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General | General | 3/2/2021

Ron Wolforth's Elite Thrower Mentorship

Jerry Ford

Ron Wolforth

Photo: Perfect Game

Ron Wolforth probably knows more about the throwing arm and arm care than anyone we know. Many of you may have heard about the famous Texas Baseball Ranch that Ron has been running for many years. We have built a great relationship with Ron and his wife Jill over the years.

It all started a few years back when Ron sent his son Garrett to a Perfect Game event. His son was a catcher/infielder and set some all-time PG records for pop times (1.75) and velocity (89 mph) at the time. He also threw mid-90s across the infield. He is now playing professionally. Being an average-sized kid, this really drew our interest. Once we realized who his father was, it became clear.

Since then we have followed the Texas Baseball Ranch closely. Ron is a very humble man, which is a reason so many speak highly of him. We have never run across a single person that shows any disrespect for him or the Ranch. So we decided to ask him to help our millions of followers.

Over the years he has helped thousands of pitchers, including many that became Major League All-Stars. Yes, he teaches velocity gains, better control and command, and everything a pitchers needs to be successful. However, unlike many others, he is an absolute stickler when it comes to doing it safely. His interest doesn't just involve velocity gains and other improvements, all of which are very important. He wants his students to understand arm care and how to throw and stay healthy. He does this without a cookie cutter program. He understands that all players are different individuals.

Perfect Game's interest in prospects, arm care and keeping young kids healthy is the major reason we have decided to work with Ron Wolforth.

Below is the first of an ongoing column he will be doing on our Perfect Game website. This information will be gold for any player interested in improving their throwing ability and staying healthy. Make sure you read every column he contributes and feel free to comment on them.

If you want to attend one of his camps and improve your throwing ability, here is the link to the website:
https://www.texasbaseballranch.com/

Jerry Ford
President
Perfect Game

^{. . .}

Where The Sidewalk Terminates

Several years ago, while traveling to Ft. Lauderdale to watch our then-21-year-old son play baseball, I ran across this very peculiar sign.

Every morning and every evening my wife, Jill, and I go for a 15-45 minute walk. One morning, while walking to breakfast, we ran across this sign. The next morning, I made sure we walked the same way so I could take a picture of it.

My initial reaction to the sign was, ‘Why on Earth would we spend tax payer money on such a sign? After all, don’t almost all sidewalks terminate into a street or another sidewalk at some point? Do we really need to have a sign which points out the obvious?'

The more I thought about this, it occurred to me that common sense is really often nothing more than the behavior of recognizing and respecting the obvious. I thought the sign was a perfect metaphor for what I wanted to share in this series.

In this series, I endeavor to point out the obvious things that are critically important to the development of an athlete’s throwing tool. As a vast majority of readers would attest to, there are no shortages today in terms of velocity enhancement programs, weighted ball programs, as well as various tools and processes that promise spine-tingling improvements in a very short period of time.

I will not berate nor chastise any philosophy, tool, process or procedure. It is not my intention in this series to play judge, jury and executioner to the myriad of fabulous, good, poor and awful options out there. I will leave that discernment to you, the reader. I sincerely do trust the good judgement of the average athlete and his/her parents. After all, it is your and/or your son’s career, and at the end of the day, it will be only him and his performance that will be held into account. That ‘buck’ stops with you.

Instead my job will be to state and restate the obvious; to articulate the principles, requirements and demands that are involved in skill development for the elite throwing athlete and his subsequent quest for ascending in levels of competitive performance and let you guys forge your own personal path of discovery behind these principles.

Trust me when I say that such a goal is more than enough for any mere mortal. I believe I do not need to critique or besmirch others to make these lessons a worthwhile read each and every week. It is my hope that this series will be a welcome companion in your walk to high-level skill development.

Lesson #1- Start With The Pain.

Always.

The very first thing we attempt to ascertain when any young, aspiring athlete and his parents drive through our gate at the Texas Baseball Ranch is to determine the regular recurring status of discomfort of his throwing arm/shoulder/elbow and its specific location.

In other words, how PRECISELY does his arm feel and respond to the stresses that he is placing on it on an everyday basis?

It may seem like a strange place to start. After all, most athletes, their parents and coaches spend a high percentage of their time avoiding conversations about arm pain and discomfort. Maybe, just maybe, if they don’t focus or talk about arm pain, soreness, fatigue or discomfort, it really isn’t that serious and it will solve or rectify itself.

The truth is clear. Sometimes it will. But sometimes it won’t.

You see, there are at least four very good reasons we struggle with having an honest and frank discussion regarding an athlete’s arm pain.

1) No one likes to be viewed as physically soft or weak. It is widely accepted that one has to be ‘tough’ to pitch at the higher levels of competition. Part of being ‘tough’ is the ability to ignore and or endure pain. Furthermore, don’t we often hear from many different sources that "Pitching is pain, they simply go together. When you pitch your arm will rarely feel awesome”? So "suck it up buttercup". Players learn the lesson quickly: Don’t complain of arm pain. If you do, it means you are soft. So players are very reluctant to share their arm pain. Who can blame them?

2) No one likes to be viewed as a chronic complainer or an excuse maker. Players learn the lesson quickly: Don’t complain of arm pain. If you do, it means you may, in short order, be labeled a complainer or an excuse maker. So players learn to not express their arm pain. Who can blame them?

3) Every athlete wants to pitch…to play…to perform…to compete. If we complain of arm discomfort to our parents or our coaches, one of the more likely scenarios is that the player will be withheld, at least temporarily, from competition or practice for health and safety sake. So players learn the lesson quickly: The arm pain better be pretty significant if I’m going to complain of arm pain, because the chance of parents and coaches shutting me down is pretty high. So players are very reluctant to share their arm pain. Who can blame them?

4) It is very natural that when we experience arm pain, we immediately have this initial thought: ”Is this pain significant and an indicator of something much more serious, or is it just normal throwing discomfort?” We desperately hope its the later and if we can just ignore it and not make it that big of a deal, maybe it isn’t that big of a deal. So players learn the lesson quickly: Don’t talk about arm pain. If we start talking about it, maybe, just maybe, there is something really wrong. So players are very reluctant to share their arm pain. Who can blame them?

At the Texas Baseball Ranch we START our relationship with our clients by having an open and honest assessment and subsequent dialog about arm pain and discomfort.

Why?

Very simple.

Each and every one of the goals of our pitching clients, their parents and coaches have can ONLY be achieved and sustained via a robust, healthy and durable arm.

Velocity/Throw Harder- Can’t produce velocity or maintain it without a robust, healthy and durable arm.

Command/Throw a Higher % of Strikes- Can’t develop command or sustain it without a robust, healthy and durable arm.

Bounce Back/Recovery/Consistency- Can’t build recovery or preserve it without a robust, healthy and durable arm.

Improved Swing & Miss Stuff/Better Breaking Stuff and Offspeed Stuff/More Strikeouts- Can’t generate it or maintain it without a robust, healthy and durable arm.

Ascend In Levels By Being a Work House Who Always Is Able to Answer the Bell When Called- Can’t move up in levels and stay there without a robust, healthy and durable arm.

Bottom Line: If we are indeed looking to create steady, long term, sustained growth and development, we believe we must always ‘start with the pain’ and then routinely check on it. The reason is quite obvious. An athlete will rarely make significant gains without high levels of health and durability but will never sustain those hard-fought gains without health and durability.

Thousands of young men today are working extremely hard on velocity enhancement. Some of them may even be able to trick their body into some nice velocity gains in the short term. The harsh reality is that without a true foundation of health and physical soundness, those gains are often short-lived and many of them come at an extreme cost. Hundreds of young men go in search of a velocity boost to advance their careers and instead end up needing UCL reconstruction or labrum repair and are out of the game for 9-18 months. A vast majority of these can be avoided.

That in large part is what this series is centered around: Bringing sound, common sense application to the aspiring young baseball player and his family.

In My Next Lesson- ‘The Exact Location of Your Pain Is Valuable Information', I will discuss the specific location of the pain and why that location is exceptionally important. There are four primary locations of pain: Medial Elbow, Anterior Shoulder, Lateral Elbow, Posterior Shoulder. Each location tells us something extremely important about our pain and gives us important clues on how to reduce/eliminate it.

I look forward to continuing our discussion.

Ron Wolforth
CEO- The Texas Baseball Ranch

Coach Wolforth has written 6 books on pitching including the national best seller, Pitching With Confidence. Of the players Wolforth has trained at the Texas Baseball Ranch, 122 have been drafted since 2003, and 458 have broken the 90 mph barrier. He consults with 13 MLB teams and dozens of NCAA programs and has been referred to as 'America's Pitching Coach' by many of the game's top experts. Coach has a son, Garrett, who currently is a catcher in the Cincinnati Reds organization. He lives in Montgomery, Texas with his wife, Jill. They are intimately familiar with youth select and travel baseball and PG events, having recently had a son go up through the process.

If you would like a free copy of Pitching With Confidence go to www.freepitchingbook.com.

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General | General | 2/23/2026

PG Salutes Chet Brewer, a Youth Baseball Pillar

Jim Salisbury

PG Salutes Chet Brewer, a Youth Baseball Pillar A few weeks ago, Perfect Game and its Believe in Baseball foundation held a fundraising event in Los Angeles. The “In the Spirit of the Game” dinner and auction brought in thousands of dollars, all of which will go toward providing deserving youngsters an opportunity to play and grow in the game. Chet Brewer was not at the event – the former Negro Leagues star died at age 83 in 1990 – but his spirit was. Big time. “That night was all about Chet,” PG commissioner Dennis Gilbert said. “He was all about giving kids chances to play the game, especially kids from underprivileged backgrounds. “When you’re 15, 16, 17 years old – those years are the basis of your life. Chet helped put a lot of kids on the right path through the game of baseball.” Brewer’s impactful life has...

Juco | Story | 4/8/2026

JUCO Top 25: April 8

Troy Sutherland

Another week of conference play down and Johnson County continues there tear through the spring of 2026, they retain the top spot with Gaston nipping their heels at number 2 for the third consecutive week. McLennan jumps up to number 3 with a big series sweep over rival Texas powerhouse, Weatherford. Out west, Cochise just keeps rolling in the desert and California looks to be hotly contested all the way down the final stretch. A couple of debut appearances down the board with Harford, CCF, and Linn Benton all earning their spot on our top 25 for the first time in the first week of April. So many great records out there it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out with so many teams vying for seeding and conference championships on this final stretch run. Rank Team Record 1 Johnson County (KS) 38-2 2 Gaston (NC) 38-3 3 McLennan (TX) 29-7 4 Chipola (FL) 34-7 5 Walters State (TN)...

College | Rankings | 4/8/2026

DII/DIII/NAIA Rankings Update: April 8

Nick Herfordt

We are past the midpoint of the college baseball season and the stakes are rising by the week. Conference races are tightening, schedules are getting harder, and the résumés that will matter in the selection room are being written right now — one series at a time. This week's most significant development came in Division II, where North Greenville swept Young Harris in three consecutive one-run games to claim the top spot for the first time this season, knocking Tampa from a perch they've held most of the year. It's a genuine changing of the guard at the top, and it's exactly the kind of shakeup that makes this stretch of the season worth paying close attention to. Across all three divisions the picture is coming into focus. In Division I NAIA, Georgia Gwinnett remains the standard while Taylor and Cumberlands continue to make their cases from behind. In Division III,...

High School | General | 4/7/2026

Iowa Spring League Notes: Week 1

Perfect Game Staff

Brooks Mitchell-Birdsell (2027, Atkins, Iowa) was solid on both sides of the ball this weekend. He was able to show a clean move working into it, with the feel to impact it out in front and drive hard through contact. He had good barrel accuracy with feel to drive the ball well, especially working pull-side. He was 4-for-8 on the weekend with a double to his credit, driving in 7 runs as well. Mitchell-Birdsell also put together a good outing on the mound, delivering 2 innings of scoreless work with 3 punchouts. He worked the low 80s with some run, flashing a mid-70s curveball with good 11-5 shape and depth. Maddux Mueller (2026, Amana, Iowa) LH bat with plenty to like in the batter’s box, and he put together a solid showing this weekend. He finished 2-for-3 with a double, demonstrating both contact ability and the capacity to drive the baseball for extra bases. Mueller...

College | Story | 4/7/2026

College Players of the Week: April 7

Craig Cozart

April 7th Perfect Game/Player of the Week: Andrew Williamson, OF, UCF The UCF Knights (20-9) are coming off one of their biggest series victories in years when they went to Morgantown and took down the Mountaineers to take control of the Big 12 regular season standings. The offense put on quite the performance and Andrew Williamson set the tone by leaving the yard in his first at-bat of the weekend launching a towering home run over the centerfield wall. The 6-0/195 lefty from St. Petersburg, FL has one of the sweetest strokes in the college game today and when he goes, so do the Knights. In the 3-game series, the junior collected 6 hits in his 10 at-bats, scoring 6 runs, on 5 walks, a double and he launched 3 home runs all told. While he had a stretch earlier in the season where he was searching for his stroke a bit, he is getting locked in at the...

College | Rankings | 4/6/2026

College Top 25: April 6

Vincent Cervino

With another week in the books, some teams at the top continue to prove they are elite, and others continue to fall by the wayside. Meanwhile, there were several teams that had been lingering outside the Top 25 that had huge weekends to put themselves in the thick of things as every weekend has significant consequences for good or for bad. The No. 1 UCLA Bruins (29-2) have now pushed their win streak to an incredible 23-games as they swept USC (27-6) who was previously ranked No. 7 in the poll. The Bruins are off to a perfect (15-0) start in Big Ten play and are without a doubt the most complete team in the country right now. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (26-5) move up to No. 2 this week after they dismantled now No. 12 Auburn (22-9) in the midweek and then swept Cal on the West Coast last weekend. Texas (26-5) moves down one spot to No. 3 this week after...

Draft | Mock Draft | 4/3/2026

PG Staff Mock Draft

Jheremy Brown

Welcome to another Perfect Game Mock Draft. This is not your typical mock draft as it features 15 different GMs drafting the first two rounds of the draft. Each member of the mock draft was assigned two teams and as such will be drafting all of the picks in the first two rounds for each responsible team. The actual draft order will be presented below and we will dive into how teams made their selections and how they feel about the players drafted. It is important to note that this is not how we think the draft will play out in almost any capacity. This is simply an exercise 4 months ahead of time with a large portion of the scouting staff and some picks fall under personal favorites, best available, and a multitude of other factors. Chicago White Sox 1:1 Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLA | 1:41 Jack Radel, RHP, Notre Dame The White Sox don’t overthink here and select Roch Cholowsky, who has...

High School | General | 4/2/2026

High School Notebook: April 2

Steve Fiorindo

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High School | General | 4/2/2026

NHSI Scout Notebook

Cam McElwaney

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All American Game | Story | 4/2/2026

All American Classic Heading to Citizens Bank

667 Progress Way | Sanford, FL 32771 | 319-298-2923 www.perfectgame.org | facebook.com/perfectgameusa | @PerfectGameUSA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PERFECT GAME DICK’S ALL-AMERICAN CLASSIC HEADED TO CITIZENS BANK PARK IN 2026 Perfect Game makes debut at iconic Phillies venue during America’s 250th birthday celebration Former Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel named Honorary Chairman of All-American Classic Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Thursday, April 2, 2026) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, today announced that the 2026 Perfect Game DICK’S All-American Classic will be played at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, marking the first time a Perfect Game event has ever been held at the iconic home of the Philadelphia Phillies. The game will take place on...

College | Rankings | 4/1/2026

DII/DIII/NAIA Rankings Update: April 1

Nick Herfordt

Welcome to another week of Perfect Game Small School baseball — and if you're looking for clarity at the top, you've come to the wrong place. Across all three classifications, the No. 1 spot is very much an open question, and nobody is sleeping comfortably right now. In NCAA Division II, Pittsburg State is stumbling at precisely the wrong moment, leaving the door cracked wide open for hungry challengers to come knocking. In the NAIA, defending national champion LSU Shreveport has dropped four straight and suddenly looks far more vulnerable than a program of their pedigree ever expects to be. And in NCAA Division III, the race for the top ranking is less a competition and more a ten-car pileup of elite programs, none of whom have done enough to pull away — and all of whom have done plenty to deserve it. Three classifications, three vacancies at the top, and a whole lot of...

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