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General  | General | 7/29/2021

Wolforth Thrower Mentorship: Article 14

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 14th 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?
Article 6: The Truth About Pitch Counts, Workloads, and Overuse
Article 7: Velocity Appraisal: How 'Hard' Is 'Hard Enough'?
Article 8: Command Appraisal: How 'Accurate' Is 'Accurate Enough'?
Article 9: Swing & Miss Appraisal: How 'Nasty' Is 'Nasty Enough'?
Article 10: 5 Common Mistakes Baseball Players Make In Their Training
Article 11: The Truth About Curveballs, Sliders, and Cutters
Article 12: What is Involved in Deep, Deliberate Practice vs. Traditional Practice
Article 13: The Truth About Long Toss?

 Two of the more endearing aspects of baseball are its quaint traditions and esoteric customs.
 
Historical precedents are often quite difficult to change.
 
Unfortunately, our customs and traditions are occasionally built upon faulty logic, inferential leaps and half-truths.
 
Nowhere in baseball is this more pronounced than in how baseball still conditions its pitchers.
 
‘Poles’ and long distance running as a primary process of conditioning for pitchers is still common in the baseball universe despite clear, indisputable evidence that such work is not conducive to performance and in many cases counterproductive.
 
So, before we critique these flawed processes, let’s start by considering how they became entrenched in the first place.
 
Following is the traditional baseball pitching conditioning narrative.
 
•   Baseball pitchers need to get the lactic acid out of their system after they pitch.
•   Baseball pitchers need to be very fit so their recovery between starts can be accelerated.
•   Baseball pitchers need stamina and endurance to pitch for 7-9 innings each start over the 4-5-6 month season.
•   Baseball pitchers need strong legs for power.
•   Baseball pitchers need mental toughness because, as we all know, fatigue makes cowards of us all.
 
Ergo…The Perfect Answer: Running Poles and Long-Distance Running
 
But what if our presumptions and assumptions are incorrect or flawed? Albert Einstein might have said it best, “Often times, the way we view the problem, is the problem. We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
 
Let’s unpack these one by one.
 
#1. Lactic acid. Shouldn’t pitchers take a good long run to ‘flush the system’ and get rid of the lactic acid created during pitching which causes some of our stiffness and soreness after our outing?
 
One troubling detail: Lactic acid buildup occurs when there’s not enough oxygen in the muscles to break down glucose and glycogen. This is called anaerobic metabolism. It takes a minimum of 30 seconds (more often 1-3 minutes) of continuous intense activity to actually create any significant levels of lactic acid. The problem with this paradigm is the act of pitching a baseball requires less than 2 seconds. Lactic acid therefore cannot be the primary cause of soreness or stiffness for pitchers. Micro trauma to the muscle and connective tissue is instead the primary cause.
 
Therefore, ironically, the only time most pitchers ever get lactic acid in their system is during the flush runs and poles they do to… get rid of the lactic acid.
 
As they say in East Texas… ‘That dog won’t hunt!’  Many pitchers actually report more stiff backs and aching knees from their ‘recovery’ runs than from pitching in the game itself.
 
In our opinion the running poles philosophy needs to be reexamined to make certain the training is adhering to the principles of exercise physiology and kinesiology. At the Texas Baseball Ranch® we never run poles or long distance. Ever.
 
Instead, when we are doing our recovery or conditioning work, we use active flexibility, movements which support full range of motion, activities that do not create additional trauma to soft tissue and most importantly, training protocols which remain inside the ATP/CP energy system which is the same system pitchers perform in during the game itself.
 
#2. Fitness. Fitness is important to recovery and pitcher’s need stamina & endurance to successfully compete.
 
Without question this is true.
 
One critical distinction however: For what specific type of activity are we trying to be ‘fit’ and or develop ‘stamina/endurance’?
 
Fit enough to run a marathon?
 
Fit enough to swim a mile?
 
Fit enough to lead an aerobics class?
 
Fit enough for 4 quarters of basketball or 2 halves of soccer?
 
Fit enough to wrestle, box or fight in the octagon?
 
These activities all require quite different demands and levels of fitness, stamina and endurance.
 
First of all, the great news is that a pitcher can be trained well enough inside of the demands of his energy system to have a level of general fitness that is more than sufficient for optimal recovery.
 
Secondly, the only way we have found that a pitcher can be sufficiently prepared to pitch in a game, is by actually throwing.  
 
Case in point: From 1999 to 2005, Lance Armstrong was one of the most ‘fit’ men in the world, but I sincerely doubt Lance Armstrong could have lasted more than 15 full effort throws at one time. The reason? Endurance and stamina are very skill specific.
 
Certainly, a solid level of cardiovascular fitness and proficiency is both helpful during the activity and for optimal recovery, but after a certain level of fitness is achieved, more is often not helpful…it is simply just more. Our pitchers need to be fit ‘enough’ and that level of fitness can easily be obtained by simple circuit training inside the ATP/CP energy system. 
 
#3. Power. Pitchers need strong legs for power.
 
Indeed, they do.
 
One critical distinction however: Close your eyes and visualize the following elite athletes; First imagine an elite level track sprinter. Let’s say an Usain Bolt, Tyson Gay, Justin Gatlin or Maurice Green. Then imagine an elite long-distance runner. Let’s say elite long-distance runners from Ethiopia and Kenya.
 
What do you see? With which set of athletes do you believe you would like your pitchers to be more closely aligned? Which ones are more powerful?
 
Not a tough choice is it?
 
Clearly running long distance does not give us the type of ‘strength’ in our legs that we need to compete as an elite baseball pitcher.
 
Bottom line. Pitchers do not get the power they need to perform well by running poles or long distance.
 
#4. Mental Toughness.  Pitchers need to be mentally tough.  
 
Developing mental toughness is certainly a worthy endeavor.
 
One critical distinction however: We do not need to use long distance running, which actually is counterproductive to our physical preparation, to develop mental toughness.
 
Bottom line: Utilizing conditioning and recovery to develop mental toughness may be a good strategy in some sports and activities, but we believe it to be very ineffective and counter-productive plan for pitchers.
 
In the next article, I will discuss the activities we should substitute for long distance running and poles for pitchers.
 
Ron Wolforth
CEO - The Texas Baseball Ranch
 
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 467 have broken the 90 mph 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, TX 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.
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General | Blog | 12/10/2025

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Jim Salisbury
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Tournaments | Story | 12/16/2025

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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...
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College | Recruiting | 12/15/2025

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John McAdams
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Tournaments | Story | 12/15/2025

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Vincent Cervino
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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...
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Tournaments | Story | 12/13/2025

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Tyler Russo
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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...
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Tournaments | Story | 12/12/2025

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AJ Denny
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College | Story | 12/12/2025

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Craig Cozart
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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...
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Tournaments | Story | 12/12/2025

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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...
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Softball | Softball Tournament | 12/11/2025

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Dave Durbala
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Tournaments | Story | 12/11/2025

Scout Stories: Part 4

Tyler Henninger
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Scout Notes: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Best Game I Saw: Hudson Reed (‘26, GA) torches this ball to deep CF for a solo 💣. Generates easy power that plays to the big part of the yard. Middle of the order traits #UBCWest @PG_Georgia @PG_Uncommitted pic.twitter.com/UXqDVFmUBx — Perfect Game California (@California_PG) June 18, 2025 I was fortunate enough to see a lot of highly competitive games with loads of talent on the field, the game that sticks out to me the most was Alpha Prime 2026 vs. ZT National Prospects at the UBC West. The game was an efficiently played affair with arms dominating on both sides. Graham Schlicht was masterful for Alpha, striking out 12 hitters over 5 dominant innings. PG All-American Julian Cazares came out of the pen blowing smoke, touching 97 mph with the fastball. On the other side, Jake Carbaugh surrendered just one hit and...
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Press Release | Press Release | 12/11/2025

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Perfect Game Staff
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    667 Progress Way | Sanford, FL 32771 | 319-298-2923 www.perfectgame.org | facebook.com/perfectgameusa | @PerfectGameUSA     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   THE PERFECT GAME BELIEVE IN BASEBALL FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES DETAILS FOR FIRST ANNUAL “IN THE SPIRIT OF THE GAME” AWARDS DINNER AND AUCTION   Los Angeles, California (Thursday, December 11, 2025) – The Perfect Game Believe in Baseball Foundation, together with Perfect Game leadership of Chairman Rick Thurman and CEO Rob Ponger, has announced the inaugural “In the Spirit of the Game” event, an evening of baseball and laughter, taking place Saturday, January 31, 2026, at the iconic Laugh Factory in Hollywood, Calif. The evening supports the Foundation’s mission to provide financial assistance and resources that allow deserving young athletes to play, learn and grow through the...
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