I coach kids of all ages to be their own GOAT. Caught Hank Aaron’s 715th. Founder: @TeamMSTRD @NPA_Pitching @train3DQB Email: tomhouse@nationalpitching.com
Southern California
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1/ A Thread of Throwing Threads
My goal is to help as many people as possible learn great throwing mechanics! In these threads I share important pieces on throwing, coaching, the mental game and some personal stories.
Here are all the threads I’ve written in one place 👇
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Throwing a ball from shortstop at 100.5MPH is disgusting and unnecessary. It’s just getting 1 out. Literally nobody cares that he threw it fast. That’s why I’ve taken the last hour to comment on every post about it I’ve seen on the internet to say how much I don’t care!
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The travel ball industry is optimized for people to make a living, not for developing players.
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I cannot tell you how meaningless it is to be good at a sport before puberty.
Do not compare. Do not care.
Just learn to love the game.
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We ask Little Leaguers to throw the same 5oz baseballs as MLB players.
I believe this should change.
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I’ve worked with the greatest athletes of all-time. They all had haters. Amount they cared? Zero.
The GOATs care about one thing: getting better. They only compare themselves to themselves.
Be the best you. Be a fan of yourself. That’s all that matters.
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Remember when Bryce Harper debuted and he sprinted everything out, ran through walls and played crazy hard?
Then people said he was being disrespectful by hustling too much and showing people up.
You will never be able to make everyone happy. Play your game.
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The baseball world has tracked every Bryce Harper swing since he was 16 years old.
It’s really a powerful moment to hear “THE SWING OF HIS LIFE.”
This line resonates so much because it has deep history and meaning for Bryce and the baseball audience.
FOX Sports: MLB
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The transfer portal is so horrible for college sports. Kids these days need to understand that America was built on committing to billion dollar institutions before 18 years old and sticking to it no matter what, especially when the power dynamics are perfectly balanced.
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Real baseball fans would rather have a baseball game go 18 innings and 6 hours long instead of speeding up the pace of play by one iota.
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We need to make it okay to be bad at baseball until you’re 14 or 15 years old. So many quit because their coaches give up on them at far too young of ages.
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Clayton Kershaw getting pulled from a perfect game through 7 innings is ultimately good for the game of youth baseball.
How many youth coaches and families just saw a big league team put a pitcher’s health, arm care and pitch count above all else? I think it’s a good thing.
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I believe college baseball games are where youth athletes can learn the most about baseball. Take your kids to more college games. Have them watch the full BP, warmup bullpen and game. Explain these athletes are doing this plus school. It’ll be invaluable experience!
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Waiting for the day a NCAA baseball player opts out of the draft to play a 4th year because they’re making millions from NIL.
It’ll happen.
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I strongly suggest throwing your slider 94mph. It does wonders.
Can’t believe I’m giving these tips away for free
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The day when a pitcher throws too hard to pitch to his dad in the yard is exciting and heartbreaking.
It’s a real sign that you’re growing up!
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1/ Hank Aaron changed my life. The greatest moment I ever got to be a part of was catching 715. That moment bonded us forever as friends and teammates. My heart hurts today to learn of his passing. We watched Hank shrug off the weight of the world and just keep swinging.
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I never threw harder than 83 mph or played in the NFL.
If I listened to people who say “You can’t coach it unless you’ve done it”, I wouldn’t have a career.
Experience is helpful, but never discount curiosity applied over great periods of time!
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Good morning to everyone except the people who think you need to have played professionally to coach or have an opinion on the game.
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Every baseball player in the world needs to watch this. This is the level of detail that elite baseball players are looking at to get an edge on pitchers. These are the details that can make a huge difference in a game, season and career.
Be addicted to the details.
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Just Throw Strikes Unless They Are Hitting Strikes Then Throw Balls That Look Like Strikes And Strikes That Look Like Balls If That Doesn’t Work Then Remember That Pitching Is Really Hard And You’ll Get Em Next Time.
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When you step on the mound, you need to be able to tell yourself you’re the best and believe it.
The younger you can learn this, the better.
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I cannot tell you how worthless and unhelpful it is to be jealous of another person in your profession.
Be obsessive about being the best you can be and you’ll never have this issue.
Don’t work with people who spend their days obsessing about what other people are doing.
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MLB
223 MLB pitchers have thrown 100mph. There’s only been one Greg Maddux.
You’re more likely to throw 100mph than pitch like Greg Maddux.
Baseball parents created a myth about a more achievable, low velo, high-IQ pitcher.
They failed to recognize that he’s the outlier talent.
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The only metric a youth coach should care about is if 100% of your team went on to play the next year.
Do everything you can to keep the dream and game alive.
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Go where you’ll play. Go where you’ll develop. Go where you can fail.
If you’re optimizing for prestige over playing time, development and fun, you’re putting your long-term potential in jeopardy.
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Calling your own game as a pitcher and catcher shouldn’t be a privilege. Give kids the ability to fail. Give them the experience to learn! If you force all your pitchers and catchers to throw exactly what you say, you’re taking a key part of the mental game away from them.
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Fall Ball is over. Hit the gym. Get faster. Get stronger.
Keep throwing as your body changes. Throw on flat ground. Take time away from the mound.
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If your coach tells you what you’re doing wrong without offering the solution, they are not your coach.
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My Only Back In My Day Take:
Back in my day we used to play more unstructured baseball games with friends and no adults around. That’s the only thing I wish kids could do more of today.
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3 Things The GOATs Do To Reset In Tough Spots
I’ve had the privilege to learn from some of the greatest throwers of all time.
Here’s a simple routine I’ve seen Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Tom Brady and Drew Brees use.
👇
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Baseball is a game of attrition. It’s great to play D1 or for an elite travel ball team, but you know what’s better than that?
Playing this game as long as you possibly can.
Go where you can play and give yourself a chance to play to full maturity. You’ll be surprised.
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I will not publicly analyze the mechanics of kids playing in the LLWS. Please stop asking. They’re kids. They don’t need that.
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One of the worst things you can do is take away someone’s fun. Fun is rare. Never spoil fun. Protect it.
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Kids are more interested in throwing 100mph than throwing all their pitches with 100% conviction.
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Best highlight video I’ve ever seen. Thank you @OM_ClubBaseball
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How to be a great Little League pitching coach:
Teach EVERYONE on your team to pitch and get them innings in the season. It doesn’t matter if you lose every game.
Side benefit: by the time playoffs roll around, you’ll have the best pitching depth in the league.
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If you’re lucky enough to be able to play baseball in college, use it to get into the best school you can go to. The game and your career are not guaranteed, but your education will have positive compounding effects on the rest of your life.
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70 percent of kids stop playing sports by age 13.
We need a late-bloomer sports development program.
Accessible sport development to help kids learn a sport or try a sport they quit too soon.
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I often see youth pitchers get to 2 strikes then start to nibble for the strikeout.
Same thing with 2 outs. They start to take the foot off the gas.
Pitchers, it is your job to attack in these moments. Do not be delicate. Don’t try to be cute. Never back off.
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The best thing MLB could do to help young athletes would be to stream how MLB players actually warmup before games and their weight lifting. It’d be worth a premium subscription to show how the best in the world prepare for games and train in-season.
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Little Leaguers celebrating home runs destroys the pillars of society. It disrespects the Little Leaguers of the past. When we were kids, we kept our heads down and never showed we were having the time of their lives. Don’t let the kids be kids! That’s the point of youth sports!
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The most powerful thing you can say as a coach is, “I was wrong. I learned new information that changed my mind.”
We all have the right to change.
Nobody has complete knowledge. We’re all trying to get better every day.
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If someone tells a kid to quit baseball before they hit puberty, never listen to them again.
I don’t care how bad you are as a 10U, 12U, 14U or frosh/soph. Quit at these levels and you’ll always wonder “what if”.
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You’re not “falling behind” if you only play in your spring baseball season. If you’re told that, they’re trying to get you to feel FOMO for whatever they’re selling.
Play until you’re 30 years old instead of playing 30 games a month at 12 years old.
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Fastest way to start throwing 100mph is to watch 20 “add 5mph to your fastball” videos on YouTube.
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This is probably the most educational clip of baseball ever created. Anyone can watch this and understand 100x more about the game. Sad we only get these moments in exhibition. The game of baseball deserves this for every competitive game!
Yes, the pitcher and the catcher are talking to each other to strategize how they attack the hitters and I can't believe how much I love this.
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Players will use the best tech in the world to analyze their game then not sleep enough, eat right or drink enough water.
New tech doesn’t fix bad process.
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CWS could educate a lot of the baseball world by having a livestream showing the entire team warmups for pitchers and position players.
Would be extremely interested to see all the different warmup processes athletes use at the D1 level.
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The best athletes used to come from smaller towns because they had a responsibility to play every sport as long as possible.
Play as many sports as possible. It will make you more athletic in the long run.
Don’t specialize! You’re trying to play your sport until you’re 40.
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Coaches don’t fix athletes. Athletes fix themselves after admitting they need to make changes.
Coaches lend the framework. Athletes make the changes.
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If the criticism is coming from someone you wouldn’t take advice from, there’s no need to listen.
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We need Little League because if a club team won’t take a kid before or during puberty because they’re “bad” then we’re missing on so much talent down the line.
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The outrage at the Kershaw decision just shows how much more we need to educate the baseball world about ramping up a pitcher to be 100% for a season.
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Every athlete regrets not doing the “boring stuff” sooner.
Yoga, pilates, meditation, therapy, nutrition and sleep.
These things are not embarrassing. They are the difference between good and great.
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College baseball players can finish college and never have summer internship experience like other students due to summer baseball.
This is one of the more overlooked parts of the college baseball experience.
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3 Things I Work On with Every Pitcher
Call it cookie-cutter if you like, but most pitchers I meet need to address these things.
(1/5) 👇
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Nolan Ryan used to try to focus on one seam of the catcher’s glove. He was that intense when visualizing how precise he wanted to be with every pitch.
“When I aim small, I miss small.”
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Every game of catch is an opportunity to improve.
There’s no reason to play a lazy game of catch with nonchalant intent and mechanics.
If you want better efficiency, velocity and consistency, take catch seriously.
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3 Things Every Thrower Needs To Work On. I don’t care if it’s Tom Brady, Drew Brees or a kid’s first day learning to throw.
1) Set Position
2) Timing Into Footstrike
3) Firm Front Side
Danny Schaechter 🏝️🏈🐾
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Hey everyone, let’s send @minakimes good pitching vibes for her first pitch tonight with the @Mariners!! Go get em Mina!
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You only get to be a kid once. It’s a precious thing. I have seen us try to professionalize youth sports and ratchet up the intensity on kids for years. Don’t ask a kid to make their sport their job until they want it to be their job.
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The confidence to stand on the mound with your team, opponents and everyone watching in the stands is invaluable.
If you can want the ball, pressure and attention, you will be comfortable and confident in so many situations outside the game.
This is why everyone should pitch.
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Been getting tagged in a lot of “this coach/program produced this player” tweets.
No one coach or program produces a great athlete. The great athletes produce themselves with the help of a bunch of people.
The greats pursue knowledge, then apply what works for themselves.
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Commit your sophomore or junior year. Play a couple sports. No Cs. A couple camps in the summer. Workout more than you think. Play fewer games than you’re pressured to. Talk to the coaches yourself, parents get involved when money comes into play. Have fun and enjoy the process.
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Pitchers are just throwers now. Kids these days just idolize velocity. We used to not care at all about the hardest throwers. American pitching was built on 86mph fastballs that any hardworking kid could achieve. The Art of Pitching is lost to 99mph cutters dotted at the knees.
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Kids need to understand how strong pro and college baseball players are.
Being weak is like playing with one arm tied behind your back.
You can buy a lot in this game now, but you can’t buy strength.
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Instead of being an account that roasts random high schoolers on the internet for followers and clout, I’d like to offer this kid some throwing mechanics help. If you’re the kid on the mound, shoot me a DM!
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I’ll never forget my college coach, Rod Dedeaux, telling me he just wanted me to be Tom House. He didn’t want me to try to throw any harder or add any new pitches to compete with Tom Seaver. He wanted me to have 100% confidence being myself.
Lifelong advice.
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We don’t talk enough about how Bryce Harper’s Sports Illustrated cover completely altered the world and business of youth baseball.
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Youth baseball is broken. We need drastic change.
Think:
- a league available in every city
- parents volunteer as coaches
- affordable to all
- guaranteed playing time
- focus on fun and health
- orange slices after games
Who offers this?
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The default pitching advice for a lot of coaches is “get on top of the ball”.
Remember that just because it’s the default, doesn’t make it the best advice.
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Kids will protect themselves by not giving 100%. It’s emotionally hard to give your all and lose. And to kids, it’s socially uncool to try your hardest and look like a “sweat.”
It’s your job as a coach to give kids the freedom to never give less than 100%.
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Late bloomer pitchers find their potential at 26 years old.
A youth coach has no way of knowing who on their 12U team will be the best at 26 years old.
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Notre Dame freshman makes a fielding error. Smiles it off! Instead of compounding the error, he keeps executing and gets out of it.
Love seeing a pitcher smiling to himself to mentally reset and keep things light on the mound.
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Velocity is like a bank account. The number you see is exciting for a moment, but as soon as you see it, you want more.
As you age, you’ll realize that the number on the screen is not who you are. You have to decide to be happy with you, regardless of the number on the screen.
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As an old man, you will go stand on the mound, close your eyes and become a kid all over again.
The memories rush back.
You’re thankful you got to play.
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“They told me I have 8 pitches to get warm. I can do that. Because you are what your brain tells you you are.”
This is a masterclass.
✅ Verbalizes the plan
✅ Positive self-talk
✅ Knows why it works
You own the routine.
The ritual owns you.
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Back in my day, we played a few months of baseball a year, barely trained and knew nothing about mechanics or analytics.
Playing now is far harder, training is way more intense and the pressure has ramped up and started younger.
Respect to kids playing sports today.
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Most pitchers don’t sprint as much as they should. Want more velo? Sprint more! Forward and backwards.
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Players are never “your guy”. Players decide who their coaches are. Players decide who an expert is. Players go to whoever is most helpful to them.
Put the players first. All that matters is helping them. If you’re looking for credit, coaching is the wrong gig for you.
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When you are a kid, you feel like your baseball coach is a grand master of baseball.
Once you get older, you realize it was a dad just doing his best to teach you kids how to play.
Thankful for all the coaches that did their best coaching me when I was a kid!
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Back in my day, we earned our verified blue check. We tweeted our butts off. We tweeted the right way. We tweeted for the love of the game.
The modern game is all about pay-to-play.
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Missing with pitches high and low? It’s usually the glove.
Missing with pitches left and right? It’s usually your posture or your head.
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Splitters are no harder on the arm than other pitches. They’re sinkers with fingers split and thumb hooked under.
The dirty secret is splitter pitchers are sometimes perceived as weak with off-speed pitches by scouts.
So throw a splitter, lie and call it your changeup.
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Before games, Nolan Ryan would tell me, “Don’t say a word until I line it up.”
He wanted to get the feel for his delivery that day and didn’t want mechanical help until he’d figured it out for himself.
Ultimately, you have to figure it out for yourself. Be your best coach.
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Baseball needs the best content creators and marketers out there. The team that made this video has just set the gold standard! The game needs more of this!
You saw what they did with the @dallascowboys and @NFLFilms. Now, take two minutes to experience Horner Ballpark and college baseball like never before.
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Learn to throw strikes first. Strikes never slump. Velocity just shows up one day. Nobody can take throwing strikes away from you.
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