Baseball practice has started, and with it another year of testing the levels of pain my right arm can take. Actually, it started 3 weeks ago, but I've basically had nonstop midterms since then.
The first week was pretty relaxed. So was the second week. But by that Saturday pitch day, I could feel it. All that work trying to relax my nerves and calm my shoulder were gone. I was back exactly where I was before: in quite a bit of pain.
But there was good news to go along with the pain, thankfully. I was throwing harder. I would even say much harder, but that's hard to quantify. Everything looks like it's zipping in there when you're the one throwing the ball. I was actually complimented by my coach (who rarely gives direct compliments) on how my motion had become more repeatable. I would like to thank all my time wasted on YouTube for that (but actually). My curveball was also significantly improved, with a much sharper bite to it. On the flip side of my revamped motion was the inconsistencies that came with it. I missed high with basically everything but my curveball, which I consistently spiked. Like really, really high. And I still don't throw hard enough to make batters bite on that pitch up out of the zone, so I was in a little bit of a pickle.
Fast forward to today. My arm hurt when I woke up. My shoulder ached when I moved it around. I was dreading practice, especially since it was bullpen day.
I got to practice, took a deep breath, and started warming up. Today I focused on pronating more after release. I had heard that it helps. I kept throwing. Backed up and threw a little harder. Backed up some more. On each throw I winced in anticipation of some pain. None. None at all. I threw my bullpen and only felt anything bad at the end of my session. No pain. I can't believe it. I can't comprehend what just happened. It has been 4 years since I threw without any pain or discomfort whatsoever. Today was close. I don't know if it was the pronation, the great sleep I got last night, or what. I just know that I loved it.
