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YBE 143: Improving Pitching Accuracy with Zak Doan

By Rob Tong | May 21, 2021 Leave a Comment

YBE 143 cover art
Improving pitching velocity is all the rage right now in youth and high school baseball circles, and rightly so. But no one's really talking about how to improve pitching accuracy, even though velocity without accuracy is not going to end well. How can we help our young athletes to improve their pitching accuracy? Zak Doan, who works with youth pitchers and whose most famous client is Gerrit Cole, shares some helpful pointers to help kids throw the ball with more accuracy. This is part 1 of a two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week (45:58) about how to get over the feeling of being under-qualified as a youth baseball coach.

In this 53-minute episode, you'll learn:

  • why Zak didn't make it to the bigs as a pitcher himself (8:51)
  • how to help kids achieve repeatability (12:31)
  • how to help kids who struggle with repeatability, and whether kids can "feel" repeatability (13:42)
  • the process for simplifying the pitching delivery (15:25)
  • the key component to help kids who are not coordinated in the separation phase of the pitching delivery (17:20)
  • how to help kids who need help during separation (18:48)
  • most common reason that kids miss up-and-in when pitching (20:44)
  • the antidote for kids who are close to the strike zone but not consistently hitting it (21:28)
  • what focus is and why it's so important (23:10)
  • whether kids can recall where they last released a pitch (27:42)
  • whether kid pitchers need a pitching coach and why (29:52)
  • the prescription for kids who consistently pitch kids into the dirt (32:06)
  • when it's important to teach pitching mechanics (33:26)
  • what pitching mechanics to teach (35:26)
  • the two key aspects of teaching a change-up (39:02)
Resources and links mentioned in this episode:
  • Zak on how to throw a change-up
  • Chris O'Leary's web site

  • Examples of how pro baseball players do not teach correctly:
    Alex Rodriguez hitting teach
    What A-Rod teaches the swing should look like
    A-Rod actual swing
    What A-Rod actually swings like (note arms are not straight nd angle of bat is forward).
    Hanley swing teach
    What Hanley Ramirez teaches your swing should be like
    What Hanley actually swings like
    Josh swing teach
    What Josh Donaldson teaches your front foot should be at foot plant
    What Josh actually does
    What Josh's front foot actually is at foot plant (NOT 90 degrees open/pointed at pitcher, but more like 45 degrees open)
    What Josh actually does
    Closer look at Josh's front foot in actuality (open 45 degrees)
    what Dustin teaches
    One way Dustin Pedroia teaches to pivot on a double play
    Another Dustin teach
    Another way Dustin teaches how to do a pivot on a double play
    what Dustin does
    What Dustin actually does (from same video of what he taught)
    What Dustin actually does
    Another shot of what Dustin Pedroia actually does (from same video of what he taught)
    What Brandon teaches NOT
    What Brandon Phillips teaches NOT to do in a double play pivot
    What Brandon actually does
    What Brandon Phillips actually did in a double play pivot


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