Grab the wrong softball pitching tool and your next call may be to the surgeon. 

Tools have very specific uses.  The wrong tool in the wrong hands can do far more harm than good.

Inexperienced or poorly trained pitching coaches want quick fixes.  A tool promises results and they blindly give it a try, never realizing that there can be very harmful side effects.

Having been involved in pitching for a couple of decades, I have seen tools that promised to give pitchers a perfect circle, fix their drag, and weighted tools that promised to make them faster.  Tools come and go quickly.  Only a tiny percentage hang around.  The negative effects on the body can last forever.

What do you need to know before buying a tool?  Here are the cautions.  Share them with friends who are raising pitchers.

1-Do not buy a tool that takes your body in a direction that it does not want to go.  If you design something that forces the arm circle to go in a specific direction, you had better know exactly where that direction is for every single body type.  That tool must take into account the opening of the shoulders and hips, scapular dysfunction, pelvic movements, and react when she comes to anchoring her hips at landing. You have to consider arm length, which changes slightly through the circle, and the plane, which is how it looks from behind. To be very frank, until “AI” is involved, be careful not be swayed by NS. (natural stupidity)

2-Do not force a movement. This topic is related to the previous one.  I see a bunch of tools designed to “fix the drag”.  Hip flexibility/mobility, flat feet, knee valgus, and anterior pelvic tilt mean that forcing the drag leg to go in a direction that her body cannot support can quickly, and I mean very quickly, result in surgery.  You are addressing a symptom, not a cause.

3-A tool should not do the work for you.  A tool might do little good if it does not improve mobility, the flow, or does not overcome imbalances that are the root cause.  She lays down the tool and immediately goes back to the old habit.  You now have a nice tool for your next yard sale.

4-Failure to understand unintended consequences.  I saw a tool recently which, when attached to the body, could improve the part that it was designed to address, but the straps that attached it to the body could impede the movement of a different body part.  That is quite a concern.

–Adding weight to a bad movement.  The research on weighted tools, from balls to bats to golf clubs to tennis rackets is available with a little digging.  Often, we see a decreased performance and increased injury rate.  There is a reason she is moving slowly.  Fix the cause.

The trouble is that so many tools are purchased by the least experienced parents who talk to inexperienced pitching coaches.  Too much focus on quick fixes can get in the way of long-term development?

Understand movements, body relationships, and how each affects the other.  Do not get caught up in symptoms.  Identify causes and how to best deal with them.  If you or your pitching coach have questions, let us know.  Proven tools have a place, but every year I deal with around 250 injuries from kids around the country.  Almost every single one gets back on the mound quickly, with the use of no tools.

Feel free to share this article with friends who have up-and-coming pitchers.