“” Roger Bannister and the 95 MPH Fastball - Driveline Baseball

Roger Bannister and the 95 MPH Fastball

| Velocity Training
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Contrary to the article’s title, Roger Bannister was not a flamethrowing lefty. He was, in fact, the first man to break the four-minute mile in 1954. Many were trying to break the four-minute mile all around the world, but couldn’t manage to do so. Bannister’s methods involved having pacesetters run sub-one-minute splits ahead of him for each lap, so he would have someone he had to chase. By having two or three guys sprinting all-out, Bannister would have to chase guys giving 100% effort every single lap, even if said “pace” was unattainable.

Roger Bannister
Roger Bannister

This method of training and running allowed him to give his absolute best every single time out there. And when he broke the barrier that so many sought after, tons of people followed.

95 MPH Will Come When You Need it – Not Want it

If your goal is to throw 85, 90, 95 MPH, you will never get there if you just want it. If you are pitching in games and can’t replicate your training velocity, it’s because you’re not desperate enough. One of our clients can throw 88 MPH off a turf mound in flats but rarely hits 88 MPH in games. Why? Because he’s 16 years old and pitching in a wood bat league. How many 16 year olds do you think exist in the Pacific Northwest that can barrel up an 80 MPH fastball with a wood bat, much less a 90 MPH one?

This leads to him having bad games here and there because he’s not at 100%. He rarely walks guys, but he’ll throw off-speed pitches that get barreled up because he’s doing them a favor – but he can’t just stay away from throwing off-speed pitches, because he’s not pitching to be successful at the 16U level, but rather the college/pro level.

I told him that he will never throw 90 MPH until he absolutely needs it.

Bannister couldn’t get the four-minute mile until he failed over and over and figured out to use pacesetters that were running “unsustainable” paces ahead of him to push him to greater heights.

If you are stealing bases and never getting thrown out, you aren’t stealing enough bases. If you are playing poker and you’re winning a lot of pots you’re involved in, you’re not involved in enough pots.

Until you are willing to fail and put yourself in unwinnable situations, you’ll never reach your maximum potential.

Until you need it, you won’t get it. Wanting it is not enough.

Want to learn more about what we know about gaining fastball velocity? Check out the wide array of blog articles we have relating to velocity building here.

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