THE WORLD'S LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE SCOUTING ORGANIZATION
| 2,497 MLB PLAYERS | 15,833 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
2,497 MLB PLAYERS | 15,833 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
Sign in Create Account
Sign in Create Account
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.
Give us your feedback
General | Blog | 6/16/2026

Wolforth Throwing Mentorship: Article 66
Ron Wolforth
Article Image
  The Number That Just Killed MLB Expansion: 1,217   USA Today's Bob Nightengale dropped a bomb shell recently that the baseball world is still digesting. Major League Baseball wants to expand to 32 teams. Team executives are quietly opposing it and the reason has nothing to do with cities or money.   They cannot find enough healthy pitchers.   Between 2020 and 2024, professional baseball performed 1,026 Tommy John surgeries at the minor-league level alone. Another 191 at the Major League level. More than twelve hundred elbow reconstructions in five years on the best young pitchers in the world.   That is not bad luck. That is a system reporting a verdict on itself.   For fifteen years, the youth-baseball industry has chased one number: velocity significantly more than projectability and arm care.    Recruiters scout by it.    Social...
Read More
Tournaments | Story | 7/12/2026

14u BCS Scout Notes

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
Austin Way (2030, Yulee, FL) was 2-3 in game four, driving in a run and scoring once himself. Picked it well defensively at shortstop but really showed out in the box today. Works the barrel path to the middle of the field and whips the barrel through the zone. The RHH creates lift in the turn, and the ball jumps off the bat hot.  Sutton Walling (2029, Ponte Vedra, FL) is an athletic 5’11/160lb infielder who gets it done on both sides of the ball. Dominated at the plate right behind his teammate Way in the batting order going 3-3 with two doubles. He does a really good job with the barrel accuracy and works through contact with heavy hands. Lots of project-ability in the profile and is having a sneaky great week at the plate. Banks Kennedy (2030, Arcadia, FL) received it well behind the dish and was the leading force in this one driving in three rbis. He ended up going 2-3...
Read More
Draft | Story | 7/12/2026

2026 MLB Draft: Best Available

Tyler Henninger
Article Image
2026 MLB Draft: Best Available for Day Two  A total of 135 players heard their name called on Saturday. As always, signability, bonus pool strategy, and organizational preferences play a major role in how the board unfolds. With that being said, we saw a majority of the top half off the board get selected, but there are a number of players ranked inside our Top 150 that remain available. From high-upside prep talent to polished college performers, these are the top names still available according to our Final Top 500 Draft Board.  Top Prep Bats Available (with Top-500 Board Rankings) 38. Archer Horn, SS/RHP, St. Ignatius College Prep (CA) 58. Blake Bowen, OF, JSerra Catholic (CA) 64. James Tronstein, SS/OF, Harvard-Westlake (CA) 66. Noah Wilson, OF, McCallie School (TN) 71. Cole Koeninger, SS/RHP, Keller (TX) 77. Sean Dunlap, C, Crown Point (IN) 82. Alex Weingartner, OF//RHP,...
Read More
Tournaments | Story | 7/11/2026

17U National Elite Heads to Hoover

Kinley Kitchens
Article Image
Another week, another big tournament makes its way to Hoover.  This week, 104 of the nation’s top 17U teams will make their way to Hoover for the 2026 Perfect Game 17U National Elite Championship.  Featuring nationally ranked teams, Division I commits, and many of the country’s top 2027 players, the tournament promises another week of elite competition as teams battle for one of the biggest championships of the summer.  With many players already committed to some of the nation’s top college programs, every game in Hoover this week offers a glimpse into the future of college baseball.  Now entering its eighth year, the National Elite Championship continues to bring in the nation’s best. Past champions include Team Elite Scout Team, Canes National, USA Prime National, Scorpions/Giants Scout Team, 5 Star Performance National, Knights Knation Scout...
Read More
Draft | Story | 7/12/2026

2026 MLB Draft: Day One Recap

Tyler Henninger
Article Image
Storylines Heavy College Run Early We came into the day knowing that there were a lot of talented college players at the top of the board, more specifically college bats. That came to light very early in the day, as we saw just two prep players selected within the first ten picks. The college preference lasted throughout most of the entire first round. Nearly 75% of the first 40 selections were college players. It is clear teams want players at the top of the draft that can quickly get through the system and help the big league club as soon as possible. Underslot Strategy Throughout this cycle, we knew that once you get past the first handful of picks the difference in value you were getting for let say pick ten was not that difference compared to pick 30. Because there was a large collection of players that are relatively close in value, teams were looking to get creative. We saw this...
Read More
Draft | Mock Draft | 7/11/2026

Final 2026 MLB Mock Draft

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
It's draft day and that means it's time for our final Mock Draft with the 2026 group. 1. Chicago White Sox | Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLA It’s between Roch and Grady Emerson at this pick, though there have been heavy rumors of a very late deal potentially with another top 5 pick. This boils down to negotiations and we think that they will get there.  2. Tampa Bay Rays | Grady Emerson, SS, Fort Worth Christian (Tex.) If Grady isn’t the first pick then he is almost certain to be the second pick. The Rays like to get creative but Emerson is a well worth prospect in his own right.  3.  Minnesota Twins | Vahn Lackey, C, Georgia Tech This is likely the floor for Roch Cholowsky, though the Twins might prefer Lackey to Roch outright. They are thought to be in on the top college players with Emerson a distant third.  4. San Francisco Giants | Jackson Flora, RHP, UC...
Read More
Tournaments | Story | 7/10/2026

Ohio Valley Regional Scout Notes

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
‘28 INF Christian Ramirez (OH) WALKS IT OFF for @CincyDBulls2028 to win the chip! Has shown impressive tools throughout the weekend and in this AB showed the ability to adjust to the offspeed and win the game. #OVElite pic.twitter.com/J3MXJXFnbM — Perfect Game Ohio Valley (@PG_OhioValley) July 5, 2026 Christian Ramirez (2028, Mason, Ohio) helped his team win the championship batting out of the two-hole. Though he didn’t win tournament MVP, Ramirez was my favorite player to watch take a plate appearance. He has an advanced feel for the zone and sees the ball out of the pitcher’s hand quicker than most. Ramirez led the tournament with eight walks, batting .375 with a .583 on-base percentage. Much more than just the approach, the swing is efficient with little wasted movement, creates quality separation, and puts him in an excellent position at contact. With such an...
Read More
College | Story | 7/10/2026

Cape Cod Notebook No. 1

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
Cape Cod League Scouting Notebook  Maverick Rizy | Ole Miss | RHP | Brewster Whitecaps  The towering 6-foot-9, 250-pound right-hander continues to stand out with one of the more unique looks on the Cape, pairing a massive frame with a low three-quarter slot that creates difficult angles for hitters. While his fastball velocity was down from its typical mid-90s range during this look, working mostly 90-92 mph, it still generated plenty of swing-and-miss. He paired the heater with an 81-83 mph gyro slider featuring tight bullet-spin action and mixed in an 85-mph changeup with quality separation. Rizy battled his command early in the outing I saw, before settling in to strike out five over three innings, showing the ability to adjust as the game progressed. Through 12.2 Cape League innings, he has recorded 18 strikeouts, and his combination of size, deception, and projectability...
Read More
Tournaments | Story | 7/10/2026

16u WWBA Scout Notes: Day 4

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
16u WWBA Scout Notes: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 ‘28 C Nico Ayars (FL) coming off a monster game yesterday & comes up with the biggest swing of this one. A triple right down the LF line to drive in two. Came into today hitting .833 this week. #WWBA @PG_Uncommitted @Florida_PG pic.twitter.com/Hvb7UvtkNi — Perfect Game Scout (@PG_Scouting) July 8, 2026 Nico Ayars (2028, Fort Myers, Fla.) has just been on the barrel throughout the week so far, collecting six hits across the first four games of the tournament. That didn’t slow down on day three at Mt. Zion High School as he came up with the biggest swing of the day, hitting a triple down the left field line to drive in a pair. It’s been a standout week so far for Ayars and he’ll be a driving force behind the run through the tourney for CBU 2028 Scout Team Lawson. Rylan Jenkins (2028, Tennille, Ga.) put...
Read More
Tournaments | Story | 7/10/2026

14u & 17u West Scout Notes: Days 1-2

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
Tre Hallberg (‘27, AZ) hammers this out to deep LCF for a 2-run 💣. Continues to stand out at the plate. Power will only continue to develop #WWBAWest @PG_Uncommitted https://t.co/NlWlDygpwg pic.twitter.com/RHrgYXLmwm — Perfect Game Four Corners (@PG_FourCorners) July 10, 2026 Tre Hallberg (2027, Mesa, Ariz.) was nearly impossible to get out over the first two days of action, going 7-for-9 with a triple and a home run. A balanced right-handed swing stays compact to contact. There is quick hand speed through the zone with feel for the barrel. Hallberg has a strong feel to hit to go with power that continues to develop. The upside is apparent.  William Garcia Falmer (2027, El Dorado Hills, Calif.) collected a pair of mulit-hit games over the course of day one and two, going 5-for-7 with two doubles, a homer, and seven runs driven in. Garcia Falmer features a physical build...
Read More
Tournaments | Story | 7/10/2026

Windy City Invite & Open Scout Notes: Part 2

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
Windy City Invite & Open Scout Notes: Part 1 Braedon Paczocha (2028, Palmyra, Wis.), a 5-foot-11, 180-pound frame catcher for GRB STiKS 16U Black, displayed a quick bat with the ability to do damage. Showed a good feel for the barrel throughout the weekend, hitting .538 (7-for-13) with 3 doubles, 8 RBI, 2 stolen bases, and a 1.376 OPS. Also received well behind the plate with quick, efficient transfers and displayed good instincts.    ’28 1B Brock Hamilton (IL) displays some present strength, driving this ball deep into the LCF gap to leg out a triple. Creates loud contact off the bat and does damage here. #WCInvite @WhitesoxAce pic.twitter.com/6EK81gG9Wi — Perfect Game Illinois (@PG_Illinois) July 5, 2026 Brock Hamilton (2028, Flossmoor, Ill.), one of the top first basemen in Illinois, brings a physical 6-foot-5, 240-pound frame with plenty of present strength...
Read More
Loading more articles...
About Perfect Game :: Contact us :: Terms of Use :: Privacy Policy :: Testimonials :: Job Opportunities
Copyright 1994-2026 by Perfect Game. All rights reserved. No portion of this information may be reprinted or reproduced without the written consent of Perfect Game.