Hi, I'm Sherri Warner from the Sherri Warner-Festbitch Academy in Cannondale, Texas.
One of the most frequently asked questions every day is, how do I increase ball velocity
for my windmill pitcher?
So I go back to the studies that have been published, I try to base everything that we
do at the Sherri Warner-Festbitch Academy on science and medicine.
And so our studies tell us that it's a combination of four different things in the mechanics
that contribute to ball velocity.
So if we want to maximize ball velocity for our windmill pitcher, we want to take care
of all four of these things because they work together to explain ball velocity.
And those four things are the rate of spin of a pitch.
The faster a ball spins, and we can measure that with a rev fire in terms of revolutions
per second, the more revolutions per second we can put on a ball as we let it go out of
our hand, the faster it's going to move through the air, and the more ball velocity.
The second of the four things is arm speed.
And this number means nothing to you, but just hold on to the number and hold it relative
to the next number I'll give you.
For an average high school pitcher, from the studies that we've published, arm speed is
about 2,500 degrees per second, roughly.
For an average collegiate pitcher at all levels, average arm speed is about 3,200 degrees
per second.
And if we look at the best pitchers in the world, whether they were on an Olympic team,
on the national team, or play professionally, we find that their arm speed is more like
4,500 degrees per second.
So arm speed definitely sets apart the amateurs from the professionals.
The third of the four things is the quick push off the back side, so for a right-hander
from the right foot, for a left-hander from the left foot, how quickly we can explode
ourselves into our target in a forward direction the faster we can throw.
Keep in mind, too, that although ball spin and ball speed factor into ball velocity,
the muscles that we use to spin a ball and to circle our arm at the side are very small
relative to the muscles we use to explode ourselves forward.
So this third thing, the explosive push off the mound, is very important.
And then the fourth thing, just like pitching, hitting, and throwing are the same, we want
to have resistance on the front side, whether we're hitting a ball, whether we're throwing
a ball overhand, or we're pitching a ball.
So how firm the stride foot is when it touches down, and when your stride foot touches down,
we want to see a slight bend in the knee, and what we don't want to see in order to
maximize ball velocity is that the knee continues to bend.
If the knee continues to bend or collapse, then we're not firm on the front side, and
we've not done everything we can under the stride foot to maximize ball velocity.
So again, the four things that combine to explain ball velocity, and the four things
you'll want to work with on your athletes in order to improve their ball velocity, are
going to be ball spin, arm speed, leg drive, and front side resistance.
I hope this helps.
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