Pathway Performance

Athletic development is a science. Without proper evaluations, testing, and programming from educated, experienced experts in each niche of sports performance, you're training blind, or at least leaving your development up to a guess.
 The majority of Pathway's arms won't step foot in the facility all summer long, yet they'll still progress and light up the gun with 90+ while pound the zone during their summer ball outings.
 If you feel stuck, need a deep analysis of what's holding you back, or want a helping hand every step of your way to 95mph, DM us or click the link in our bio. 

Summer remote spots are still open!

If you're under 6'2", you're considered an undersized pitcher from a professional perspective. But countless athletes have reached the highest levels of the game well under 6'0" and still threw 95+ mph. Here's how. Marcus Stroman, Tim Collins, and Clayton Andrews are all 5'6" to 5'7". All three have sat 95 mph, with peaks touching 97-98. That's not luck. It's mechanical efficiency and elite athleticism in a small frame. Height and levers do matter. That's basic physics of angular velocity and force production. But it's not everything. Here's what these short pitchers have in common: 1. They are some of the strongest, most powerful athletes in any room. If you're short, you better be the most relatively strong and powerful guy in your gym. Look at any of them. Short, yes. Built like brick sh*thouses, also yes. 2. They are elite athletes. Quick twitch, explosive, with body control most pitchers will never have. Stroman can dunk a basketball at 5'7". So can Collins. So can Andrews. Think about the power output that takes. 3. They understand how to move. Watch Stroman's "Stro Mo" mechanics. Watch him do exercises with a glass of wine balanced on his back or videos of Collins at Cressey. That's command of the body. 4. They are the most efficient movers in the room. Levers help tall pitchers compensate for inefficiency. Short pitchers don't get that margin. Everything has to go right mechanically. That's why short pitchers who make the bigs are usually the cleanest movers you'll ever see. 5. They never gave up. People told them they were too small for years. They worked harder than everyone else because they had to. That work ethic is the foundation everything else is built on. Height matters. Physics is physics. But if you're willing to work harder and smarter than everyone else, you can still get there. At Pathway, we train pitchers at every height. We were founded by a pitcher whose high school nickname was legit "too small" and he still ended up throwing 90+. Don't let anyone tell you what's possible. If this resonates, DM us or hit the link in our bio to talk with our team about what it'll take to reach your goals.

Stop pushing and start riding down the mound. Too many athletes push or stay stuck over the rubber. A great cue: think about riding the inside of the back leg with your head. That keeps you connected, stacked, and moving slightly forward down the slope.

Stuck at a plateau? Your nervous system might be acting as a 'speed governor,' holding you back from your true potential.
 Lifting heavy or chucking weighted balls alone won't break the ceiling. To truly unlock velocity, you need over- and under-load training. Whether it’s some type of VBT (Velocity Based Training) in the weight room or 6/5/4oz velocity work at the field, it’s about smart, intentional shifts over and under, not just extreme weight.

Velocity fluctuations aren't a death sentence, they’re a signal. Often times they can be solved on their own with rest and focus. But If you’ve been grinding and the numbers aren't moving back up, there’s likely a deeper layer you need to look at. Our summer remote programming is officially open to help you find that missing MPH. DM us 'VELO' to chat if you need help getting back on track or want to add extra velocity this summer!

The difference between elite Japanese pitchers and Americans isn't because of  size or strength. It's neurology.
 Three pieces of research most American pitching ignores:
 INTEROCEPTION. The brain's ability to feel what's happening inside the body. Elite athletes show higher insula activation, the brain region governing body awareness, than non-elite ones. Yamamoto's hour of breathwork, headstands, and barefoot work isn't warm-up. It's interoceptive training.
 DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING. Roughly 45% of athletes have dysfunctional breathing patterns. Real diaphragm breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system, drops cortisol, and improves recovery markers after hard training. It also drives the intra-abdominal pressure every kinetic chain runs on.
 MOTOR IMAGERY. Visualization isn't a vibe, it's neural firing. fMRI shows it activates the same corticospinal pathways as actual movement. Ohtani filled out a 64-box mandala chart at 14 mapping his goals. He journals. He visualizes. He tracks subtle mechanical shifts daily. Documented neural rehearsal.
 Mainstream baseball training dismissed all of this for two decades. Yoga is "soft." Breathwork is "weird." but the best players have always done it, it just hasn’t been the eye-catching highlight and has been done behind closed doors. That is until a 5'10" Japanese pitcher last season out-pitched the entire MLB postseason and Mookie Betts is now copying his routine. The mind-body gap between Japanese and American pitchers isn't even close. Japanese pitchers learn it young. Americans don't know what it is until their 20s. The body, pelvis, and spine drive the delivery, not just the arm. With Yamamoto dominating, that's finally starting to change even in mainstream baseball. 
 That's our goal at Pathway. Combine the techniques that make American training great with the Japanese style of elite movement pattens, and great things happen. Not just run-and-guns. Not simply chucking heavy balls 24/7. True mind-body connection, high-level training the healthiest way possible. 
 If that sounds like something you're missing or you simply are stuck with just the American way, DM us "Pathway" and let's chat.

The best coaching doesn't happen through complex explanations, it happens when you build an environment where the right movement is the only option.
 When you set the right constraints (like single-leg or jumping throws), you allow the athlete’s body to discover the solution independently.

 That 'light bulb' moment is where genuine, intuitive growth happens.  Stop over-coaching and start building the environment.  1️⃣ Diagnose the gap. 2️⃣ Build the environment. 3️⃣ Set the constraints. 4️⃣ Step back and let them solve it.

Most pitchers train blind. Your anatomical structure dictates how you sequence force from the ground up,  ignore it and you're taking a shot in the dark. One example of this is hip anatomy. The ER vs IR dominant spectrum isn't a detail, it's a direction on loading patterns that affect your entire delivery.

"If I was 6'7 I'd throw hard too" - every 6'0 dude watching Jacob Misiorowski fuzz up the Yankees
 The real follow-up question: Do you flow into even CLOSE to the same ranges he does in your delivery
 The answer is almost certainly no.
 Misiorowski is a very mobile athlete and honestly a great case study on why a guy with his levers HAS to be putting in an extreme amount of stability work behind the scenes that no one really talks about. But more importantly for this post, he's a perfect example of how elite mobility creates time to keep applying force to the baseball over a longer range of motion.
 More range → more time under force → more energy → more velo. 

IF you can close the gap explosively  
Three things that make The Miz throw absolute gas: 1. Mobility: Misiorowski has an unreal ability to relax and flow into elite positions, create massive separation AND closes the gap at lightning speed on the back end. That's the X factor. A lot of guys can get into deep positions. Very few can get outof them fast.
 2. Long Levers: Yes, the height helps. But it's also the trap. Most tall pitchers fall into the "baby giraffe effect"  unable to sequence those long levers into anything coordinated. Length only matters if you can organize it effectively. 
 3. A Rhythm Dance: Like deGrom or Yamamoto, he flows into positions and basically floats down the mound with incredibly late intent. Nothing forced. He starts with a bicycle-style leg kick, gathers efficiently into his forward move, and rides that rhythm into foot strike, landing in elite position at foot strike. 
 The tall athlete can model all three of these. But the average or undersized guy can absolutely steal 2 of the 3:
 → Flow (not force) into deep ranges of motion 
→ Sequence the delivery like a dance w/ late intent 
→ Explosively closing the gap of those ranges 
 That's where real energy transfer lives. And while we might not be able to anatomically get into these positions, it is still a GREAT example of the importance of pre mobility, soft tissue, and corrective work to maximize your velocity.

The difference between you getting pulled in the 3rd and making it through the 7th oftentimes isn’t your stuff. It’s your ability to remain present, reset, and focus on the task at hand, executing one pitch at a time. Here is how to do that with a simple pre pitch routine: Step 1 — Reset (after the last pitch) — Step off the back of the mound — One deep breath. Drop the shoulders on the exhale. — Let the last pitch go Step 2 — Commit (pick the pitch and location) — Get the sign — See the pitch in your mind. Shape and location — Commit fully. Step 3 — Execute — Step on the rubber — Say your Cue Word — Compete

Habits are what separate the 85 mph arm from the 95 mph arm.
 If you want to max out your potential on the bump, a routine built to get you there is the most important factor, paired with the dedication and discipline to actually execute it.
 Which one of these guys sounds more like you?
 DM us "95" and we'll help you craft the plan and build the habits to hit your goals.

Now in a Blue Jays jersey, Dylan Cease has done nothing short of dominate this year. Here are some key positions he flows into that let him pump upper 90s:  Pelvic Posterior Tilt: Engages the glutes and backside while lengthening the hip flexors. Makes it easier to rotate down into foot strike instead of fighting his own structure to get there.
 Forward Move & Drop:  gravity is one of the biggest keys to efficient velocity production.  Cease builds a clean linear force vector and hinges/drops into it quickly, stacking momentum on the way to foot strike.
 Arm Action: short and tight, but it carries the momentum of the downswing. That energy flows all the way up into a clean flip up exactly at foot strike. Nothing wasted.
 Elastic Tension: Cease produces separation, but more importantly he shows tension in his anterior oblique sling, which then propels up through the pec as he pulls into rotation at foot strike. Blocking: the ability to finish the pelvis down into foot strike after aggressive rotation is KEY. At foot strike, everything prior has been transferred as efficiently as possible. That's what makes throwing hard actually possible.
 Everything prior to foot strike is about MAXIMIZING energy creation and properly transferring it into the foot strike. That's the part most guys overcomplicate. It really is this simple:
 "How much energy can I create and properly transfer? THEN how effectively can I send it up the chain at footstrike?"
 That's the whole game.

No one's ever said being MORE athletic is going to hurt your performance on the mound. Go play some spikeball, rally a volleyball, throw the football around, hit the pickleball court, work on driving a golf ball. That added exposure to different movement patterns translates more than people realize especially as you climb levels. The athlete who only knows one pattern runs out of runway fast. Train smart, manage the volume, and pick the sports that feed your baseball engine for future development patterns.

True development comes down to consistency on your specific inefficiencies in warm ups, throwing, the weight room, kitchen, mentality etc. That's it.
 The gap for most guys isn't the coaching itself, it's not having a system that ties Monday through Sunday together around their mechanics, body, and schedule. Being in person every week doesn't fix that if it's not tailored toward you or there isn’t a full 7-day-a-week plan to begin with. 
 In-person can help younger athletes and speed up the process for sure. But most guys (older HS, college, and pro athletes) just need a personalized routine they can execute on their own with consistent weekly check-ins to stay locked in (we communicate with our guys probably at least 3-5 times a week, more than what you’d get with an in-person coach). 

Accountability and work ethic do the rest. Confidence comes from the reps, and the reps come from the system.

Chris Sale might look funky at first glance, but he checks all the boxes when it comes to capturing (not forcing) elite movement patterns. Simple as that.
 Most coaches and athletes get hooked on the visual patterns of a delivery and miss the deeper question: how does energy actually transfer in this specific body?
 If you cut Sale off from the waist down, his lower half is NOT out of the box, basic leg lift, minimal coiling, slight linear move. What he does next is what most pitchers should be paying attention to most. He relaxes into the hinge and drop, which makes it easy to gather momentum as he rotates into foot strike (where he is slightly crossbody). 
 People call him quad dominant. He's not. He's said it himself in an MLB Network interview,  he tries to feel his backside (glutes and hamstrings) because his body naturally wants to drift toward first, so he fights that feeling to keep full ground force connection through his entire foot. In his case, he mentioned feeling his heel (not always the best cue, but it works for him). His lower half loading pattern is actually pretty similar to a “textbook” high-level delivery.
 The dramatic torso lean is what makes him different and gets people thinking his entire delivery is axial-chain dominant and just funky. And while he might look funky at first glance, it's really just because his arm slot is very low. That's it. For energy to release efficiently from that slot at high velocity, his torso and shoulders have to tilt to match. This is one of the pillars every true high velo thrower hits. Go look at an over the top guy of similar size and structure, lower half is pretty similar, the torso is just the opposite.
 Lower half is normal. Upper half matches the rotational plane. Front side holds tension. Then he explodes through the slot.
 He's been a big leaguer 16+ years for a reason. The lesson isn't "throw like Sale." It's understand your body the way Sale understands his, even if it doesn't fit inside the box in the visually pleasing sense. 
  Build the efficient version of mechanics that lives inside your structure, not just inside the box of what you "should" look like visually.

Pulldowns are a great tool for certain guys, but they aren’t the sole answer to velocity problems. If you’re one of those guys pulling down 6+ mph harder than you top  on the mound, this video is for you.  Watch through and DM if you have questions or need help transferring your pulldown velo to real mound gains.

Being the hardest worker in the room is one of the most important parts of being successful in life. But working hard on the right things is the difference between grinding for years and actually having something to show for it. It's an unlearnable lesson until you experience for yourself what true hard work, combined with an individualized plan, can create.  Hardest worker in the room but still not seeing results? Still piecing your development together on your own? DM us. Pathway is built for guys like you.

Summer ball can change careers. For guys who didn't get the innings they wanted in the spring, or who need exposure in front of pro scouts, this is a huge opportunity.
 But for others, it stunts growth by stalling development. Ask yourself: What's stopping you from getting to the next level? Is it game reps: competing, getting outs? Or is it the tools: velo, sharper off-speed, command? 
 If you need help figuring that out,  DM us the word SUMMER and we'll walk you through our thought process.

Mason Miller barely sniffed 90 going into college. By the time he was in college at a small D3, he'd regressed to 82-84 with a 7.00 ERA. Losing weight. Feeling terrible off the field. Doing everything right and getting beat down for it. Then came the diabetes diagnosis, insulin, and what he called finally getting the "wind at your sails." The foundation isn't the comeback, it's what happened before it. He knows what it feels like to do the work and see nothing show up. That's why he doesn't panic when results lag and that tough foundation shaped these 5 outlooks on his training and career:
 "Nobody cares what you did yesterday" - He walked into this year off an All-Star season treating none of it as credit in the bank.
 "Self-critique is fuel, not self-harm" - Critical enough to find fuel, not critical enough to break yourself. What stuck with him wasn't hits or runs, it was games he let get away when his team put him in position to win.
 "Talent gap is tiny" - Everyone at the top has grinded. The separator isn't more talent, it's doing the little things exceptionally while everyone else treats them as a checkbox.
 "Daily earning. No days off" - Every city, every game, he shows up. The mindset isn't a mantra, it's daily mental reps. "Get to" vs. "Stay" - Every level up to the bigs runs on the same motor, high school, college, A-ball, called up. Then you arrive and the motor stops, because there's no next level. The trap is wondering who in Triple-A might take your spot. His flip: don't defend it, elevate to the top of the game.
 In this day and age of pure velo and stuff, what gets overlooked is being mentally strong. You can be the most physical guy on the field, but without the mental side, it's all for nothing. This is why we brought Justin Hirschberg, M.S. (@hplmentalperformance) onto the Pathway team as our mental performance consultant, one of the MOST important parts of true training. 

Mason has the physical now, but he didn't always. Without the mental toughness to grind through the stretch where nothing worked, we'd never have heard his name. When stuff is everywhere, the guys who truly win build the mind to MAKE the arm you eventually see in the big leagues.