- Pete Wilkinson

I want to make the reader aware right away that I have a few principles which guide everything we teach in our program.

1 I believe in keeping it simple. The whole idea of instruction is to help players compete. If they think very much about mechanics while they compete, they hinder their chances of success. Therefore, they need to be able to use information, not just have it. I believe the coach is responsible for figuring out what's useful and what's just noise for each particular student. The student has some accountability, but I believe that the coach rightfully bears most of this burden.

2 I believe in dealing with circumstance as I find it. The pitcher is wherever he is. We try not to break him on the way to helping him. I want to utilize his strengths in our approach, not simply attack his weaknesses or start from scratch.

3 I believe in a rounded, balanced approach to learning. There is a physical aspect, a mechanical aspect, a mental aspect, an emotional aspect, a strategic aspect, and a fitness aspect inherent in pitching performance. All of these aspects contribute to success and failure, and we therefore emphasize balance in our approach to success.

4 I believe that the cornerstones of successful performance are self esteem, sound habits, decisively positive attitudes and high standards. I believe that people do not sustain progress past their ability to see themselves at a particular level of success.

5 I believe in faithful commitment. Both the student and the instructor-mentor must believe in the student's goals and in his ability to achieve them, and they must be committed to seeing the project through to completion.

On the physical side, I want to make use of whatever the pitcher brings. He brings me a natural arm slot, which helps us determine how we can make use of the potential to make the ball move. Since baseball is a game of angles, distance and time, I want our pitchers to create the best options for himself in gaining advantage over the hitter. Some pitchers bring great touch on a particular pitch or action, and we incorporate that into his protocols and pitching scenarios. Each pitcher brings a natural physicality and projected physicality, and that, too, is used in his training.

On the mechanical side, I want a few fundamental things to happen. Good fundamentals are necessary not only to sustained success (repeatability), but to safety, as well. They must be mastered if a pitcher is to achieve whatever he is capable of achieving. I say mastered, not perfected. Perfection is an illusion, in my view. There is a range of 'OK' within which pitchers can work. They must be affirmed in finding and mastering their own versions of 'OK'. The fundamentals include emphasis on cutting the distance to the plate and creating the best angles.

The mechanics involved are balance, posture, and glove-side firmness out front, and we take special care to ensure that each of our pitchers understands their impact and works toward mastering their implementation. Because the pitching motion is just that:  motion --- we work with balance and posture in movement down the hill, not just at certain 'balance points' which I believe do not exist in practical terms. We fix directional problems as we encounter them, but working at these two fundamentals takes care of most stride and stress problems.


The pitcher needs to get down the hill in balance the entire way --- not stay back, then 'push off' to get to extension. I believe that such pushing is a major cause of arm trouble.

There are two other mechanical approaches that assist in developing velocity, movement and repeatability. They are the most difficult things to teach, in my opinion, but they are vital to success.

1 is separation, or the hips leading the shoulders, through rotation at and through landing and extension. In this aspect, I believe that pushing rotation is wrong, but that concentration on keeping the front shoulder on the target as long as possible is essential and rewarding. We focus that target orientation on the glove or elbow or shoulder, depending on the student's ability to 'feel it'.

2 is to ignore the arm slot and position in favor of exploiting the glove-side arm, shoulder to elbow, to create timing and aid extension. I believe that the throwing arm belongs to the pitcher, but the glove arm belongs to the coach. Elbow to elbow, I want the upper arms to mirror each other in direction and angle. If the throwing elbow is below the throwing shoulder at landing, then the glove-side elbow must be higher than the glove-side shoulder to buy the pitcher time to get over his front side at release. In this overall approach, our work intuitively coincides with and in many ways reflects the most recent scientific work that [another] organization has compiled on the bio-kinetic research side. Our coaching-teaching points are our own, driven by each individual student.

I want our pitchers to know the game and their own capabilities. I want them to prepare for success and to respond positively at key points in the game. I want them to consider what is going on rationally in the heat of the moment and to know and be clear about what is required in their decision making and execution. I want them to understand that they must stay focused in process as opposed to outcome and that they need to trust those processes to carry them through the tough times.


They must know themselves -- especially their strengths -- and be accountable and self-reliant. They need to believe in what they're doing, so having a plan is essential. They must be willing to rise when their best is needed, and they need to be honest in assessing their performance while still being proud of their willingness and intent to compete to a high standard. They must be strong enough to take risks with optimism and enthusiasm, and resilient when they fail to live up to the best that is in them or when their best just isn't enough. I want them to relish each challenge. These traits are not inborn; they can and must be learned, both through instruction and through experience.


I want our pitchers to set specific goals for how they want to attack hitters and what kinds of outs are required at key points in the game. I want them to instinctively react, knowing their assignments, and to be clear about what they are trying to accomplish. I want them to think ahead, then stay in the present moment and fully commit once they decide what to do.


In terms of fitness, I want them to exercise judgment. They need to know what they want, given all the competing exercise and weight training regimes. Pitchers can destroy their careers at all levels by allowing themselves to be victims of over-zealous, under-educated training programs. In their food intake, I ask them to be balanced in the kinds of things they routinely put into their bodies. They need to be goal-oriented and understand the consequences of routinely neglecting their bodies.

Most of all, I want our pitchers to develop routines, to be creatures of good attitudes and good habits. I want them to set high standards and set out to successfully live up to them. I want them to know what it is that they want and to set real (as opposed to 'realistic') goals about getting there. I want them to develop healthy processes, basing their outcome goals on the quality of their attention to those processes.

These young people we work with bring their own talents and their own motivation --- I want to help them channel those talents and that motivation into being accountable for, powerful in, and proud of their own performances.