The intent of the Baseball Collegian Pitching Project is to inform coaches and players and parents of some of the many theories on being a successful pitcher.

Most every concept has advocates with very strong opinions on either side of the argument. Too often, a theory is chosen based on popularity, conventional wisdom, or because someone famous does it that way, as opposed to one’s own analysis. With so many contradicting theories, it is essential to have an understanding of all of the possible options before deciding which one to commit to.
These pitching theories are presented without judgment, without confirmation bias, with no preconceptions, and without dogma or commercialism. In turn, the strong hope is that people are inspired to do the work to make up their own mind based on as much information as possible – and in turn, do what makes most sense to them.

Last month, the discussion was about which side of the rubber to throw off of. This month, the discussion turns to how fast you should go in your pitching motion.

Q. How fast should you go in your pitching motion?

General Belief:
• Fast Brad Mills
Moving fast into a long stride is the key to pitching velocity that not one coach or pitching instructor in 100 knows about. If they knew this they would never have a pitcher waste time on long toss, weighted baseballs, weight training, or the host of endless towel drills, kneeling drills, or balance drills that only serve to waste valuable time, slow pitchers down, and turn them into mechanical robots who can’t break a pane of glass. Once a pitcher has his delivery built, he does not need many drills.
(pitching.com)

Other Philosophies:
• Medium Fast Guy Hansen
They need to realize that they thrive with an upticked tempo rather than a deliberate one. Most pitching coaches emphasize slowing down, staying back, and maintaining balance. My view is I want a connected delivery with a consistent flow to it. Obviously, it needs to be balanced, but I don’t want pitchers to slow down too much or they risk failing to stay connected, fluid, and athletic.
(A Baseball Guy by Guy Hanson)

• Slower Chris O’Leary
In many cases, rushing can be caused by a pitcher trying to get something extra on the ball by striding especially forcefully toward the plate. The problem is that the stride toward the plate isn’t the real source of a pitcher’s power; instead, the properly timed and sequenced rotation of the hips, torso, and shoulders is. By trying to stride especially powerfully toward the plate when throwing a particular pitch, pitchers are far more likely to mess up their timing, and possibly even cost themselves velocity as a result, than they are to increase their velocity.
In general, when I sense that my pitchers are rushing during a game, I emphasize that they need to be steady and smooth when moving to the plate rather than jumping toward the plate. When they are getting ready to pitch, I will call out to them “Nice and smooth” which usually reminds them to not move too quickly toward the plate. If that doesn’t work, then I tell that they should only try to throw 90% (rather than 110%).
(chrisoleary.com)