THE TRUTH ABOUT COMMAND How to Nail Down Accuracy
Honing great command is primarily about developing a repeatable movement pattern. One builds a repeatable movement pattern ONLY by good, old-fashioned,
The answer is thousands of hours of practice and a ridiculous amount of time banging range balls to shape their craft. Through repetition and trial and error, they developed a pattern that worked. It wasn’t necessarily “pretty” or “classic,” but it was effective. If that doesn’t spell it out, let’s take a look at an example from baseball. Juan Marichal and Dan Quisenberry are two of the all-time best in MLB history, with regards to giving up the fewest walks per 9 innings. In other words, their control and accuracy, or command, is exceptional. Yet, neither one of them are anywhere close to what would be considered, by most in baseball, as having classic or textbook mechanics. Furthermore, if you look closely, they are both right- handed and are not only far from classic, but are almost opposites of each other.
deliberate practice, and lots of it. Command, control, or accuracy are not techniques. Many in baseball would have you believe that you can only have command with “good mechanics.” To think about command as a result of mechanics is flawed. I think that through looking at real-life examples, you will see why narrowing down human movement patterns into an “ideal” movement model is not an exact science, to say the least. Personally, I believe it to be a waste of time. In golf, control matters even more than it does on the mound. So how do we explain how three of the greatest golfers of all time, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, and Jim Furyk have become top
How did these legends develop hall-of-fame command while keeping their unique throwing motions?
The answer — much like with Furyk, Trevino, and Palmer — is countless hours spent throwing balls and perfecting their own personal throwing motions.
performers? Their movement patterns are clearly FAR from having the classic golf swings of Ben Hogan or Jack Nicklaus.
The bottom line: If you want great command, you need to practice, practice, and practice more.
UPCOMING RANCH EVENTS COACHES BOOT CAMP December 7–10 (Thursday–Sunday) ELITE PITCHERS BOOT CAMPS November 18-20, 2017 (Saturday–Monday) SOLD OUT December 27–29, 2017 (Wednesday–Friday) January, 13–15, 2018 (Saturday–Monday) OUTSIDE ELITE PITCHERS BOOT CAMPS January 26–28, 2018 Fastball USA – Chicago February 9–11, 2018, MN Blizzard – Minneapolis AMERICAN BASEBALL COACHES CONVENTION January 4–7, 2018 – Indianapolis, IN
THIS MONTH IN BASEBALL HISTORY The Diamondbacks Win the First November Series While the World Series is known as the Fall Classic, for more than a century, it was exclusively played in October. Due to the scheduling delays caused by the tragic events of September 11, 2001 was the first year that the series stretched into November. On Halloween night, the Yankees and Diamondbacks were contesting game four. Arizona had built up a 3–0 series lead and were looking to close out the Yankees. Tino Martinez hit a home run for the Yankees, pushing the game into extra innings. Before Derek Jeter batted in the next inning, the clock struck midnight, and November baseball was a reality. Jeter stepped up, hit a walk-off home run and kept the Series alive, prompting Yankees’ announcer Michael Kay to dub him “Mr. November.” And the team from the Bronx wasn’t done yet. After taking games five and six, the decisive game seven was set for November 4 in Phoenix. Heading into the latter half of the ninth, the Yankees clung to a 2–1 lead. With Mariano Rivera on the mound, the battle seemed all but won. The Diamondbacks, however, had other plans. When Luis Gonzalez blooped in the winning run, Arizona didn’t just win their first World Series; they won the first November Classic ever.
More information can be found at www.TexasBaseballRanch.com/events.
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