The 6-Month Stall:  

What Parents Need to Know 

I've been having a lot of conversations lately with parents whose sons are in that 13-18 age range, and I'm hearing a familiar refrain: "Coach Ron, he's been working so hard, but the velocity isn't budging." Or "We were seeing great gains, and now everything's stalled." Sometimes it's accompanied by real worry: "Is something wrong? Should we be doing something different?" 

Let me start by saying this: if you're in this place right now, you're in good company. And more importantly, what you're experiencing is not just normal…it's inevitable. 

Every Elite Pitcher Has Been Here
 

I've been doing this for over three decades, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that every single pitcher who has ever developed into something special has gone through multiple plateaus. Not some. Not most. Every single one. Including my own son.
 

Think about how your son grew physically. Remember those years where he seemed to stay the same height forever, then suddenly shot up three inches in a summer? Development in pitching follows similar patterns. We don't grow in nice, linear progressions. We grow in spurts and pauses, in leaps and consolidations.
 

But here's where it gets tricky as a parent. When your son was 8 and stopped growing taller for six months, you didn't panic. You didn't switch pediatricians or try a new diet every month. You understood that physical growth has its own timeline. Yet when it comes to velocity or pitching development, we often lose that same patience and perspective.
 

The Two Dangerous Responses
 

The danger isn't the plateau itself. The danger is how we respond to it. 

Some parents go into denial mode. "He's fine, he just needs to keep doing what he's doing." They ignore the signs that something needs adjusting, maybe increasing fatigue, maybe mechanical drift, maybe just staleness from doing the same thing too long. This is like continuing to water a plant that's actually drowning. Sometimes love means making changes, not staying the course.
 

Others panic and start program-hopping. They hear about some kid across town or on a social media post who gained 5 mph doing a certain drill, and suddenly that becomes the answer. Next month it's a different program. The month after that, another one. I call this "chasing the hot program of the month," and it's one of the most destructive patterns I see.
 

Plateaus Are Your Development GPS
 

Here's what both responses miss: plateaus are information. They're your son's development telling you something important. Maybe his body has adapted to the current stimulus and needs a new challenge or stimulus. Maybe he's actually consolidating gains…getting comfortable at a new level before the next jump. Maybe there's a mobility restriction that wasn't limiting him at 78 mph but is now at 83. Maybe his strength has outpaced his coordination, or vice versa.
 

The key is to stay curious without becoming reactive. To observe without panicking. To adjust without abandoning everything that got you here.
 

One of the biggest traps I see parents fall into during plateaus is the comparison game. "Jimmy down the street is throwing 87 now, and he's the same age as my son." Let me be really clear about this: Jimmy's development timeline has absolutely nothing to do with your son's. Nothing. I've seen kids who threw 75 as sophomores throwing 95 as seniors. I've seen kids who threw 83 as freshmen and throwing 85 as seniors.
 

Comparing development timelines is like comparing when kids learn to read. Some are reading chapter books at 5. Others don't really click until 8 or 9. By high school, you can't tell who learned when. The same is true in baseball development, but we forget this because the measurements are so visible and the social pressure is so intense.
 

Your Strategic Response Plan
 

So what should you do when you hit a plateau? First, take a breath. This is not an emergency. Your son is not falling behind. He's not broken. He's in a normal phase of development that requires thoughtful response, not panic.
 

Second, get curious about the real state of things. Not just the radar gun reading, but the whole picture: 

It will come. It always does for those who stay curious, stay committed, and stay on course.
 

Keep the faith, 

Coach Ron Wolforth  

Texas Baseball Ranch® 

Coach Ron Wolforth is the founder of The Texas Baseball Ranch® and has authored six books on pitching, including the Amazon Best Seller Pitching with Confidence. Since 2003, The Texas Baseball Ranch® has had 141 of their players drafted, and 651 have broken the 90 mph barrier. Coach Wolforth has consulted with 13 MLB teams, numerous NCAA programs, and is often referred to as “America’s Go-To Guy on Pitching.” 

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 professional player) went through the process. Garrett, a former catcher in the Cincinnati Reds and Houston Astros organizations, still holds the PG Underclass All-American Games record for catcher velocity at 89mph which he set in 2014 at the age of 16. 

- - - - - - -  

Coach Wolforth will be hosting a special 90 minute webinar - "The Velocity Code: 3 Secrets to Improving Velocity and Staying Healthy" Thursday at 7pm CST. To sign up for the webinar, use the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DoAP-k5zQkmFXaqqt_md_Q#/registration 

Fall/Winter Events at the Texas Baseball Ranch® 

Join our 3-Day “Elite Pitcher’s Boot Camps” designed for pitchers ages 12 and above. These events are the gold standard in the baseball industry and are held every month from September-February. For additional details and dates, visit: 

 https://www.texasbaseballranch.com/elite-pitchers-bootcamp/ 

Interested in learning what sets our boot camps apart? Request our comprehensive information package “What Makes This Bootcamp Different?" by emailing Jill@TexasBaseballRanch.com 

Free Book Offer: Want a free copy of Coach Wolforth’s book, Pitching with Confidence?  

Visit: www.freepitchingbook.com. 

From the Greater Houston area?  Join us for our Fall/Winter classes or private training.   

For more information, email: info@TexasBaseballRanch.com or call (936)588-6762.