The Training category will no longer go unused, as I would like to use it in the offseason to talk about the pitchers I am training through the winter and getting prepared for various levels of baseball. At the moment, I am training less than ten but more than four students either in person or over the Internet using video lessons and interactive planning, which can get busy.

Today's training post will focus on my friend Jake, who is simply an amateur baseball player who wants to be the best pitcher he can be. Jake only played a single year of high school baseball but has been playing amateur-level baseball for a few years here in Seattle, and his devotion to the game is strong. After he spent a year in Japan through his collegiate study abroad program, he gained a high level of respect for the game of baseball in general and fell in love with the idea of becoming a pitcher.

Our first offseason workout consisted of simply getting acquainted with the training tools that we use:

• A pair of 10 lb. wrist weights
• A 2 lb. iron ball
• SPRI bands

Jake was well-acquainted with the idea of using wrist weights, as he saw me use them throughout the season on myself and other students. We performed pronated swings, wrong foot pickoff drills, two-arm pronated throws, and shakedowns with the weights. 

After a bit of warming up, Jake and I started throwing a baseball. After a bit of instruction regarding the positioning of his arm (getting his elbow up to driveline height - a Dr. Marshall saying) as well as increasing the tempo and angle of his foot landing, we switched over to the iron ball and performed a few exercises with it.

Wow. Something unlocked inside Jake - he could really feel the concept of pronating through release using an iron ball with the forearm drill (RPM Pitching). We moved on to high guard drills (RPM Pitching) and a drop-step simulated throw (Dr. Marshall) to get him to understand the concept of "sticking his pitching arm shoulder" into the target and driving his arm in a straight line. 

Immediately afterwards, he hopped onto the mound and threw a bullpen session. He began to pronate the release of his two-seam fastball without a problem. The result? He learned the Maxline Fastball in an hour's worth of work and jumped his velocity 3-5 mph as well.

We worked on the concept of pronating through release on his curveball and how he could learn the Maxline Pronation Curve, which had him interested. Jake already has a good curveball and slider (both thrown supinated), and he wants to improve the command and break of both pitches.