When it comes to pitching, you may have heard of "drive". What is it and is it important? Zak Doan, who works with youth pitchers and whose most famous client is Gerrit Cole, shares his thoughts on the subject as well as some pitching lesson/camp tips and thoughts on other pitching situations. This is part 2 of a two-part interview.
Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week (31:13) about how to help a kid who's hitting grounders in games but fly balls in practices.
In this 53-minute episode, you'll learn:
- one thing to watch for and one tip to help kids who throw hard but don't pitch hard (1:09)
- how important is "drive" and three key areas that factor into it (2:45)
- whether it's important to teach pushing off the back leg (4:59)
- how to engage the lower half (6:14)
- when to focus on the lower half (7:44)
- why arm slot doesn't matter when pitching (8:54)
- whether front leg post or back leg drive is more important in velocity (11:08)
- whether there is a risk of injury for pre-puberty kids throwing curveballs—and what is the biggest risk of injury (12:11)
- the biggest cause of a strong pitcher going into a rut (14:00)
- what makes Pedro Martinez special that is noticeable on video (18:22)
- what is a realistic goal from a pitching velocity camp (19:47)
- what speed increase is realistic when incorporating strength training for high schoolers (23:50)
- why there is not one common teach that Zak imparts to kids in single lessons (25:16)
- what two bad pitching teaches Zak frequently needs to undo in pitching lessons (26:36)
- one tip to improve your mental game (27:48)
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