “bend your back” in regards to a follow through.

*More on leaves you with pep in your step

This just means that you’ll have more endurance/stamina because you’re using your legs and your body to pitch with…instead of just using your arm which will make tire faster and can lead to injury.

Shoulder to shoulder makes your pitches bolder

For control of your pitches, your front shoulder heads (points) to the location you want your pitch to go. After delivery, your back shoulder will point toward the same target that your front should was targeted at… which greatly improves control accuracy and will occur naturally with the correct follow through. This is what pitching coaches call “full rotation”.

Bolder pitches means that you’ll spot your pitches to areas that hitter’s have trouble hitting solidly (they prefer to hit the ones that are thrown over the middle ten inches of the plate in the strike zone).

Pitching to a dime* makes the hitter bitter

The mitt is not the target for the pitcher. It is better to throw (not aim) to a smaller target. A dime target is small, but if you miss- you’ll miss “small”. [Remember a pitcher targets areas away from the middle ten inches of the plate.] Instead of pitching in the middle of the plate, you’ll focus on the catcher’s knees and shoulders since they are usually outside of the middle ten inches of the plate. Therefore, visualize and concentrate (focus) on a dime located on the catcher’s knees and shoulders as targets before and during the delivery of your pitch. *Also, contrary to some coaches’ thinking, you’re never too young to develop this kind of concentration skill… especially when pitching.

Any coach, on any level worth his salt, routinely has his pitchers practice pitching to a designated catcher. At each league level, from Little League to MLB, pitchers follow a Sequence Pitching Schedule. This is another important process to help pitchers develop arm strength, confidence, and command & control. During sequence pitching sessions, it’s imperative that the pitcher’s pitches are charted by a helper. This promotes a game like atmosphere…to simulate game like pressure.

Also, during the throwing session, the pitchers usually alternate throwing 5 pitches from a full windup and then 5 pitches from the stretch. The number of pitches thrown during a session depends on the number of days until the next scheduled appearance in a game. Once the number of pitches to be thrown during the session is determined, the catcher will call the type of pitch and the location for each pitch. On the Little League level, 1 is a fastball and 2 is a change. In higher levels of  competition, more types of pitches are thrown, and the pitches are numbered respectively. Locations are also numbered on the catcher. The right and left knees of the catcher are numbered 1 and 2 & the right and left shoulders of the catcher are numbered 3 and 4. On a side note, since the pitcher is getting valuable feedback from a capable helper after the session, make sure the helper has a clip board with a pencil and paper that have rectangular strike zones with cubes inside the rectangles to note the location and type of pitch thrown during the session. For the benefit of the pitcher’s focus, the helper shouldn’t interact with the pitcher until after the throwing session. The helper will silently circle pitches that miss their spot and mark pitches that are on target during the session. It is recommended that punishment of some type for missing the called location be used to make the session more competitive among the pitchers on the team.

GRIP

With seams, the pitch will sink. Across the seams, the pitch will not sink as much. Some will suggest that gripping a ball across the seams will make it rise. Even the best power pitchers don’t really have the ball rise when their grip is across the seams due to physics.

Choking the pitch will reduce the velocity. Also, choking the pitch is better for younger pitchers because it produces a natural change up. When a pitcher matures, usually when they start shaving, a pitcher can learn breaking pitches and other grips for a change up.

Your ultimate goal as a pitcher is to keep the hitter off balance by changing the speed and location of your pitches. Be stoic & never show your emotions in a game when you are pitching. Do this and you will have an edge over the hitters you face.

How The Lower Case c Can Lead To Hitting Success

Make a small "c" slowly with the middle knuckle on the middle finger of the lead hand as your hands begin their positional hitting (see slot position swing blog post) path to explode through the ball. The reason for doing this in a slow manner is because a slow start enables the hitter to keep their head still, body in control,  and maintain positive tracking of the pitch. I won't use this forum for specifics, but I adhere to Dr. Bill Harrison's Vision Training for teaching proper visual acuity by limiting the number of eyes muscles used in hitting which in turn prevents blurring the hitter's vision during pitch tracking...a.k.a. fine centering/soft centering.

Hitting is an act of controlled aggression. To be a good hitter that can consistently drive a pitch, you must put yourself into the role of being the aggressor with a hunter/predator mindset in a confrontation with the pitcher.  This hitting attitude with a proactive state of mind helps the hitter pick up details visually much better than a passive approach.
The correct hitting mindset along with dynamic vision training, depth perception drills, and tracking pitches correctly with a still head allow the brain to take over by making the pitch look like it's coming in as big as a basketball and in slow motion. The small c is the first and most important step in the dynamic linking hitting process by overcoming inertia quietly to provide a blur free quality at bat.

Mental Prepping Your Baseball and Softball Game At Bats

On Deck Circle

Begin mental prepping with your pre-pitch Timing Activation (see Timing Activation blog post) while reinforcing your muscle memory with the MP30 Training Bat (see Jaime's Swing Mechanic MP30 blog post)

NEXT

Repeat before the 1^st pitch and after each sequential pitch...

Outside box if league rules allow:

Situational Awareness:

Know outs and base runners' locations

Depth Perception Tune Up:

Focus on 2B’s cap logo, then shift focus to Pitcher’s cap logo

Begin Pre-Pitch Recycling Timing Activation (See Recycling and Timing Activation Blog Posts)

Night Game… Close eyes for 5 seconds for improved vision (See

Retina/Vision Trick)

In box or “half and half” if league rules allow:

One Deep Breath…In through the nose; out through pursed lips

Look to third base coach, receive signs, square up to the pitcher, and re-focus

mentally

See Dr. Bill Harrison's Slow The Game Down blog post for fine centering-soft centering pitch tracking....

Begin Fine Centering-Soft Centering (Focus on Pitcher’s Logo & then re-focus

visually to the Release Point (Avoid being hypnotized by watching the Pitcher’s

Windup

Gently shift your weight from back to front repeatedly over your center

point (40-60) as you are fine centering and soft centering visually. Continue the

rhythm rocking breathing in through the nose going back and breathing out

through a slightly open mouth going forward. This keeps the jaw relaxed to

prevent teeth clinching which can lead to blurred vision. Plus, on contact

keeping the internal organs compressed through breath control helps to optimize

power. (Key emphasis is to do this simultaneously with a controlled, calculated

rhythmic weight shift.)

From Release Point:

Identify pitch and velocity

Begin Tracking Mentally…Yes, Yes, Yes, YES* or Yes, Yes, Yes, NO.

*(At contact, squeezing the handle in the palms helps add more power

as a result of a neuromuscular response)

Post Hit:

In the dugout, enjoy the congratulations and the pats on the back. Reward

yourself with a cup of water. Funny as it sounds, you should do this.
(behavioral conditioning)

A Pitching Mechanics Breakdown: "King" Felix Hernandez

Felix Hernandez  Starting Pitcher  Seattle Mariners

Height: 6-3

Weight: 228

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Apr 8, 1986 - Valencia, Venezuela

College: None

Draft: 2002 - Undrafted. Signed by Seattle

Positives:

Age…  fairly young & has 3 years in MLB with 200+ IP (last 3 seasons)

Ease of motion

Body used in a coordinated delivery as a power pitcher

The big three:

Leg Extension

Good push with good leg extension. Balance seems to be an issue though and can lead to physical problems. -5

Hip Rotation

Not so much of a hip rotation as he steps and lands open. The turn is after the pitch is released and is a result of the momentum from his body in his delivery style. There’s potential for scar tissue to build up over time in the rotator cuff group which will lead to a decrease in velocity without correct hip rotation. -7

Follow Through

Slight secondary fall away follow through after a fairly decent follow through. Could be deeper in his primary follow through to keep his pitches down and provide more leverage with his breaking pitches. Also affects his durability. -1

Other factors to consider:

Minus: Knee a little too high in delivery from stretch as he seems to be not so concerned with the runner as he is with generating power. 0 points for injury potential

Plus: Excellent deception as he fully rotates in the power position in full windup. Turns his back to the hitter…all you see is his jersey number. Difficult to pick up his pitches. 0 points for injury potential

Conclusion

Overall Injury Probability (2013)

23%

Contract Validity:

7 years/$175…  Maybe for a pitcher with a 10% Injury Probability (as most pitchers with great mechanics still have a 10% chance of injury during the season), but it’s a pretty big gamble with his pitching mechanics and OIP.

Caveat, etc. :

50% of MLB starting pitchers are injured during a season. I’ve developed a subjectively, objective method to help determine the pitchers that have a greater potential to be injured due to mechanical flaws in their delivery. With the Injury Probability Pitching Mechanics Evaluation Chart for pitchers from Little League to the Major Leagues, I can approximately determine a pitcher’s OIP (Overall Injury Probability).

Resume/Partial Work History

Del Pittman

PO Box 2347

Whitney, TX 76692

(254) 498-0299

combat_hitting@yahoo.com

https://www.facebook.com/del.pittman

OBJECTIVE

A position in Scouting as a scout, cross checker, assistant scouting director and/or a position as roving instructor in Player Development

SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS

I love baseball with a passion. I possess good leadership and communication skills with a thorough knowledge of baseball and a working knowledge of Dynamic Sports Vision, Bio-Mechanics, Kinesiology, Anatomy and Physiology. Have a reputation of being an analytical thinker and as well as objectively subjective. Developer of the Injury Probability Pitching Mechanics Evaluation Chart for pitchers from Little League to the Major Leagues and the Timing Activator for baseball & softball hitters.

EXPERIENCE

1989-1990  Associate Scout Kansas City Royals

1991-1996  Associate Scout Milwaukee Brewers

2006-Present Independent Baseball Scout   Combat Hitting

Primary task for Royals and Brewers was to evaluate amateur position players and pitchers to determine their OFP and provide scouting reports.

EDUCATION

1971-72    TVCC   Ontario, OR

1973-1974  CJC  Cisco, TX    AA Degree

1978 Angelo State  San Angelo, TX  BA Degree  Secondary Teaching Certificate

1987 Pro Baseball Scout School   Anaheim, CA                      Certificate

2009 SMWW       Baseball GM and Scout  Portland, OR           Certificate