Lately I’ve been seeing an old myth making a resurgence, so I figured it might be time to try to bury it again. What is balance point, why is it bad, and why do we still see coaches teaching it?
Balance (an even distribution of weight) is important for pitchers. Ideally, pitchers shouldn’t fall over. However, the concept of utilizing a balance point in pitching is wrong.
What is Balance Point: In pitching, a balance point is when you teach a pitcher to “stop at the top” before moving forward. This is a great way to simplify a pitcher’s motion. I’ve even used it myself as a way to start throwing more strikes. However, my fastball wouldn’t get pulled over on the highway for speeding, so I’m probably not a great example. Why? It’s simply not an efficient use of energy. Instead of building momentum toward the plate, you delay it until after peak leg lift, causing a reduction in velocity.
Who Reaches a Balance Point: To put it simply, pretty much nobody who throws a baseball hard reaches a balance point. It's a holdover from the days where slow motion video was hard to come by. Now that everyone has a smart phone, we can slow down video of high level pitchers and see that almost all of them start moving as soon as leg lift begins.
What to Do: Instead of teaching a balance point, teach a controlled forward movement as soon as leg lift begins. Think about a bike for a minute. To keep it from falling over when you’re not riding it, you’re going to use the kickstand. Once you disengage the kickstand, the bike falls over. Think of the front leg as the kickstand. Once a pitcher begins to lift the front leg, the kickstand is disengaged and the bike begins to fall. Now, you don’t want to damage your bike, so you’re not just going to let it topple over. Instead, you’re going to guide it down to the ground.
Possible Issue: When teaching your pitchers to move forward as soon as they lift their leg, you want to get them comfortable with it. A lot of them will struggle with that and will end up rushing or falling. What’s the solution?
Solution: Instruct the pitcher to keep his head/neck above/in line with his belt buckle. If you want to go with an external cue (always the preferred option) have them imagine a wall of laser beams above their lead hip and cue them to avoid crossing the line. Remember the bike falling over without your guidance? That’s what will happen to your body if you allow your head to move forward. You will lose balance (remember, balance is good, stopping momentum is bad) and will fail to produce proper force. By keeping the head over the belt buckle (or belly button, midline, vertical, and whatever else you call it), it’s impossible to fall forward in an uncontrolled fashion.
Conclusion: Please stop teaching the balance point. It kills the buildup of energy and makes it so much more difficult for a pitcher to throw hard. The goal of every pitcher is to throw with both velocity and command. Forward movement at the start of leg lift allows them to do both. The balance point limits velocity.
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