When Thanksgiving rolls around, many of our professional baseball players at Cressey Sports Performance will start up their winter throwing programs after a full 10-12 week break from throwing. They’re always a bit rusty in the first week of tossing after the layoff, but every single one of them always “figures it out” in a matter of a few weeks – and still has plenty of time to get in a solid throwing program prior to heading off to spring training. And, because they’ve been working hard in the gym on their strength, mobility, and soft tissue quality, they’re always better off in the end.

Still, there are those who insist that baseball pitchers don’t need time off from throwing.

I couldn’t disagree more.

I’m sure this will rub some folks the wrong way, but I can’t say that I really care, as most of those individuals can’t rationalize their perspectives outside of “guys need to work on stuff.” I, on the other hand, have seven reasons why baseball pitchers need time off from throwing:

1. They need to lose external rotation to gain anterior stability.

Having external rotation – or “lay back” – when is important for throwing hard, and research has demonstrated that simply throwing will increase shoulder external rotation range-of-motion over the course of a season. This does not mean, however, that it’s a good idea to just have someone stretch your shoulder into external rotation, as I wrote previously: Shoulder Mobility Drills: How to Improve External Rotation (if you even need it).

You see, when you externally rotate the humerus (ball) on the glenoid (socket), the humeral head has a tendency to also translate anteriorly (forward). In a well-functioning shoulder girdle, the rotator cuff musculature should prevent anterior instability, and it’s assisted by adequate function of the scapular stabilizers, which offer the dynamic stability to reposition the scapula in the right place to “accommodate” the humeral head’s positioning. For the athletic trainers and physical therapists out there, this is really what you’re testing with an apprehension/relocation test.

The apprehension comes about because of either anterior instability or actual structural pathology (SLAP tear, rotator cuff impingement, or biceps tendinosis). The relocation component is just the clinician posteriorly directing the humeral head to create the stability that should otherwise be created by the rotator cuff and scapular stabilizers.

The take-home message is that while just going on year-round throwing programs in hopes of increasing external rotation seems like a good idea on paper, it’s actually a terrible idea in the context of injury prevention. Pitchers should actually lose a few degrees of external rotation each off-season intentionally, as it affords them an opportunity to improve their stability. This leads us to…

2. They need a chance to get their cuff strength and scapular stability up.

Baseball pitching is the single-fastest motion in all of sports, as the humerus internally rotates at velocities in excess of 7,000°/second. So, it should come as no surprise that at the end of a season, the strength of the rotator cuff and scapular stabilizers is significantly reduced. Having dealt with many of our players for up to five off-seasons now, I have a unique appreciation for how they each respond differently to not only the stress of the season, but also to arm care programs that we initiate at season’s end.

It’s important to remember that improving rotator cuff strength is no different in terms of adaptation than improving a bench press or squat. Adding 10% to a guy’s bench press might take three months in an intermediate population, or 12 months in a high-level lifter! Adaptation of the rotator cuff and scapular stabilizers is comparable. I need every minutes of those three months without throwing to get guys back to at least baseline, and hopefully a bit above it.

Can you imagine if some clown trying to improve his bench press went out and benched an additional 4-5 times a week on top of his regular strength and conditioning program?

His progress would be minimal, at best, and he’d be at a dramatically increased risk of injury. Throwing during a dedicated, appropriate structured early off-season arm care program is no different.

3. They need an opportunity to do dedicated manual resistance rotator cuff exercises.

Ask anyone who has worked with throwers for any length of time, and they’ll always tell you that manual resistance exercises are the single-best option for improving rotator cuff strength. This rotator cuff exercise approach allows you to emphasis eccentric strength better than bands, cables, and dumbbells allow. It also keeps athletes more strict, as the one providing the resistance can ensure that the athlete isn’t just powering through the exercise with scapular stabilizers or lower back.

The only downside to manual resistance rotator cuff exercises, though, is that because they generally prioritize eccentric strength, they will create more soreness. With that in mind, we use them much more in the off-season than in the in-season, as we don’t want a pitcher throwing with added soreness. They’re a great initiative in a comprehensive off-season baseball strength and conditioning program, but guys just don’t seem to like them as much in-season, presumably because both throwing and manual resistance rotator cuff exercises can be too much eccentric stress when combined. As such, we used them a lot during the September-November periods, and then hold back in this area the rest of the year.

Of course, if you throw year-round, then you can forget about getting these benefits, as the last thing you want is to be sore while you’re “working on stuff” in the off-season. That was sarcasm, in case you weren’t picking up on it.

In Part 2, I’ll be back with four more reasons baseball pitchers shouldn’t throw year-round.

In the meantime, to learn more about the management of throwers, I’d encourage you to check out Functional Stability Training of the Upper Body.