What is dead arm and do I have it?

Dead arm during the season is a major frustration and every pitcher experiences it throughout their career. It is often an annual occurrence that highly competitive athletes must begrudgingly endure. There is no need to panic, this is normal and never permanent.

What is dead arm? Simply put, there will be times during a season when your velocity drops unexpectedly, you seem to have lost your stamina, your pitches are flat and have lost their sharpness, and overall, no matter how hard you try, you cannot muster up enough energy overcome. Common reactions are to work harder, throw more, train intensely, or some give up in defeat and lose heart. The good news is that dead arm is temporary and here are the tactics to get you through it, keep you competitive, and still perform at high levels.

1. Do less – As mentioned earlier, it is an athlete’s competitive nature to work harder and do more when faced with challenges. This is a blessing and a curse. The blessing being over the long term, hard work always pays off. In the short term, it can lead to exhaustion, confusion, and loss of confidence. Consider this: your body is speaking to you, and you need to listen. If can come the form of general fatigue, tired legs, sore arm, tired arm, and mental exhaustion. Any of these may be your body saying it needs rest because its overworked, tired, and sometimes is a warning for something worse that may come in the form of an injury either minor or severe. So, its time to do less. Skip a start, take a weekend off in the bullpen, shut down the long toss and side work. This should be in the range of 4-7 days of rest. You can throw light, do some short flat ground work, some touch and feel toss. But no more. Additionally, stop working out, keep your conditioning light. Go for a few light jogs followed by stretching and mobility work. You must be ok with going against the grain and going against what your mind is telling you. So, sit back, give you mind and body some rest.
2. In season weight training – If you are weight training in season you can certainly expect fatigue, dead arm, and likely more than once. For young pitchers (high school and younger) you will need to shut this down if you want to maximize arm development and get out of the rut of inconsistency. It is ill advised to weight train in season as your body and arm are still growing and developing. It will not help with velocity or stamina, and it will certainly not get you out of a dead arm phase.
3. Pitch, don’t throw – After your few days of rest you may still be experiencing the fatigue. This is normal. Dead arm can reside for a few weeks. At this point in time, it is important to get back on the mound and pitch. The tendency of a pitcher is to throw, and overthrow, and try and do to much instead of simply pitching. To effectively pitch without your best stuff is what championship pitchers master. Subduing the ego and urge to try and do more, to simplifying pitching and taking it back to its roots. There are a few tactics that have worked in baseball for over a hundred years, and they will guide you back to success. A) Pitch down to induce ground balls. Ground balls can get you out of most jams and keep your pitch count down. Especially when you don’t have the velocity you normally have, the ball down in the zone will work on the downward plane more becoming even more effective in the campaign to produce quick outs. B) Down and away is always good. Keep the ball down and away from hitters. When they start to adjust you can bust them inside or give a little chin music to keep them honest. Always remember, hitters like the ball out and over the plate, they aren’t as aggressive to chase a ball down and away. C) Pitch to contact and trust your defense. If we are locating well, we will have favourable contact more often than not. Our mindset must also adhere to that tactic. Instead of trying to strike betters out, try and let them hit your well-located pitch down in the zone. You will be amazed how quickly you can turn any situation your way. D) Change speeds. Keep hitters off balance by mixing more for strikes. The old school philosophy of hard in and soft away will be effective in any situation.
4. Relax and smile – Mental training in its simplest form.. remember you are playing a game you love, remember that dead arm and fatigue are a normal part of baseball, remember that hitters fail more than they succeed. And if you doubt that, watch batting practice and see how many weak ground balls and fly balls occur when its fastballs down the middle and they know its coming!
5. Trust the process – Trust that by sticking to your plan you will reach the other side of your dead arm phase. Its hard when in the middle of it, but rest assured, you will be back and better than ever. Trust yourself, trust your work, trust your ability.