Why your best arms might not be pitchers
Have you ever been in a position where you’re late in a game, you’re getting your doors blown off, you’ve exhausted your pitching, and you need someone to just come in and eat an inning for the team?
How many of you also found out that day that your shortstop – who’s never pitched a day in his life – threw harder and boxed strikes better than most of the guys on your staff?
This isn’t a coincidence.
The mound isn’t the only place where we see the recoil…
In the 108 Performance courses, something we talk about is how there are two positions on the field that we see the most amount of conversions to the mound when they forget how to hit: Catchers and shortstops.
In fact, below are a few MLB arms that converted to the mound full-time after spending a good chunk of their career behind the plate or at short:
- Kenley Jansen (C)
- Jacob deGrom (SS)
- Joe Nathan (SS)
- Troy Percival (C)
Jacob deGrom didn’t commit to only pitching until his junior year of college
If we think about catchers and shortstops, we know a couple of things:
- They need to make firm & accurate throws across the diamond
- They don’t have a lot of time to do it
In other words, catchers and shortstops need to throw the ball hard, accurately, and quickly. When you do this over a period of time, you tend to develop a really efficient arm action out of necessity.
This is why your starting shortstop or catcher might be the best arm on your team that you don’t know about. They’re not worried about getting to a balance point, reading the watch, or finishing their pitch. They let their athleticism on the field determine their mechanics on the mound.
Just imagine if you had a team full of these guys…
If you want to figure out how to start training your pitchers like shortstops and catchers, we’ve got just the thing for you:👇