suddenly throwing off target

Question
My 18 year old son has played baseball all his life.  He played 3 years of varsity for his high school team and is currently practicing for his first year of college ball.  He is a pitcher.  Suddenly he is throwing off target during "warm ups" but can still find the plate when pitching.  He seems upset because he is throwing it apparently everywhere but to the person during warmups--like he cannot even play catch.  He has recently bulked up considerably (he also plays football) and has gained 25# at least, all muscle and most in his chest.  I feel his center of gravity has shifted and what was his natural normal throw is off because of it.  He thinks I am just making an excuse but all I'm saying is that he may need to throw repeatedly until he once again perfects his balance.  Could I be right?

Answer
Hi Jennifer,

Sounds like your son is quite the athlete.  Playing 2 sports in college is no simple feat.  With this said, it is true a number of athletes have experienced a loss of flexibility when bulking up.  You can probably most easily see this in college football players who will put on 20 to 30 pounds and end up lose some speed in their 40 time and/or some side to side running agility.  In this case, your son very well could be losing some flexibility in his throwing motion.  The best way to combat this would be for him to continue practicing his throwing motion and incorporate more stretching exercises into his workout routine.  This should help him develop better muscle memory in his throwing motion and get back some of the flexibility he may have lost.  Also, he could consider adjusting his workout routine to more of a baseball workout routine which keys more on developing the triceps rather than the chest.  However, I imagine this may be at odds with his football goals so there may be a bit of a trade off decision to be made here.  

Another thing he could consider to help pinpoint the problem is to videotape his pitching and warmup throws to see if there is something he is doing differently in each.  It could be that he has created a hitch in his throwing motion for warm ups.  

Also, there may be a mental block issue here.  Sometimes baseball players will develop a "throwing problem" because they are pressing and starting to aim the ball rather than allow their natural muscle memory to take control.  This scenario occurs because they make a bad throw and then start to press and make another bad throw and then they press even more causing a snow ball effect.  If this is the case here, the best thing he can do is to try to find ways to reduce any stress or pressure he is putting on himself and let any bad throws leave his mind and move onto the next throw.  As a pitcher, he can use the same mental visualization exercises that allow him to bear down while pitching or to overcome an error in the field.

Regardless, of the cause of this problem, the good news is he does not appear to be showing this while he is pitching which means he is able to buckle down when it counts.  Try going over the above ideas with him to see what he thinks may be the cause.  If he keeps after it, I think this problem will naturally work itself out.

Hope this helps,
Jack Elliott
http://www.baseballtrainingtechniques.com