THE WORLD'S LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE SCOUTING ORGANIZATION
| 2,384 MLB PLAYERS | 15,801 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
2,384 MLB PLAYERS | 15,801 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
Create Account
Sign in Create Account
General  | General | 5/6/2021

Wolforth Thrower Mentorship: Article 6

Jerry Ford
Ron Wolforth
Photo: Johnny Tergo/Truth Baseball
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 sixth 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

. . .

Article 1: Where the Sidewalk Terminates
Article 2: The Exact Location of Your Arm Pain is Incredibly Valuable Information
Article 3: No Pain, No Problem...Right? Not Quite So Fast.
Article 4: The Secret to Accelerated Skill Development: Hyper-Personalization
Article 5: The Case Against Weighted Balls?

 In the past 15 years or so, pitch counts have become all the rage. In my personal opinion, pitch counts have become a double-edge sword. While pitch counts certainly can be of value as an objective measure of pitcher volume and workload, they do often require context.

A dear personal friend of mine of more than 20 years, Brent Strom is the major league pitching coach for the Houston Astros. Prior to that, Brent was the Minor League Pitching Coordinator for the Montreal Expos, Washington Nationals and St. Louis Cardinals. In that role he was constantly scouring through reports trying to decide, among other things, if he had assigned the appropriate workload for his minor league pitchers throughout his organization.

His approach is a textbook case of how to utilize pitch counts effectively. The amateur coach can learn a lot by studying and following Strommy’s approach to whatever degree he can. Brent considered a myriad of variables such as age and experience of the pitcher, arm health history, mechanical efficiency, weather, point in the season, pitch counts of the previous three starts, mental/emotional state, stressfulness/intensity of the game (ie. was it close or a blowout), etc.

Most in the amateur baseball universe fail to look at pitch counts from this rather wide and deep perspective and I believe this often leads to blind spots and precarious inferential leaps. In other words, too many parents and coaches are making important decisions without some very critical information.

Yes, I do realize many reading this might react, “Well that’s Brent Strom and professional baseball. We do not have his resources or the time to do such a deep dive.” I hear you. I really do. But some of those variables are well within the amateur coach’s ability to include in his decision-making process. It’s what I refer to as adding ‘context’ to the pitch count.

Let me give you an example of what I mean:

Let’s say we have two identical twin 16-year-old pitchers. For the sake of the analogy, let us say that in every other way and in every before-mentioned variable they are exactly the same: Same years of experience; Exact same ramp up to competition; Exact same history of arm health and mechanical efficiency. Etc. Etc.

In this weekend’s games, Twin A threw 110 pitches. Twin B threw 55 pitches.

Which twin had the more stressful workload?

This is what I mean by context. If I told you nothing else, if those numbers were all you had to make your decision by, a vast majority of people would respond in this general fashion:

“Twin A had quite a workload. Better watch him carefully. Twin B is pretty safe. 55 pitches are much more reasonable. So, in reality, Twin A actually had twice the workload as Twin B.”

But what if I added this context:

Twin A threw a complete seven inning game. Twin B threw one inning.

Does that change your view of the two workloads? You bet your sweet bippie it does!

Twin A averaged 15.7 pitches per inning. Twin B averaged 55 pitches.

If all other variables are equal, which Twin was at greatest risk of injury? Unquestionably Twin B.

Still skeptical of my call for context? Let me take it out of the pitching realm for one movement.

Offering a Non-baseball Analogy to Help Drive Home My Point

Two young men very equal in ability and training are tasked to perform 105 ‘perfect’ sit ups.

Young man #1 performs 15 perfect sit-ups then rests 20 minutes. He repeats the process 7 times.

Young man #2 does 105 perfect sit-ups all at once without stopping.

Therefore, they both perform 105 sit-ups for that day.

Immediately after their 105th sit-up was completed, I ask each one how difficult the task was.
I suggest we would get significantly different responses. The tasks are simply not equal although the total number of sit-ups were equal. This is what I mean by ‘context’.

Now let’s return to our twin pitcher example.

Imagine if I now significantly alter the other variables such as experience, ramp-up/preparation prior to competition, weather; point in the season, history of arm health, pitch counts of the previous three starts, mental/emotional state, stressfulness/intensity of the game and mechanical efficiency?

Are you starting to feel that simple pitch count isn’t enough information for you?

Good. That’s a good place to be in my opinion: Open and constantly searching for additional context.

So the next time someone tries to throw around plastic and rigid terms such as ‘pitch counts’ and ‘overuse’ and uses them as an arrogant battering ram to make some kind of cogent point, you can honestly counter: “Pitch counts can certainly be helpful and ‘overuse’ is indeed a real thing, but unless we deal with these through the prism of each individual athlete and look a little deeper, putting his specific workload in context, we will be at great risk of over-reacting on some athletes and under-reacting on others. I just don’t want to do that, and I don’t think you do either.”

At the very least it will be fun to see the reaction.

Until next time,

Stay curious and keep fighting the good fight

Coach Wolforth
CEO - The Texas Baseball Ranch®

P.S. The term “overuse” is quite frankly, in my opinion, overused. I obviously look at things from a completely different viewpoint than most medical professionals. I see most injuries not so much as overuse as I do a case of athletes being under-prepared for the specific stress they encounter at game time.

Coach Wolforth's Specific Recommendations:

  • Pitch count is a valid method of assessing and tracking workloads. Just because pitch counts are often over-simplified and/or misapplied by the general baseball culture doesn’t mean they DON’T have merit. Pitch count as a general tool for monitoring workload is absolutely fine. It’s the over-generalized way it is typically utilized with which I have an issue.

  • “Pitches per inning” is a more important measurement of workload in my view, as innings exceeding 25 pitches are for more stressful than innings using less that 15 pitches. In essence, the total pitch count is less important than the way you get there. Spacing 120 pitches over 9 innings is a far less stressful day than 80 pitches over 3 innings.

  • My advice is to pay attention to both total pitch count and pitch count per inning. Start the preseason with a low pitch count of 30 pitches in your athlete’s first outing and incrementally increase that workload over time – based upon how the athlete responds and feels.

  • Pitch count per inning should always be watched carefully and a vast majority of pitchers should never extend their night further after one inning of 35, two innings of 30 or three innings of 25.

  • Personally, I reject the common perspective of “overuse”. Instead, I believe injury occurs when the specific demands, intensity and/or duration exceed the amount of preparation. Most athletes are underprepared and not overused.


    • Coach Wolforth has written six books on pitching including the Amazon Best Seller, Pitching with Confidence.  Since 2003, 122 of the players Wolforth has trained have been drafted and 458 have broken the 90mph barrier.  He has consulted with 13 MLB teams, dozens of NCAA programs and has been referred to as “America’s Go-to-Guy on Pitching” and “The Pitching Coaches Pitching Coach”.  Coach Wolforth lives in Montgomery, Texas with his wife, Jill.  They are intimately familiar with youth select, travel baseball and PG events as their son Garrett (now a catcher in the Cincinnati Reds organization) went through the process.  Garrett still holds the PG Underclass All-American Games record for catcher velocity at 89mph which he set in 2014 at the age of 16.

    If you would like a free copy of Pitching with Confidence, go to freepitchingbook.com.
    Give us your feedback
    General | Blog | 12/10/2025

    Youth Baseball Exec. DeDonatis III Joins PG
    Jim Salisbury
    Article Image
    Youth Baseball Executive Don DeDonatis III Joins PG By Jim Salisbury  It’s free-agent season in baseball and Perfect Game has landed a big one. Don DeDonatis III joined PG as a consultant in November. The DeDonatis name is synonymous with youth baseball and softball. Along with his dad, Don Jr., DeDonatis helped build USSSA into a big hitter in the game. He brings decades of experience and knowledge to PG. “We all acknowledge that Donny has moved on from USSSA,” PG CEO Rob Ponger said. “This is a new chapter for him and we hope both sides take advantage of it to help youth sports in general. “The DeDonatis name has a legacy attached to it and we’re hoping that Donny is going to help us. PG is a growing brand and he’s on board to help.” DeDonatis was CEO at USSSA from 2018 until his exit from the company two years ago. “I’m...
    Read More
    Tournaments | Story | 12/18/2025

    14u Tourney All-American Team

    Tyler Russo
    Article Image
    Player of the Year: Asher Williams It was an incredible year for Williams that was rewarded with a trip to the 14U Select Fest, before some more impressive play in the fall. He came to the plate almost 250 times in PG tournaments throughout 2025 and reached base in well over half of them, hitting to a .500 AVG while slugging a 14U circuit best 12 bombs and driving in 113 runs. The numbers on the surface are ridiculous, but when you look at the high-level events he put them up in, it makes it even more impressive. Pitcher of the Year: Tristan Blalock Blalock earns this honor after a dominant 2025 where he struck out 85 batters in just 48.2 innings of work with a minuscule 1.58 ERA. This included several strong performances at many national level tournaments and showcases where he was able to bully some of the best hitters in the country. It’s hard not to fall in love with...
    Read More
    Draft | Story | 12/18/2025

    PG Draft: Gut Feel Guys

    Tyler Henninger
    Article Image
    While we are nearing the turn of the calendar to the 2026 year, that means we are just inching closer to the beginning of the season for many high school players and college baseball is on the horizon. We are prepping for a reshuffle of the 2026 MLB Draft Board as well here amongst the PG Draft staff. But before we get to that, we sat down and have each picked a couple of players who are in the mix to get selected in a couple of different buckets.  We have prospects who could go into the Top 30 picks or so, prospects who could be selected in the Top 5 rounds, and prospects who could go inside of the Top 10 rounds. With the draft quite far down the road and a lot of re-shuffling to be done as these players play themselves into certain spots on the draft board, our scouts picked some players who fit into these “buckets” who are gut-feel guys. These are the guys that our PG...
    Read More
    Tournaments | Story | 12/17/2025

    15u Tourney All-American Team

    Jason Phillips
    Article Image
    Hitter of the Year: Landon Bonner The 2028 class saw many players from across the country take the next step in their development as they entered the High School ranks. There were huge performances from highly ranked players on the PG circuit as well as some under-the-radar guys who burst onto the scene. Landon Bonner came into Sophomore National as a Top 500 ranked player and after an impressive showing, left with all eyes on him as a rankings riser in the class. The left-handed hitting shortstop from The Colony, Texas, had a summer to remember with All-Tournament Team selections in three of his next four events culminating with a historic performance at the 2025 PG 15U WWBA National Championship. The Hebron High School prep went 20-for-24 in nine games for 5 Star Mafia 15U Black with four homeruns and 12 runs batted in. He also scored 17 runs and finished with a mind-boggling 2.500...
    Read More
    Tournaments | Story | 12/16/2025

    16u Tourney All-American Team

    AJ Denny
    Article Image
    Hitter of the Year: Koa Romero is the Hitter of the Year for the 16u group, as he would come to every premier event of the summer and earn All-Tournament honors (Beast of the East, 16/17u WWBA, Jupiter) in every single one. Over 82 plate appearances, Romero would pump ten homeruns with forty two RBI and sixteen walks, good for a .378 average and 1.339 OPS. The performance on volume at the best events of the year pushed Romero over the edge here, as he’d hit a pair of homeruns in Jupiter (one of them at 112 EV) as an underclassmen and collect double digit hits in BOTH WWBA events with a combined six jacks over the two tournaments. It was a summer that combined performance and winning on the biggest stages for Romero. It’s a quiet left-handed swing that packs a punch. He would reap the benefits of his performances, earning a commitment to LSU and jumping to the #74 prospect in...
    Read More
    College | Recruiting | 12/15/2025

    Recruiting Notebook: December 15

    John McAdams
    Article Image
    Tucker Rice (27 MS) bumping up to 91; living hi-80s from real fast arm. Good SL @ 77-79 w/ depth & sold w/ intent. Loads of traits & strikes. #WWBA @PG_Uncommitted @PG_DeepSouth pic.twitter.com/DEjFqRcsIY — Perfect Game Scout (@PG_Scouting) July 6, 2025 Tucker Rice, RHP, Class of 2027 Commitment: Alabama Alabama has continued to stay red hot in the recruiting trail ever since August 1st rolled around on the calendar and have continued to stack major pieces in their ’27 class. They dip into Mississippi to land one of the premier arms and one that’s stood out on the circuit for quite some time. It’s a fast arm and the athleticism certainly shines working down the slope. The velocity has continued to tick up over the last calendar year and reached into the low-90s towards the end of the summer. He’s confident in his changeup and the breaking ball is...
    Read More
    Tournaments | Story | 12/15/2025

    17u Tourney All-American Team

    Vincent Cervino
    Article Image
    There’s a lot of talent throughout this 2026 class, filled with the big-name stars, to talent that spreads across the nation. It’s been a lot of fun seeing these prospects grow and develop over the years, from the days of watching some of these guys at the 13/14u days at events on the circuit, to now where they are all graduating seniors in 2026. There’s been new faces who have popped along the way over the years, even in 2026, where some players who were relatively undiscovered, have come out and made a name for themselves with a statement performance. Between the familiar and the new, there’s a lot of names on this list that are going to be quite regularly talked about on the circuit, and for good reason.  Whether it’s PG All-Americans or not, there’s a lot of names with superstar potential at the next level. We’ve got 14 PG All-Americans...
    Read More
    Tournaments | Story | 12/13/2025

    Finest in the Field: Class of 2029

    Tyler Russo
    Article Image
    Finest in the Field: Class of 2026 | Class of 2027 | Class of 2028 These guys might just be entering high school, but they've certainly already made a name for themselves on the national circuit, especially with their abilities on the defensive side of things.  C: Xavier Rodriguez (Logansville, GA) Rodriguez is a polished defender with real arm strength behind the dish, while showcasing the ability to impact the baseball with authority to all fields evident by thirty of his sixty-five hits going for extra-bases including seven bombs. He handles high-level pitching extremely well, commands his staff and his offensive prowess makes him a true two-way asset. 1B: Cooper Knight (Buda, TX) Knight is a smooth operator at first base with plenty of range, fluidity and agility in his footwork around the bag. Add-in a rocket for an arm, the ability to change slots and to...
    Read More
    Tournaments | Story | 12/12/2025

    Scout Stories: Part 5

    AJ Denny
    Article Image
    Best Game I Saw: The Dream NTL 18U vs. MBA Scout Team Murphy Jupiter always brings out the best, and we got fireworks from the jump. Turner Marshall gave The Dream an outstanding 4+ innings of work on the mound, holding a lethal MBA team at bay with Chance Dixon, Derrick Carter, and Ellis Appling providing an offensive spark out of the gate for the Georgia based boys. However, it was only a matter of time before the talent on the other side got going, as MBA erased a 3-run deficit in the 5th to take a 4-3 lead led by a Parker Loew HR. The Dream then took command again in the Top of the 6th, before MBA punched right back with a huge 5-run inning in the bottom half capped off by a clutch RBI single from Matthew Kerrigan, ending a wild sequence with tons of notable performances from two very competitive rosters. Best Tournament Performance I Saw: Surely someone has already brought this...
    Read More
    College | Story | 12/12/2025

    College Notebook: December 12

    Craig Cozart
    Article Image
    Nebraska Cornhuskers 2025 Highlights: The Cornhuskers were a difficult team to figure in ’25 as they finished with 33 wins, played just .500 (15-15) in the Big Ten but had some big wins at various times during the season and got hot at the right time. They knocked off then #16 Vanderbilt in the second game of the year, beat #5 Oregon State 2-out-of-3 at home in late March and then got hot at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha to win the Big Ten Tournament. They beat Michigan State in a 10-inning thriller before taking care of #4 Oregon, knocking off Penn State and then shutout #13 UCLA to punch their ticket to the Chapel Hill Regional. Head coach Will Bolt has now led his alma mater to three conference titles and three NCAA Regional appearances during his six years in Lincoln. No different than when he was a player, Bolt’s teams play with passion and toughness, this was never more...
    Read More
    Tournaments | Story | 12/12/2025

    Finest in the Field: Class of 2028

    Troy Sutherland
    Article Image
    Finest in the Field: Class of 2026 | Class of 2027 You like athletes? You like defenders who can impact a game at any given point? Look not further than this class as it's loaded from coast-to-coast with elite defenders all over the diamond.  C: Brogan Witcher, Bakersfield, CA Our scouting staff got several strong looks at Witcher whether that was at the Summer Kickoff, Sophomore National or the Underclass All American Games where he showcased his strong overall skillset and especially his advanced ability behind the plate. His 6-foot-3,180 pound build looks like one that will fill in quite nicely and be that big and physical catcher’s frame. His arm talent is undeniable where he gets it out quick and runs it up to 79 mph on throwdowns to 2nd (1.84 pop). Besides the standout catch/throw ability, we’ve seen him frame/receive strong arms and block it well during...
    Read More
    Loading more articles...
    About Perfect Game :: Contact us :: Terms of Use :: Privacy Policy :: Testimonials :: Job Opportunities
    Copyright 1994-2025 by Perfect Game. All rights reserved. No portion of this information may be reprinted or reproduced without the written consent of Perfect Game.