Texas Baseball Ranch May 2017

THE TRUTH ABOUT VELOCITY (PART 1) Throwing Off the Critics

Many professional scouts will look you right in the eye and tell you with conviction that velocity CANNOT be taught. You either have it or you don’t. What they really mean to say is they can’t teach velocity. At the Texas Baseball Ranch ® , we do it every single day. In all honesty, I believe it is one of the more straightforward things we do when it comes to developing the complete pitcher. When it comes to the incredible number of pitchers we’ve seen break the 90 mph barrier, the 95 mph barrier, and the 100 mph barrier, Coach Wolforth often jokes with clients, “Who’s counting?” We count everything at the Ranch. We believe Edward Deming, the father of quality control, was absolutely correct when he said, “If you want to improve something, measure it!” Our critics will snipe, “Is that off the mound, or doing all that running and jumping mumbo- jumbo? Is that a peak velocity, or can he sit at that velocity in a game? Sure, he can throw it hard, but can he throw it over the little white thing? I’ll bet he can’t throw it that hard on a regular basis. Velo is overrated. Give me a guy who can throw a 3-2 curveball for a strike.”

I thought we were talking about velocity creation? If you would like to talk about command, pitchability, arm health, recovery, consistency, and building a repeatable movement pattern, I’d be more than happy to. So, which one would you like me to discuss with you? This sort of namby-pamby, hand-wringing, mismatching critique reminds me of a person with little money turning down a far better job because he doesn’t want to pay the taxes on his new significantly increased salary. Huh? That sort of thinking makes absolutely no sense to me. Having better velocity or more money isn’t the be-all and end-all, but all things considered, it is certainly preferable to not having enough velocity and being poor.

UPCOMING RANCH EVENTS ELITE PITCHERS BOOT CAMP June 9–11, 2017 (Friday–Sunday) June 23–25, 2017 (Friday–Sunday)

Rickey Runs Into the History Books HENDERSON BREAKS THE STOLEN BASE RECORD Baseball is a game of numbers. From Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak to Hank Aaron hitting home run No. 715, some numbers have become magical figures in baseball history. When you take a look at the major league record books, though, perhaps no number is more glaring than 1,406 — the number of bases stolen by Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson. Part of what makes this number so staggering is that it’s nearly 500 more than his nearest rival, Lou Brock. Rickey ran past Lou on May 1, 1991, cementing his place in baseball history. With Henderson coming off an MVP season in 1990, it was clear the record would fall during the spring of ‘91, but the moment itself was vintage Rickey. The Yankees were visiting Henderson’s A’s, it was the bottom of the fourth, and Henderson was on second. Tim Leary delivered, and Rickey took off. By the time Matt Nokes delivered the ball to third, it was clear Rickey was safe, and safely atop the career stolen base list. He lifted the base itself above his head in celebration. Making the moment even more special was the fact that Brock, one of Henderson’s idols, was in attendance to see his record surpassed.

July 7–9, 2017 (Friday–Sunday) July 21–23, 2017 (Friday–Sunday) August 11–13, 2017 (Friday–Sunday) September 2–4, 2017 (Saturday–Monday)

Additional Boot Camp information can be found at texasbaseballranch.com/events/elite-pitchers-boot-camps

A SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR OATES SPECIALTIES! STRATEGIC PARTNER,

www.OatesSpecialties. com/Durathro

3 Where You Can DREAM as BIG as Your Work Ethic Will Allow! PHONE (936) 588-6762

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