28, decent shape, can't throw more than 60

#1

Hi everyone,

I have lurked here for a while and really, really enjoyed reading the expertise and conversation here. There are some really knowledgeable people here, and while I am frankly embarrassed posting this video, I am hoping I can ask a favor for a few of you to help me out.

I am 28, 5’7 and in decent shape. I play in a very competitive adult baseball wood bat league (2 games per week, practices all winter 2 times per week) and I enjoy the heck out of it. The average skill level is probably 10% garbage, 30% advanced high school, 40% ex-division 3 college, 10% ex-division 1, and 10% older retired ex minor and major leaguers. We even had a former rookie of the year on our team last year!

I had to pitch a decent amount last year. My movement is good so I did okay, but my velocity is probably 15mph below average in the league and I struggled to put people away on strikeouts. Most people sit between 70 and 80, with the rare pitcher in the upper 80s. Me, on the other hand - I am sitting 60mph consistently.

This is really frustrating. There are guys in the league my size and smaller that are clocked at 70+. If I can hit 70 I can be more than an effective pitcher due to my curveball and changeup, but I need to pick up 7-10mph for my stuff to play in this league.

Watching the video, I can notice several things right off the bat.

  1. Lack of explosiveness and hip action
  2. Lack of hip and shoulder separation
  3. Collapsing on my back leg
  4. Too short stride
  5. Throwing across my body which limits hip rotation

The issue is, I have been reading like crazy here trying to fix it and nothing I do works. I still look the same after practicing for a few months with zero gain in velocity.

Does anyone have suggestions on what I can do to fix this? I try everything and my velocity doesn’t budge. I appreciate you taking the time to help a washed up pitcher like me try to get some more enjoyment out of this game we love.

#2

#1 Try this without the knee lift: When you come set put pressure on the front toe (Glove-side foot), This will build kinetic energy in your legs just like a track-sprinter puts pressure on his front foot to have an explosive first-step. Then separate your hands AFTER your hips move a few inches toward your target. Finally, separate your hands quickly to create stride momentum. Lastly, challenge how long you can keep your hands separated throughout your stride, reaching glove-side into the strike zone like a diver jumping off a dive-board into a pool. Acceleration over distance; the longer the stride the more room you have to speed up. By stretching out your separation-time your legs will natural stride out longer as they have to follow what the arms are doing ; so don’t think of creating a longer stride with the legs instead keep your hands separated longer which in-turn creates a longer stride. If you are going to use a knee lift then don’t separate your hands until AFTER your hips shift forward to home plate a few inches coming out of the knee lift. the quicker you separate your hands the more explosive you stride will be. Just before foot-strike take an extra step then rotate your shoulder immediately once the front foot strikes the ground after the stride out.

#3

In your knee raise, instead of pushing off from a raised position, allow your knee to come down and then push off. Try to make the motion of your lower half linear until you are over your knee and ready to land. The tangential velocity of your arm is dictated by the radius and rotational inertia in your upper body. In simplistic terms, focusing on converting the potential energy in your legs into kinetic through linear motion and converting the energy in your upper body through rotational energy.