How did 178cm Yamamoto throw a 159km/h fastball without weights? Not imitation, but customized drills left Korean prospects in awe [What Amateur Baseball Says ③]

*This content was translated by AI.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto (28), a Japanese pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball, is a pitcher who throws a fastball at 159km/h despite his small stature of 178cm and 79kg. A scene that never fails to come up when discussing his success is his unique training method that prioritizes javelin drills over weight training. However, the important point is not simply that "Yamamoto threw a javelin," but why throwing a javelin was necessary for him.

The very "depth of purpose" impressed Korean baseball prospects who visited the IMG Academy in the United States this past January. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) conducted a development program from January 2 to February 1 (Korean time) at the IMG Academy located in Bradenton, Florida, USA. Sixteen high school first-year prospects (6 pitchers, 2 catchers, 5 infielders, and 3 outfielders) who showed diligence during last year's KBO Next-Level Training Camp were selected for training. Under excellent facilities and warm weather, the four-week training program earned praise from Korean prospects for demonstrating competitiveness even compared to American prospects of the same age group.

While all participants expressed satisfaction after undergoing systematic training and actual games, they drew attention by commonly mentioning drills. The most significant difference felt by Korean baseball prospects was the depth of understanding regarding drill training.

Chungam High School student Song Seong-jun (17), who contacted StarNews, stated, "There were many drill trainings I had never known before. I learned a great deal. IMG coaches taught me various drills and gave me time to practice them on my own. There, I was able to find drills that were necessary for me and suited my body. Thanks to this, I was also able to organize my routine somewhat."

Another participant, Moon Jun-hyeok (17·Yushin High), said, "American training was definitely systematic. In the morning, we had classes without fail, and in the afternoon, we trained for about three hours, focusing intensely on our own individual drill trainings. Even when doing weight training, we only completed a set number of repetitions before moving on to team training. If given such opportunities, I felt we could learn many new types of training and develop further as baseball players."

The concept of "drill" is difficult to translate precisely into Korean. While often explained as technical training, it is closer to customized training with more specific purposes than simple repetition. For example, even the same infield ground ball error can have different causes. Some players may be slow in predicting the bounce, while others cannot respond to irregular bounces due to stiff bodies. In Korea, both cases are often approached by simply increasing fungo practice, but drills separately train necessary abilities such as ball tracking, dynamic vision, mobility, and posture transition for each specific cause.

The drill training best known in Korea is Yamamoto's javelin throwing. Especially, Yamamoto revealed that he does not do weight training separately, which became a topic of discussion even when he first entered the U.S. two years ago. The secret lies in his consistent javelin throwing training since his days in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He throws a 400g plastic javelin every day like a track and field athlete. Through full-body javelin throwing, he aimed to maximize physical flexibility.

After Yamamoto's success, javelin throwing drills briefly became popular at domestic private training centers. However, on the ground, opinions emerged that "many players who blindly imitated did not achieve the expected effects." The reason was that each player has different physiques, mobility, pain history, and pitching mechanisms. The same drill does not produce the same effect for everyone. The core of drills lies not in "what to imitate," but in finding "why that movement is necessary."

A domestic trainer, C, said, "When introducing drill training, both domestic trainers and coaches need a comprehensive understanding of the player. For example, asking questions like 'This player has this symptom; how can we fix it?' is not correct." He further emphasized, "That is equivalent to a doctor diagnosing without even seeing the patient's video. It is necessary to see the player directly, understand the process and context they have experienced, and develop drill training suited to their situation."

Even the famous American training center "Tread Athletic" introduced Yamamoto's javelin throwing drill on its official SNS but warned, "Yamamoto claims that his elbow pain stopped immediately after starting javelin throwing training. This can be explained by improving movement sequence, making arm movements more planar, and adjusting timing. However, this statement is a different question from 'Should you do javelin throwing?'" Ultimately, what was important in Yamamoto's training method was not the "javelin" itself, but "why the javelin was necessary."

This is why young baseball players should not approach drills by simply imitating YouTube videos or drills of famous players. They must first check their current physical condition, pain history, and pitching mechanisms before selecting necessary training. Trainer C noted, "Training centers are not all-powerful. That is why some players who went to famous American training centers saw little effect or returned injured. Each player has a suitable situation and timing. Especially, players whose bodies have not yet been fully developed are more prone to injury."

This is also the reason why coaches need to grow just as much as players through active learning. Those who experienced it firsthand felt this necessity. KBO official D, who led students to IMG, stated, "I felt that the training program itself was not significantly different from Korea's. However, since there were many unique drills, I thought we should benchmark them."

What Korean baseball needs to learn is not a single specific drill. The common message conveyed by Yamamoto's javelin throwing and IMG's various drills is that it is necessary to first understand the player's body, accurately diagnose problems, and then design training tailored to that player.

[What Amateur Baseball Says] Korean baseball, wavering and confused—is low velocity the only problem at the world's bottom?

① "I can't see a pitcher who fights like Ryu Hyun-jin" The painful gap in control is more than the world's lowest velocity; why is Korean baseball so inconsistent?

② "Repetitive training is not the answer" Throw as much as possible for good control? Breaking Korean baseball's prejudice... American baseball focuses on variability.

③ How did 178cm Yamamoto throw a 159km/h fastball without weights? Not imitation, but customized drills left Korean prospects in awe

④ "Many players throw 150km/h" The bubble of fastballs hidden by wooden bats; Korean baseball trapped in a paradigm from 22 years ago

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*This content was translated by AI.