Pitching form and exercises for improving pitching speed and control performance:

From an interview survey of the former professional baseball pitcher and physical therapist

Abstract

Professional baseball players are active at the top level in Japan, and it is expected that they use forms and exercises that they consider appropriate for their own kinematic sense and awareness to improve their pitching speed and control performance. It is important that the athlete’s sense of motion and awareness be explained by his own anatomical and kinematic knowledge, not by others. The purpose of this study was to review good pitching form and exercises with the anatomical knowledge for improving pitching performance from a perspective of a former professional baseball pitcher and physical therapist, and to reveal the reasons for this. The results showed that there are eight important points of pitching form, among which the most important are to extend the knee of the pivot leg during the wind-up phase, to keep the thorax vertical and horizontal. In addition, it was found that adductor muscle exercises were important for this pitching form during the wind-up phase. The adductor muscles of the pivot leg are said to be important during translational movement, but it was suggested that they may also be important in one-legged standing. The interviewing of the participants in this study has generated new exercise ideas, and we believe it would be useful to conduct similar studies in the future.