The latter statement poses the biggest problem for small market teams as the Red Sox and Yankees, two of the biggest spenders in the game, are utilizing small market practices, the same practices that allowed Beane’s A’s to make the playoffs from 2000 through 2003 while winning at least 88 games from 2000 through 2006. There is just one problem with most teams pouring money into advanced statistical analysis and trying to find an undervalued skill. There simply isn’t anything left to exploit. The majority of teams understand the value of hitters getting on base; they now understand the value of defensive statistics. What’s left to exploit? It seems that the small market teams have just a scintilla of a chance to compete with every conceivable area of player-skill mined, unearthed, and utilized. But, alas, there is one hope for the small market teams. Just as Billy Beane did years ago, teams will have to eschew long-practiced philosophies and methods in order to find that last untapped resource. Teams may have to look towards science in order to find the answer rather than hold onto long-standing traditions. The last true unexplored area is pitcher health. The first team to find a system that can keep its pitchers healthy wins the race and becomes Baseball’s next great dynasty.

Information Age isn’t any healthier

It may sound too simplistic, but the facts seem to prove otherwise. “Last season, teams spent just over $250 million dollars on injured pitchers. That number is actually down from 2008’s total of $300 million dollars”, states Will Carroll, a columnist for Baseball Prospectus who specializes in sports injuries. While the 2009 total may seem that it was an improvement, pitchers such as Ben Sheets, Mark Mulder, Orlando Hernandez and Tom Glavine didn’t pitch an inning nor were they paid Major League money. Despite all of Baseball’s great advances, pitcher health is the one area where little research is seen. “Progressive thinking is almost absent in baseball. There’s almost complete ignorance at the field level”, says Carroll, “In the front offices some, but this isn’t translating to the field. I know that a pitching coach doesn’t need to be doing calculus, but the last major change in pitching was the five man rotation, in the late 60’s, early 70s. Pitch counts have come down, but injuries have gone up. Still, we’re doing less research than it would cost to sign Kelvim Escobar now. It’s sad.”

It is indeed sad as teams continue to have stricter pitch counts and innings limits, but are not seeing the results. Pitchers are getting injured at an alarming rate. The amount of money spent on injured pitchers is critical for any team. Teams like the Yankees or the Red Sox can afford to have a Chien Ming Wang or a Diasuke Matsuzaka miss most of the season. But, teams like the Rays, Twins, Indians, A’s, and Reds don’t have that type of leeway. They couldn’t afford to lose a pitcher like Wang or Matsuzaka; their seasons would end that day. Injured pitching is the worst, most crippling threat to a team’s success. With injuries on the rise and the practicality of impact of losing pitchers, one has to question why there is such little change.

Rick Adair, the Pitching Coach for the Seattle Mariners, believes that, “It is still this old school mentality. It was a mindset then that pitchers just threw. One time, while I was pitching in college, I threw over 200 pitches in a game that had three rain delays and lasted more than five hours. That mindset about pitching is still there.”  Rick Peterson, the Pitching Coach for the Milwaukee Brewers, goes a step beyond, “People are scared of all this data. Not only that, they just don’t know what to do with it.”

How is it that two very talented pitching coaches with very specific plans can say that a mentality and fear overrule data when everything else in Baseball is scrutinized, monetized, and dissected? Surely, Baseball is slow to change, but even Baseball people should agree that the current development of pitchers just isn’t working. Yet, kneejerk reactions rule the day over data. The methods may have changed, but the decisions based on attitude and myth still prevail. 19 year Major League pitcher Al Leiter, now an analyst for MLB Network, saw both ends of the uniformed spectrum during his career.

Al Leiter and the Glimpse of the Future

Al Leiter pitched for 19 seasons, compiling a 162-132 record with a 3.80 ERA in 2,391 innings. Pitching for the New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, the Florida Marlins, and the New York Mets, Leiter struck out 7.4 batters per nine innings while compiling a 1.386 WHIP. Leiter’s Major League career began in 1987 as a 21-year-old rookie with the New York Yankees. After making four starts during the 1987 season, Leiter showed promise in 1988 as he made 14 starts and finished with a 4-4 record and a 3.92 ERA in 57.1 innings. Leiter was always someone who looked to maximize his ability. Having been educated about strength training for pitchers, the 22 year old was in the weight room doing basic shoulder strengthening exercises, something that is common for pitchers today. “I was in the weight room and in walks Billy Martin, puffing his cigar. He yells, ‘what’s wrong with you?’ After trying to tell him that I was strengthening my arm, he barked, ‘If you want to get stronger, go long-toss’. The truth is, there was no training regimen then. Everything was done on the fly”, explains Leiter. It seems that this is the case with many teams today.

The seminal moment in Leiter’s career happened early on during the 1989 season. He finally won a rotation spot for Dallas Green’s Yankees out of spring training. Leiter took the mound for his second start of the season at home against the Minnesota Twins. He did get his first win of the season, but didn’t pitch particularly well, giving up 5 runs (3 earned) in 8 innings of work. He did give up just 5 hits, but walked 9 batters while striking out 10. The seminal moment wasn’t the win or the fact that he overcame some poor control. It was the fact that the 23-year-old southpaw was allowed to throw 163 pitches. As a perfect summation of the times, Green explained that he was merely stretching Leiter out.

Leiter made two more starts before being traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for veteran outfielder Jesse Barfield. He clearly wasn’t the same pitcher after that 163-pitch performance. “I made one start for the Blue Jays on pure adrenaline; I don’t know how I pitched to be honest. A couple of days later, I was trying to throw a side session, but I turned to my pitching coach, Al Widmar, and told him that I couldn’t reach”, tells Leiter. It would be the first of two surgeries for Leiter who would essentially lose the next three seasons due to injury. Obviously, Leiter recovered well enough to be a frontline starter for the Marlins and Mets for the next 12 seasons. Something turned Leiter into a durable, dominant pitcher. Was it maturity? That’s surely part of it. Was it pitch counts? No, that certainly wasn’t it as Leiter always threw a high number of pitches. He famously threw 142 of them during game five of the 2000 World Series in one of the best post-season performances in recent history. His transformation wasn’t about pitch count, even though pitch count and innings limits are considered the preeminent safety nets for pitchers today. For Leiter, the transformation had everything to do with the science that Baseball seems resistant to adopt.

It wasn’t until 1991, after his second surgery, that Leiter found what he needed. “Dr. (James) Andrews invited me to have a biomechanical pitching analysis. He told me that they knew what ‘clean guys look like’. Listen, I was the perfect poster child for this. I was the 5th high school pitcher taken; I had plus-stuff and terrible mechanics. With the analysis, I saw my arm path and made adjustments to have a proper arm path. If I had one (an analysis) at 10 or 11 years old, a lot of things would’ve changed”, Leiter passionately explains. Once his delivery was fixed, the transformation from promising, yet wild and injured pitcher to top of the rotation pitcher was almost immediate. Upon returning to the rotation on a full-time basis in 1995, Leiter began a decade-long stretch as one of the better pitchers in the game. He compiled 133 wins against 99 defeats. He pitched 1,909.2 innings, allowed just 1,670 hits with an ERA of 3.46, a WHIP of 1.327, and an ERA+ of 123. Leiter is just one of a many pitchers who used biomechanics as a key element to sustain his proper arm path and delivery, allowing him to pitch for another 13 seasons at a high level. Unfortunately for most pitchers, biomechanics was pushed aside for the importance of pitch counts and innings limits.

Once and For All: It’s not the Pitch Counts

Leiter’s early career is quite similar to literally thousands of pitchers. There are so many talented pitchers whose careers are either derailed or ruined because of injury. Rick Adair’s pitching career ended with an elbow injury. He laments about the lack of knowledge in the mid-1980’s, “With what I know now, I would’ve done a lot of things differently then.” The problem is that most teams aren’t doing anything different. One only has to look at Mark Prior for the most recent example of a talented pitcher’s career getting extinguished because of injury. In fact, Prior’s injuries could’ve been avoided. It was known that Prior had a mechanical flaw in his delivery that put an inordinate amount of stress on his elbow and shoulder. Essentially, the talented Prior was a ticking time bomb to be injured. It wasn’t a matter of if, it was just when it would happen. Rick Peterson believes that Prior’s injuries could’ve been avoided. “The technology is there for a pitcher to get an analysis of 14 different risk factors in a delivery”, states Peterson, “If there is even one flaw in a delivery, you are essentially a car with a leak in the oil pan. Eventually, you will run out of oil.” If the technology and the supporting data are indeed available, why are organizations still paying close attention to pitch count and innings limits?

The short answer is that they still matter to some degree. Too many pitches or too many innings can lead to fatigue. Fatigue is another cause of injury. A pitcher who was not conditioned to make 100 pitches a game will get hurt if he exceeds his limit too much. “Pitch count is important in that the pitcher has to be conditioned as well as have adequate recovery time”, says Rick Adair. Many often wonder how the 100 pitch limited came about. Leiter has a theory, “If a quality inning is about 15 pitches, you can do the math. Seven innings gets you around 105 pitches.” However it came about, one thing is for certain; pitchers from the supposed golden era of pitchers didn’t throw any more pitches than they do today. Yes, Sandy Koufax once threw 205 pitches in a game during the 1961 season and other pitches did have those 180+ pitch performances. But, on average, pitchers were throwing about 105 pitches per start*. The durable pitchers from yesteryear were not throwing more pitches. Yes, if a pitcher isn’t conditioned to throw 100 pitches, he will breakdown.

But, that can’t be the reason for over $250 million dollars worth of pitching going on the disabled list. Fatigue and overuse aren’t the direct causes of injuries. They are merely conduits to the real problem. Fatigue causes alterations in the pitching delivery, which is the direct cause of injury. Pitch counts don’t take into account the individual at all. Some pitchers may be more physically able to throw 120 pitches a game. Rick Adair agrees, “Pitching programs and philosophies don’t work if they don’t take care of the individual. Every pitcher is different; some can handle high pitchcount. Others might not”. Pitch count is obviously not the reason for pitcher health nor is the cause of the problem. If that were the case, injuries would already be virtually extinguished. Yet, most teams have strict pitch count limits and look to that as their guiding principle. Will Carroll asserts that those beliefs are simply misguided as the focus is on the wrong area. He states, “I think that researching the methods, finding what works is huge. I’d say guys like Rick Peterson and Mike Maddux, a couple others, are well ahead of the curve. There’s almost no emphasis on process, just results, and that’s the wrong way to get long term success.” Perhaps with all of the money being spent and the resulting epidemic, teams will start to look elsewhere for answers.

Focusing on the Process

“Elsewhere” is likely the place that helped turned Leiter’s career around. Dr. James Andrews is the preeminent physician and authority on pitching injuries. His years of research has led to the creation of a biomechanical pitching analysis system with over 1,300 pitchers’ deliveries and resulting data used to derive normative ranges. It is with this data that Rick Peterson believes he can greatly reduce pitching injuries. “A biomechanical pitching analysis allows us to see a pitcher’s delivery and to pinpoint any red flags in the 14 delivery points. Without this information and the ability to correct a pitcher’s delivery, injuries will still happen. Why wouldn’t someone want this information?”, asks Peterson. Leiter agrees on the importance of an analysis, “It absolutely is important. One of the most important aspects to a pitcher’s delivery is the arm path. If a pitcher doesn’t have a proper arm path, even if he is just a fraction of a second late, he’s going to get hurt. They may get five years out of the pitcher before something happens, but it will happen.”

Peterson is even more passionate about biomechanics. “We’ll boil it down very simply. If a pitcher doesn’t have his arm in the proper place when he is about the deliver the ball, he is hurting his shoulder and elbow. If he doesn’t have a proper arm angle when your foot hits the ground, you are at a great risk for injury. Look at the great ones, the Tommy Glavine’s, the Nolan Ryan’s of the world; their arm angle was perfect at the time of delivery. That’s why the great ones last so long. They have a proper delivery.  Coaches will say that the pitcher was late with his arm. Being late puts you at risk for injury. An analysis lets us see the data and correct the delivery flaw to prevent injuries.”

If one doesn’t believe Peterson or Leiter, one could ask Dr. Glenn Fleisig, the Director of Research for ASMI. Fleisig believes that all pitchers, both amateur and professional, should have a biomechanical pitching analysis. ”It is important for all pitchers – from youth to professionals – to take all of the steps possible to prevent injury and maximize performance. This includes workload (pitch counts, etc.), mechanics, exercise, nutrition, and mental approach. Today pitchers of all levels come to ASMI for biomechanical analysis”, states Dr. Fleisig.  If an analysis is that important and it has been validated by years of research, why aren’t all teams using this? After all, pitching salaries totaled over $1.5 billion dollars last season; one would think that organizations would want to know all of their risk factors when committing this money.

The use of science is perhaps the only pitching program that comes with data from valid research. Pitch counts, as Will Carroll points out, are more of an end result. Teams are hoping that if a pitcher averages 92 pitches per game, he will stay healthy. The science of biomechanics and the research of Dr. Andrews remove that hope. Teams will know the flaws of their pitchers. They can be proactive in correcting those flaws and avoiding those injuries that sideline pitchers and cripple a team’s pennant hopes. There is momentum building towards this movement, but there is still the old school mentality lingering on the field. “The old school mentality would yell, ‘what are you talking about? Just pitch”, explains Leiter. The same thing goes on today except they yell to stop pitching after 100 pitches.

Science into Smart Decisions and Winning

Rick Peterson was the first coach to bring his staff to the famed lab in Alabama. His Oakland A’s were the model of health. Shortly after he left and another program was put in place, pitchers broke down. As the pitching coach for the Mets, he brought the New York hurlers for an analysis. The Mets also had near flawless pitching health. Soon after he left, pitchers began to break down when a less stringent program was put into place. That health is attributed to the analysis and the proper delivery that results from data. “I am very fortunate to have been put in a place where I was able to be educated by Dr. Andrews. The data is there. We can pinpoint a pitcher’s flaw and correct it before it becomes a problem. None of my pitchers ever had a problem with getting an analysis”, explains Peterson. Using that data, Peterson is able to construct an individualized pitching plan for each member of his staff. That includes delivery workouts, conditioning practices, and mental coaching. Rick Adair agrees about catering to the individual rather than a whole team approach, “Today, the individual gets ignored. Some training methods are not for everyone. They’re not clones. You have to take that into account when working with pitchers”.

The two coaches agree about the catering to the individual. That quality also shines a light on all that is wrong with the current state of pitcher development. Teams are employing the same methods for an entire organization. That type of program doesn’t take into account a pitcher’s body type, genetics, and, most importantly, his delivery. It also doesn’t help when deciding to acquire new pitchers or to commit long-term deals to their own pitchers. Wouldn’t a team like to know if the pitcher they are committing $70+ million dollars for the next half-decade has any risk for injury? One would think a team would want to know that before spending that large sum of money, just like a person researches before purchasing a used car. The injury risk would be minimized if a team would have the information prior to committing the money. Teams have statistical analysis departments devoted to finding a player’s on base percentage in day games when the weather is 72 degrees. They crunch numbers to find the best defensive player or the most valuable hitter. Why wouldn’t a team devote resources to finding and fostering pitching health? It seems like a natural thing to do. Most teams have removed subjectivity from its decision-making processes by relying on data to supplement their scouts. Yet, the most important area, pitcher health, still remains subjective for most teams.

The Race Begins

The race for pitching health begins as teams have uncovered every undervalued aspect of a baseball player. Now, it is time to move forward with pitching development. Rick Peterson is heading back to the field with the Brewers. He chose the Brewers because of their willingness to explore biomechanics and develop an organizational plan. He had offers from other teams and even to become an advisor, but he wanted to be in uniform, on the field. “I chose the Brewers because they are on the forefront of pitching development. Every pitcher in the organization will have an analysis during spring training.” Armed with that information, Peterson and the Brewers will devise an individualized plan for each pitcher in the organization. It is important to withhold judgment the first season as he is inheriting a new group of pitchers. But, judging by Peterson’s track record, the Brewers’ pitchers will be healthy, durable, and perform better. Once the small market Brewers are able to prove health, the rest of the league will have a blueprint.

That blueprint is actually already available through Peterson’s company, 3P Sports, which offers an individualized pitching development program via a web application for amateur pitchers. The program offers a biomechanical pitching analysis and an individualized strength and conditioning program. It is the same one that Peterson used with the A’s, Mets, and will now implement with the Brewers. Teams may be seeking a program to help their pitchers; it already exists.

Closing Thoughts

It may seem that incorporating the science and research in Baseball practice may never happen. Change in Baseball is always slow. With money at a premium, teams will soon be looking hard at a sustainable program. The old school mentality that mocked the Oakland A’s for valuing on base percentage no longer exists. The old school mentality of ignoring advanced statistics is slowing dying into a marriage of tradition and new wave. That’s all happening in Baseball. Eventually, this disregard for science will melt away. In the meantime, most teams will continue to waste millions of dollars on injured pitchers. And, during that time, the Milwaukee Brewers will benefit from the years of research. They are the frontrunners in the development of sustainable pitching excellence. Teams will copy; they always do. It evidently just takes time.

Practically speaking, this is the final chance for small market teams to compete. Once teams like the Pirates, Rays, Royals, Reds, and Indians adopt this science, their pitchers will remain healthy. Injuries will still happen, but they will occur at a dramatically lesser frequency. This will allow the teams to have their top five or six starters in the organization pitch. It is when the number seven or eight starter is forced into action that a team really gets in trouble. Sustained winning in Baseball is difficult enough, especially with some of the economic disparity. This science of biomechanics gives those small market teams one last chance to win consistently and get the most out of their draft picks.

*Pitch data taken from retrosheet.

Al Leiter is currently an analyst on MLB Network as well as on the Yes Network for Yankees broadcasts. Will Carroll’s work can be read on Baseballprospectus.com. You can follow him on Twitter as well @injuryexpert. Rick Peterson’s company, 3P Sports, is entering its second year. To learn more about the program, visit 3P Sports.com. You can follow Rick Peterson and 3P Sports on Twitter @RickPeterson3P and on Facebook at the 3PSports fan page.  Peterson is set to begin his first season as the Milwaukee Brewers Pitching Coach. Rick Adair is entering his second season as the Seattle Mariners Pitching Coach. To read more about Dr. Glenn Fleisig’s work as well as the work of ASMI, visit their website at asmi.org.

It was a shock to Rick Peterson when the voice on the other end of the phone was Scott Kazmir, his former pitching prodigy when both were employed by the New York Mets. Kazmir, on the disabled list with a strained quadriceps, needed help. He was struggling at the start of 2009 after struggling to end the 2008 season. With his career at a sort of crossroad, he made the unorthodox choice and turned to his former pitching coach. In Baseball, once a player or coach moves on to a different organization, that usually spells the end of the player/coach relationship. With teams instituting their own training methods and spending an exorbitant amount of money on coaching, it is unusual for a pitcher and coach to reunite once parting ways. When Rick Peterson’s cell phone rang that June day, he was surprised to hear Scott Kazmir, the former Mets prospect who was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays in the infamous Victor Zambrano trade, ask for help to regain his delivery that made him one of the toughest pitchers to face in the 2008 season. Why would a pitcher reach out to his former pitching coach? More importantly, why would the Tampa Bay Rays, a team fresh off a miracle run to the World Series thanks in large part to their pitching development system, endorse the deal? Whatever the answers to those questions are, the results are quite clear. Scott Kazmir has returned to form as a top of the rotation pitcher since his time with Peterson. As many are finding out, the implications of Rick Peterson’s methodology are starting to reach more than just Major Leaguers.

The Methodology Summary

Peterson’s style as an Instructor of Pitching is exceptionally thorough. It led to the creation of what he calls The Peak Performance Triangle. The triangle shows the areas of importance—conditioning, pitching skills, and performance behaviors. Peterson believes that each area intersects with the other. “They all relate and need each other. In order to avoid injury and achieve his peak performance, a pitcher must be conditioned to perform the act of throwing a baseball at least 100 times a game. But, he also has to have the skills to do it properly each time which means having the mental toughness to focus on each pitch.” That latter point is often ignored in professional sports, but as seen in so many cases, a pitcher must have mental toughness in order to achieve sustained success.

At the heart of Peterson’s program is biomechanics. Biomechanics is defined as the science of the internal and external forces acting on the human body and the effects produced by these forces. For pitchers, biomechanics is paramount for sustained health considering the violent nature of pitching. Peterson believes that all pitchers should have a biomechanical analysis in order to spot red warning flags in their deliveries. Peterson prefers to utilize the analysis standards developed by the famed Dr. James Andrews of the American Sports Medicine Institute. Peterson brought over 80 pitchers to the lab while coaching and it’s one of the main reasons his pitchers have stayed healthy while under his tutelage.

Kazmir Reaches Out

In nine starts to begin the 2009 season, it was evident that something was wrong with Scott Kazmir. He had a 7.69 ERA, a 1.95 WHIP, and had given been touched up by opposing hitters to the tune of .302/.382/.504. The Rays placed him on the disabled list with a strained quadriceps. However, there was a bit more to it as Kazmir struggled with his delivery for the second half of the 2008 season and into the post season. His early season struggles showed some decreased velocity (his fastball averaged 88 MPH during last start before landing on the disabled list) and a complete lack of control. Kazmir turned to his former pitching coach for help. But, first, Peterson wanted to make sure that the Tampa Bay Rays were on the same page. “It was important to me that the Rays organization was onboard with this. They not only approved it, but they endorsed it”, says Peterson. The Rays’ decision was a bold one as it was a risk to allow someone outside of the organization to work with their pitcher who is set to make $24 million dollars over the next two seasons. But, the Rays decided to put Kazmir ahead of organizational pride in order to quicken his rehabilitation process.

Step one was to get Scott Kazmir to Alabama to visit ASMI for a biomechanical evaluation. “The first step was to have Scott return to lab. We had a baseline from 2004 when he came with me with the Mets. We did a comparison, which is model of 3P Sports program. When got the analysis back, a few measurements were now out of range. So we individualized his routine to get him back into his good habits”, explains Peterson. In other words, Kazmir’s delivery had changed at some point, causing him to lose velocity, lose the strike zone, and, most importantly, cause health issues.

Once the analysis was complete, Peterson and Kazmir got together in New Jersey at a high school baseball field. There, Peterson went back to basics, doing shadow drills (going through the delivery without a baseball) and long toss. They were to meet in the New York City the following day for session two. “I thought we’d meet at a park, but then I thought if someone recognized us. Could you imagine someone seeing Scott and I having a catch in the park?” Peterson asks with a laugh.

“Scott had some flexibility issues in his lower extremities so we ended up in a Yoga studio. Then, we went outside and long-tossed from 300 feet with our eyes closed. With your eyes closed, you feel the movements of your body better. After, we went through routines of how to throw a changeup. Scott needs his changeup and needs to throw it often. The difference was immediate. Scott even said he felt his power again”, describes Peterson.

With those workouts and armed with his Peterson routine, Scott Kazmir went back to the Rays. The difference was, indeed, noticeable. Suddenly, he was back to throwing in the mid-90’s. Peterson describes a conversation with Rays’ General Manager Andrew Friedman, “Andrew was stunned. He said Scott gained three miles per hour on his fastball in his first bullpen back.”

Yes, the velocity is back as well as well as a plan when pitching. In his last Rays’ start against the Blue Jays, Kazmir’s fastball averaged 93 miles per hour. He also threw 15 changeups which is 11 more than he did during his final start before going on the disabled list. His stuff is back, his delivery is more consistent. The results are coming.

After working with Peterson, Kazmir made 11 starts for the Rays. In those 11 starts, he has thrown 60.1 innings, allowed 61 hits, 34 runs, 21 walks, and 56 strikeouts with a 5.07 ERA and a 1.359 WHIP. More importantly, he has started to dominate hitters again as opposing hitters have hit just .239/.313/.374. He’s still working his way back, but in his last three starts for the Rays (against Toronto, Texas, and Toronto again), he was 2-0, having thrown 19.2 innings, allowing 14 hits, 6 walks, 7 runs, and 21 strikeouts.

He was throwing so well that the Los Angeles Angels decided to give up three prospects (Alex Torres, Matt Sweeney, and Sean Rodriguez) for the southpaw. The Angels, one of the most successful teams of the decade, decided that they needed another quality pitcher in order to complete their playoff run. After surveying the trade market, they decided on Kazmir, who is signed through 2011 with $24 million dollars remaining on his contract.

The trade has been all of the Angels could’ve hoped for as Kazmir has pitched like a top of the rotation starter in his three starts. Although he is winless (0-1), he has pitched 19.1 innings, allowed just 13 hits, 4 runs, and 6 walks while striking out 14 batters. His 1.93 ERA and 0.983 WHIP are far cries from his early season trouble with the Rays. And, more importantly, he is now pitching consistently in terms of velocity and location. Matching up against the Mariners’ Felix Hernandez in his first two Angels’ starts, Kazmir averaged 92.6 miles per hour with his fastball, 93.7 MPH in his second start, while averaging 92.7 MPH in his latest start. Additionally, he continued to throw his changeup (10, 11, and 27 times respectively) and averaged 80 miles per hour, giving him that all important speed differential. His attack of the strike zone is much better as he is throwing more strikes (close to 70 percent in his Angels’ starts).

After working with Peterson, Scott Kazmir regained his velocity in a matter of days. His last six starts have been so positive that his time spent reacquainting himself with Peterson’s program was time well spent.

3P Sports

With Rick Peterson’s years of success at the Major League level and with the research of ASMI, Peterson has brought his training methods to the amateur market. Peterson explains that the goal “is to help young pitchers develop proper habits. The 3P Sports Pitching Program is what I have done with my pitchers my entire career. They’ve stayed healthy and performed well. With the program, the young pitcher can learn the proper techniques and develop the good habits that will prevent the injuries we see today at the Major League level.” Indeed, there is much data to suggest that pitching injuries that manifest themselves at the Major League level were actually developed when the pitcher was in Little League.

The 3P Sports program gives the amateur pitcher the opportunity to get a biomechanical analysis and an individualized, daily training program via a web based application. To learn more about the 3P Sports Pitching Program and to see a live demo, visit www.3psports.com

Editor’s Note: This article was first written by Gary Armida for the bizofbaseball.com. To view the article in its original form, head over to the bizofbaseball.com.

It was in 1989 that Rick Peterson’s professional coaching career came together. Coach Peterson obviously had the Baseball knowledge as well as his tremendous ability to relate to people. But, the genesis of his career happened in Alabama as he would begin a journey of research that would lead him to be one of the most successful pitching coaches of the last 20 years. As the pitching coach for the Birmingham Barons, the double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, Rick Peterson had the good fortune to walk through the American Sports Medicine Institute’s (ASMI) door just when the famed Dr. James Andrews was in the beginning phases of his work of biomechanical analysis of pitchers. Dr. Andrews was gathering data that would be used to enhance pitching performance while simultaneously reduce pitching related injuries. With over 20 years of data and experience, this biomechanical research can make an impact on the amateur pitching market. As stated in previous articles, it is the amateur pitcher who is most susceptible to injury. Coach Peterson, as usual, explains the severity of this epidemic. “45 percent of young pitchers under the age of 12 experience chronic elbow pain. That number rises to 60 percent when talking about high school age pitchers.” With those startling statistics in mind, Coach Peterson has created 3PSports, the first professional pitching program designed for the amateur pitcher. At the heart of the 3P Sports program is the Peak Performance Triangle which is comprised of skills and drills, physical behaviors (proper conditioning), and performance based behaviors. At the heart of the Peak Performance Triangle is biomechanics as a pitcher must have the proper movements in order to maintain health.

Biomechanics

Biomechanics is defined as the science of the internal and external forces acting on the human body and the effects produced by these forces. Obviously, an analysis of a pitcher’s biomechanics when performing the pitching delivery is quite important in order to maintain his safety. Dr. Andrews and his team at ASMI have pioneered this analysis through many years of working with highly successful pitchers. Coach Peterson explains, “Dr. Andrews went back to the Bob Gibson era and really looked at pitchers who were durable, maintained health, and performed at an elite level. There were consistencies in the biomechanics of Gibson, Tom Seaver, Steve Carlton, Nolan Ryan, and Don Sutton’s deliveries. They were all elite level pitchers who had long, healthy careers. Dr. Andrews wanted (and accomplished) to build a system around the habits of such pitchers.”

Out of the research came the biomechanics analysis. A biomechanical analysis involves filming a pitcher while a computer records every movement of his delivery. With the recording, the computer will analyze a pitcher’s delivery compared to the elite pitchers in the computer system. Coach Peterson has brought over 80 pitchers during his 11 years as a Major League pitching coach. “As Dr. Andrews says, it is the best prehab program out there. With the analysis, the pitcher will now have knowledge of any ‘red flags’ or ‘yellow flags’ in his delivery. Red flags are any movements in a delivery that will lead to a high probability of injury. Yellow flags are less critical, but over time, those movements can lead to injury”, states Coach Peterson.

There are five major red flag areas that are difficult for the un-trained eye to see. Coach Peterson describes, “The five flags are the angle of foot when the foot touches down, whether it is too opened or too closed, the angle foot at in relation to the target, the angle of knee collapse when the ball is released, limited external rotation, and arm action where the elbow gets considerable above shoulder line.” Obviously, those five movements are quite difficult to assess when watching a pitcher throw a Little League or High School game. Yet, if the amateur pitcher has just one of those flaws, he is at great risk for injury. One just has to look at the track record of Coach Peterson’s pitchers during his six seasons in Oakland and five seasons in New York to realize that a biomechanical analysis and the subsequent prehab avoids injury. He’s one of the few elite level pitching coaches who can boast that his pitchers have stayed healthy and productive.

Help for the Amateur Pitcher

With the epidemic of pitching related injuries in the amateur market, many parents are in search of some answers. That search has become even more important as Coach Peterson has repeatedly stated that the “seeds of pitching-related injuries are planted during Little League. They won’t manifest until later in life. It’s like a car. One day, you hit the brakes and the car pulls to the left. Obviously, you won’t blow a tire the first day. But, over time, the tread will wear out because of the problem. If left untreated, the tire will blow.”

A key component of Coach Peterson’s 3P Sports program is the biomechanical analysis. For the first time, an amateur pitcher can utilize the same technology that Coach Peterson has used with Major League pitchers. For the amateur pitcher, an analysis at a young age can prevent those injuries that often cause talented, young pitchers to miss out at pitching on an elite level and/or at full strength. In today’s environment of elite level showcases, travel baseball, and specialized training, this type of technology and opportunity is vital for a healthy, young pitcher.

Many parents may look at their child and think that all is well if he is pitching well. The harder throwers, who are most at risk for injury because of accelerated deliveries and overuse, may be able to dominate their age group, but health issues can and will linger. The problem is that those issues won’t manifest themselves until it is too late. If a young pitcher has even the slightest chance at pitching in college or professionally, a biomechanical analysis is in his best interest. Coach Peterson explains, “The number one benefit is getting a complete physical. Imagine going to a doctor and not getting a blood and urine test. Just because you are pitching well and everything is fine now doesn’t mean that issues aren’t starting to build. Pitchers can have success despite red flags. The problem is that the success is often short-lived. Eventually, injury will occur. Mark Prior is a prime example as he had one red flag characteristic. Pitchers who are at highest risk injury throw with the highest velocity. It’s no different than a NASCAR car breaking down more frequently and violently compared to a regular car.”

The 3PSports Process

Along with an opportunity to have access to an elite level conditioning program, and a comprehensive skills and drills program, an amateur pitcher can have his own biomechanical analysis from 3P Sports. Instead of making the trip to Alabama, all an amateur pitcher needs is a video camera and internet access. 3P Sports will provide parents and their children with specific instructions of how to film their pitching delivery and send it to 3P Sports for the complete analysis. Simply, a pitcher will film his delivery, upload the film to 3P Sports, and then receive his unique biomechanical analysis of the delivery. “The amateur pitcher will receive the comprehensive biomechanical analysis that measures 14 critical movements that can reduce the risk of injury as well as increase performance. It’s the centerpiece of our program as we can measure how a pitcher of any age matches up within the normative ranges of elite pitchers of his age group.”

The program is not about getting all pitchers to throw the same way. As all smart and quality athletic programs should do, the 3P Sports program works with the individual pitcher’s body (thus the importance of the analysis) to maximize performance and minimize injury. A look at Coach Peterson’s professional work as a Major League Pitching Coach will illustrate this belief. “If you look at my six years in Oakland and five years in New York, did any of those pitchers have the same delivery? (Tim) Hudson, (Mark) Mulder, (Barry) Zito, Johan Santana, Oliver Perez-were any of their deliveries the same? No, but they were all within the normative ranges when analyzing their individual delivery.”

Is it that important for the Amateur Pitcher?

This program, which will launch later this month, is, again, the same program that Coach Peterson has used during his career with his staffs. In fact, it is the same program that pitchers such as CC Sabathia, Roger Clemens, Cliff Lee, Al Leiter, Barry Zito, and Tim Hudson (among many others) have used. Even some forward thinking Major League General Managers are working with 3P Sports to bring the program to their organizations. The amateur pitcher will be working with the same elite level drills that the professionals use.

If a parent has invested in pitching lessons for his son for all of these years and invested in professional level products like gloves and shoes, why wouldn’t you want an analysis developed by Dr. Andrews that to ensure health? The fact that Tommy John Surgeries have been performed over 700 percent more frequently over the past decade among amateur level pitchers should answer that question quite efficiently.

Reader Question

Coach Peterson and I invite readers of FullCountPitch.com to send in their questions (click here). Below is one sent in by FCP reader, John Ryan.

“…With elbow pain pitching is definitely out, but should he be doing any throwing to strengthen the area despite pain or exercising.”

Coach Peterson responds, “No, he needs to be asymptomatic of elbow pain. It’s a major warning sign and you have to search for the reasons why there is pain in delivery-whether it’s conditioning or exceeding pitch count. Parents and players need to be proactive with delivery, conditioning, and overuse. Once healthy and pain free, start to build up arm strength with normal long-toss.”

About Rick Peterson and 3P Sports

Visit the official 3PSports website to learn more about the Peak Performance Pitching Program. There you can read more about the program, and most importantly, register for continual updates.

Bridging the Gap Between Potential and Peak Performance

“60 percent of the amateur pitchers surveyed complained of chronic elbow pain”, states Rick Peterson. Coach Peterson is describing the results of a recent survey given to a group of amateur pitchers, ages 9-18. The fact that a young athlete would admit to having elbow pain is alarming, let alone 60 percent of the pitchers in that particular study group. With the amateur market in distress, Rick Peterson, former Major League Pitching Coach for the Oakland A’s and New York Mets, believes he can substantially eliminate pitching related injuries in the amateur pitching market. With over 30 years in Professional Baseball and backed by the American Sports Medicine Institute’s 30 plus years of research, Coach Peterson’s goal is nearly complete. For the first time,  the knowledge, the science, and the tools are finally available to assess, predict, and prevent pitching injuries. Armed with his knowledge of performance and injury prevention, Coach Peterson initially created the Peak Performance Triangle. The Peak Performance Triangle is based on three principles. First on the triangle are the skills and competencies which are the technical components of a pitch delivery. Obviously, a pitcher will need the proper delivery in order to achieve a high level of success. The triangle also incorporates physical behaviors such as the necessary conditioning. Lastly, performance based behaviors balance the physical with the inner game of mind control that manage all external actions. Of the three, physical behaviors is the base of the triangle because a lack of physical conditioning will stunt the development of the other two components. Today, Coach Peterson and former New York Mets Physical Therapist and assistant strength coach, Jeff Cavaliere join FCP  to discuss the importance and practical theory of conditioning for the amateur pitcher.

A Review of the Pitching Delivery

In the first Pitching Perspectives article, Coach Peterson described the pitching motion as an upside down tornado. By that, he means that a pitcher’s motion and resulting velocity is dependent on perfect timing, great balance, and excellent hip rotation. Coach Peterson explains, “Think about the pitching delivery as an upside down tornado. Hip rotation determines velocity. If the delivery is executed properly, the shoulder doesn’t do much work. But, in order for the shoulder not to feel the brunt of the workload, everything must be in sync, on-time, and in coordination with the rotational velocities, the lower body and the upper torso.” Besides a lack of knowledge, poor conditioning is the number one cause of poor mechanics. If the body is too fatigued or improperly trained to perform the same pitching motion the same way over 100 times in a given game, a pitcher cannot pitch with a safe, proper delivery.

Conditioning Needs of a Pitcher

“If you look at an elite pitcher, you are looking at someone with a strong back, strong shoulders, and strong legs”, states Coach Peterson. In order to properly train a pitcher, a conditioning program must address three areas. The program must address speed and strength. Coach Peterson explains, “As we’ve said in previous articles, there is a correlation between speed and power. The faster a pitcher’s hips rotate the more velocity they throw with. Speed equals power.”

A pitcher also needs to have endurance training. A successful pitcher must be able to maintain a proper delivery 100 times a game. Lastly, a pitcher must have enough strength to maintain balance and flexibility.

Poor Conditioning and a Lack of Knowledge

For years, well intentioned amateur coaches (and even some professional coaches) have been conditioning pitchers incorrectly. Unfortunately for amateur pitchers, the myths of proper conditioning are perpetuated and followed. Most amateur coaches will prescribe a regiment (if, he cares enough to attempt to condition pitchers) of long distance running, weight training, and more pitching. While all three have some benefits, they are really the direct opposite of what needs to be done to properly condition a pitcher on both the amateur and professional levels.

Long distance running does not, in fact, condition a pitcher. Coach Peterson explains, “Slow movements are unthinkable when it comes to conditioning a pitcher. Running five miles was once thought to be the way, but that is not building endurance for a pitcher. Endurance for a pitcher is being able to throw 100 pitches with 100 separate explosions.” Jeff Cavaliere goes a step further in his explanation, “Endurance in any sport is important. You want to have your legs under you and to make sure your lungs can support the demands of your activity. A small amount of long distance running is alright, but after that, it does not build pitcher endurance.”

Another myth of training is the concept of weight training. Many amateur pitchers will head to the weight room and perform bench press, arm curls, and leg press repetitions. Unfortunately, this is also a poor methodology. Coach Peterson looks at it practically, “If you look at any successful Major League pitcher, you won’t see big pecs. Those exercises are for show and do not help the successful pitcher.” Cavaliere is more foreboding when he discusses the classic weight training method, “Doing the bench press is good for a beach body, but it is not functional for a pitcher. In fact, a lack of knowledge of weight training can be career disabling for a pitcher of any age. A bench press done even slightly wrong can compromise the AC joint in your shoulder.” In other words, the classic weight training programs that most amateur athletes perform is not only counterproductive, but quite dangerous.

The final myth is that amateur pitchers need to throw more in order develop their arm strength. This belief has resulted in the advent of year-round leagues where the elite pitcher will continue to pitch competitively through what was once the off season. As outlined in past Pitching Perspectives articles, this belief is false. The concept of periodization is one where a muscle needs a period of rest to recover from the effects of the violent nature of pitching. Again, if year-round pitching was the answer, why are pitching related injuries at an all-time high?

Best Practices for Proper Conditioning of the Amateur Athlete

The most important aspect to any conditioning program is to get the athlete to buy into the program. For the amateur athlete, this is vitally important as there are so many options that offer much more pleasurable distractions. The successful program is one that has realistic, attainable goals. If an amateur pitcher selects a program where he can never reach a goal, he is likely to quit. The goals must be measurable, attainable, and age appropriate.

“The most overriding characteristic for a conditioning program is that the exercises and activities are functional”, states Cavaliere. The term functional is used quite often in today’s conditioning vernacular. For pitchers, both amateur and professional, the term functional means that every conditioning activity must have a purpose and must simulate the stress that a pitcher’s body will face while delivering a baseball.

Instead of long distance running, a functional conditioning program will consist of a sprint routine. As stated, long distance running has its place, but for a pitcher, endurance is built to simulate those a pitcher will face over a 100 times a game. Coach Peterson explains, “In order to properly train a pitcher, he must do some power running. One exercise is doing 30 second runs followed by 60 seconds of rest and then repeating. This simulates the violent start of a pitching delivery and the period of rest between pitches. The heart rate will spike, then slow down, and so on.”

Jeff Cavaliere, who works with elite level players as well as amateur players, gets a bit more specific, “I like to have pitchers do ‘gassers’. Basically, they are 120 yard sprints (60 yards down and back). Usually, it takes a player 18 to 20 seconds to complete. They are instructed to rest the balance of one minute and then begin again. So, if a player runs the 120 yards in 18 seconds, he has 42 seconds to rest before beginning the next one. Think about the pitcher. He has to be explosive for a pitch, take a break, and do it again. Functional training should condition the body for those movements. My best advice for amateur coaches is to embrace sprinting as the conditioning portion of your practice. It is by far the most functional. The athlete will be in great shape with a program of sprinting.”

The idea of sprinting is logical in the context of baseball. The pitcher’s body must be conditioned for the work that it will have to do on the mound. A marathon runner wouldn’t utilize a program of sprint work because the body would be asked to do something else during competition. If an athlete wants to prepare properly, he must prepare for the stress his body will face.

As for strength training, pitchers do need to be prepared in a different way. First, one must consider the pitching motion once again. One of the most important aspects of a delivery is the balance point. A right-handed pitcher must be able to balance his body with his right leg while as southpaw must do so with his left leg. Therefore, a strength program must have work on one legged balance. If a pitcher can strengthen his legs in order to maintain proper balance, his delivery is likely to remain sound over an extended period of time. In other words, he won’t become a victim of fatigue. “You want to work on body movements like lunges and rotational training. If a pitcher can strengthen his legs and get better balance, he then can rotate his hips faster”, explains Coach Peterson. Why is that important? Well, the faster a pitcher’s hips rotate the more velocity he gains on his pitches. Most amateur pitchers lack the physical conditioning to maintain balance or to maintain the strength to rotate their hips.

“There are some very basic exercises a pitcher can do. You can do a slightly different version of a step up, which is a great lower body strength and stability exercise. Put out a 16 to 22 inch box (an aerobic stepper works fine). For a right-handed pitcher, move the box to his right side and have him place his right leg on the box. Now have him drive up the left leg. Suddenly, you are simulating and strengthening the legs for the pitching delivery. The best part about this is that anyone can do this. And the fact that you can do this utilizing your own body weight makes this exercise appropriate for all ages”, explains Cavaliere. Coach Peterson champions this exercise as he points out that there are studies that indicate that jumping high and far correlate to fastball velocity. If a pitcher can jump higher, it usually means he can throw harder.

For the upper body, there needs to be a combination of activity. Jeff Cavaliere states that strengthening the back is more important that strengthening the front. “If you do an incline pushup or a pushup plus, you must do two exercises for the back. You must counter the pushing exercise with a pulling exercise, preferably in a two to one ratio.”

Of course, the shoulder conditioning is vital to the health of a pitcher. All too often, it is an area that is ignored in the amateur baseball market. The rotator cuff is just a cluster of three tiny muscles. Those three muscles counteract the internal rotation pattern. Without strengthening the rotator cuff, it will breakdown. Coach Peterson is a big believer in resistance training for the shoulder. “Age appropriate bands or tubing can be used to exercise and strengthen the shoulder. Too often, it gets ignored, but if you are depending on that muscle, you must exercise it.”

As stated previously, pitching competitively throughout the year is counterproductive to the health of a pitcher. But, there is an even more practical reason relating to conditioning. If a pitcher is still in season, the conditioning is different from the conditioning program out of season. “There has to be a time to limit activity before next season. At that point, getting away from performing is healthy. If you look at a biomechanics analysis before and after training, you can see significant changes when training while not performing”, explains Coach Peterson. So, it is imperative to the health of a young pitcher to have a real off season to train, recover, and rebuild muscles for the next season. Without that period of time, injuries are likely to increase.

Train Like the Pros

Armed with the scientific research from ASMI, the professional baseball experience and success of Rick Peterson, and the training knowledge of Jeff Cavaliere, amateur athletes will now have the opportunity to perform at higher levels by training smarter and eliminating injuries. 3P Sports will be launching a comprehensive training program for amateur pitchers in the next 30 days. Utilizing a web based application, an amateur pitcher will have access to age appropriate programs to guide them through their training process as well as address the other two areas of the Peak Performance Triangle (skills and competencies and performance based behaviors. The conditioning program from 3P Sports is designed to maximize a pitcher’s performance. “We are bringing the professional experience to the amateur athlete. The exercises are the same ones that Johan Santana uses. The difference is that young athletes will finally have access to scientifically sequenced strength and conditioning instruction that impacts performance unlike casual programs available today. They will have the proper routines and conditioning for their age”, states Cavaliere. With the proper conditioning at an earlier age, the injury epidemic will be eliminated. Rick Peterson summarizes, “Our mission is to bridge the gap between potential and performance.”

Closing Thoughts

Proper conditioning is essential for the health and performance on the mound. While youth leagues and year-round baseball have become increasingly popular and more competitive, the amateur player’s conditioning has been largely ignored or delegated to the Physical Education curriculums at school. Perhaps it was ignored due to a lack of knowledge. Most amateur baseball coaches and parents are extremely well intentioned and aware of the health issues assoicated with a poor delivery. However, few understand the foundation conditioning provides for performance and injury prevention. Very soon, there will be practical, scientifically proven methods to properly condition the amateur pitcher. 

About Rick Peterson and Jeff Cavaliere

Jeff Cavaliere is one of the Northeast’s premier physical therapists and strength and conditioning specialists.  As the head physical therapist and asst. strength coach for the New York Mets for the last three seasons, Jeff quickly became known for his functional and cutting edge approach to training the elite level athlete. In addition to his role as the Director of Physical Conditioning for the 3P Sports program, Jeff is also the founder and creator of the Major League INsider Training system, (www.majorleagueinsidertraining.com) the only baseball specific workout program endorsed by some of the greatest current players like All Star 3rd baseman David Wright and 300 game winner Tom Glavine. As a recognized expert in sports performance enhancement, Cavaliere is a regular contributor to Men’s Fitness, GOLF magazine, and STACK magazine, among other publications.

To learn more about Rick Peterson’s Professional Pitching Program for Amateur Athletes, be sure to register at his website, www.rick-peterson.com.

Bridging the Gap Between Potential and Peak Performance

Protecting young pitchers’ arms is an issue that youth baseball struggles with. In the era of kids playing in more than one league, pitching year round, and specializing in one area, the rate of arm injuries have increased. “In our last article about youth pitching, we stated that Tommy John surgeries performed on amateur pitchers have increased by 700 percent in the last ten years. It is worth repeating”, states Rick Peterson, former Major League pitching coach for the Oakland A’s and New York Mets. With an increasing number of leagues around the country, the amateur level pitcher is asked to pitch much more than a pitcher who grew up 20 years ago. This increased use, while providing young players with increased opportunities to hone their skills, has led to increased risks of major injuries. In an effort to reduce that risk, USA Baseball, the governing agency for Amateur Baseball, sought the help of the American Sports Medical Institute (ASMI). Through ASMI’s research, USA Baseball has established pitch count rules for all age groups of youth baseball instead of the traditional innings limit. Why has ASMI recommended pitch counts for youth pitching? Coach Peterson explains, “When you are throwing a baseball, the arm travels faster than any other body part does in any other physical activity. It’s important that youth pitchers are trained properly, have the proper delivery, and avoid overuse which leads to dangerous fatigue.” The goal of Rick Peterson’s work is to leverage the ASMI research to reduce the wear and tear on the youth pitcher and to avoid dangerous fatigue.  Most importantly, their work is to eliminate youth pitching injuries. Today, Coach Peterson and ASMI’s Dr. Glenn Fleisig join FCP to discuss the concept of overuse, the rationale behind pitch counts in youth baseball, fatigue, and the value of long distance throwing.

Overuse

For review, the three common reasons for arm injuries are poor delivery, poor conditioning, and overuse. The concept of overuse is difficult to measure as every young pitcher is different. Some young pitchers may mature more quickly than others. But, in general, youth pitchers are widely overused. When one looks back 20 or 30 years ago, a child would simply play Little League Baseball. As the child grew, he would play school ball along with a summer league. Now, many baseball players, especially the elite level prospects, are playing baseball all year round. Even if they are not pitching all year round, the pitchers are pitching in multiple leagues during the same season. The school of thought in this era of specialization is that the more repetition and experience one gets, the better pitcher one will become. Coach Peterson strongly disagrees, “If pitching at high volumes at the amateur level was important to a kid’s development, wouldn’t you think that more than three kids who pitched in the Little League World Series would be a pitcher in the Major Leagues?” This point clearly illustrates the failings of youth pitchers throwing in high volume. The Little League World Series has been around since 1947. One would think that with more leagues and more experience, Little League hurlers would represent a significant number of Major League Pitchers.

Overusing a youth pitcher likely means that the pitcher throws hard. When a pitcher throws with increased velocity without proper conditioning and training, he is put at an even greater risk for injury. The hard throwing youth pitcher is often asked to throw more games, pitch more innings, and is used during more stressful situations in order for a team to win more often. The focus at the amateur level, especially in Little League and other youth leagues, needs to shift from winning to helping kids develop appropriately and safely. Coach Peterson suggests, “It’s very important that parents and youth coaches understand that while it’s exciting to be competitive and win games, proper development and training of a pitcher is more important. Over time, if the kid is not managed properly, he will have an arm injury. That statistics prove that. Parents must be realistic if they really want to take care of these precious arms.” Indeed, the culture of winning first has long overridden safety and development in many cases. While winning amateur level championships is exciting, those trophies do not compare to the health of an aspiring pitcher.

Additionally, overuse is dangerous as there is a lack of knowledge regarding proper training. The lack of proper training exacerbates arm issues. Overusing a young pitcher who doesn’t have proper conditioning or the proper delivery leads to the current epidemic that was discussed in our previous article. Coach Peterson relates a story about ASMI. “ASMI has done many studies. One time, they brought in 100 kids into the lab for an analysis. What they found was that the majority of kids have ‘red flags’ which means that a high percentage of kids had a flaw in their delivery which was out of the normative range.” This process of an analysis is fascinating. Pitchers are hooked up to computer sensors to record their delivery. Their delivery is then analyzed and compared to a database of pitchers. With that data, deliveries can be tweaked and injuries can be avoided (look for a more detailed explanation of the analysis process in a future article).

The work of pioneer and famed surgeon Dr. James Andrews (with ASMI) has resulted in groundbreaking studies in injury prevention. After years of treating injuries, Dr. Andrews has taken his vast knowledge and experience and applied it to injury prevention. With this scientific proof and continued research, ASMI, Dr. Andrews, and Rick Peterson have the tools to help the youth pitcher.     

Dr. Glenn Fleisig on Pitch Counts and Fatigue

Glenn Fleisig, Ph.D. is the Research Director of the American Sports Medical Institute. ASMI has a very specific mission. “Our mission is to improve the understanding, prevention, and treatment of injuries in sports. In other words, under Dr. James Andrews’ leadership, we are trying to put Dr. Andrews out of business”, states Dr. Fleisig. During the 1990’s, Dr. Andrews began to see that his patients (candidates for Tommy John surgery and other pitching-related procedures) were younger and younger. After seeing this, ASMI launched scientific studies targeting youth baseball players. As Coach Peterson likes to say, “We’ve moved from rehab to prehab.”

USA Baseball, seeing the growing epidemic, commissioned ASMI to study youth pitching. ASMI studied 500 youth baseball players during the course of multiple seasons. Dr. Fleisig explains the results, “We found scientific proof showing that kids who pitch more have more injuries. The single most dominant factor is that pitchers were overused.” To that point, most amateur leagues had an innings limit for pitchers. Therefore, the number of pitches thrown was disregarded. A child could conceivably throw 100 pitches in three innings and then come back three days later to throw another 100 pitches. “That study, and subsequent studies, has shown that avoiding excessive pitch counts led to reduced risk of injury”, states Dr. Fleisig.

With this scientific proof, ASMI worked with USA Baseball to develop pitch count guidelines dependent on age. Below are the USA Baseball/ASMI recommendations:

Recommended limits for 9-10 year old pitchers:

• 50 pitches per game
• 75 pitches per week
• 1000 pitches per season
• 2000 pitches per year

Recommended limits for 11-12 year old pitchers:

• 75 pitches per game
• 100 pitches per week
• 1000 pitches per season
• 3000 pitches per year

Recommended limits for 13-14 year old pitchers:

• 75 pitches per game
• 125 pitches per week
• 1000 pitches per season
• 3000 pitches per year

At first, much of this research was flying under the radar. It wasn’t until Coach Peterson began to bring pitchers from the New York Mets to ASMI for biomechanical analyses that the media grabbed on to the story. “The press came to Birmingham to see how ASMI was helping Rick Peterson keep his pitchers healthy”, Dr. Fleisig states, “but, they found a second story in how ASMI was working to keep youth baseball safe too.”  

Little League Baseball changed its innings limit to a pitch count after USA Baseball came out with its recommendations. Little League Baseball modified the pitch counts slightly, but has committed to enforce such regulations. Below are the Little League pitch count rules:

Ages 17-18: 105 pitches per day

Ages 13-16:  95 pitches per day

Ages 11-12:  85 pitches per day

Ages  9-10:  75 pitches per day

Ages   7-8:   50 pitches per day

Parents often wonder why their child is limited to a pitch count. “In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have a pitch count. Ideally, parents and coaches would be able to monitor youth pitchers for signs of fatigue. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case for two main reasons. First, youth baseball is competitive. In that competitiveness, pitchers have been pushed past their fatigue point. Secondly, there is a lack of education as to what to look for. In most cases, this lack of education is not the coach’s fault as they are volunteers giving up their free time”, explains Dr. Fleisig. “The second best situation is to make a general rule of pitch counts. That helps decrease instances of overuse.” Dr. Fleisig warns that better attention should be paid to fatigue by all coaches. The pitch count is there as a guideline, but if a pitcher is laboring, he must be removed. To illustrate the importance of the pitch count and avoiding fatigue, Dr. Fleisig sites ASMI research, “Our research has shown that adolescent pitchers who routinely pitch past the point of fatigue are 36 times more likely to end up having surgery.” If parents and coaches have questions and opinions, feel free to visit the ASMI online forums to interact with Dr. Fleisig and others.

Recognizing Fatigue

As Dr. Fleisig stated, pitch counts are meant to avoid fatigue. It is when a young pitcher is fatigued that problems can begin to occur. Coach Peterson explains, “Fatigue hurts coordination. Think of a runner; once the runner is fatigued, he loses his stride. It’s the same with pitching.” With pitching, however, the risk and impact of pitching with fatigue is great as young pitchers are more likely to get hurt. “When a pitcher is fatigued, his delivery begins to deteriorate. His front leg begins to collapse; his arm is late, meaning that when the foot hits the ground, the arm is not in the proper position. Then there are issues with accelerating properly through the delivery. Finally, young pitchers will have problems with the deceleration phase”, explains Coach Peterson. The deceleration phase is the all important follow through. For a person without extensive training, the easiest indicator for fatigue is the lack of a follow through. If one sees a pitcher who is suddenly throwing everything high in the zone, it means that the pitcher is fatigued (or, as Coach Peterson explained, the foot was on the ground and the arm was not in position to throw). Young pitchers, because of a lack of maturity, training, and properly delivery, must be monitored closely.

Distance and Velocity Correlation

In the previous article about youth pitching, Coach Peterson referenced a study by Dr. Michael Axe regarding distance and velocity. Dr. Axe conducted research using pitchers, ages 8-14, from all around the world. This international research found that distance and velocity are directly linked. This means that youth pitchers who threw the hardest also threw the farthest.

The implications of this study are great for the proper training of a youth pitcher. First, one should know that velocity equals power. Power is the summation of speed and strength. If a pitcher is to throw with high velocity, he needs speed and strength. The speed comes from the arm motion and the proper delivery. The strength comes from proper conditioning. Without proper physical conditioning, injury is likely to occur.

The conditioning portion of Coach Peterson’s program (remember, he’s had remarkable success in keeping Major League pitching staffs healthy and productive for 11 seasons) was crystallized during a meeting with ASMI. “The trainers were doing presentations on rehabilitation programs. Each presentation concluded with rehabbing players throwing long distance with the trainer to build back arm strength.” The presentation, in conjunction with Dr. Axe’s findings, illustrate a way for young pitchers to condition their arms. Coach Peterson, explains, “When the trainers were speaking about rehab, they all finished by long tossing 180 feet. Everyone kept saying 180 feet. I finally asked, ‘why 180 feet? Could it be that the trainers couldn’t throw farther than 180 feet?’ The importance is that distance throwing helps build strength. Instead of using this for rehab, we need to use it for prehab.”

Long Distance Throwing

Long distance throwing, or long toss, is a key ingredient to building a pitcher’s arm strength (or any other thrower). Part of Coach Peterson’s conditioning program is regular long distance throwing. “The best activity for building arm strength is long distance throwing. With Dr. Axe’s study that the hardest throwers throw the farthest in mind, long distance throwing builds strength which therefore increases velocity.” The value of increased strength, obviously, is one measure of preventing injury.

Proper execution of long distance throwing is paramount in gaining the benefits from the activity. Proper execution of long distance throwing is throwing the ball on an arc, not on a straight line. Coach Peterson clarifies, “Throwing on a straight line is a speed component. Take a look at other distance sports like the javelin. The javelin travels on an arc to go farther.” In other words, long tossing on a straight line does not build up strength. It is building distance that increases strength. The proper execution of long distance throwing is when a player “takes a crow hop and throws the ball as far as he can within his delivery. “Within his delivery” means proper delivery with about 80 to 90 percent effort.”

While the concept of long distance throwing has been around for ages, it is far too underutilized. A regular program must be in place to build arm strength. It is not an everyday exercise as it should by cycled with other conditioning work. A future article will discuss the complete program.

Closing Thoughts

With so many young players pitching more than ever, there is a need for a shift in attitude within youth baseball. The emphasis placed on winning has put young pitchers in physical danger. Youth baseball must return to being a teaching level where young players can learn the game, build strength as their body matures, and have fun. For pitchers, building strength as their bodies mature is very important. The poor habits developed as a child correlate to the increased number of surgeries. As mentioned in the previous article, a young pitcher’s hands are often too small to properly grip a baseball. Improper grips can lead to poor deliveries which, as has been proven, lead to injuries. In short, the young pitcher is not physically developed enough to withstand the rigors of pitching. Pitch counts and long distance throwing are just two preventative measures. While traditionalists or extremists will disagree with these methods, scientific evidence proves their validity. It is time for youth baseball parents and coaches to take better care of a young pitcher’s arm.

About Rick Peterson and the Peak Performance Pitching Triangle

The subtitle of the Peak Performance Pitching Triangle is “Preparation equals Performance”.  The triangle incorporates the three areas necessary for the makeup of a successful pitcher. First on the triangle is skills and competencies which are the technical components of a pitcher. Obviously, a pitcher will need the proper delivery in order to achieve a high level of success. The triangle also incorporates physical behaviors such as the necessary conditioning. Lastly, performance based behaviors rounds out the list. That is the physiological side of successful pitching, an area even more ignored than the aforementioned rise of injuries.

The Peak Performance Triangle is the basis of Coach Peterson’s new business venture into the amateur pitching market. The focus of the revolutionary program is to improve deliveries, improve conditioning, and increase awareness of overuse.  In the near future, Coach Peterson will launch a new company that will, in his words, “give amateur pitchers access to the same technology, research, and conditioning programs that I (and ASMI) have used with major leaguers. Literally, the program can be used from the Little League fields to the Major League Fields.” Look for a future FCP article regarding the new company as well as an in-depth look at the Peak Performance Triangle. To learn more about Rick Peterson’s Professional Pitching Program for Amateur Athletes, be sure to register at his website, www.rick-peterson.com. To learn more about the work being done by the American Sports Medicine Institute, visit their website at www.asmi.org.

Bridging the Gap Between Potential and Peak Performance

With Spring Training games in full swing, many fans are beginning to feel the excitement of the 2009 Baseball season. Teams are in the process of getting their pitchers ready to begin the grind of the 162 game season. While many opine that Spring Training is needlessly long, the fact is that it exists simply for the starting pitchers. “The only reason Spring Training is this long is for the pitchers. They need time to build their pitch counts. Hitters probably need just two weeks and they are good to go”, states Rick Peterson, former Oakland A’s and New York Mets pitching coach.  Many fans will scour the internet, newspapers, and talk radio for news about their team and the position battles that will likely determine their team’s fate. Most position battles center around the pitching staff. A look around spring camps shows that at least 20 teams have at least one rotation spot competition this spring. While many fans will simply look to the box scores as an indication of who is performing well, there is, obviously, much more than simply numbers. Organizations make tough decisions in a relatively brief amount of time before finalizing the roster for opening day. Some of those decisions may puzzle fans, but organizations have to look at the big picture and the challenge of competing in the long Baseball season. Today, Rick Peterson once again joins FCP to give fans significant insight as to how a major league pitching coach (along with the manager and rest of the organization) prepares a Major League pitching staff, how one evaluates and determines the winner of a rotation spot competition, and the difficulty of making such decisions.

Preparing a “Settled” Staff

Some teams have the luxury of having just one opening for a rotation spot or, as is the case with Yankees, Red Sox, Braves, and Twins, have no openings. This, obviously, is the ideal situation for a team as the rotation can simply prepare for the season. With a complete staff, there is still much to do. Priority number one is to get the pitchers prepared for the season. With that goal in mind, a pitching coach will map out several different plans with his manager and front office personnel. Coach Peterson elaborates, “First, you decide who will be your number one and number two guys. They are the ones who you want to get the most amount of starts. A team will map out the rotation from day one of spring training until the All-Star break.” The rationale behind this type of preparation is quite simple. A team has a better chance of winning by sending its best pitcher to the mound as many times as it can. But, it is not simply just plugging in a pitcher into a rotation slot. There are a couple of factors that teams look at when determining the rotation. While a team’s ace will be the number one starter, the number two starter may not necessarily be the second best pitcher on the staff. “With number two and number three starters, we’ll look at a couple of factors. One will be the schedule. If a pitcher matches up better against a team, we’ll definitely try to manipulate the rotation to get him to pitch against that team. Or, let’s look at the National League East. If you are competing against the Phillies and play them a lot before the All-Star Break, you will want to throw a left-hander against them. So, you may flip-flop the number two and number three starter so you can have that matchup”, states Coach Peterson.

But, Coach Peterson warns that playing too much of the matchup game is dangerous. “It is definitely a double-edged sword. When all is said and done, a win is a win. If you are playing a division game, a win is worth two wins. You want your best pitchers getting the ball the most. It’s a delicate balance between playing matchups and having your best pitchers out there. Typically, your ace gets 32 or 33 starts a season. Your number two may get 31 or 32. Your three through five guys average about 30 starts a season.” Teams must determine the value of the matchup in comparison of getting the better pitcher an additional start during the season.

Another factor is the schedule. Often, teams are given one off day per week during the early portion of the schedule. Mapping out the rotation to the All-Star break becomes a chess game as some teams will skip their fifth starter with that off day while other teams will stick with the rotation. Fans are often left puzzled as to the rationale of these types of decisions. Coach Peterson explains the process, “Organizations will look at the track record of each member of the rotation. We’ll take a look at the three year track record of each pitcher. We look at how a pitcher performs with four days rest (the typical amount of rest), three days rest, and five days rest. We’ll also look at how the pitcher performs with back to back starts after three, four, and five days rest. Once we get that data, the pitching coach, manager, and front office people will sit and map out the ‘best case’ scenario to get to the All-Star break.”  For instance, the Yankees will want to keep AJ Burnett on his regular four day rest as much as possible. For his career, Burnett has made 121 starts on four days rest and compiled an ERA of 3.47. On five days rest, Burnett has compiled an ERA of 4.52 in 59 career starts. Or, if one looked at Pedro Martinez’s 2004 season, he was significantly better with five days rest as he posted a 2.98 ERA in 14 starts. With the normal four days rest, he posted a 4.77 ERA in 17 starts.  

In the best case scenario, the ace of the staff will make 19 starts before the break. The numbers two, three, and four starters will make 18 while the fifth starter will make 17 starts. If all goes according to plan, the ace will make his final first half start on the Friday before the All-Star break. “We map it that way because you have to figure your ace will pitch in the All-Star Game. But, for our team, we need to give us a little window in case of rainouts. If you have one or two rainouts, you still have those two days to get your ace that 19^th start.”

That 19^th start is significant. How many teams lose a division by one game? How many teams didn’t have their number one pitcher make the most starts he could have? This is sometimes what fans don’t see when they ask why their team won’t alter the rotation during an important series. For instance, during interleague play, many fans want their teams to alter their rotation so that the ace can face their interleague rival. So, for instance, the Astros have a Thursday game against the Pirates where Roy Oswalt is scheduled to start. Some fans will say to push Oswalt to the following night in order to beat their interleague and state rival Rangers. But, if the Astros did that, Oswalt may lose that extra start before the All-Star break. A team must maximize the use of their best pitchers.

With the schedule mapped out, the business of Spring Training for a settled staff (as well as a staff with competition) is to build pitch count. Coach Peterson gives the details, “The goal for each start is to add 15-20 pitches for each appearance. So, the first appearance will be two innings for 30 pitches. The second outing will be three innings for 40-50 pitches followed by a four inning, 60-65 pitches. We build incrementally to a six inning, 90-95 pitch outing. Hopefully, a pitcher is able to get one more outing at 95 to 100 pitches. A starting pitcher must leave spring training ready to throw 100 pitches. Starters typically need 26 to 31 innings during the spring to accomplish this.”

With a veteran starter, or an established starter, the results aren’t too important as long as the pitch count is increasing. Coach Peterson states that many times a pitcher’s spring training ERA is misleading. “Many times, a pitcher will give up some runs in that last inning where we are stretching out his pitch count. I would sit on the bench and say ‘oh, come on, get through this’, but the guy is just out of gas. If it were a regular season game, he’d be out of there. But, in the spring, we have to stretch him out. We have to get his pitch count up.”

But, if a pitcher is having a poor spring, teams will look at three main aspects of his performance. First the team will look at velocity. If the velocity is drastically down and doesn’t seem to be returning, there is a problem. Then, a team will look at off speed pitches-location and speed variation. Finally, as Coach Peterson says, “We look at the process. Is he getting ahead? Where is the pitch in the strike zone? Is he working on a pitch? We look for the cause. We also go back to look at how the pitcher was throwing three years ago. We ask our scouts what they saw and if he is close to the same pitcher he was three years ago.” If the pitcher has seemingly lost his stuff, the organization has to make a decision whether to start the season with a fading veteran or make a change.

The Battle for a Rotation Spot

While the Yankees, Braves, and Twins don’t have to worry about a rotation opening, the majority of teams do have such worries. The basic structure is the same. A team will look to map a rotation where the ace gets the majority of starts while determining the best use of the number two and three starters. Usually a team will have a competition for the fourth and fifth spot in the rotation or just for the fifth spot. Many candidates make it difficult for organizations to get those pitchers the proper innings. “If you have three or four guys for one spot or six guys for two spots, finding innings is a bit difficult. That’s where you use the split squad games or minor league games. Sometimes we even send our number one guy to a minor league game to hide him from a division rival, but to also give a rotation candidate a look against major league competition”, explains Coach Peterson. Additionally, Coach Peterson states that organizations want to evaluate potential starters by having them start games. This makes it difficult as there are just so many games.

With pitchers needing to build pitch counts, Coach Peterson typically sets a March 15^th deadline. “Around March 15^th, we have to eliminate someone, maybe even two. We have to so we can get enough innings for pitchers. The problem with this is that we are evaluating guys who are probably throwing just four innings. So, in essence, we are making decisions about pitchers who have flipped the lineup once. Quality pitchers go through a lineup three times. Elite pitchers can go through a lineup eight times if they had to.” With this in mind, a look at spring performance is also balanced out with the three year track record discussed earlier. In the case of rookies, teams will look at minor league performance as well as scouts’ observations.

Speaking of rookie pitchers, many fans will wonder why a team will give a rotation spot to a middling veteran rather than a rookie. Coach Peterson explains the concept of inventory. “The most important thing for an organization’s pitching is inventory. Most teams will not go through a season with just five pitchers. An organization must prepare for injuries. So, you might send that rookie to the minors and keep the veteran who would probably be picked up by another team. If the veteran doesn’t work out, you call the rookie pitcher up. But, ideally, you want at least two or three guys at triple-A who can come up to pitch in case of injury or ineffectiveness. Inventory is the key.” In other words, teams like the Rays could send their all-world talent, David Price to the minor leagues to start the season so they can keep Jeff Niemann, a pitcher who is out of options. Although Price may be better, the Rays need to keep as many arms as possible for a long season. It is for that reason why teams like the Twins would keep Livan Hernandez while sending down Francisco Liriano (as they did last season). But, teams should often consider the rookie’s talent and readiness. “If a young pitcher’s time has come, then he has to break camp with the team even if it means losing inventory”, says Peterson. With that last statement, it looks as if the Twins made a mistake a season ago as Liriano came back to pitch so well while Hernandez was battered.

When looking at a rookie, Coach Peterson describes three criteria for evaluation. “First, you consider inventory like we just discussed. Then, you look at the club. If the club is rebuilding, you go with the young guy. If the club is a contender, the young pitcher has to earn his way. Third, you look at the makeup of the young pitcher. Has he met failure before? How has he reacted? Often, college pitchers will be tougher because all college pitchers are battered in college with aluminum bats. Pitchers drafted out of high school never get hit hard so they are less apt to handle failure as well. All big league pitchers get hit at some point; nobody is immune. It’s how they react to it that makes them successful.”

Relievers in the spring

For relievers, getting ready for spring training isn’t as difficult for the simple fact that they do not have to worry about increasing their pitch count too much. “Relievers typically get 11 to 12 innings in during the spring. The high end would be 15 to 16 if we have a competition”, explains Coach Peterson. But, there are challenges with getting relievers ready and evaluating their effectiveness for the season. For specialists, Spring Training is often an exercise of getting their work in. “By the time a left-handed specialist may enter a game, the opposing team may be in the middle of making wholesale changes. So, we look at their lineup card and see they have two lefties coming up. We get our specialist ready, but he ends up facing three right handed batters because of the number of changes.” Typically, when this is the case, the specialist ends up with poor spring statistics, but the pitching coach and manager must evaluate the pitcher on the handful of times that he gets to do the job he will fulfill during the season.

For middle relievers, setup men, and specialists, getting their work in also involves simulating how much they will be used during the season. “If a reliever is locked into making the team, he must have back to back appearances at least twice during the spring and three appearances in a row at least once. They need to experience that soreness and get through those back to back appearances”, says Coach Peterson. In addition, a team will need to evaluate the relievers performance during those consecutive appearances to determine who their “go to” pitchers will be.

Closers will actually get the majority of their work in during the early portions of games rather than wait for the ninth inning. The rationale here is that closers need to face Major League hitters. If a manager waited for the ninth inning, the closer would be facing a double-A lineup. The challenge for evaluators is if there is an open competition for the closer role like the Chicago Cubs have this spring between Carlos Marmol and Kevin Gregg. “You evaluate this competition based on their work against major league hitters. Unfortunately, you don’t really get to simulate the pressure of the ninth inning during a regular season game. In fact, making decisions during spring training is one of the most difficult processes in baseball. You really need an experienced, well informed organization.”

As Coach Peterson alluded to earlier, an organization is making decisions based on a relatively small number of innings. If one looks to the more successful franchises, their decision making and player evaluation programs are simply better.

The Mental Side

Coach Peterson pays quite a bit of attention to the mental side of Baseball, which is far too ignored in the mainstream. Baseball is more than just statistical probability (although there is a place for that too). Baseball is played by human beings who have the same personality strengths and flaws that people in all walks of life have. Coach Peterson uses a structured behavioral testing instrument, which has shown proven and consistent results to help balance a pitching staff (and can be used for an entire team too). “Basically, this test determines that there are two extremes of people. On one end, you have people who are self sufficient. They derive their self esteem intrinsically. On the other end, you have people who are group oriented. They derive their self esteem based on what others say. Now, this is important because every time a player steps foot on the field, he is being judged by coaches, front office people, the media, and fans.”

In other words, a team cannot have too many players who are group oriented people as they may not perform well with intense media coverage or an intense fan base. New York baseball fans know this phenomenon well as one of the key questions is whether or not a player can handle the pressure of New York. Coach Peterson tells a story about former Mets starter, Pedro Martinez, “One day I was in the outfield talking to Pedro during batting practice. Fans were chanting, ‘Pedro! Pedro! Pedro!’ hours before the game started. I asked him how he liked New York. He told me, ‘Rick, I don’t know. I can’t even walk in the streets without a mob of people and cameras surrounding me’. The majority of people don’t understand the intensity of what that’s like.” It does take a special player to play in New York, but there is still a need for all teams to have self sufficient players. If a player has a bad game or bad stretch and fans begin to boo those players, the players must have that strong belief in themselves and their ability. It is why some players fail in New York, but go on to have a good career in a smaller market. When composing a pitching staff, as well as a full roster, a good team has a significant number of self-sufficient players. A look at the late-90’s Yankees shows a roster full of players who were self-sufficient. Players like Paul O’Neill, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Tino Martinez, and Mariano Rivera did not care about the intensity. They had the inner confidence to succeed. Their confidence was not based on acceptance from the fans or media; it came from within.

Closing Thoughts    

It is because of Coach Peterson’s experience with Major League pitching that he has created the Peak Performance Pitching Triangle. As reviewed in previous articles, the triangle consists of physical conditioning, skills and competencies, and performance based behaviors (the mental/emotional piece).  The successful pitchers mentioned in this article are living proof of it. To learn more about Rick Peterson’s Professional Pitching Program for Amateur Athletes, be sure to register at his website, www.rick-peterson.com.

Bridging the Gap Between Potential and Peak Performance

For most Baseball General Managers, finding quality relievers may be the most difficult task during any off season. The quest seems never-ending as the many relievers are so unreliable from one year to the next. One prime example (of the thousands) would be the Cleveland Indians’ right handed reliever, Rafael Betancourt. In 2007, Betancourt was perhaps the best all-around reliever (non-closer) in baseball as he was the main cog in the Tribe’s bullpen as they marched to the American League Championship Series. During the ‘07 season, Betancourt posted an ERA of 1.47 and a WHIP of 0.756 with 80 strikeouts in 79.1 innings. In 2008, Betancourt was a different pitcher as he posted an ERA of 5.07 and a WHIP of 1.423 with 64 strikeouts in 71 innings. While relievers have fluctuating performances, it is still imperative for General Managers to provide their managers and pitching coaches with a quality bullpen. Obviously, the philosophy of building the bullpen has changed over the years from the multi-inning closer of the 70’s to the specialist roles and one inning closer of today. This off season, an off season where little money has been given out (besides the Yankees), there have been 38 relievers signed to contracts totaling $149,130,000 dollars. With teams willing to commit upwards of three million dollars to the likes of Mike Lincoln, Kyle Farnsworth (nine million in his case), Arthur Rhodes, Brandon Lyon, David Weathers, and Russ Springer, successful bullpen composition is not only vital to the economics of a team, but ultimately to the success of the team. Luckily for FCP readers, famed pitching coach Rick Peterson sheds some light on the importance of the bullpen, the composition of a successful bullpen, the significance of batter number 38, and the closer mentality.  

 Need to Cover

Heading into the season, the pitching coach’s job (along with the manager) is to configure a pitching staff that can cover approximately 1,450 innings for the season. How a team arrives at that number is really dependent on the starting rotation. If a team has a dominant starting rotation, the bullpen, obviously, is used quite a bit less. Coach Peterson maps out the average usage of a major league bullpen. “On average, you can expect your bullpen to cover 500 innings. You arrive at this number by projecting each member of your rotation to go six innings. So, expect around 970 innings from the starters. That leaves, more or less, 500 innings for the bullpen.” A look at last season’s bullpen statistics illustrates the averages. The least used bullpen in 2008 was Toronto Blue Jays’ pen as they pitched just 425 innings. Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers’ bullpen pitched the most innings (572.2). 16 of the 30 major league teams had their bullpens throw more than 500 innings. Not surprisingly, seven of the eight playoff teams had their bullpens pitch less than 500 (only the Dodgers were over that mark). With the bullpen throwing roughly 35 percent of a team’s total innings, the composition of the pen is vitally important.

Bullpen Composition

“For a successful bullpen, you really need four guys who can pitch when you have a lead”, begins Coach Peterson. One would think that everyone in a major league bullpen should be able to pitch with a lead, but Coach Peterson disagrees. “There are simply not enough pitchers available. Many times, teams will carry someone who will end up just pitching when games are out of reach.” Getting more specific, Coach Peterson breaks down the bullpen, “You need your closer, at least two guys who can get both right-handers and left-handers out, and one or two specialists (one left hander, one right hander).”

While many teams will not be able to find seven viable relief options, they should look for relievers who have two key characteristics. “We said this in the last article, but it’s important when looking at the bullpen. A good bullpen should have pitchers who keep the ball on the ground and get swings and misses at pitches thrown in the strike zone”, explains Coach Peterson. Common sense dictates the rationale behind this. “Listen, relievers are rarely brought in to face a bad hitter. Usually, they are facing someone like Ryan Howard. Howard doesn’t hit for much of an average, but when he does make contact, his average (BABIP), with the exception of 2008, is well above the league average of .315.” Indeed, facing the likes of Ryan Howard illustrates the importance of a reliever to keep the ball on the ground and get swings and misses. Howard had a BABIP of .288 in 2008, his worst Major League season, but posted BABIP’s of .375, .358, .363, and .336 before his sub-par 2008.

Let’s put Coach Peterson’s bullpen composition requirements to the test. Here’s a look at the 2008 bullpens of the playoff teams compared to four worst teams in Baseball.

The 2008 Playoff Teams’ Bullpen Statistics

Team	INN	GB/FB	Swings/Miss	ERA	WHIP
Rays	484.1	0.97	14.7%	3.55	1.26
Phillies	483	1.56	14.3%	3.22	1.38
Red Sox	479.2	1.38	14.9%	4.00	1.35
Dodgers	519.2	1.34	14.9%	3.34	1.26
White Sox	459.1	1.42	14.6%	4.13	1.35
Cubs	495.2	0.95	14.2%	4.10	1.33
Angels	439.1	1.30	11.5%	3.69	1.34
Brewers	472.1	1.56	13.3%	3.89	1.39

The 2008 “Bottom Four”

Team	INN	GB/FB	Swings/Miss	ERA	WHIP
Nationals	553.1	1.17	13%	4.18	1.40
Mariners	530.1	1.39	14.5%	4.14	1.46
Padres	545.1	1.31	13.3%	4.45	1.45
Pirates	567.2	1.19	13%	4.69	1.50

A look at the statistics illustrates that the more successful teams (the playoff teams) have bullpens that are used less often, get more groundballs, and elicit more swings and misses when pitches are thrown in the strike zone. Sure, there are a couple of anomalies such as the Rays’ and Cubs’ poor groundball to flyball ratio. The Mariners were a poor team, but obviously, their bullpen was not the reason. For the other three teams in that group, the same cannot be said. But, the Nationals and Pirates were able to get a good amount of swings and misses on balls in the strike zone to counteract the poor ratio.

Above all, however, the bullpen needs to throw strikes. Coach Peterson succinctly states, “You need dominant strike throwers. They not only throw strikes, but keep the ball down in the zone. Dominant strike throwers help teams avoid the 39^th batter which is key in winning ballgames.” Indeed, that is quite true as the bottom four teams all finished in the bottom eight in terms of throwing strike one. None were close to the Major League average of 59 percent of thrown first pitches for strikes.

To illustrate the point, Coach Peterson relays a humorous Tommy Lasorda speech. “Lasorda gets his staff together and says, ‘guys, you know why you don’t want to walk anyone? If a guy gets a hit to the gap and as he is rounding first, he drops dead in the baseline, what happens? You tag him out. But, if you walk him and he drops dead on his way to first? They cart his body off the field and put in another runner.’”

Batter # 39

One aspect of a baseball game that most fans miss is the significance of the opposition’s 39^th batter. “You have to face a minimum of 27 batters in a game. Your pitcher isn’t going to throw a perfect game very often so you will obviously see more than 27. Guess which batter significantly damages your chances of winning the game? If you can keep your opponent to 38 batters or less, your winning percentage is over .700. Once you cross into the 39^th batter, you’re in trouble”, states Coach Peterson. Why is the 39^th batter so significant? Well, the 39^th batter happens to be the opposition’s number three hitter who would be coming up for the fifth time in the game. “This is why your starting pitching and your middle relievers are so important. You need to keep that number three hitter from getting up one more time, even against your closer. Who would you rather face, Chipper Jones out of the three spot or a pinch hitter in the ninth slot?”  

A perfect illustration of this concept occurred on July 1, 2008 in a contest between the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers. The game was tied at two heading into the ninth. But, Yankees’ pitching had put seven runners on base via the walk before the ninth. Mariano Rivera, the great closer in the midst of another Hall of Fame season, was brought on to pitch. Rivera had to face batters 37, 38, and 39 (Ian Kinsler, Michael Young, Josh Hamilton). The Rangers did manage a run on three hits (all three got hits). The Rangers, meanwhile, brought in their closer in the bottom of the ninth to face batters 35, 36, and 37. Those were the eight, nine, and one hitters (Wilson Betemit, Melky Cabrera, and Johnny Damon). After a leadoff walk, CJ Wilson was able to pitch out of the inning without having to face Jeter, Abreu, or Rodriguez. The Rangers won 3-2 by not having to pitch to the heart of the Yankees’ order late in the game. Although Mariano Rivera is the best closer of his generation (and ever), “he’s human. Even the great Rivera will have some difficulty facing the heart of the order”, states Coach Peterson.

The Misuse of the Long Man

For most teams, the long man appears in a game when their starting pitcher has been knocked out of the game early. More often than not, the team is usually losing.  The conventional wisdom in this situation is to save the bullpen by having the long man go a few innings. Rick Peterson disagrees with this practice. “First of all, how many innings does your long man go anyway? Usually three is the max. Second of all, your long man is usually the last pitcher to make your staff. Essentially, most teams give up the game so early and never give their offense a chance to catch up.” The point is that many teams in an effort to save the better part of the bullpen are throwing away games very early. Often, a team may be down early and end up putting a rally together that usually falls a bit short because the “long man” gave up a couple of more runs.

Coach Peterson provides the more efficient way, “So, if your starter gets knocked out early, you should bring in one of your 6^th or 7^th inning guys. One of them is going to have to pitch anyway; your long man doesn’t usually finish the game. You get two good innings out of one of your better relievers which allows time for your offense to come back. If the offense does come back, then you stick with the better relievers in your bullpen. If the offense fails to score, well, then you go to the long man and know that you did everything possible to try to win. Teams that win 95 to 100 games have relievers who can hold the opposition to allow your offense to comeback.”

The Closer

The closer role has been debated for many years now. Many will argue that anyone can close games as it is merely getting three outs in a game, essentially saying that the outs in the sixth inning are the same as the ninth inning. Coach Peterson strongly disagrees, “There is a difference between middle relievers and closers. A middle reliever knows that if he has an off night, there is someone to come in to possibly bail him out. A closer knows he’s the guy, that there is no one behind him. Some pitchers can’t handle that. Closers love that situation. They are special people. It’s like Clark Kent changing into Superman.”

Now, recent history shows that Coach Peterson has had great success in working with different closers. Going back to his days in Oakland, he worked with a variety of closers. First, he was able to take a young Jason Isringhausen who had failed as a starter for the New York Mets and turn him into a solid closer. After posting ERA’s of 4.77, 7.58, and 6.41 with the Mets, Isringhausen began his transformation under Peterson. In 1999, Isringhausen pitched in 20 games for the A’s and finished with an ERA of 2.13 and eight saves. In 2000 and 2001, he saved a total of 67 games and posted ERA’s of 3.78 and 2.65. After his two seasons in Oakland, Isringhausen signed a long-term contract with the St. Louis Cardinals.

In 2002, the A’s brought in Billy Koch, a closer who had posted an ERA of 4.80 as the closer of the Toronto Blue Jays in 2001. “Billy’s delivery was a mess. I called him and asked him to come down to spring training early. When we met, we re-worked his delivery. He’s another record holder as having the most wins to go along with 40-plus saves.” Koch’s one season under Coach Peterson was, by far, the best of his career. In 2002, Koch won 11 games, saved 44 games, pitched 93.2 innings, gave up just 73 hits, and struck out 93 batters. He finished with a 3.27 ERA and a 1.272 WHIP. He would take that success and sign a contract with the White Sox. Koch only threw two more seasons and never approached the success he had in Oakland.

2003 was another year with another new closer. This time it was Keith Foulke, a talented reliever for the White Sox who had lost the closer role during 2002. Foulke, not surprisingly, flourished under Peterson, saving a career high 43 games with career bests in ERA (2.08) and WHIP (0.888). Foulke would sign a contract with the Red Sox after the season and be on the mound for the game clinching World Series victory. Coach Peterson moved onto the New York Mets in November of 2003. He would get two moderately successful seasons out of Braden Looper (who is currently a starting pitcher) before getting to work with the experienced Billy Wagner.

The point is that Rick Peterson has a handle on the closer position. The proof, as they say, is in the numbers. Coach Peterson likes to use the following saying, “In God we trust, all others need data.” In this case, the data is there and it’s compelling.

The Closer Mentality

“It’s a lonely place when you are a Major League closer. They make no excuses. If they blow a save, they have to have short memory and be ready to go out there the next day.” It seems that it does take a special person who can handle the ups and downs of being a Major League closer. If anyone could close, Major League teams would not invest money into the role. Furthermore, there are examples of successful closers who did not have tremendous stuff. Coach Peterson cites one such example in Doug Jones. “In 1987, I was coaching in the Indians’ minor league system. I called up management and said that they needed to let Jones come up and give him a chance to close. Because Jones threw in the mid-80’s, he was overlooked. The Indians were in last place at the time so I reasoned with them, ‘you can’t finish lastest, just last’ what do you have to lose? Jones was finally up for good in 1988. In ‘89 he became the closer for the Indians. It was my pleasure to witness his 300^th save 11 years later when he joined us in Oakland.”

Pitchers like Jones or Jeff Montgomery were able to save games without dominant stuff. The reason has to be tied to two areas. One is that their location was tremendous, which often led to hitters swinging and missing. Secondly, their mental approach to the game allowed them to pitch better than their stuff. How else can it be explained that some pitchers armed with 97 miles per hour fastballs can throw so well in the 7^th and 8^th innings, but flame out as a closer?

The latest incarnation of the closer is the one inning closer. Many will debate that closers like Goose Gossage and Rollie Fingers were more valuable because they threw more than one inning, often finishing the last three innings of a game. But, Coach Peterson has a rational explanation why the one inning closer may be better, “Nobody really understands the stress that closers have. In a sense, you almost manage some of that stress by having a one inning closer.”

To illustrate the mental battle that closers go through, especially new ones, Coach Peterson tells a story of Jason Isringhausen early in his career as the A’s closer. “Izzy was pitching for us in Oakland, and we went into Yankee Stadium. I believe it was early September and Barry Zito was winning the game three to two against Roger Clemens. We brought in Izzy in the ninth inning, and the first pitch to Bernie Williams was a homer. And now it’s three to three. And the first pitch to David Justice was a homer. So two pitches later – about thirty seconds – we lose.”

Isringhausen was devastated by the loss. “As a young pitcher, he didn’t know how to handle it.” He needed some time away from the role which Peterson and manager Art Howe allowed. “We gave him a week off. I talked to him about mental approach and everything. Finally, one day, he saw Jim Mecir close out a game that he came and asked for his job back.” Isringhausen would go on to save his last eight games.

As fate would have it, the A’s would play the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs. “We’re at the opening day of the playoffs in Yankee Stadium. And we’re winning by two runs and we bring in Izzy. And Izzy’s got to go through David Justice and Bernie Williams. So he gets a guy on base and gets an out. And Jason Giambi ran over to talk to him, just off the mound. I just didn’t like what I saw so I asked Art Howe if I could make a visit. He said of course and I went out. I put my hand on Izzy’s shoulder and he was just shaking. I asked him what was wrong. He told me that he couldn’t feel his legs. I said, ‘well, the good news is that we don’t need a field goal’. Giambi cracked up and Izzy at least smiled. I told him how he was going to get out of the inning, which he did. We won. Afterwards, I am sitting in the dugout completing my notes and I look up to see Izzy in front of me. He has tears in his eyes, which makes me have tears in my eyes. After our moment, I told him that there’s no crying in baseball. After getting through that mental hurdle, Izzy has had one great career.”

The story of Isringhausen highlights the extreme mental stress of the closer role. It makes one appreciate the excellence of the elite closers. When one considers Mariano Rivera’s stress load of closing games in New York, in the playoffs, and doing it for 12 seasons, he has to be considered one of the best ever. Coach Peterson goes one step further as he describes Rivera as “the best of all-time.” Even the great Rivera has had some setbacks during his illustrious career. He gave up the homerun to Sandy Alomar in the 1997 division round of the playoffs in his first full season as Yankees’ closer. He gave up the series winning hit in 2001. He failed to close out game 4 of the 2004 ALCS against Boston. But, Rivera has bounced back from all of them, showing the mental toughness necessary to continue as an elite performer.

Closing Thoughts  

While it is popular to dismiss the mental side of closing, it is something that is very real. If it weren’t, everyone with explosive 100 miles per hour fastballs would close. Obviously, this is not the case.

Proper bullpen composition is necessary if a team has championship aspirations. If team lacks pitchers who can get hitters from both sides of the plate out, the bullpen performance will likely be terrible. General Managers need to be aware of that fact when acquiring or drafting relievers.

It is because of Coach Peterson’s experience with Major League pitching that he has created the Peak Performance Pitching Triangle. As reviewed in previous articles, the triangle consists of physical conditioning, skills and competencies, and performance based behaviors (the mental/emotional piece).  The successful relievers mentioned in this article are living proof of tTo learn more about Rick Peterson’s Professional Pitching Program for Amateur Athletes, be sure to register at his website, www.rick-peterson.com.

Bridging the Gap Between Potential and Peak Performance

Young pitchers are in trouble. While that may sound like hyperbole at its finest, it most assuredly isn’t. Rick Peterson succinctly explains the growing epidemic in the amateur pitching market. “In the last 10 years Tommy John surgeries have increased by 700 percent in the amateur pitching market. Something is obviously wrong here.” This statistic also correlates with the increased spending on pitching injuries on the Major League level. “Although we said this in the last article it is worth repeating: Major League teams spent $330 million dollars on pitching injuries”, reminds Coach Peterson. If one were to take Coach Peterson’s statements and apply them in the context of health in an area other than baseball, one would call this increase in injuries and the subsequent surgeries an epidemic. The national coverage of this epidemic would be leading the nightly news. While pitching injuries aren’t worthy of leading national news, within the athletic industry, this epidemic is one that needs immediate attention. Because amateur baseball is more competitive than ever, children (beginning at 8 years old) are pitching more frequently. This increased use, without proper coaching, has led to the explosion of pitching related injuries. Fortunately, the amateur pitching market is about to get the benefit of 30 years of research from the acclaimed Dr. James Andrews and the on-field experience (as well as many years of collaboration with Dr. Andrews) of Coach Peterson. Today, Coach Peterson explores the underlying causes of amateur pitching injuries, advancements made, and a look to the future.

Slow to React

As a whole, the amateur pitching arena (as well as the professional ranks) has been slow to react to the increasing number of pitching injuries. With such indisputable data, one cannot deny that there is a problem. It seems contradictory that youth baseball has not adapted to the problem considering the fact that amateur baseball has become much more organized, much more competitive, and much more specialized. Coach Peterson explains, “The problem is that nobody really knows what to do or where to go. There has never been a place or a program that can prevent pitching injuries. That is why it is so exciting to bring our program to the amateur pitching market. We can shift the focus from rehab to prehab.”

Indeed that is the case. While there are some highly trained (and very well-intentioned) coaches involved with amateur players, few can bring the experience of Dr. Andrews’ research or Coach Peterson success in his 11 years as a Major League pitching coach and 30+ years in professional baseball. The expertise and advancements with pitching injury prevention have been limited to the professional ranks (furthermore, most teams don’t know what to do with the information-another group that is slow to react). With that lack of knowledge in the amateur baseball organizations coupled with increased intensity and playing time, youth pitching injuries have exploded.  Additionally, as is usually the case with the medical field, it can often take far too long for doctors and scientists to get their full scientific validation in order to put a program into action. Luckily, because of Dr. Andrews’ research and Rick Peterson’s experience and work with Dr. Andrews and Major League pitchers, the tide seems to be changing.

The Root of Arm Injuries

Assuming that a pitcher is not genetically predisposed to arm injuries (meaning that he can, actually, pitch), there are three main causes of pitching injuries.

1.      Poor Delivery/Mechanics

The first cause is the classic “bad mechanics”. Coach Peterson (who prefers to refer to this as the delivery) doesn’t limit this one to just pitchers in the amateur market. Instead, he broadens it to poor throwing delivery or poor arm action. “Unfortunately, with amateur pitchers, this can be trained very early. One of the first problems is getting a young pitcher to grip the ball properly. How the heck can an 8 year old properly grip a baseball? His hands are too small.” This is most definitely the case. If one looks at training methods for other youth sports, most younger athletes are trained with a different set of equipment. In youth football, the ball is smaller. The same can be said for basketball. Coach Peterson jokes, “Can you imagine giving a ten year old an NFL football and saying ‘here kid, grip and throw the ball like Eli Manning’. It’s not realistic, yet we don’t have that option in baseball.”

The most important aspect of a poor delivery is the impact it has on a youth’s arm. The violence of a pitching delivery is very real. Coach Peterson explains, “Think about the pitching delivery as an upside down tornado. Hip rotation determines velocity. If the delivery is executed properly, the shoulder doesn’t do much work. But, in order for the shoulder not to feel the brunt of the workload, everything must be in sync, on-time, and in coordination with the rotational velocities, the lower body and the upper torso.” In other words, if a delivery is done correctly, the impact on the shoulder is minimal. The problem is that most amateur level coaches (I was a high school baseball coach for 10 years, so don’t take the following as a slight) do not have the pitching education to correct such deficiencies. Instead, most coaches will say to a pitcher something to the effect that the pitcher is “flying open”. But, as Coach Peterson explains, that merely means that the pitcher is out of sync which “puts a ton of pressure on the shoulder during the acceleration phase of the delivery.”

The acceleration phase of the delivery is significant in terms of impact on the shoulder. “After the cocking stage, the ball comes to a complete stop or almost a complete stop. This is right before the point where the pitcher’s arm is about to accelerate through the pitch. That stopping point to the completion of the acceleration phase lasts 0.3 seconds. So, if you think about it, in that 0.3 seconds the ball is accelerated from zero miles per hour to 90-plus miles per hour (for a Major league pitcher).”

To explain the significance of the trauma that can cause with an improper delivery, Coach Peterson tells a story of an encounter with a doctor after a he gave a presentation on this very topic. “I did a presentation for a group of coaches one year and afterwards a doctor of physics came to me. He asked me if I knew what that type of acceleration meant in terms of g-forces. Of course, I had no idea so I asked him to explain. He said, ‘If your entire body was accelerated at that same rate of speed for over sixty seconds you would die. Your body could not handle that acceleration, the G forces of that type of acceleration’.”

2.      Poor Conditioning

Quite simply, amateur athletes are not conditioned to pitch as much as they do. Coach Peterson wonders about the following, “How many amateur pitchers are made to do shoulder strengthening exercises as a part of their youth programs? The answer is probably none.” Essentially, young pitchers are throwing more than ever, but failing to properly condition their shoulders, arms, legs, torso, etc. in order to handle the increased workload. Additionally, conditioning comes into play during the deceleration phase of the delivery. Based on ASMI (American Sports Medicine Institute) research, most amateur pitchers are not old enough (or developed enough) to properly drive through a pitching delivery. Coach Peterson gives a car analogy, “You wouldn’t give a kid the keys to a sports car without brakes, would you? Well, that’s similar to what’s happening to young pitchers. They are not conditioned enough to properly execute a delivery.”

The hard throwers are the group that is most at risk for injury, especially if they are poorly conditioned. Why? Well, to start, on the amateur level, the pitchers who are used the most are the hardest throwers. Having a hard thrower on the mound is the easiest way for an amateur team to win a game. It can be assumed that if a pitcher is throwing harder, the acceleration within that aforementioned 0.3 seconds is much quicker and much more violent. Poorly conditioned, young pitchers will break down as a result.

3.      Overuse

There are many different variations of the term overuse when it comes to pitching injuries. In this case, Coach Peterson is not talking about in a particular season or a particular game (although that can also be a small factor). Instead, he speaks of overuse in the context of entire year. “The days of the three letter athlete are over. Today, amateur baseball is played year-round. Amateur pitchers will play in travel leagues all winter and continue to throw. Quite simply, there is not enough time for a player to rest. The winter should be a time for the body, the muscles, to rest and recover.”

In the age of increased specialization, this issue is not likely to resolve itself soon. As amateur baseball continues to be played all year round and become even more competitive, pitchers are put at risk. Couple the fact of a lack of conditioning with overuse and one as a recipe for disaster, or in this case, the epidemic of pitching related injuries.

The Winds of Change

Now, the medical field seems to be moving quickly to the side of injury prevention instead of reacting to an injury. Not surprisingly, Dr. Andrews has been on the forefront of this movement. For the past 27 years, Dr. Andrews has conducted The Baseball Course. The Baseball Course is attended by doctors, physical therapists, scientists, coaches, and players. As stated on the official website, “The purpose of the course is to exchange information regarding all aspects of baseball healthcare including mechanisms of injury, conservative and surgical treatment of injuries, rehabilitation, conditioning, nutrition, mental, skill, and injury prevention.”

Coach Peterson is happy to report that during the most recent Baseball Course (January 23-25, 2009), there was “the highest level major call to action to bring the research and findings to the field. The focus finally seems to be moving more towards prehab rather than rehab.” The course covers topics as specialized as the anatomy of the shoulder, rotator cuff injury treatment, hamstring injury treatment, conditioning, rehabilitation practices, new surgical procedures, and practical applications to keep pitchers (and other players) healthy. This year, the amateur market was a significant topic as the medical field begins to process the rise of youth injuries. In fact, an entire three hour session was dedicated to a discussion on youth injuries, treatments, best practices, and guidelines.

With that Coach Peterson highlights a key concept discussed at the Course known as periodization. “Periodization is the cycling of high intensity activity and a period of rest/recovery.” Obviously, this concept and the resulting research of this concept greatly impact the risk factors of poor conditioning and overuse. The result of all of this research and knowledge has led Rick Peterson to devise a program incorporating this research combined with his professional experience.

The Peak Performance Pitching Triangle

The subtitle of the Peak Performance Pitching Triangle is “Preparation equals Performance”.  The triangle incorporates the three areas necessary for the makeup of a successful pitcher. First on the triangle is skills and competencies which are the technical components of a pitcher. Obviously, a pitcher will need the proper delivery in order to achieve a high level of success. The triangle also incorporates physical behaviors such as the necessary conditioning. Lastly, performance based behaviors rounds out the list. That is the physiological side of successful pitching, an area even more ignored than the aforementioned rise of injuries.

The Peak Performance Triangle is the basis of Coach Peterson’s new business venture into the amateur pitching market. The focus of the revolutionary program is to improve deliveries, improve conditioning, and increase awareness of overuse.  In the near future, Coach Peterson will launch a new company that will, in his words, “give amateur pitchers access to the same technology, research, and conditioning programs that I (and Dr. Andrews) have used with major leaguers. Literally, the program can be used from the Little League fields to the Major League Fields” Look for a future FCP article regarding the new company as well as an in-depth look at the Peak Performance Triangle.

Coming Soon in our Amateur Pitching Series

Besides the aforementioned articles on the new company and the Peak Performance Triangle, Coach Peterson will share his thoughts on a study conducted by Doctor Michael Axe. Dr. Axe completed a study on the correlation between velocity and distance. In his study he surveyed amateur pitchers, ages 8-14, and asked two simple questions:

1. How fast do you throw and are you special?

2. How far do you throw and are you special?

His findings are fascinating and have quite an impact on the development of young pitchers. The discussion of results are worthy of a separate article.

To learn more about Rick Peterson’s Professional Pitching Program for Amateur Athletes, be sure to register at his website, at rick-peterson.com

An Overview of 4 Key Issues of Major League Pitching

If one was to poll major league executives, players, and coaches along with fans and the media about the most important element for the success of a team, the resounding answer would be pitching. The popular axiom is “a team will only go as far as the pitching will take them.” The answer (and axiom) is 100 percent correct. Pitching is the single most important factor for any team in their hopes of competing for a playoff berth. But, pitching is perhaps the least researched, most misunderstood area of baseball. Rick Peterson, former pitching coach of the Oakland A’s and the New York Mets, explains the lack of knowledge about pitching like this, “Baseball spent $1.2 billion dollars on pitchers’ salaries in 2008. $330 million dollars of that money was spent on injured pitchers. We have a problem here.” This all seems like a paradox, doesn’t it? The single most important factor in baseball is pitching, yet there are an inordinate amount of injuries and so many misconceptions regarding effective pitching, pitching theory, pitching conditioning, and pitching strategy. The impact of the lack of knowledge is three-fold. One, it obviously impacts a team since there is a (as Coach Peterson says) “lack of depth of quality pitching.” Secondly, it impacts the industry as fans pay to see certain players on the field. As pitcher injuries occur with increasing frequency, fans are usually treated to the proverbial spot starter fresh off the waiver wire or the “not ready for prime-time” minor leaguer. Yankees fans should be familiar with this after seeing the likes of Sidney Ponson and Darrell Rasner fill in for Chien-Ming Wang last season. And finally, the lack of knowledge impacts the media and fans with a plethora of poor information or myths being discussed as truth. Luckily for FCP readers, Rick Peterson, a pioneer in the areas of pitcher development, pitcher health, and, of course, pitching strategy, will join FCP twice a month to discuss these issues (and so much more). Today, Coach Peterson gives an overview of four basic areas of pitching: the pitch count, evaluating pitchers, getting ahead of hitters, and the makeup of a successful pitcher. With a better understanding of these areas, fans can observe the game with more knowledge and thus enjoy the subtleties and strategy of baseball (in this case, pitching) more.

The Pitch Count

The pitch count is quite a controversial topic considering it really didn’t exist 25 years ago. Fans will hearken back to the days of Nolan Ryan, Bob Gibson, and Don Drysdale when “pitchers finished what they started” despite a high pitch count. Some teams seem religious about keeping a pitch count and removing a pitcher at the magical 100 pitch limit. Fans and talk radio personalities usually lament (putting it mildly) about a pitcher being dominant and that the ignorant manager pulled the pitcher too early. Usually the question is “what’s another 10 or 20 pitches?” Perhaps the thought process may be moving away from pitch counts with the Texas Rangers reportedly thinking about doing away with keeping pitch counts (although they have not stated so officially).

Rick Peterson believes in the pitch count as he likens it to a long distance runner. “Think about it as a runner. Let’s say he runs three or four miles a day which would average about 27 miles a week. He’s conditioned to that routine. Then, the runner decides to do away with consistent training and will run however long he feels like it – like Forrest Gump. So, one day he runs seven miles, the next 8, and the next 4 and so on. So, one week he runs about 40 miles and then the next he runs 50, followed by 60 miles. What happens to his legs? He burns out and gets hurt.” Proper conditioning to achieve optimal performance is necessary. If pitchers aren’t put on a regular routine which allows them to condition their arm, more frequent injuries will occur (which is scary considering the already high rate of pitching injuries).

But, a more practical reason for the pitch count is performance. “The data tells us that once a pitcher reaches 90 pitches, the performance rate is drastically impacted. In fact, the batting average against (BAA) almost doubles. The data is there to support this.” Surely, there must be exceptions to this rule. “Sure, elite guys like Roy Halladay and CC Sabathia do not have such a variance. But, by and large, the majority of pitchers do.” For this very reason, a pitch count needs to be kept. Let’s look at a sampling of pitchers and their performances with elevated pitch counts.

Batting Average and OPS Against with Increasing Pitch Counts

With the exception of Sabathia, each of the above elite pitchers performed worse after 100 pitches. Now, this only represents a portion of Baseball’s elite over 100 pitches. This does not even include the pitchers like Josh Beckett, Brandon Webb, Cliff Lee, and AJ Burnett who had a small sample size of games over 100 pitches, but saw performance decreases in the 76-100 pitch range. 

With the aforementioned lack of quality pitching, the pitch count has become increasingly more important. If a team has quantifiable data that demonstrates that their starting pitcher’s performance decreases after a certain number of pitches, it must remove that pitcher in an effort to win the game. It’s that simple.

Evaluating Pitchers

Many will point to the radar gun when evaluating a pitcher. This is especially true when prospects are discussed. It is often difficult for a pitcher without a 90+ fastball to even get a look from a scout. However, the radar gun is only one factor when evaluating a pitcher. Coach Peterson cites two factors for evaluating a pitcher, “First, we look at how many swings and misses he can get in the strike zone. This is especially important when you consider that the major league batting average of balls put in play is .315. If a pitcher cannot make a batter miss with a pitch in the zone, he is in trouble.” This would explain why pitchers such as Sabathia, Lincecum, and Santana are dominant and why youngsters Edison Volquez and Jon Danks were able to breakthrough with great 2008 seasons. It is only logical that pitchers with a pitch or two that can generate strikeouts or swings and misses in the strike zone would be more successful. “Guys with a pitch who can make batters miss are more dangerous. Johan Santana actually has two pitches that he can throw in the strike zone to make batters miss.” It would also explain why the legendary, future Hall of Famer, Greg Maddux was not as successful in his final season. Maddux only had batters swing and miss on 7.8 percent of his pitches that were in the strike zone. That number is in stark contrast to the 11.9 percent he posted in 2005. It also raises a red flag on pitchers who may have been a bit lucky in 2008. The Mets’ Mike Pelfrey had a good statistical season finishing with a 13 and 11 record and a 3.72 ERA and 1.360 WHIP. But, Pelfrey only had batters swing and miss on 7.9 percent of his pitches that were in the strike zone. To put that in the proper context, his rate is similar to the rates of Livan Hernandez and Zach Duke.

But, there is some hope for Pelfry when one considers the second most important aspect when evaluating a pitcher’s performance. “Secondly, we look at a pitcher’s ability to induce groundballs. If a pitcher is inducing groundballs, there is much more opportunity to get outs and to get out of a jam with a double play ball.” Pelfry ranked 15^th in all of Baseball with a 1.68 groundball to fly ball ratio. “There’s a reason why guys like Webb and Halladay are so successful. They increase their chances of success by pitching low in the zone and inducing groundballs. Guys like Maddux and Glavine did that for their whole career”, says Peterson. In 2008, Webb ranked first with a 3.15 groundball to fly ball ratio. To illustrate how dominant that is, consider that Derek Lowe finished second with a 2.63 GB/FB ratio.

But, which is more important, swings and misses or inducing groundballs?  Coach Peterson explains, “If you had to choose, inducing groundballs is more important. Consider that the batting average of a ball put in play on a 0-0 count is over .325. If the count moves to 1-0 or even 1-1, it jumps to over .500. It only makes sense that you want the ball to get hit on the ground.”

The poster child for choosing groundballs over swings and misses (although having both is ideal) is the Yankees’ Chien Ming Wang. A look at his 2007 season illustrates this point. In ‘07, Wang had just a 7.2 percent swing and miss rate on balls thrown in the strike zone. But, he had the second best groundball to fly ball ratio of 2.51 (he was even better in 2006 with a 3.09 rate). Despite a poor strikeout rate, Wang was a 19 game winner in both 2006 and 2007. “In 2007, Wang led the league in double plays induced, finished second in groundball to fly ball ratio, and gave up the least amount of homeruns. Those are qualities of an elite pitcher. Would an overpowering fastball help? Sure. Heck, if Maddux or Glavine had an explosive fastball, they might have won 400 games.”

These statistics may also explain why teams may not perform as well. A closer look at the Detroit Tigers would illustrate this point. In 2006, the Tigers won 96 games and went to the World Series. That season, they had a groundball to fly ball ratio of 1.29 which ranked 9^th in all of baseball. The 2007 team didn’t fare as well as they won 88 games and missed the playoffs. The 2008 GB/FB ratio was slightly worse at 1.18. The 2008 team finished a disappointing 74-88 and had a 1.09 GB/FB ratio ranking 26^th in baseball. While these statistics may not get as much publicity in the mainstream, they are good indications of a team’s pitching performance.   

Myth of “Getting Ahead”

One cannot listen to a game without hearing the announcer discuss the importance of getting ahead in the count. While a pitcher should not make a habit of falling behind, Coach Peterson points to some startling statistics. “Sure, you want a pitcher to get ahead, but there is more to it than that. You know what the batting average against is when the there is a new count (0-0)? .339. At 0 and 1, the batting average is .315. Take a guess at what it is if the pitcher falls behind 1 and 0. It’s .339. You are statistically no worse off if you fall behind on the first pitch. It’s really about location.” Those statistics are quite startling. Here’s a breakdown of the batting average against a pitcher at each count

The numbers do illustrate the point of getting ahead of a hitter, but there is something more important than getting ahead. The important aspect is how a pitcher gets ahead. “You want to pitch to the bottom of the strike zone. The batting average of all balls put in play on a pitch at the bottom of the strike zone is .220. If you do fall behind, make sure it is at the bottom of the strike zone.”

The Makeup of a Successful Pitcher

There are four basic qualities to pitching: velocity, movement, location, and change of speed. To Coach Peterson, the most important aspects are “location and the ability to change speed.” While having velocity and movement are important, a pitcher can carve out a career with “just” location and changing speeds. It is, however, a tough message to get across to a pitching staff. Coach tells a story of one spring training, “I asked them (his group of pitchers) what they thought was most important. They all said location. After, they said that they thought movement was the next most important. I then asked them if they ever felt like they were over throwing in game, reaching back for too much when they got in trouble. They all raised their hands. If velocity wasn’t important, why do pitchers overthrow? Pitching is a mental attitude. If a pitcher throws 98 (miles per hour), but right down the plate, major league hitters will hit it. But, a pitcher who can throw one pitch at 91, the next at 82, and the next at 88 with good location won’t get hit.”

So, how do certain pitchers put it all together-the physical tools and the mental aspect? Coach Peterson has an explanation, “Sports psychology has found that winners think differently. They process things differently and react differently.” With the lack of quality pitching, it would seem that there is not enough attention being paid to the mental side. Consider that the pitcher has the most pressure during the game. It is how the pitcher reacts in that pressure situation that separates the elite from the journeymen. Coach Peterson illustrates the enormous pressure of pitching in a major league game, “Look at it like this-everyone has experienced walking down a sidewalk, right? Let’s say that someone tells you that if one foot hits a blade of grass, you’re done. Most of us could handle that. Now, let’s put that sidewalk 500 feet high where if you step off the sidewalk, you fall off. The task of walking is essentially the same, but the pressure of ‘falling’ brings out different emotions. It’s still walking, but with added pressure. Certain people will be equipped to handle it while certain people couldn’t deal with the pressure. It’s similar to a pitcher throwing a bullpen or in spring training. Once the intensity of a game starts with 50,000 people in the stands and the pressure of a pennant race, then the emotional piece comes in.”

Physical tools are important, but the ability to perform under some pressure is what makes a good pitcher. Pitchers like Curt Schilling and John Smoltz have that ability.

Closing Thoughts

His years as a pitching coach have led to him to believe in the concept of Peak Performance. Peak Performance incorporates three areas: physical conditioning, skills and competencies, and performance based behaviors (the mental/emotional piece). It is with that foundation that Coach Peterson has cultivated some tremendous, healthy, pitching staffs filled with pitchers who experienced career years under his tutelage. It is that knowledge that FCP readers will get to read (with more focused articles to come) twice a month in order to gain insight into the art of pitching.

The next article in the series will focus on the youth pitching market. As the series evolves, we will also be treated to news of Coach Peterson’s new business venture into the amateur pitching market. Rick Peterson and his associates are in the beginning stages of launching a new company that will provide an incredible service for the amateur pitching market. As the company begins operations, FCP readers will get a firsthand account of the company’s services and progress.

To learn more about Rick Peterson’s Professional Pitching Program for Amateur Athletes, be sure to register at his website, http://rick-peterson.com