Pitching is way more than Mechanics

The premise is simple - the intent of every pitcher is to fool every batter. Ask a bullpen full of pitchers and instructors and you'd probably be told the art is to keep them guessing - mostly by changing location, movement and velocity. Someone might bring out the old chestnut: hard in, soft away. Someone else might talk about pitch sequence, or changing the eye level.

But none of them - until now - would understand the science behind the assumptions. And none would realize that it's possible to change everything from one pitch to the next - movement, speed, and location - and actually make it EASIER for the batter to hit you and hit you hard.

Need proof? Watch the puzzled pitcher as a ball sails out for a home run when he absolutely KNOWS he's just thrown his best stuff. But was it his best pitch? Or was it the worst pitch at that time and place? Did the batter beat him or did he beat himself? Did he turn his most effective pitch into his least effective? Clearly it's not all about the mechanics.

What went wrong? And what could go right? Is there something more than a subjective sense when a pitch is a mistake? Is there statistical evidence and research to back it up the opinions? Is there a better way to pitch - an approach that changes everything?

Now, there are answers...

In the brand-new full-color Downright Filthy Pitching Manuals.

• You'll learn why release points matter for more than just mechanical efficiency.
•  You'll learn a new vocabulary - not just the strike zone but Pressure Zones; not just perceived velocity but Effective Velocity.
• You'll understand terms like Genetic Trail, and how the Hitter's Attention Span can play to your strengths, or set you up for failure.
• You'll learn the difference between movement and true deception - how to play off a hitter's weakness.
  
• You'll learn to avoid something new called the Zero Line, and what's meant by At-Risk pitches.
• You'll learn why different pitches may not seem all that different to the hitter depending on where and when they reach him.
• Most of all you'll learn how to optimize whatever skills and conditioning you possess to make you a smarter pitcher or a better pitching instructor.

How this came about...

Downright Filthy Pitching by Perry Husband began as a very in-depth study of speed related to the hitter's reaction time. 10 years of research and testing of amateur hitters plus two years of intense study of major league at bats in a 4-million-pitch database have lead to some astonishing findings. It was a time-based study - statistics directly related to how well timed the hitter is to the pitch.



Here's how author Perry Husband describes the process...

"Through about 10 years or more of testing hitters' visual and reactionary skills, I made some astonishing discoveries about velocity and location and how the two together make up what I called Effective Velocity. Along with a couple of instructors and 25 kids we did an 8,000+ at-bat experiment that pitted live pitching with high school hitters charting each at-bat and judging the small tasks involved in hitters' timing of pitches. After 24 weeks of 5 nights a week, we had a tremendous amount of "aha" moments that later became the Science Of Effective Velocity. We then used a 4-million-pitch database from Inside Edge, an advanced scouting service, to verify our theories about why these kids' reaction skills were so predictably good and bad against certain sequences. Major league hitters had the same problems with the same types of sequences. Each study has uncovered more and more of the truth surrounding the mystery of why certain things have happened over and over in baseball for the past 100 years and no one has been able to answer them."

...until now. Downright Filthy Pitching is about learning how to use that information to the fullest degree in your training. Endorsed by Phil Garner, with foreward by Tom House, this Perry Husband manual offers both the How and the Why. It will put you on track to make pitchers truly Filthy. 

 

Now there are 3 manuals in this ground-breaking study! (We recommend you read all 3 books in order. For more on Book 3 which provides how-to insights for bringing these discoveries to the mound, click here.) Here's an example of the level of detail in Book 2... This is one of several charts generated from actual Inside Edge Scouting Service MLB statistics. (In the book they are full-page size.) Perry will walk you through the process of learning how such studies can help you use effective velocities to estimate deception in pitcher-hitter duels. This pro-level research has been adapted and tested with youth, varsity and collegiate pitchers.



For a more in depth discussion on Effective Velocity and why it's important - even if complex - here's an article by Richard Todd, with a link to an audio conversation between Richard and Perry Husband.