Question
Have you noted any patterns of weakness in specific muscle groups for young pitchers?
Answer
Remember that these children are still developing. Their muscle length, strength, and neuromuscular control lags behind what we see in adults. It is not their fault; it is just the way that their brains and their bodies function. They are immature brains and bodies trying to do very adult things. I see lots of weaknesses, but I start with the gluts. Your greatest pictures of pitchers, such as Roger Clemens, show their big butts. John Lester also has a big butt. They are just powerful. C.C. Sabathia can be included here as well although he is probably out playing golf right now. They have big butts. I really encourage young athletes, young pitchers, to learn those principles of triple extension, meaning calf, quad, gluts. They need to learn how to burst and create power from all three of those muscle groups, which are all your antigravity groups. Children tend to not use the hip hinge. They tend to not use their gluts. As a pitcher, I would make sure they know how to use their gluts for starters.
Then, specifically working up the chain, I see a lot of rotational instability through the trunk, between the pelvis and the rib cage. Neuromuscularly, it might be difficult to get them to understand that we need to work on the trunk a little bit. But what do we see in a lot of our baseball pitchers? We see oblique strains. I try to do a lot of work to specifically address static stability from the obliques, and then I work on dynamic and rotational stability through the obliques. Then of course most importantly you work up into the shoulder girdle. Lower trapezius, infraspinatus and rotator cuff strengthening are all important. They also need to really work on their scapular stabilizers. They need to maintain good thoracic extension and rotation in both directions. They also need to make sure that there is not a lot of pectoral tightness. When the pec minor gets tight, it elevates and protracts the scapula forward which can set a child up for an impingement in the shoulder. We need to make sure that we maintain good flexibility through the anterior chain and the pectoral region, good scapular retraction, depression, stabilization, and rotator cuff strength. That is where I work with my pitchers specifically.
