Clubhouse Gas
Casey: Today on Clubhouse Gas we’re joined by pitching Coach Jonathan Hurst of the Savannah Sand Gnats single way affiliate of the New York Mets. We’ll talk with him about his biggest opinions, frustrations if you will about pitching at the lower ages. Our curve ball is good, how do you feel was change up and is it over use or mechanics that lead to arm injuries. Stay tune to Clubhouse Gas.
We’re joined now by pitching coach of the Savannah Sand Gnats Jonathan Hurst.
Jonathan: How you doing?
Casey: Jonathan, thank you for joining us.
Jonathan: Oh anytime, anytime.
Casey: Alright anytime we get pitching coaches.
Jonathan: Yes.
Casey: Especially test level. Our audience wants to know about arm injuries in pitchers?
Jonathan: Yes.
Casey: There’s a lot of them and it seems to be going up what do you attribute young people’s pitching issues, with arm issues with pitchers what do you attribute that to?
Jonathan: Well I mean I work with a lot of young kids doing all season and first thing that comes in to their mind is how you throw harder. They want to know how to throw harder because you know either their body or the different teammate or different team throws harder than they do and they want to figure out how to do it is it just by throwing as hard as you can and like I tell a lot of kids you got to use what you have at that point you know because body is developing during that time, you really don’t have a—
There’s not much room for mistake during that age because when you hurt an arm that early it’s a lot more harder to heal to get it back to that condition that you need it to be in. So I tell kids a lot that just stick with what you have right at that point and just let their body develop as time go on and sometime it would develop until amount warm or sometimes you have to pitch like guys just you see the guys in the Major League now when you know 86, 87 but didn’t know how to pitch.
Casey: Yeah people like Greg Maddux and Tom Glavin.
Jonathan: That’s right.
Casey: Has a pretty good limit around 89 miles an hour.
Jonathan: Exactly and it just comes with experience and just you know, just patience.
Casey: So for you once we get in to the season and coaches doing pitch counts and they are moving guys around and figuring one out, do you think the arm injury come from poor mechanics or from over use.
Jonathan: Well a little of both, I think first it comes form the over use it gets to the point and they want to carry fatigues that’s when the poor mechanics kick in and you try to start doing things that you can’t do because your body is worn down.
Casey: This is the magic question and so I’m going to ask it as open ended as possible, how do you feel about 11 year old throwing curve balls.
Jonathan: I don’t like it. I teach kids at the Academy without using— in South Carolina I don’t teach curve balls until 14. I like it better because the arm will get a little bit mature, the arm is a mature a little bit more but at 11 it’s just a disaster waiting to happen.
Casey: We have a doctor David Marshall from Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and he says 13 that’s he’s rule. So when are you teaching your guys to throw?
Jonathan: Just I like them to stick with the basic fastball and change up. It comes out of the same slot and it makes their arm stronger. When you start dealing with a breaking ball you’re dealing with different tendons and you know a lot of medical terms that I don’t know right now but I know is not good for you.
Casey: Let’s talk about the fast ball grip that you’re teaching 11-year-olds.
Jonathan: Alright fastball grip right now is basic forcing fastball and it’s just right over you want those, the joints or the fingers right on the seams and right underneath your thumb that kind of just touch that seam right there. That’s what calls us to get out there and just let that fastball it comes right off those 2 fingers.
Casey: You’re teaching kids to throw fastballs with movement and cutting fastballs like that?
Jonathan: I like the basic straight fastball because when you start getting into movement a lot of kids want to start to pronate a little bit which does start and affect elbow.
Casey: And try to over do it.
Jonathan: Exactly.
Casey: And so it’s the proper mechanics, proper grip and the pitch placement?
Jonathan: Well extension just staying through the baseball. That’s my big thing when I teach kids you know it starts with the body. You know once you get that delivery going and you keep that backside over the rubber, by night drifting out front and that’s when you start getting the separation where you’re getting it here instead of staying on top when you’re getting it up and that’s what the main thing when kids want to throw harder they want to get the body out first and then on drags behind and that’s when you start getting a lot of soreness in the shoulder.
Casey: How do you teach them how to throw a change up, is it difficult?
Jonathan: Well change up, the basic change up, three finger change up and all of this is just almost like a circle change but you use in these 2 fingers that’s where you want the ball to come out off and that’s just a nice easy change up that just comes in straight change up gets to plate and it just kind of drops off the table a little bit and once they get older you know guys go to the circle change where you just get more pronation or you go you know—
Casey: Is that a hand size or shoe as well?
Jonathan: It’s a— well I have seen guys with smaller hands in it. It seems like it’s a lot easier for some of those guys because they can throw it just like the fast ball. Guys with bigger hands they try to do too much with it and so they just let come out. You know they want to palm it and it ends up coming up short and they end up over throwing it.
Smaller hands is just basically it’s own there and as just soon as it comes out of your hand it comes out nice and soft.
Casey: Coach we just really appreciate you being here. Love to have you back. We talked about what you worked on with the young ones. I love to hear what you are working on with these. They weren’t very old, their still young, you come back and hang out with us?
Jonathan: I sure will.
Casey: Alright thank you very much this is Jonathan Hurst and I’m Casey Bass and we’ll see you right back here next time for another exciting edition of Clubhouse Gas.
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